Grrrr. I messed up again

[chubrok]

I went out of town last week and relied on my 14-year-old son to check the pool regularly as I have trained him to do using the pool math app. Yesterday afternoon I took a look at the log of the pool on my phone and noticed that he had not touched it in five days. I opened the solid automatic pool cover to a cloudy pool. Upon testing with my TF-100 & speed stir... these were the results.
FC-0
CC-2
PH -7.2
TA-140
CH-225
CYA-0

Just screams to me that I have an ammonia problem as my CYA was 40 about three weeks ago.
I am presently checking the chlorine every 30 minutes and adding 10% bleach to bring it to FC-10 and it is falling rapidly. Putting in close to a gallon every half hour.
there are no visible signs of mold or algae as it is a fiberglass pool. I have brushed and vacuumed the pool although I cannot see the bottom and cleaned the filters which were pretty dirty at the time. Last year I had a large algae/mold bloom on the skimmer weir foam pad which has been replaced and I checked and it’s clean.
I attribute a lot of my Chlorine depletion to the sun as my CYA is zero and it is a bright and sunny day. I’m trying to follow the pool school to get it to maintain chlorine level of 10 and then raise the CYA.
Would it be harmful if I close the pool cover to block against the sun or would that mess up the ammonia offgassing? Any help you can give would be greatly appreciated as it’s supposed to be sunny and hot all week and the wife is really ******.

 

[splashpad]

I would keep adding FC until it holds and no CC's register. Can you partially close the cover? That might help with some UV blocking, but also allow out-gassing.
Do you have any FC reading 30min later?

 

[JamesW]

Definitely leave the cover open. You can begin adding cyanuric acid as soon as the fc begins to hold.

The UV will help get rid of the CC.

 

[chubrok]

Thanks for the quick reply… I love this site…
I have closed the cover partially (1/2) to hopefully help with the UV while still allowing offgassing… I believe my logs are public if you want to take a look and see what I’m reading. At $3 a gallon every half hour this is going to break me. Ugh

 

[splashpad]

Thanks for the quick reply… I love this site…
I have closed the cover partially (1/2) to hopefully help with the UV while still allowing offgassing… I believe my logs are public if you want to take a look and see what I’m reading. At $3 a gallon every half hour this is going to break me. Ugh

The results are showing CC/0-0.5, if so, you can target CYA/30, unless I am missing something?

Do you have auto-fill? Is there a chance it flushed out the CYA?

 

[chubrok]

I do not have an auto fill… I don’t see a way it possibly flushed out the CYA since we don’t drain the pool and keep it covered. My CC readings have been all over the place though. I thought I couldn’t add CYA until I am semi- maintaining chlorine at 10.

 

[mknauss]

To check and defeat ammonia, if necessary, is to raise your FC in the water using enough liquid chlorine to get to 10 ppm using PoolMath. Circulate the pool for 15 minutes. Test FC and CC. If FC at 5 or below, add LC to get to 10 using LC, circulate for 15 minutes, repeat until your FC is above 5 ppm after the 15 minute circulation.

 

[chubrok]

OK I will make it 15 minutes… What’s my next step once it reaches and maintains a level of 5?

 

[mknauss]

SLAM Process

 

[chubrok]

But what I meant was is that the time when I should add stabilizer to bring the CYA up?

 

[mknauss]

Yes -- raise your CYA to 30 ppm. Probably all you need with the cover. And then follow the SLAM Process

 

[chubrok]

OK… I’m going to put my kid in charge of the testing process while I run to The Great Escape to pick up stabilizer…

 

[chubrok]

I wish the app had a “hey stupid we haven’t heard from you in a while“ notification. LOL.

 

[JamesW]

I’m going to put my kid in charge of the testing process

Isn't that where the process broke down last time? LOL.

 

[splashpad]

I wish the app had a “hey stupid we haven’t heard from you in a while“ notification. LOL.

There is a sub-forum here for APP suggestions

 

[chubrok]

Isn't that where the process broke down last time? LOL.

Touché
i’m texting him every 15 minutes to make sure it gets done while I’m out

 

[JamesW]

The app needs a feature that texts your kids to remind them of everything they agreed to do.

If necessary if it can remind them on Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat etc.

 

[chubrok]

Just got home and the pool is looking much better. My son has been checking and adding bleach every 15 minutes… Some of his numbers I think are way off but at least now I can see past the first step. I’ll do the next three rounds of testing myself and if it stays above 5 ppm I will add the stabilizer. The pool will be in the shade in about an hour and a half and that will help tremendously as well. Thanks everybody for your help. This site and its members are second to none.

 

[kellyfair]

Do what I do - Alexa reminders!

9pm on Wednesday and Sunday, Alexa says:

This is your reminder: Melinda take trash and recycling to street.

I have been known to set reminders every 15 minutes to drive a point home!

 

[Chasarms]

I think I would wait until the water clears up and test CYA again before I added any. It doesn’t make sense to lose that much that fast.

Also, if you do add, add only the amount to achieve about 10 ppm and test again.