Frustrated Pool Owner

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No, I am not home. I won't be home for a few hours. Yes, you are scaring me. I put one gallon of chlorine in on yesterday and prior to that, had been adding one gallon of bleach/day as was instructed in a previous post. Just bought a few cases of chlorine today because I could get for $2.50 gallon. I haven't been brushing like a crazy lady, so I guess that's what I will be doing when I get home. Thanks
 
ok - good! I think you should run some tests as soon as you get home. We're flying blind in the meantime. At least it's not unbearably hot out. Treat the brushing routine as a workout: think of the bottom and sides of your pool being your most frustrating co-worker. :D Use good posture, breathe deeply, play some music...

$2.50 is a decent deal. May I ask where?

FYI: Home Depot on Northwester Hwy will rent a submersible pump that you can attach a garden hose to for $25 per day. Kinda steep, but it might be worth it if brushing wears you out. Harbor Freight sells them starting at $60.
 
Good price on chlorine, I would con't to add a gallon and even start testing the FC, CC, PH & TA, might as well do a CH too. Good practice, get some readings and an idea of what you consume during day vs night. During the day, sun consumes chlorine as well as the organics being oxidized consumes chlorine, at night only the organics consume the chlorine. CH is not real important unless real high > 350 ppm. So a one time test of that. Ph you can adjust now if needed. CC shows how much organics are being consumed but during the day sun burns them off also, so the overnight is better. As soon as you can get CYA in decent sun test that. After your readings maybe we can help a little more but can't SLAM til sure of CYA. Your pool is really looking pretty good for all the trouble you have had. Can you take another pic of your equipment a wide shot so we can see valves leading to pumps to filter and back toward pool? maybe we can start to identify some things for you.
 
Woops, I thought you had a liner pool you have gunite, definatly test CH, PH and TA you need to have those balanced to prevent damage to gunite. You can do that now. note ph not accurate if FC is above 10. If fc above 10 wait till it comes below then test. I do not think it will be above 10 though, but just a guess.
 
You may not realize it yet...but you are 3/4 the way to having a sparkly pool! I often wonder how people can see my pool and not listen to my suggestions. You will understand what I mean after you can tell if a quarter is heads or tails in your deep end :cool:
 
Ok. So you need more calcium in there. But we already suspected that from the tiles falling off. 220ppm is your minimum there, so shoot for 300ppm so you can backwash a few times without dropping below.

TA looks a little high, but not unmanageable... Did you remember to wipe the tip of the bottle after each drop? Otherwise, it will read high. At any rate, that can been be corrected in the future.

Cya less than 30... You lost sight of the dot between 20 and 30? That's good. Right where you want to be. That means your shock level is 12 (cya should always round up to nearest 10)

The good thing about the robot is it will help move and filter the water while your pump is down.

Hopefully they'll start up your pump and you'll be able to get slamming! And enjoy a beautiful, trouble free pool for the rest of summer.
 
Whenever you test for CYA, always round up. If you lose sight of the dot between 20 and 30, it’s considered a result of 30 and your SLAM level should be for a pool with CYA at 30. And I can personally attest to needing to wipe the bottle of R-0009 off with a wet paper towel. My first reading was 180, and second where I wiped the tip of the bottle was 90.
 

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If you can add a gallon of bleach tonight, brush and keep robot going. If not tonight tomorrow. run robot after adding in AM also to help mixing.
What was the light like when you tested CYA? at what point was the dot obscure? What test kit do you have again?

Also Fingaling, I think she has the Taylor kit, but I may be wrong, but I think on Taylor kit 30 is the top reading. eglenn1964 can tell us.
 
Great what was the strength of the chlorine (can read it on the label). If you can when you first wake up go turn robot on, after about 30 min. go test and add to a target of 5 ppm My guess the gal will increase your fc by 3. Again this is rough guessing still but we are getting closer. Once pump is fixed and we get a good CYA you will be on your way and the pool does not look real bad, so here's to hoping SLAM is done soon. Also you are learning quickly just from the testing.
 
Chlorine 10%; CYA test probably invalid - not much sun out when I got home tonight. I tested it anyway. Yes, I have Taylor K-2006, 30 is the top reading. I did not wipe off the tip after each drop. I hope to get home tomorrow at a decent time of day with the sun still high and be able to test cya again.
 
eglenn1964 said:
Chlorine 10%; CYA test probably invalid - not much sun out when I got home tonight. I tested it anyway. Yes, I have Taylor K-2006, 30 is the top reading. I did not wipe off the tip after each drop. I hope to get home tomorrow at a decent time of day with the sun still high and be able to test cya again.
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Without wiping the tip of the bottle for the TA test, that result is invalid too. R-0009 builds up a static charge as it drops and the drops get smaller each time. Wiping cancels that charge and the drops are as big as they should be. That’s also the only reagent you need to do that with too.
 
Ok, something I am confused about, for FC you took 10ml sample in test cylinder, added 1 scoop of R-0780 ( I think Taylor Kit does not use scoop, if so add what Taylor tells you to add of R-0870 powder but if your directions are for 25 ml you cut the addition in half. Saves reagent) to cylinder and mix it. The solution turned pink, added 1 drop at a time while swirling of R-0871 and by the time you hit drop 19 the solution turned totally clear. This is FC test and yes your FC= 9.5 ppm. Now you added 5 drops of R-0003, if your solution stays clear your CC are 0 if it turns pink (even a slight shade of pink), you add 1 drop at a time R0871 again counting the drops, if it turns clear on 1 drop it is CC=.5 so I believe your cc are not zero but .5.

I think the drastic increase is due to circulation. The chlorine did not get mixed well when you added last night, then tested. 2 gallons of 10% added to 26000 gal pool (I believe you may have over estimated the gals of your pool a bit, but no big deal now) would be pretty close to that. We will not add any more today until you test tonight, as soon as you get home tonight, turn on robot, brush quickly (doesn't have to be long and real good, just trying to get water mixed a bit) test CYA in best sun possible, and then test all others and brush well if you still have energy. Also are you going to get some calcium chloride to add to the pool to bring up CH. I think it would be a good idea to do sooner rather than later. Can get it a wallmart or similar box store and can do it after getting CYA test done if you have the energy. I must say doing all this while working a full time job, caring for a 3 year old and running the other chores of the house can be very overwhelming.

Also you have mentioned that pool guy tests water, may want to call and ask him what his tests reveal and what kit he uses to test, many times pool maintenance companies test with the Taylor K-2006 write down what he says and what kits he uses and post, it may be helpful depending on what he uses. Also is your Kit the K-2006 or K-2006C? The only difference is the amount of reagent from what I understand.

I know I just hit you with a lot, do what you can, and you are doing OK, for all you have been through the pool does not look that bad. We just need to get it better. So you can teach your son how to swim.

PS at FC= 10 ph becomes unreliable so that may be the increase in PH from last night, will test tonight, FC will probably be down by 3-4 ppms or more.
 

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