HELP- New owner, I must be doing something wrong

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NewPoolOwner#7

0
Jun 28, 2018
45
Iowa
Pool Size
10200
Surface
Vinyl
Chlorine
Liquid Chlorine
Hello all,

I purchased a house with the pool listed in my signature -vv- I am of the opinion that the prev owner did nothing with the pool from the time we offered till we closed on the house (5/2/18 to 6/7/18). After moving, I wasn't exactly sure how to care for it so I added a couple chlorine tabs and scooped about 10 lbs of leaves and other organic material out until the pool store could come and show me some of the basics. We tested and while some of the things were low, there was mainly no chlorine so their advice was to just add a ton of chlorine.

This did work to clear it up, the color was a cloudy but bright aqua blue. The water is pretty clear now but there is some unknown silt that was reddish brown but today was bright blue, I wonder if it was some un-dissolved shock powder.

I have added probably 12-13 if not more, 1 lb bags of shock treatment and have so far added maybe 2 lbs total of soda ash and 2lbs from a tub marked ALK+ (I assume its baking soda). I added 3 bags of shock, 1 lb of soda ash and all 2 lbs of ALK+ (baking soda) about 3 hours ago and as of the last test (20 mins ago) there is --- 0 Free Chlorine // Just barely any Total Chlorine // PH low but in the "OK" Range 7.2ish // Same with Alkalinity, just below "OK" however I dont remember the number. Most everything else was good.

What are my best steps? I feel like I've been adding stuff forever with no effect, it has been fairly sunny and hot. Mainly, can I use it tomorrow with 0 Free Chlorine?
 
You need a proper test kit. Either the Taylor K-6000c or the TF100

Look at my signature and read though pool school. You need chlorine for the water to be sanitized. Straight liquid chlorine or regular bleach is the preferred method.

Also pool store advise is usually wrong. With the proper test kit and understanding your water chemistry it’s easy to maintain your pool.
 
Welcome to the forum!

Order a test kit. We can provide guidance once you have accurate pool water chemistry test results.

Would I swim in that pool? No. You do not know what CYA you have, your FC, nor your pH.
 
Where to start, where to start??

Your pool store advice of adding a ton of chlorine was correct. From there it seemed to go downhill. You have a choice, follow your pool store advice or follow the TFP methods. They are not the same since we don't want to sell you anything and want to make your pool maintenance simple.

You have to read Pool School - Pool School and Pool School - ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry

Your pool needs constant dosages of chlorine. CL is what sanitizes your water. Without FC we don't know what is lurking in it or about to bloom in it. Simplest way to add Cl is using household unscented bleach. The only way to get away from constant adding of bleach to maintain your FC level is to get a salt water generator or an automatic chlorinator.

How much bleach you should add depends on your CYA level. This leads to you needing to be able to do your own reliable accurate testing. You need to buy a test kit like the TF-100 Test Kits

Until you get your test kit and know your FC and CYA levels it is best to add a gallon of bleach every day to prevent anything growing.

Chances are you need to do a Pool School - SLAM - Shock Level And Maintain to clear your pool. But you can't do that until you get your test kit.

So to summarize:

- Order your test kit
- Begin reading Pool School
- Stock up on bleach and begin adding daily to your pool
- Stop adding other stuff to your pool until you get your test kit and post your results
- Take a look at PoolMath as you use PoolMath to determine how much chemicals your pool needs
 
Alright here is the test from this morning, using a Leslies Pool Supply test strip that doesnt expire until 2019.

Free Chlorine - 0
Total Chlorine - 0.5
Alkalinity - between 40 and 80
PH - Between 6.2 and 6.8
Total Hardness - 250
CyA - Between 0 and 40

Part of the issue is I don't know how much of what I have to add, the Soda Ash says 1lb to treat 15k gallons and I added 1lb but am not sure how much that is supposed to raise it.
 
You'll probably hear this a lot on this forum, so I'll just get to it:
If your intent is to care for this poor yourself, you will need to order a proper test kit. Test Kit Strips are very inconsistent and won't give you enough information to see what's going on.
Second - Try not to visit the pool store, especially for advice and testing. Their job is to sell you stuff, stuff you don't need or really want in most cases.

All of us new owners have gone through this at some point. Best advice is to order the test kit today and spend the weekend reading information on this site. Don't worry too much about any other stuff for now until you get your test kit.

Visit the pool school, read it over a few times.
ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry
 
Thanks! I have the TF100 on order, somewhere in the mail now. What can I do today to help it out? My wife is dying to use it, today will see temps in the 100s here today and we were really hoping to use it tonight
 
NewPoolOwner#7 said:
Thanks! I have the TF100 on order, somewhere in the mail now. What can I do today to help it out? My wife is dying to use it, today will see temps in the 100s here today and we were really hoping to use it tonight
Click to expand...

Get your PH into the 7’s and your FC level a consistent 4 - 8. Even then you dont know how sanitary your pool water will be.

Like I said in my prior post, put a gallon of bleach in every day until you can do proper testing.
 
I seem to be loosing chlorine much faster than I should be, 2 lbs shock good for a total 32,000 gallons were gone in 3 hours last night. Should I add CyA to help me not loose as much? Otherwise I have no way to keep FC up
 
NewPoolOwner#7 said:
I seem to be loosing chlorine much faster than I should be, 2 lbs shock good for a total 32,000 gallons were gone in 3 hours last night. Should I add CyA to help me not loose as much? Otherwise I have no way to keep FC up
Click to expand...

Maybe. … it depends what your current level is. Somewhere between 0 and 40 isn't a valid reading you can use. To SLAM your pool you will want about 30 ppm.

Once your test kit arrives test the CYA and adjust it.
 

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NewPoolOwner#7 said:
I seem to be loosing chlorine much faster than I should be, 2 lbs shock good for a total 32,000 gallons were gone in 3 hours last night. Should I add CyA to help me not loose as much? Otherwise I have no way to keep FC up
Click to expand...

That is why people install salt water generators so they don’t have to continually add chlorine.

Sunlight without CYA eats chlorine quickly.
 
You don't want to add anything but liquid bleach. The bags of shock have cya in them, and if you raise it too much, you will make the impending SLAM more difficult. Just add the bleach only as recommended until you can test your own water and provide the results. Then these guys will get you sorted out.
 
dkimble said:
You don't want to add anything but liquid bleach. The bags of shock have cya in them, and if you raise it too much, you will make the impending SLAM more difficult. Just add the bleach only as recommended until you can test your own water and provide the results. Then these guys will get you sorted out.
Click to expand...

i want to just hop in so badly. I see it from almost every room in the house and it’s been mocking me for the past month.... I do swim in rivers and lakes a lot ;)
 
Good morning,

I read through the thread, and I totally understand the NEED to get in the pool in this heat cuz we're having it too.

If there is a Walmart by you, they typically sell small drop-based test kits (HTH brand around here). It's a 6-way test, and there's enough testing reagent for you to test the CYA twice. It's about $20. It will test your Total Chlorine, your PH, and your Alkalinity. Its pretty accurate compared to other cheap test kits sold in stores. Definitely better than test strips. Its very simple and the instructions are included.

When did you order your TF-100? Being the weekend, if you are able to "track" it, if you can wait for it, great. If not, try to find the cheap one I described. At least then you can get a good idea on your CYA level (as well as the pH, TA, etc). I know it seems like a waste of $20 but it can give you a jump-start and help get your wife in the pool...

Now, mentioned above was "the shock bags contain CYA" - not necessarily. There are several products that come in bags: Cal-Hypo, Lithium Hypo, Non-Chlorine Shock - these do not contain CYA. So if you have been using any of these, they have not raised your CYA level, and it could be very low which could contribute to not being able to hold chlorine.

Do you know what type of bags you added, the active ingredient? And total up the bags, by type.

If you used bags that contained Sodium-Dichlor (the actual name is much longer and I can barely pronounce it after 11 years), then that contains CYA. So if we can total the total number of dichlor bags you added, we can estimate your CYA level.

So if it were me, and the water is mostly clear with no chlorine, as advised above, keep adding a jug of bleach until you can get a kit. If your TF-100 isn't coming until Monday, and you have a Walmart by you - that's where I would head.

Hope this helps :)
 
frustratedpoolmom said:
Good morning,

I read through the thread, and I totally understand the NEED to get in the pool in this heat cuz we're having it too.

If there is a Walmart by you, they typically sell small drop-based test kits (HTH brand around here). It's a 6-way test, and there's enough testing reagent for you to test the CYA twice. It's about $20. It will test your Total Chlorine, your PH, and your Alkalinity. Its pretty accurate compared to other cheap test kits sold in stores. Definitely better than test strips. Its very simple and the instructions are included.

When did you order your TF-100? Being the weekend, if you are able to "track" it, if you can wait for it, great. If not, try to find the cheap one I described. At least then you can get a good idea on your CYA level (as well as the pH, TA, etc). I know it seems like a waste of $20 but it can give you a jump-start and help get your wife in the pool...

Now, mentioned above was "the shock bags contain CYA" - not necessarily. There are several products that come in bags: Cal-Hypo, Lithium Hypo, Non-Chlorine Shock - these do not contain CYA. So if you have been using any of these, they have not raised your CYA level, and it could be very low which could contribute to not being able to hold chlorine.

Do you know what type of bags you added, the active ingredient? And total up the bags, by type.

If you used bags that contained Sodium-Dichlor (the actual name is much longer and I can barely pronounce it after 11 years), then that contains CYA. So if we can total the total number of dichlor bags you added, we can estimate your CYA level.

So if it were me, and the water is mostly clear with no chlorine, as advised above, keep adding a jug of bleach until you can get a kit. If your TF-100 isn't coming until Monday, and you have a Walmart by you - that's where I would head.

Hope this helps :)
Click to expand...

I think thats what I will do, the test kit isnt supposed to arrive until 7/9-7/24 so I will go grab one
Edit : Is it this one? here https://www.walmart.com/ip/hth-6-Way-Test-Kit/101959375
 
Last edited:
Alright everyone. Here’s my test results with the kit above.

Chlorine -0
bromune -0
alk - 20
ph 6.8
hardness 60ppm
CyA. 100 or more.

So so I guess I need to drain it

- - - Updated - - -

Edit. I had been using he Clorox extra blue shock
 

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