Winter Laziness... :(

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fatboy1271

fatboy1271

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LifeTime Supporter
Aug 16, 2013
176
West Hills, CA (Los Angeles County = no water)
I was pretty lazy regarding my pool over the winter, which is now upsetting me quite a bit. However, instead of crying about it I will post here, cry some more, and then get to work on turning this around! I ran my first full set of tests in many months. One thing I really don't understand is how my CYA dropped significantly: I do feel like today's reading was the most accurate I've gotten on the CYA though.

FC: 5 = I put a full gallon in before I left for work in the morning. That was at 8:30AM and I got this reading at 1:00PM
pH: 8.4 = That's a guess since it is darker than the 8.2 color on my tester
TA: 110 = This is consistent with what I was getting last year
CH: 450 = This is consistent with what I was getting last year
CYA: 30 = I ran the test twice but I had to reuse the test liquid; I have to reorder R-0013 so that I can verify this is accurate because last year I was getting from 90 to 110. The only water added has been a few inches from the very little rainfall we've had in SoCal.
Temp at the time of testing: 73F

I've been able to brush off the yellowish/green algae (?) on the sides but I am starting to notice brown spots on the stairs. I saw another post that said rub vitamin C tablets on those... Other than keeping my numbers in line, and verifying the CYA, what else should I be doing? The pool is clear after my Dolphin runs a cycle so it hasn't turned into a green swamp, I should have taken a picture, but do I need a shock treatment?

Thanks for any answers/pointers!

fat
 
You need to get the PH down right away. The common PH test will report any PH above 8.2 as 8.2, so there is no telling what your PH actually is. The brown spots are almost certainly a symptom of the PH getting to high.
 
JasonLion said:
You need to get the PH down right away. The common PH test will report any PH above 8.2 as 8.2, so there is no telling what your PH actually is. The brown spots are almost certainly a symptom of the PH getting to high.
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Thanks Jason, I will tend to that first thing in the morning.

- - - Updated - - -

jblizzle said:
Did you test the water before you added bleach?
What is your CC?

The large drop in CYA could be due to a conversion from CYA to ammonia which would show up as CC in the water.

Since you see algae, you need to follow the ShockLevelAndMAINTAIN Process.
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Thanks Jason. Unfortunately I didn't test the water before I added bleach. I will test CC in the morning. I'll review the SLAM instructions.
 
Get that pH in line, 7.2-7.5, before adding any more chlorine or SLAMing the pool. Read through the SLAM instructions before proceeding.

That you have some FC and no CC is actually a good sign, depending on how long you tested for CC after adding bleach. Next time you add bleach (AFTER GETTING pH IN LINE!), let the water circulate for 30 minutes, then test FC/CC again. Residual CC is a sign that the chlorine is battling something organic in your pool. Low CC is good. I'd complete the SLAM procedure anyway and hopefully it's a very quick one.
 
JVTrain said:
Get that pH in line, 7.2-7.5, before adding any more chlorine or SLAMing the pool. Read through the SLAM instructions before proceeding.

That you have some FC and no CC is actually a good sign, depending on how long you tested for CC after adding bleach. Next time you add bleach (AFTER GETTING pH IN LINE!), let the water circulate for 30 minutes, then test FC/CC again. Residual CC is a sign that the chlorine is battling something organic in your pool. Low CC is good. I'd complete the SLAM procedure anyway and hopefully it's a very quick one.
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Thanks Joel! That is very encouraging. So before reading this I had actually added chlorine and muriatic acid; that was at 8:30AM. I go home for lunch around 1:30PM. Is it worth taking some tests at that point or is it too early?
 
You can test as soon as 30 minutes after adding a chemical for the results of the addition as long as the pool is circulating. I would test the pH for sure, use Pool Math to determine how much more MA to add, if needed. Then when you get home for the day, test the pH again. If you're in the 7.2-7.5 range, then proceed with SLAMing with chlorine. Make sure you know your CYA level and what your target FC should be for that CYA level. See the CYA/Chlorine Chart. Then use Pool Math again to determine how much chlorine to add. Once you start with adding bleach, you can test every 30 minutes to see how things are going and add more bleach if needed. Post results here!
 
fatboy1271 said:
Thanks Joel! That is very encouraging. So before reading this I had actually added chlorine and muriatic acid; that was at 8:30AM. I go home for lunch around 1:30PM. Is it worth taking some tests at that point or is it too early?
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No, if the pump has been running all this time you are good to test. Just keep hitting it with MA until you get the pH in line. Then it is time to SLAM to get rid of that algae you see.
 

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jblizzle said:
It just needs to be a 50/50 mix. So add the same amount of water.

Although if the CYA level is low, you may not have enough mixture to fully obscure the dot.
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Thanks, but unfortunately I poured the water portion first... I basically have 2/3 water to 1/3 R-0013 mixture in the bottle.

Reading from just now:
CYA: Unsure, was 30 on last reading
FC: 3
pH: 7.4
CC: .5, has a slight pink color that goes away with one drop of R-0871
 
JVTrain said:
Sorry no one has responded yet! Looks like your pH is good to go. You can start the SLAM based on the 30 CYA as you've gotten that result twice previously. Get some more reagent on order!
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Thanks Joel! I had done just as you said: started the SLAM using CYA of 30 and got my reagents ordered!!! Hopefully this weekend I'll be able to run the overnight loss test and be ready to jump in :)
 

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