Help - ready to make it a tennis court instead!!

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J

Jazzalto

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Jun 12, 2010
5
Good afternoon - I am a newby to the forum - have been reading but never posted. So here is the problem, opened the pool - (cover was torn during the winter so lots of leaves) The water to start was a nice shade of green - think swamp - after going to the dreaded pool store locally - and 300.00 of chemicals later - I now have a nice sort of bluish cloud of water. My wife is losing faith in me - and I am thinking tennis court. I do not have the test kit I am reading about - The store says my water balance is great - just need to use a flock - (sure I spelled that one wrong) and all will be well. Short story - did not work - I have taken the top off of the filter - cleaned the sand - no broken laterals that I can find - sand is 3 years old. I am at wits end! Here are the test results I have to give based on my little test kit.
combined chlorine - 3.5
PH - 7.2
Bromine - 6.5
I have been using liquid chlorine every night for the past 4 nights, have put in 4 gallons each night!
Help!!!
 
You need to find out what your CYA level is, so you know what level to shock at.If your combined chlorine is still 3.5 then you still need to maintain your shock level. Your water should continue to improve each day. Be sure to brush the pool and Backwash as needed. Read the pool school article on how to shock your pool.

If at all possible try to get a good test kit, your shooting in the dark without acurate data. Your filter may need to have the sand changed if its 3 years old but it could likely wait untill you clear your pool.
 
Jazzalto said:
the problem, opened the pool - (cover was torn during the winter so lots of leaves) The water to start was a nice shade of green - think swamp - after going to the dreaded pool store locally - and 300.00 of chemicals later - I now have a nice sort of bluish cloud of water. My wife is losing faith in me - and I am thinking tennis court. I do not have the test kit I am reading about - The store says my water balance is great - just need to use a flock - (sure I spelled that one wrong) and all will be well. Short story - did not work - I have taken the top off of the filter - cleaned the sand - no broken laterals that I can find - sand is 3 years old. I am at wits end! Here are the test results I have to give based on my little test kit.
combined chlorine - 3.5
PH - 7.2
Bromine - 6.5
I have been using liquid chlorine every night for the past 4 nights, have put in 4 gallons each night!
Help!!!
Henderson, TN
18X36 inground Vinyl pool - 14 years old - new liner 1 year ago
26,800 gallon
Sand filter - Christal Flo - Hi rate 300 Lbs of sand, Hayward pump 1.0 HP
Click to expand...
OK, DEEP BREATH!!
Now,
1. The leaves , if they are still there, have to come out. Any organic matter in the pool has to come out.
2. The pool store should be able to give you the actual readings, CYA, FC, CC, PH, TA, & Calcium levels.
3. The 4 gallons of bleach, in a 28,000 gallon pool is really a drop in the bucket, but we need to know what the levels of the chemicals in your water are before we can make specific recommendations.
4. What did you use to chlorinate/sanitize the pool last year?
5. READ THE ARTICLES in POOL SCHOOL.

How has you pool opening been in previous years?

Terry in NC
 
Hi terry - thanks for the reply - to answer your questions
1. last year I used granular shock from the pool store - as well as algecide - then the 3 ich chlorine tablets in the auto chlorinator.
2. I am in the blind as far as the leaves etc - it seems as though I have 99.9% cleaned out the pool. but it is hard to be sure as I cannot see
3. I am going to the pool store to get a complete read out - and am getting a test kit that will measure all the numbers I need. It will be monday until the store is open
4. What should I do in the meantime??
Thanks!!
 
Jazzalto - -you have come to the right place. Post whatever test results you get from the pool store and, even though they are not always 100% accurate they'll serve as a starting point. My best advice is to order a test kit ASAP (I love the TF100) and then tell your wife to look in the yellow pages if she wants to find a tennis court -- if you get a reliable test kit and stick around here, she'll have a sparkly pool to cool off in after hitting the tennis courts elsewhere. Good luck!
 
Jazzalto said:
1. last year I used granular shock from the pool store - as well as algecide - then the 3 ich chlorine tablets in the auto chlorinator.
2. I am in the blind as far as the leaves etc - it seems as though I have 99.9% cleaned out the pool. but it is hard to be sure as I cannot see
3. I am going to the pool store to get a complete read out - and am getting a test kit that will measure all the numbers I need. It will be monday until the store is open
4. What should I do in the meantime??
Thanks!!
Click to expand...
OK, if there's a Wal-Mart nearby they may have CYA (conditioner, stabilizer), but the problem is "probably" that you have too much CYA since you were using pucks last year...
1. Read the articles in POOL SCHOOL
2. If you have green water, and a CC of over 0.5 you need to shock the pool.
3. Start the shock process... :whip:
Check the bleach calculator in pool school.
http://www.troublefreepool.com/pool-school/pool_calculator
Figure out how much bleach you'll need, based off on assumption of 25% CYA I read 7 gallons of 6% - 5.6 of the big jugs, and that's just a start!
NOTE:
If your CYA is very high (100+, normal for using pucks... :( ) you are looking at draining half of the water and refilling. CYA is not something that just goes away ... Your's could be over 100! A partial drain and refill is the only way but you have to start killing the algae/organics and this is a start... :!:
4. Get a good quality test kit. The best kit for the money is the TF100 kit from http://tftestkits.net/splash-page.html.
Here's a test kit comparison...
http://www.troublefreepool.com/pool-school/pool_test_kit_comparison

Terrt in NC
Iff the CYA is sky high (normal with pucks) a good test kit that you control is the best way to know.
 
hi terry - again thanks for the reply - so at this point I need to ....
1. Assume the 7 gallons of bleach - and put that is the pool?
2. Then get the pool water checked at the store and post those results
3. look at draining the pool by half and refilling?
4. I do have a question - on the top of the pool I have floating ( i am not sure how to describe them) white bubbles? The water is clearing some - it is a more blue color - I can see the bottom step - I have never had this kind of problem before - I have had algae problems but with heavy shock it cleared up - so kind of lost here.
Thanks again for the help
Also - I went to Wally World and have stabilizer, liquid bleach, shock, PH up - should I use any of those - or just the liquid bleach?
 
The bubbles/foam is the stuff being oxidized. If your CYA is 100 or more you should do a partial drain and refill, recirculate and retest.
Then you can rebalance the pool and resume shocking.

Do you have a confirmed CYA number?
 
Hello -I am going to the pool store tomorrow to get water tested - at this point I do not have the T-100 kit - I have ordered one - I have always used the pucks so my CYA may be very high - I am leaning toward draining the water level and refilling as a starting point.
 

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Never fear, Jazzalto - my husband was wanting to fill ours in too, mentioned it several times over the last few years. It was beyond exasperating. But these fine folks will help you get that pool of yours clean and trouble free soon. Getting your test kit is the first step and you're on your way!

This is our first year with BBB and my husband is THRILLED with our pool now :-D
 
So, Jazz, it's been over two weeks. What happened? Does the wife have a new tennis court?:-D

The people here are great. They WANT to help. I'm not sure how long this website has been running but I could have used it around 7 years ago. I had a similar situation. The pool store was worthless. They'd sell me a lot of chemicals with five pages of instructions and tell me everything tested good except my TC was very high. The pool stayed green. They said they didn't know why. I ended up draining the pool and replaced the liner and found a better store. Acutally it was a garden center that sold pool chemicals. The owner maintained the city pool and she was great. I found this site after the garden center closed. Besides given good proctical advice, the folks here are great at hand-holding (figuratively) and moral support. Hopefully your pool is now crystal
 
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