Hi everyone!
I am an experienced pool owner who has used the BBB method for many years. I moved nearly 3 years ago to a house with an in ground pool (my first inground!) Since my new pool is substantially bigger (18 x 38- 35,000 gallons) than the previous 24 ft above grounds I’ve owned, I made a few changes to my methods. My pool has an in-line puck feeder that I use when I am going to be unavailable for pool care for a few days, but for my regular chlorine additions and for shocking I use granular calcium hypochlorite that I can get in a huge tub from Sams or Costco at a good price. I typically don’t have problems with my pool chemistry.
My house was sold to me with an automated, retractable cover, which has never actually worked. We were able to unroll it manually the first closing I went through, but last fall we were not able to do so. This year then I opened to the greenest, chunkiest mess I have ever had to deal with! It’s been weeks now and the pool is still cloudy.
I have several questions:
* My test kit is 3 years old and got left in the pool house over the winter. I have now ordered a fresh new one, but it hasn’t arrived yet. I’m not sure I can trust the results from my old one as the older reagents froze over the wither, and there is a huge discrepancy between the chlorine read on the computator vs the chlorine read on the FAS-DPD test. The computator is only slightly darker than the max of 5 color, but the result from the FAS-DPD is running 40 plus. I’m keeping the pH between 7.0 and 7.2, my TA is running in the low 300’s (it’s over 400 out of the faucet here), I have a vinyl pool so I skip the Ca++ test, and my CYA which last year I got down into the 60s with a series of 10 to 20% water changes (I think the old owners only used those pucks in the in line feeder as their chlorination means,) but now it looks like it’s reading around 100! I have also NOT added any CYA, either directly or indirectly through the chlorine formulation (pucks). My pool no longer has frank algae growing, but the water remains hazy. Could the hazy water be causing me to read the CYA as higher than it is? Also, when I try to do the FAS-DPD I can’t get the pink solution to go back to clear, hence the decision to get a new kit.
* there were so many rotting leaves in the bottom of the pool this year, and they were so rotten they broke apart when trying to scoop them out. I have skimmer socks in place, but they aren’t catching much, and my dolphin cleaner has the fine mesh filters in place, but it’s not catching it either. Would some DE into my sand filter help? Or is the haziness probably something else like a metal ppt, or dead algae?
* are there reasonable steps I can take until my new test kit arrives? Or should I just sit tight and wait until I can get a reliable set of numbers?
I appreciate any advice!
Leanne
I am an experienced pool owner who has used the BBB method for many years. I moved nearly 3 years ago to a house with an in ground pool (my first inground!) Since my new pool is substantially bigger (18 x 38- 35,000 gallons) than the previous 24 ft above grounds I’ve owned, I made a few changes to my methods. My pool has an in-line puck feeder that I use when I am going to be unavailable for pool care for a few days, but for my regular chlorine additions and for shocking I use granular calcium hypochlorite that I can get in a huge tub from Sams or Costco at a good price. I typically don’t have problems with my pool chemistry.
My house was sold to me with an automated, retractable cover, which has never actually worked. We were able to unroll it manually the first closing I went through, but last fall we were not able to do so. This year then I opened to the greenest, chunkiest mess I have ever had to deal with! It’s been weeks now and the pool is still cloudy.
I have several questions:
* My test kit is 3 years old and got left in the pool house over the winter. I have now ordered a fresh new one, but it hasn’t arrived yet. I’m not sure I can trust the results from my old one as the older reagents froze over the wither, and there is a huge discrepancy between the chlorine read on the computator vs the chlorine read on the FAS-DPD test. The computator is only slightly darker than the max of 5 color, but the result from the FAS-DPD is running 40 plus. I’m keeping the pH between 7.0 and 7.2, my TA is running in the low 300’s (it’s over 400 out of the faucet here), I have a vinyl pool so I skip the Ca++ test, and my CYA which last year I got down into the 60s with a series of 10 to 20% water changes (I think the old owners only used those pucks in the in line feeder as their chlorination means,) but now it looks like it’s reading around 100! I have also NOT added any CYA, either directly or indirectly through the chlorine formulation (pucks). My pool no longer has frank algae growing, but the water remains hazy. Could the hazy water be causing me to read the CYA as higher than it is? Also, when I try to do the FAS-DPD I can’t get the pink solution to go back to clear, hence the decision to get a new kit.
* there were so many rotting leaves in the bottom of the pool this year, and they were so rotten they broke apart when trying to scoop them out. I have skimmer socks in place, but they aren’t catching much, and my dolphin cleaner has the fine mesh filters in place, but it’s not catching it either. Would some DE into my sand filter help? Or is the haziness probably something else like a metal ppt, or dead algae?
* are there reasonable steps I can take until my new test kit arrives? Or should I just sit tight and wait until I can get a reliable set of numbers?
I appreciate any advice!
Leanne
