Just home from vacation

[nightmare-for-me]

hello,
25,000 gal gunite pool
Pump runs 24/7
SWG on 75%

Tested after 7 days away & someone “keeping an eye” (cleaning out skimmer etc) on pool:
Chlorine .5-1
pH 8.0
CYA 50

Need to get chlorine up ph down & cya up. Order of events recommended? I’m reading different ideas

 

[mknauss]

Chlorine is king. Raise FC to target level.
Then manage pH and CYA.

I would suggest a Overnight Chlorine Loss Test before adding any CYA.

 

[nightmare-for-me]

Chlorine is king. Raise FC to target level.
Then manage pH and CYA.

I would suggest a Overnight Chlorine Loss Test before adding any CYA.

I was planning to shock this evening. It seems to need it anyway. I’m curious about muriatic acid vs ph down to deal w pH

 

[mknauss]

You have a plaster pool with a SWCG. You should not use sodium bisulfate in your pool. The sulfates can destroy plaster and metals.

 

[nightmare-for-me]

Update levels

FC 4
CC .5
TC 4.5
pH color looks like 7.8 but a little lower
TA 110
Calcium hardness 200
CYA (not a fan of the cya test in the kit, the black dot gets blurry at 50 but really is still visible until around 80, so what is my cya really?!)

Pool is still quite cloudy
Brushing and vacuuming w robot daily
SWG on 75%
Pump running 24/7

Have been working on getting pH down. It’s lowering but it’s taking a lot of muriatic acid.

Doesn’t seem like I need a slam based on above. The cloudiness is driving my crazy. Is there anything else I can do??

 

[nightmare-for-me]

Update levels

FC 4
CC .5
TC 4.5
pH color looks like 7.8 but a little lower
TA 110
Calcium hardness 200
CYA (not a fan of the cya test in the kit, the black dot gets blurry at 50 but really is still visible until around 80, so what is my cya really?!)

Pool is still quite cloudy
Brushing and vacuuming w robot daily
SWG on 75%
Pump running 24/7

Have been working on getting pH down. It’s lowering but it’s taking a lot of muriatic acid.

Doesn’t seem like I need a slam based on above. The cloudiness is driving my crazy. Is there anything else I can do??

 

[TinFoilHat]

Cloudy means you need to Slam. Unless you just added something that is competing with your water, or you have added water with iron in it. At the very least you should start with an OCLT. Turn off the SWG while doing it.

 

[proavia]

2CYA (not a fan of the cya test in the kit, the black dot gets blurry at 50 but really is still visible until around 80, so what is my cya really?!)

If the dot mostly disappears at 80, that is less test solution in the vial than CYA of 50.
Double check the testing method.

1. Be sure to do the test outdoors, back to the sun.
2. Fill the test vial to say 80.
3. Hold the vial with two fingers near the top of the vial.
4. Lower the vial to waist level and within the shadow of your body.
5. GLANCE - don't stare - into the top of the vial.
6. See the dot? Fill the vial to 70.
7. Rinse, repeat until the dot disappears when looking for it with a glance.
8. Once the dot disappears, use the next higher number as your CYA. Dot visible at 50 and not at 40 - your CYA is 50. Remember, don't stare looking for the dot - glance only.

 

[nightmare-for-me]

Cloudy means you need to Slam. Unless you just added something that is competing with your water, or you have added water with iron in it. At the very least you should start with an OCLT. Turn off the SWG while doing it.

Could the adding of muriatic acid be it? It was definitely cloudy before adding the muriatic acid, but the bottle of muriatic acid also says will cause cloudiness.

I will do the chlorine loss test overnight and see but it has an appeared that I’ve had any problems maintaining good chlorine level so I’m not confident that’s gonna tell me much but I will do it so that I have the results

Another question I have about slam is bleach versus liquid chlorine. I’ve read so much about using bleach, but you have to watch what kind of bleach you use and different threads in the forum. Talk about it differently. Do you use regular household bleach when slamming a pool? Or do you go to a store and buy Liquid chlorine? Is liquid chlorine the same as liquid shock?

 

[TinFoilHat]

Liquid chlorine is the way to go. Home Depot calls it shock and charges for that name too. The cheapest here is Walmart. I've never used bleach but I can get all the liquid chlorine I want from several sources but that's because 70% of homes here have pools.

 

[hexabc]

Companies like Chlorox sell bleach (sodium hypochlorite) with “enhancing” ingredients which you don’t want in your pool. Make sure your liquid chlorine does not contain any additives.

 

[reggiehammond]

Could the adding of muriatic acid be it? It was definitely cloudy before adding the muriatic acid, but the bottle of muriatic acid also says will cause cloudiness.

I will do the chlorine loss test overnight and see but it has an appeared that I’ve had any problems maintaining good chlorine level so I’m not confident that’s gonna tell me much but I will do it so that I have the results

No, muriatic acid would not cause cloudiness.
Make sure you read Overnight Chlorine Loss Test process - SWCG off, testing after sun is set, before sun rises, etc.

Your pH is rising because your TA is high. As you add muriatic acid, you lower pH and TA at the same time. Once TA reaches equilibrium (~60), your pH will stop rising.

With a SWCG, you need to be measuring CSI to avoid scaling in your SWCG.

 

[nightmare-for-me]

No, muriatic acid would not cause cloudiness.
Make sure you read Overnight Chlorine Loss Test process - SWCG off, testing after sun is set, before sun rises, etc.

Your pH is rising because your TA is high. As you add muriatic acid, you lower pH and TA at the same time. Once TA reaches equilibrium (~60), your pH will stop rising.

With a SWCG, you need to be measuring CSI to avoid scaling in your SWCG.

What is CSI??

 

[mknauss]

What is CSI??

Calcium Saturation Index (CSI)

How is CSI calculated? Very simple – use our PoolMath tool. To ensure long plaster life and save money, click here to learn more.

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[nightmare-for-me]

Companies like Chlorox sell bleach (sodium hypochlorite) with “enhancing” ingredients which you don’t want in your pool. Make sure your liquid chlorine does not contain any additions.

So the ingredients need to be 100% sodium hypochlorite?

 

[PoolStored]

So the ingredients need to be 100% sodium hypochlorite?

Get Walmart Pool Essentials liquid chlorine, or go to Ocean State Job Lot and get liquid chlorine.

 

[hexabc]

So the ingredients need to be 100% sodium hypochlorite?

No, the strength cannot be 100%. Usually, it's between 6 and 12.5%, the rest is water. The stronger it is, the faster it looses potency, especially in high temperatures. It's important therefore to check the production date, usually encoded as yy ddd, where yy is the last 2 digits of the year and ddd is the number of the day in the year.

 

[nightmare-for-me]

Ok. Pool math says I’ll need 2 gal to get to slam level. And slam method says to purchase double. So just 4 gallons will last for the slam process?

 

[PoolStored]

Something is not right. If your CYA is 50, slam target is 20.

To go from 0FC to 20FC in your pool, that would be 5 gallons. Double would be 10.

 

[nightmare-for-me]

Redux cya test. It’s still very hard to tell bc if the whole glance thing. It’s very subjective. But anyway it’s closer to be 30-40. The current FC is 4, not zero. I need to go up to 16. It’s 2.4 gallons to get to slam.

But my original question, purchasing double the amount should take you through a slam?