I went to a pool store, and then another pool store. Forgive me TFP, for I have sinned.
I'm in a slight panic mode as I have a dozen kids coming over for the 4th and my recently opened pool is cloudy:
http://i1072.photobucket.com/albums/w368/MoreCowbell77/poolcl.jpg
I would appreciate some help - I still consider myself a newbie although this is my 3rd year with the pool. I've made a commitment to getting an appropriate test kit, but in the meantime I'm at the mercy of whatever is locally available. Here's the cliff notes of what has happened to date:
Pool: 18K salt inground, 4-cartridge filter. Buffalo NY.
Monday 6/29 afternoon: winter cover off. Water clear, but thick green carpet at bottom of pool. I vacuumed up as much of the green shag as I could to waste, took a water sample to Leslie pools and got:
FC: 0
TC: 0
Salt: 500
CH: 200
CYA: 30
TA: 90
pH: 7.4
Copper: 0
Iron: 0
Phosphates: 0
Was told to add eight 40lb bags of salt, 2 gallons of shock, and 6 lbs of conditioner.
Monday 6/29 11pm: I added 7, 40lb bags of salt, 2 gallons of shock and about 2 lbs of conditioner (takes forever to sift this through the skimmer and I just today learned about the sock trick)
Put SWG into 'boost' and let it run all night and all day Tuesday.
Tuesday 6/30 Pool is cloudy. I thoroughly scrubbed the pool. Filter is running 24/7. SWG reports 4100 salt ... glad I didn't add that last bag. I added blue clarifier to a bucket of water and added it to the pool. I added slightly less than the instructions on the bottle recommended.
Wednesday 7/1 Pool is cloudy. A couple hours ago I went to another nearby pool store. They tested my water, but differently ... Leslie did it with a small chemistry set, and this place used a large dip-stick, looks similar to the ones you can buy, which they put into a computer and these values were spit out:
FC: 7
TC: 8.5
Salt: 3800
CH: 233
CYA: Not detected
TA: 53
pH: 6.7
Copper: 0
Iron: 0
Phosphates: 0
I was given the following instructions:
Today: Turn off boost. Clean filters, add 5lbs of Alk increaser, add 7 bags of Oxysheen, another 5lbs of Alk increaser at night
Tomorrow: 5lbs of Alk increaser, 1 gallon of liquid cya, another 5lbs of Alk increaser at night
I purchased $150+ worth of chemicals:
http://i1072.photobucket.com/albums/w368/MoreCowbell77/poolchem.jpg
Mind you, I will gladly pay $150 if it means my pool is clear by Saturday afternoon. However, I wonder if the instructions I'm being given are the best course of action.
While I wait for my TF100 kit to arrive, should I buy one locally from Leslie pools and run my own tests? I know I'm low on CYA and I understand cleaning my filters now will likely undo some of the CYA granules I've added. I suppose it makes sense to clean them considering I just opened the pool and the filters are likely mucked up. I don't understand how my Alkalinity can be fine, then too low a couple days later - I tend to believe the Leslie test as they're using a normal, reactant based test vs. a test strip at the other place.
Any thoughts and any advice are very much appreciated.
I'm in a slight panic mode as I have a dozen kids coming over for the 4th and my recently opened pool is cloudy:
http://i1072.photobucket.com/albums/w368/MoreCowbell77/poolcl.jpg
I would appreciate some help - I still consider myself a newbie although this is my 3rd year with the pool. I've made a commitment to getting an appropriate test kit, but in the meantime I'm at the mercy of whatever is locally available. Here's the cliff notes of what has happened to date:
Pool: 18K salt inground, 4-cartridge filter. Buffalo NY.
Monday 6/29 afternoon: winter cover off. Water clear, but thick green carpet at bottom of pool. I vacuumed up as much of the green shag as I could to waste, took a water sample to Leslie pools and got:
FC: 0
TC: 0
Salt: 500
CH: 200
CYA: 30
TA: 90
pH: 7.4
Copper: 0
Iron: 0
Phosphates: 0
Was told to add eight 40lb bags of salt, 2 gallons of shock, and 6 lbs of conditioner.
Monday 6/29 11pm: I added 7, 40lb bags of salt, 2 gallons of shock and about 2 lbs of conditioner (takes forever to sift this through the skimmer and I just today learned about the sock trick)
Put SWG into 'boost' and let it run all night and all day Tuesday.
Tuesday 6/30 Pool is cloudy. I thoroughly scrubbed the pool. Filter is running 24/7. SWG reports 4100 salt ... glad I didn't add that last bag. I added blue clarifier to a bucket of water and added it to the pool. I added slightly less than the instructions on the bottle recommended.
Wednesday 7/1 Pool is cloudy. A couple hours ago I went to another nearby pool store. They tested my water, but differently ... Leslie did it with a small chemistry set, and this place used a large dip-stick, looks similar to the ones you can buy, which they put into a computer and these values were spit out:
FC: 7
TC: 8.5
Salt: 3800
CH: 233
CYA: Not detected
TA: 53
pH: 6.7
Copper: 0
Iron: 0
Phosphates: 0
I was given the following instructions:
Today: Turn off boost. Clean filters, add 5lbs of Alk increaser, add 7 bags of Oxysheen, another 5lbs of Alk increaser at night
Tomorrow: 5lbs of Alk increaser, 1 gallon of liquid cya, another 5lbs of Alk increaser at night
I purchased $150+ worth of chemicals:
http://i1072.photobucket.com/albums/w368/MoreCowbell77/poolchem.jpg
Mind you, I will gladly pay $150 if it means my pool is clear by Saturday afternoon. However, I wonder if the instructions I'm being given are the best course of action.
While I wait for my TF100 kit to arrive, should I buy one locally from Leslie pools and run my own tests? I know I'm low on CYA and I understand cleaning my filters now will likely undo some of the CYA granules I've added. I suppose it makes sense to clean them considering I just opened the pool and the filters are likely mucked up. I don't understand how my Alkalinity can be fine, then too low a couple days later - I tend to believe the Leslie test as they're using a normal, reactant based test vs. a test strip at the other place.
Any thoughts and any advice are very much appreciated.