Is it ammonia?

[tracyd]

Hello there. I need some advice. I opened my pool a few weeks ago. The pool is always green/brown at opening. The weather here in RI has been rainy/thunderstorms and humid pretty much every day and nobody was swimming so I have not been on top of the chemicals for about 10/12 days.
A couple of weeks ago, The CYA was 16 according to the pool store (I do have the Taylor K2006 test kit but I have a hard time w cya test) so I added 4 lbs stabilizer- did not test after adding
Well the pool turned green then brown from neglect, even smelled like a swamp.
Last night I decided to tackle the pool.
The ph was sky high so I added muriatic acid to bring it down to 7.2
I added 6 gallons of shock to begin with and added about 4 more through night. Filter running. The chlorine was getting "eaten up" very quickly.
I thought about it and concluded it must be ammonia. I tested the water and it appeared the may be a slight amount but then I looked at the forum and it said that you shouldnt test for ammonia if there is chlorine in the pool.
This morning the free chlorine was 7. The pool very cloudy.
I decided to test the cya and I couldnt get a reading so I figured I would go to the pool store( they use a computer) and see what there results are.
FC 4
TC 4.73
ph 7.1
TA 59
CH 138
CYA 5
Phosphates 1081
Im still learning but I figure I have ammonia since the cya decreased so drastically .Can anybody give me some advice here?

 

[mknauss]

If there is FC in the water, then you do not have ammonia.
Run a full set of tests with YOUR kit. Even CYA. Post them here.

 

[tracyd]

FC 3.6
CC 0
Ph 7.2
TA 60
CYA- I can still see the dot at max fill

 

[mknauss]

No ammonia, now.
So add 30 ppm worth of CYA using dry stabilizer and the sock method.

Raise your FC to 12 ppm and maintain.Follow the SLAM Process

 

[tracyd]

I figured i would need to add stabilizer so i put some in a bucket of water last night. Is that ok to do and use?
Do you think I had ammonia?
Is that where the CYA went?

 

[mknauss]

You can add the stabilizer. Pour off the water into the skimmer. Not the best way to add stabilizer. May take several times doing as you are. Or get a hairnet for the skimmer basket and pour it into that.

No idea if you had ammonia.

4 lbs of stabilizer adds 16 ppm CYA to your pool volume. You may have that in the pool right now. So I would add only enough stabilizer to raise the CYA by 20 ppm for now.

 

[tracyd]

I will do exactly as instructed. Thank you mknauss!

 

[newdude]

Do you think I had ammonia?

No

Is that where the CYA went?

It likely was never there. It's the pool store's worst guess, of all their random guesses.

 

[tracyd]

I added cya
7 lbs of it

 

[mknauss]

OK -- so once it is all dissolved, test your CYA level after 24 to 48 hours. Might be closer to 40 ppm. But no big deal. Stay at SLAM level of 12 ppm FC for now.

 

[tracyd]

Sorry for the confusion. I added 7 lbs of cya when I opened the pool. I have 5 lbs dissolving now. I’m adding that in the skimmer as it dissolves.

 

[Hg433]

Based on your first reading, you mentioned Phosphate level of 1081. That's quite high and should be 0 to 100. I had similar issue in the past, and green pool, only thing that worked for me was the PhosFree from Leslie's. Also, Adding chlorine tablets in skimmer till the time CYA reaches to 35 or so. And then no more tablets.

Only thing i will add is Alkalinity up to be in the range of 80s.

 

[mknauss]

Based on your first reading, you mentioned Phosphate level of 1081. That's quite high and should be 0 to 100. I had similar issue in the past, and green pool, only thing that worked for me was the PhosFree from Leslie's. Also, Adding chlorine tablets in skimmer till the time CYA reaches to 35 or so. And then no more tablets.

Only thing i will add is Alkalinity up to be in the range of 80s.

Welcome to the forum.
Your guidance is not TFPC advice. You are welcome to follow those Pool Store methods, but we use methods that are based on science.
Phosphates are irrelevant to algae in a pool. Maintain FC/CYA ratios and algae is not present. Phosfree, if one is going to use a Phosphate Remover, is cheap and dilute. Use an Orenda or SeaKlear product.
Never, Never put tablets in skimmer. They are acidic and destroy the plastic and send very acidic bolus of water through the equipment. Use floating dispensers only when, rarely, you use trichlor tablets.

And TA at or above 50 ppm is fine. Alkalinity is irrelevant to algae or most pool chemistry issues.