Need HELP with my new pool now that I have my test kit!!

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Z

zookeeper

0
Jul 2, 2014
13
Charleston/SC
I came on here last week about ready to pull my hair out. We put up our first AG pool and within days it was full of cloudy water. I used the Aqua Chem strips and chemicals and they just had me going in circles but never clearing up the problem! I came here and was told to get a better test kit, quit using shock and chlorine tabs and use 2 cups of bleach every day just to keep whatever the problem is at bay. I did all of the above. Now I have my nice shiny new Taylor K-2006 test kit! Today I watched videos showing me how to do all the tests, performed them all and have my chemical numbers all ready for you guys!

FC is 5.4 ppm
Combined Chlorine is .8ppm
pH is 7.4
TA is 120
CH is 20ppm
CYA is 60ppm

Hopefully I did all my tests right! My water is very cloudy and I did have spots of algae on the bottom of the pool a few weeks ago. I SHOCKed the pool before coming here and it seemed to get rid of the algae, but the water will not clear up. Someone please HELP me get this straightened out. I am a tired mother of 6 children that just want to swim in a clean pool..... :(
 
If you are doing the 25ml chlorine test, there's no reason to use all those reagents to be so precise. Do the 10ml test, it's plenty good. Your CC is probably going to show as 1.0 on the 10ml test, which means you probably have an algae outbreak. A single SHOCK will not work, you need to SLAM the pool.

http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/125-slam-shock-level-and-maintain-shockingl

This means maintaining shock level (with BLEACH, not some "shock" product unless it's liquid) and MAINTAIN the level until the process is complete.
 
So if I read the process right, according to my CYA level I need a FC level of 24 for shock level. HOW in the world do I know how much bleach to add to get that? I've been adding 2 cups a day, so obviously it's more than that. A whole bottle? More? And do I run my filter 24/7 while I do this?
 
Look up at top of the page, there's a button just to the right of "Forum" that says "PoolMath". Start by setting it up for your pool, at the bottom you need to tell it your source is TroubleFreePool, your chlorine source is bleach, and your pool surface is vinyl. Plug in your current and target FC and it will tell you how much to add.
 
Okay, thanks! I did the Pool Math and it says I need to at 171oz. But, do I need to worry about all the other levels right now for the SLAM or just the FC? Because I plugged in all my levels and it is telling me to add washing soda or borax for the pH and calcium chloride for the CH and to let 17% of my water out and replace it to lower my CYA. Do I do all this? or do I SLAM the pool as is? I'm a little confused!
 
Okay, sorry to bother you, but let me make sure I have this correct so I don't make a rookie move and have this take even longer. First thing tomorrow I should adjust my levels according to the PoolMath...... lower my TA by adding washing soda or borax to adjust my pH, raise my CH with calcium chloride and replace 17% of my water so my CYA is lowered? Then I'll guess I'll have to recalculate the SLAM level and then I should SLAM it according to the new levels? Is this correct?
 
1. Replace the 17% of water before you add any other chemicals. (No need to waste chemicals if your are going to drain.)
2. Once the pool is full again, recheck your CYA to verify your current level.
3. If CYA is still high, repeat 1 & 2
4. Adjust your pH to around 7.2
5. Recheck You pH and adjust again if needed. Repeat until you have pH around 7.2
6. Start your SLAM. Test and dose frequently in the beginning. (You only need to test FC and CC during SLAM)
7. After you pass the OCLT let your chlorine drift down to your maintenance level.
8. Go swimming.
9. Worry about TA only after completing the above and your are bored and want to play with your Junior Mad Scientist kit.

Don't hesitate to ask questions. We are here to help.
 
What he said ^^

10. You have a vinyl pool. You don't need to worry about low Calcium.

It does give you some flexibility, though. You could use some Cal-hypo powdered chlorine for the SLAM. In a pool your size, every pound of Cal-hypo will raise FC by 20 and CH by 14. So you could use 10 or 12 lbs of the stuff (not all at once - let poolmath give you the dose) and then switch over to bleach. If this confuses you, just forget I wrote this paragraph.
 

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Okay, today I brushed and vacuumed and skimmed the pool. I also drained water and replaced it. Although it said to drain 17% of the water to lower my CYA and I have no idea how I would measure that. So I drained until I thought maybe I had drained 17% or close, replaced the water, tested the CYA level. The level now falls between 50 and 60. Just about perfectly halfway....so 55. Do I still need a lower CYA before I SLAM or is that close enough? From my understanding, it still falls in a normal range.
 
Your pool is small enough that maintaining shock level for 55 CYA won't bankrupt you buying bleach.

Adjust the pH and go.

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Oh gosh! I had no idea how much re-agent doing a SLAM would take! Now I'm going into my second day and I'm almost out of R0871 for free chlorine test and NONE of the pool stores here carry it. I can't even get it shipped to me before end of next week. All the FC tests available at the stores only test to 10 or 15. I need to test to 24 for the SLAM. What do I do??
 
zookeeper said:
Oh gosh! I had no idea how much re-agent doing a SLAM would take! Now I'm going into my second day and I'm almost out of R0871 for free chlorine test and NONE of the pool stores here carry it. I can't even get it shipped to me before end of next week. All the FC tests available at the stores only test to 10 or 15. I need to test to 24 for the SLAM. What do I do??
Click to expand...
tftestkits is in the next state. Order soon and it'll probably get shipped today.
 
+1 to ordering from tftestkits. He'll ship it out quick and it should come pretty quickly. He's in NC.

:-\

I think you may be able to do some sort of dilution test with one of the other tests.

There's a way to sort of estimate with the yellow tests that only go to 5 as they start to turn really dark yellow to orange to brown at higher levels. It would be an estimate but might get you through till you get your refil.

Let me see if I can find that info here somewhere...

http://www.troublefreepool.com/threads/24188-Extended-Test-Kit-Directions

the second post explains the colors for higher levels. It's approximate and you'd have to pick up one of these test kits. (OTO Chlorine) (the TF-100 test kit comes with one but I don't think your kit did?)
 
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