Short story -
Have had our pool for 7 years going on 8 and very minimal issues.
Generally test and balance the pool myself with products from big box stores (i.e. liquid chlorine, borax, etc.)
(We do have an inline chlorinator that is used sometimes.)
32,600 gallon, rectangular, vinyl pool
This Spring, opened the pool and looked good, shocked it per normal, chlorine level dropped, had a few days of decent swimming and then Milky or Lemonade looking water...
Shocked pool again, and brought it back to normal looking, CH was insanely high though (our water is hard, but this was off the charts high)...
Refreshed the water, shocked it, balanced it, looking good... BUT...
Pool was shocked at Sunday and FC was 3 (but now I think that may have been coming down from the shock). Free Chlorine seems to be at zero. Basically if I am not shocking the pool it seems it can't maintain any FC. CC is generally at or darn near 0 as well. I thought maybe my testing skills were off so I took to local pool store. Their test came back with very similar results to mine (which might confirm I don't know what I am doing )...
My test first / Pool store test... (Tuesday) **
FC - 0 (perhaps 0.2) / 0
TC - 0 (perhaps 0.2) / 0
CC - 0 (perhaps 0.2) / 0
PH - 7.4 / 7.3
Alk - 115 / 110
CYA - 47 / 53
CH - 220 / 200
Phosphates - (untested) / 2049
TDS - 688 / 800
- They also tested for ammonia and that was okay
Action:
- I bumped up the Alk & PH with Walmart products
- They suggested treating the phosphates, I balked at that
- They suggested throwing a few chlorine tablets in the skimmer (thinking the chlorinator might be the issue), seemed like a bad idea
- They suggested testing the water at the pool return... I did this and it DID register FC, but ONLY if I had a testing strip basically in the return. I tried to scoop out water right next to the return and got no reading..
My test first / Pool store test... (Thursday)**
FC - 0.2-0.4 / 0.1
TC - 0.4 / 0.4
CC - 0.2 / 0.3
PH - 7.6 / 7.4
Alk - 130 / 123
CYA - 50 / 48
CH - 225 / 157(?)
Phosphates - (untested) / 2139
TDS - 672 / (untested)
- They suggested treating the phosphates, I balked at that again
- They suggested bumping the PH and Alk again, but that seems unnescessary to me
- No other clues as to why FC is where it is at, but they suggested shocking again. (They ofcourse suggest Burnout 73.)
- We have an automatic pool cover so it never really gets hit with lots of rainfall, run off, fertilizer, etc.
** I am obsessive, so my tests have been done with the Taylor Test Kit, a ColorQ test kit, Test strips (read manually), and test strips read by smart phone app. (I also have a tester for TDS which I generally use for my interior water, but I have been desperate.) And they all were about the same. The pool store used their little disk for most tests.**
Pool "looks" AMAZING, but if FC is hovering around zero that's not going to last for too long. Thoughts on most efficient course of action?
Have had our pool for 7 years going on 8 and very minimal issues.
Generally test and balance the pool myself with products from big box stores (i.e. liquid chlorine, borax, etc.)
(We do have an inline chlorinator that is used sometimes.)
32,600 gallon, rectangular, vinyl pool
This Spring, opened the pool and looked good, shocked it per normal, chlorine level dropped, had a few days of decent swimming and then Milky or Lemonade looking water...
Shocked pool again, and brought it back to normal looking, CH was insanely high though (our water is hard, but this was off the charts high)...
Refreshed the water, shocked it, balanced it, looking good... BUT...
Pool was shocked at Sunday and FC was 3 (but now I think that may have been coming down from the shock). Free Chlorine seems to be at zero. Basically if I am not shocking the pool it seems it can't maintain any FC. CC is generally at or darn near 0 as well. I thought maybe my testing skills were off so I took to local pool store. Their test came back with very similar results to mine (which might confirm I don't know what I am doing )...
My test first / Pool store test... (Tuesday) **
FC - 0 (perhaps 0.2) / 0
TC - 0 (perhaps 0.2) / 0
CC - 0 (perhaps 0.2) / 0
PH - 7.4 / 7.3
Alk - 115 / 110
CYA - 47 / 53
CH - 220 / 200
Phosphates - (untested) / 2049
TDS - 688 / 800
- They also tested for ammonia and that was okay
Action:
- I bumped up the Alk & PH with Walmart products
- They suggested treating the phosphates, I balked at that
- They suggested throwing a few chlorine tablets in the skimmer (thinking the chlorinator might be the issue), seemed like a bad idea
- They suggested testing the water at the pool return... I did this and it DID register FC, but ONLY if I had a testing strip basically in the return. I tried to scoop out water right next to the return and got no reading..
My test first / Pool store test... (Thursday)**
FC - 0.2-0.4 / 0.1
TC - 0.4 / 0.4
CC - 0.2 / 0.3
PH - 7.6 / 7.4
Alk - 130 / 123
CYA - 50 / 48
CH - 225 / 157(?)
Phosphates - (untested) / 2139
TDS - 672 / (untested)
- They suggested treating the phosphates, I balked at that again
- They suggested bumping the PH and Alk again, but that seems unnescessary to me
- No other clues as to why FC is where it is at, but they suggested shocking again. (They ofcourse suggest Burnout 73.)
- We have an automatic pool cover so it never really gets hit with lots of rainfall, run off, fertilizer, etc.
** I am obsessive, so my tests have been done with the Taylor Test Kit, a ColorQ test kit, Test strips (read manually), and test strips read by smart phone app. (I also have a tester for TDS which I generally use for my interior water, but I have been desperate.) And they all were about the same. The pool store used their little disk for most tests.**
Pool "looks" AMAZING, but if FC is hovering around zero that's not going to last for too long. Thoughts on most efficient course of action?
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