As a newbie when it comes to pool maint. and chemistry I have to admit I'm struggling to get my head around how it all works. When we opened the pool this year (our first season) the water was surprisingly clear and the chlorine and Ph according to the liquid tests, and the water has stayed nice with minimal maint. till recently maybe a couple weeks ago we had a little cloudiness in our water and the Chlorine tested on the low side so I added granular chlorine according to the label. That and a backwash of the sand filter seemed to help as the water cleared back up.
We recently went away for an extended weekend and left the solar cover on. When we got back the water was cloudy with a bit of an aqua/teal cast (we're not talking thick cloudiness more like a haze especially as you look towards or down on the deep end). Not green but not blue. I'll try and list the things I tried as I feel I'm guessing at this now. With the cloudiness and color, I thought I should hit it with some Algaecide and I feel like I may have added too much, as the pool still has a cloudiness/haze to it the hue became blue. After allowing some time I retested the Chlorine and Ph and the Chlorine had dropped way down. So I added a dose of granular chlorine, that seemed to do nothing. The following day still cloudy I decided to do an HTH shock treatment to the water that claimed clear water in 24 hours. Well, 24 hours later still cloudy. I test the Chlorine and still low if not a little lower. At this point I begin to wonder if I had overdone the algicide and that was cancelling out the Chlorine I'd added through the shock or the granular. So I added an extra dose of granular chlorine mostly broadcasting it slowly and put some in the skimmer. After a couple hours or so I added a 3" tablet to the skimmer basket and put the floaters back in that had tablets left in them. I gave this another day and after retesting the Cholrine is where I want it to be. Could be that the excess algecide is slowly dissipating and no longer fighting against my chlorine? Ph is a in the acceptable range but I'd like it to be a little higher. The Algicide I uses was from Doheny's it's their Super Algicide.
From what I understand the most important number to get in range is total alkalinity. From what I understand if that is not where it should be balancing your Ph, Chlorine, etc. can be like trying to hit a moving target. Till I get a proper complete liquid knowing that TA number for sure. The previous owner just had a basic Chlorine/Ph liquid test kit and beyond that a couple bottles of test strips which as far as I can tell expired 5-10 years ago. The one I can read the expiration date is 5 years out of date the other the label is so warn it's nearly impossible to read. I've ordered a more comprehensive Talylor kit that I should get this week. Should give me a better idea where we stand with the balance. I definitely feel like it should be this much struggle.
We recently went away for an extended weekend and left the solar cover on. When we got back the water was cloudy with a bit of an aqua/teal cast (we're not talking thick cloudiness more like a haze especially as you look towards or down on the deep end). Not green but not blue. I'll try and list the things I tried as I feel I'm guessing at this now. With the cloudiness and color, I thought I should hit it with some Algaecide and I feel like I may have added too much, as the pool still has a cloudiness/haze to it the hue became blue. After allowing some time I retested the Chlorine and Ph and the Chlorine had dropped way down. So I added a dose of granular chlorine, that seemed to do nothing. The following day still cloudy I decided to do an HTH shock treatment to the water that claimed clear water in 24 hours. Well, 24 hours later still cloudy. I test the Chlorine and still low if not a little lower. At this point I begin to wonder if I had overdone the algicide and that was cancelling out the Chlorine I'd added through the shock or the granular. So I added an extra dose of granular chlorine mostly broadcasting it slowly and put some in the skimmer. After a couple hours or so I added a 3" tablet to the skimmer basket and put the floaters back in that had tablets left in them. I gave this another day and after retesting the Cholrine is where I want it to be. Could be that the excess algecide is slowly dissipating and no longer fighting against my chlorine? Ph is a in the acceptable range but I'd like it to be a little higher. The Algicide I uses was from Doheny's it's their Super Algicide.
From what I understand the most important number to get in range is total alkalinity. From what I understand if that is not where it should be balancing your Ph, Chlorine, etc. can be like trying to hit a moving target. Till I get a proper complete liquid knowing that TA number for sure. The previous owner just had a basic Chlorine/Ph liquid test kit and beyond that a couple bottles of test strips which as far as I can tell expired 5-10 years ago. The one I can read the expiration date is 5 years out of date the other the label is so warn it's nearly impossible to read. I've ordered a more comprehensive Talylor kit that I should get this week. Should give me a better idea where we stand with the balance. I definitely feel like it should be this much struggle.
