First time pool owner

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hewing_05

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Jul 3, 2017
60
Greenup
Hi all!
We bought a house 2 years ago with a 27 foot above ground pool. It was left un covered for a few years. Last year we nearly drained and cleaned the pool and refilled. I have had it open this year for abiut a month and i have been reading and trying to understand my pool chemistry. After several pool store gotchas, I have found this forum and I'm hoping for help! I have never been able to see the bottom of the pool yet this year. After doing several things the pool center advised me too, I'm still not seeing bottom. We always have the 3 inch tablets in the floater. We have a hayward 1hp pump and a 200 pound sand filter. The pool is vinyl.
I had been trying to lower my TA these past few days with multric acid. My TA was 230 and now it's 170.
Before adding the acid we were at a 7.4 on ph.

We have also kept filteration running 95% of the time this past month. Here are my latest test done this morning at 7am.
Ph 6.8
Cl .5
Br 1
Ta 170
Cya 28
Not sure how to add pictures...
 
Figured the picture thing out. The first image was 3 days ago before acid was added. The 2nd picture is today. I'm not sure what the floating white **** is? But I noticed my floating basket was in front of skimmer. We also used some clear balance tablets. I'm wondering if this is not from those?
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If you want water like this, do what he does. Start with a proper test kit. And ditch the floater and the pucks. You're already at approximately 30 CYA which is ideal for what comes next: the SLAM Process You can't do the SLAM without the right chlorine tester-- yours doesn't read high enough.

While you're waiting for the test kit, add a jug of plain 8.25% bleach every day. It won't clear it, but it will hold it where it is and might actually improve things a little. That's right -- plain unscented household bleach. You don;t need to go to the pool store and pay pool store prices for stuff.

No more acid for a while. Your pH is already low and pH and TA aren't what's causing the cloudiness anyway.
 
Richard320 said:
If you want water like this, do what he does. Start with a proper test kit. And ditch the floater and the pucks. You're already at approximately 30 CYA which is ideal for what comes next: the SLAM Process You can't do the SLAM without the right chlorine tester-- yours doesn't read high enough.

While you're waiting for the test kit, add a jug of plain 8.25% bleach every day. It won't clear it, but it will hold it where it is and might actually improve things a little. That's right -- plain unscented household bleach. You don;t need to go to the pool store and pay pool store prices for stuff.

No more acid for a while. Your pH is already low and pH and TA aren't what's causing the cloudiness anyway.
Click to expand...
Which test do you recommend? The link send me to another forum.
 
That works but is too small, if you want the Taylor get the 2006c, it's bigger and has some uneeded stuff.

The tf100 is from here and setup for the home pool care so it lasts better, uses the same reagents as Taylor.

I think the link is tftestkits.com or similar
 

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Ok. I don't really know much about those test kits, but I do know with the test kit I use (the tft kit) your TA results can be affected by static charge and you need to give the top of the bottle a quick wipe with a damp cloth between each drop to get an accurate reading. Make sure that you do that with your test kit if it says to do so in the instructions. This can give you an artificially high TA reading.

I would stop adding the clear balance tablets and I wouldn't use the pucks in the floater any more. You can get your chlorine up by adding bleach (get the concentrated kind, no scent, regular). Now, getting your TA value lowered can be a bit of a process I think. I haven't done it before, so I'll let someone else give you advice on that. I think it will require some patience.

Before you really get started with this, I know there are some things things the experts will want to know about your pool (pool size, your state, etc.). It's helpful for them if you add these details to your signature: Pool School - Getting Started

In the meantime, I'd work on getting your pH up a bit by using just aeration (point your return jet to the surface of the pool and just let the pump run). I wouldn't add any other chemicals until someone who knows about this stuff gives you some advice!

Also, take a look at the pool math link: http://www.troublefreepool.com/calc.html

Add all of your pertinent details to that, it will give you an idea of what your chlorine goal should be. Here is a handy reference chart for chlorine/cya ratios: Pool School - Chlorine / CYA Chart

You will at some point need to get that pool up to slam value. Do that using plain old bleach. I wouldn't add anything else at this point until an expert chimes in on what that white stuff may be and how to deal with TA. Keep running your filter while you do this. Remember, once you add chlorine to the slam level, your pH test won't be reliable - so you may need to work on the pH first.

Good luck. There are people on this forum that will be able to help you out - just listen to their advice!
 
Might be a stupid question on my part, but are you sure you have a Chlorine based pool? I ask because Pic #2 looks like my water did at the beginning of my conversion from Baquacil (i.e. Chlorine reacting with hydrogen peroxide). Also, you gave a Br (Bromine) reading. I hope you meant CL, because I read in one of the forums here that once a bromine pool always a bromine pool.
 
Also - I'm normally an amazon prime 2-day shipping person as well - but tftestkits.net ships really, really fast. I just ordered some more reagents for my kit. Got the shipping notice about an hour after I placed the order. They are on top of things!
 
Husky25 said:
Might be a stupid question on my part, but are you sure you have a Chlorine based pool? I ask because Pic #2 looks like my water did at the beginning of my conversion from Baquacil (i.e. Chlorine reacting with hydrogen peroxide). Also, you gave a Br (Bromine) reading. I hope you meant CL, because I read in one of the forums here that once a bromine pool always a bromine pool.
Click to expand...
It says Cl/BR on my kit... not sure what Bromine is.
 
Was the cya test at all cloudy? If so you likely have some... If it was perfectly clear, you have none.

Either way, you need to get some cya (stabilizer) in there. You can use pool math to bring yourself up to 30ppm cya. Add it by hanging a sock full of it in front of a return jet. You can buy it at Walmart or anywhere they sell pool supplies. look for the ingredient 100% cyanuric acid.

Then once that's hanging in there, you can begin the slam process. For a cya of 30, your FC goal will be 12.
 
Fingaling said:
Was the cya test at all cloudy? If so you likely have some... If it was perfectly clear, you have none.

Either way, you need to get some cya (stabilizer) in there. You can use pool math to bring yourself up to 30ppm cya. Add it by hanging a sock full of it in front of a return jet. You can buy it at Walmart or anywhere they sell pool supplies. look for the ingredient 100% cyanuric acid.

Then once that's hanging in there, you can begin the slam process. For a cya of 30, your FC goal will be 12.
Click to expand...
Ok Thanks! Is 12 the number of gallons of bleach I need? And do I add it all at once? I read the slam process but it didn't specify.
 

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