Helping MY dad with his pool: High TA, Low PH?

[ionizer]

It's due to ammonia. It destroys chlorine very fast. There's no easy answer. You just have to keep adding until the ammonia is gone.

It's probably going to take a lot of chlorine, but it will eventually break.

Don't be surprised if the total amount of bleach exceeds 50 gallons.

50 gallons? that's like $150 of bleach!! that's also a lot of hauling back and forth of bleach. is there an alternative?

so what causes ammonia to exist in his pool and not mine? Is there a way to test for ammonia?

Lastly, are you positive this isn't a CYA (bad measuring) or pH level issue? my dad kept saying leslie's told him his CYA was 20, but reading forums here, I told him leslies is notorious always low on CYA.

- - - Updated - - -

Keep adding every 15-20 min until it starts to hold. Dont wait an hour to add chlorine, if you test and its low then add chlorine right away, and retest and add. If you keep adding chlorine fast, this will be over soon. The more you wait to add just adds to your confusion and desperation.

keep at it!

Felipe

the problem is, we didn't even have enough chlorine to do that!

also, why does my taylor k-2006 test indicate FC levels of 1.5-3 for my dad (and i know my test works b/c im slamming my own pool and get proper measurements of 22-25 FC), but Leslie's is telling him it is 10 / off the chart? How can that be??

 

[Flying Tivo]

Please stop comparing pools. Each pool is different and has its own issues. You will get nowhere second guessing yourself. The tests are telling you what that particular pool needs, nothing more nothing less. At this stage you know better to not bring the pool store testing into this thread! Your testing is fine, its the pool that needs FC!

Felipe

 

[JamesW]

Bacteria can get in the pool, eat the cyanuric acid and convert it into ammonia.

How much bleach it takes depends on how much ammonia.

You can do a chlorine demand test in a bucket by getting a few gallons of pool water and performing a SLAM. Add bleach, mix, retest and add more to see how many ppm chlorine total it will take.

It might be less than 50 gallons, but it could be more.

You can do a partial drain and refill to get rid some ammonia or you can just SLAM to completion.

 

[ionizer]

Bacteria can get in the pool, eat the cyanuric acid and convert it into ammonia.

How much bleach it takes depends on how much ammonia.

You can do a chlorine demand test in a bucket by getting a few gallons of pool water and performing a SLAM. Add bleach, mix, retest and add more to see how many ppm chlorine total it will take.

It might be less than 50 gallons, but it could be more.

You can do a partial drain and refill to get rid some ammonia or you can just SLAM to completion.

Since you are saying bacteria could be eating CYa and converting to ammonia, should I be concerned about CYa being low at this point? I am waiting for my refill of cya to come Tuesday so I have no means to recheck it yet other than the pool stores.

Is the acid demand test the same thing that comes with my Taylor k2006 set? Pretty sure it is, no?

Lastly what is the scientific explanation I can provide my dad about why not to use store bought algaecides? I recall the reason once before but can't remember the explanation presently.

- - - Updated - - -

One more thing, would now be an ok time to add a little borax to raise the ph a bit? He aerated overnight because while I know the ph level is inaccurate when slamming I am not sure if that is the case if the FC is still not registering anything significant or not. Not sure if slam throws off ph levels as lower or higher than usual?

 

[JamesW]

I think that your cya is probably good. Retest when you can.

The bacteria is gone and won't return as long as the chlorine is maintained.

If the TA is 130, the pH is probably fine.

Algaecide won't help. It's a waste of money.

My recommendation is to continue SLAM to completion. It will work.

 

[ionizer]

got my CYA bottle today, so will retest it tomorrow. my dad decided to remove some of his water to bring down the amount of chlorine he is going to have to continue buying. plan to continue/restart slamming tomorrow.

 

[JamesW]

Ok, thanks for the update.