Current readings: OTO TC approx. 6, PH 7.4-7.5, TA 320, CYA 40
Every summer, I fill my seasonal pool with water from the water hose (municipal water). My PH and alkalinity are always high out of the tap. My experience has been that the first few days my backwash water/filter color is dark orange, and then after adding the muriatic acid there are a couple days (maybe less) of blue-green backwash water/filter color. After that color disappears, the backwash water or filter color is either colorless or just yellow/brown from dirt and bugs. It is after the blue-green backwash phase that my pool water is really sparkling. The process takes about 5 days for me.
But not this year. I'm on day 5, and I'm still hosing dark orange water out of this tiny cartridge filter. I've adjusted my PH down. My water is clear, but not sparkling. It's kind of dingy.
Could be because the pump is small, so taking longer to filter out the iron. The iron could be making the water look dingy.
Could be because it needs to be shocked. My TC could actually be too much CC, due to all the water bugs that invade when I fill up a new pool. Like...a LOT of water bugs. Think plague proportions. I initially had an off-the-chart bright yellow reading after a start-up 1# of shock followed by Bioguard Silk Tabs floating in the pool for 2-3 days and zero CYA. Then I found your website on Day 3 and removed the floating tabs, returned all my unopened chemicals, bought CYA, bleach and a test kit. (Side note: I use Bioguard BackUp 2 as an algaecide because bugs can't live in it. All the bugs died within 24 hours. I realize TFP does not advocate the use of an algaecide, however...plague of water bugs. BackUp works.)
On Day 4 my TC was still off the chart yellow even though all my CYA wasn't even all dissolved yet and I had not added any chlorine in 24 hours. I thought it was odd, under bright hot sunny skies. I wondered how much of that was FC vs. CC. I found some threads on your webpage and decided that since I was smelling chlorine in the air I should shock with the bleach that I had bought. Then an hour later my TC was dark orange. At sundown the TC was off the chart bright yellow again, still a slight chlorine odor in the air, I decided to shock with 2 quarts of bleach again last night. I had confirmed my CYA was 40 in the meantime.
Today, Day 5, my TC was about 6 all day and even at sundown. I decided not to add any more bleach and just see what happens. There is not a bleach odor in the air...but if I put my face over the water and inhale I can smell it slightly.
The water looks better but it doesn't look like it normally looks by Day 5. Here are my questions.
What is the significance of the dark orange filter followed by the blue/green filter?
Would you trust that the OTO TC reading of 6ish is FC tonight, given the appearance of the water, the appearance of the dirty orange filter, and the test results over days 3-5?
If I'm unwilling to pay $$ for a bigger test kit, should I take a sample to my pool store and see if they get a FC reading?
I just don't like how the water looks, the filter looks, and don't know if I can trust a simple OTO reading during start-up. I've been a pool store Bioguard user for a decade...I trust them...I feel like I'm assuming and guessing.
Every summer, I fill my seasonal pool with water from the water hose (municipal water). My PH and alkalinity are always high out of the tap. My experience has been that the first few days my backwash water/filter color is dark orange, and then after adding the muriatic acid there are a couple days (maybe less) of blue-green backwash water/filter color. After that color disappears, the backwash water or filter color is either colorless or just yellow/brown from dirt and bugs. It is after the blue-green backwash phase that my pool water is really sparkling. The process takes about 5 days for me.
But not this year. I'm on day 5, and I'm still hosing dark orange water out of this tiny cartridge filter. I've adjusted my PH down. My water is clear, but not sparkling. It's kind of dingy.
Could be because the pump is small, so taking longer to filter out the iron. The iron could be making the water look dingy.
Could be because it needs to be shocked. My TC could actually be too much CC, due to all the water bugs that invade when I fill up a new pool. Like...a LOT of water bugs. Think plague proportions. I initially had an off-the-chart bright yellow reading after a start-up 1# of shock followed by Bioguard Silk Tabs floating in the pool for 2-3 days and zero CYA. Then I found your website on Day 3 and removed the floating tabs, returned all my unopened chemicals, bought CYA, bleach and a test kit. (Side note: I use Bioguard BackUp 2 as an algaecide because bugs can't live in it. All the bugs died within 24 hours. I realize TFP does not advocate the use of an algaecide, however...plague of water bugs. BackUp works.)
On Day 4 my TC was still off the chart yellow even though all my CYA wasn't even all dissolved yet and I had not added any chlorine in 24 hours. I thought it was odd, under bright hot sunny skies. I wondered how much of that was FC vs. CC. I found some threads on your webpage and decided that since I was smelling chlorine in the air I should shock with the bleach that I had bought. Then an hour later my TC was dark orange. At sundown the TC was off the chart bright yellow again, still a slight chlorine odor in the air, I decided to shock with 2 quarts of bleach again last night. I had confirmed my CYA was 40 in the meantime.
Today, Day 5, my TC was about 6 all day and even at sundown. I decided not to add any more bleach and just see what happens. There is not a bleach odor in the air...but if I put my face over the water and inhale I can smell it slightly.
The water looks better but it doesn't look like it normally looks by Day 5. Here are my questions.
What is the significance of the dark orange filter followed by the blue/green filter?
Would you trust that the OTO TC reading of 6ish is FC tonight, given the appearance of the water, the appearance of the dirty orange filter, and the test results over days 3-5?
If I'm unwilling to pay $$ for a bigger test kit, should I take a sample to my pool store and see if they get a FC reading?
I just don't like how the water looks, the filter looks, and don't know if I can trust a simple OTO reading during start-up. I've been a pool store Bioguard user for a decade...I trust them...I feel like I'm assuming and guessing.
