I have used this forum over the past couple of years to help with pool problems as they have come up, but never fully jumped in to the whole process. I am sick of chasing my chemicals every summer and still never feeling like they are balanced, so here I am with questions and concerns.
We have a 28,000 gallon pool with a sand filter. I have been battling metal stains on and off for 2 or 3 summers now. I get the metal under control in the spring and the pool does well over the summer, but I lose control to algae and leaves in the fall and let it go for the winter and then have to battle back in the spring again with algae and metals that fall out when I shock for the algae. We live in GA, so I typically don’t close the pool for the winter. Not an ideal situation, but again, here I am.
This year I was able to get ahead of the metals early and used Clorox Scale, Metal, and Stain remover to pull the stains, then let it filter for several days and used Bioguard Sparkle Up to help filter the metals out. At the same time I also added HTH Algae Guard because there was also some algae. It has stayed sparking blue for about 2 weeks, since shortly after I added those, but I am burning through chlorine.
I have added as many as 6 bags of shock at a time. At one point I did it twice in one week, which was also the week I had the metal dropout and staining. Now I am adding 1-2 gallons of bleach at a time, and can’t keep my chlorine at a good level for more than a day. I thought at first it was because I had used the metal remover, because in years past I have used vitamin C and it takes forever to get my chlorine up at all, but based on my research the remover should not have this effect (though please correct me if I’m wrong). Now I am considering other options.
Our pool only gets full sun from 12-3pm and is almost completely in the shade before 11am and after 4pm. Last year I forgot to regularly check CYA and I was running through chlorine until I figured out my mistake late in the season and realized my level was <30. I don’t usually use the pucks because they don’t ever seem to help keep my chlorine up. For the past couple of summers I will put 5 pucks in a floater and unless I am adding 1 or 2 gallons of bleach every week my chlorine stays <1. I have been more diligent about keeping CYA up this year and am currently at around 40. I did the overnight FC test last night and it was at 3.0 at 8:20pm and was at 1.0 at 9:10am.
Prior to starting the overnight FC test we put the solar cover on the pool for the first time this year . I tested the pool at 7:10pm and the results were as follows:
FC- 1.0
CC- <.5 (Very pale pink)
PH- 7.4
TA- 90
CH- 190
CYA- 40
These results were after putting 2 gallons of 5.25% bleach in about 24 hours before and it was 4.0 that morning. After the above testing I added 1 gallon of 5.25% bleach, which brought my FC up to 3.0 after an hour, which is where I started my overnight FC testing. Also, I tested FC again tonight after a sunny and 80 degree day with the solar cover on all day and the FC is 0.5. I haven’t added any more bleach, because I need to go buy more and want to get enough for the next steps. Based on everything I read on this forum, I think I need to SLAM, but I am kind of afraid to because of the metals. Also, I have a hard time keeping my pH up, as it was 7.6-7.8 just a couple of days prior to this testing. Any advice or guidance would be appreciated because I really want to get these chemicals well balanced and enjoy our pool this year instead of being frustrated by it.
We have a 28,000 gallon pool with a sand filter. I have been battling metal stains on and off for 2 or 3 summers now. I get the metal under control in the spring and the pool does well over the summer, but I lose control to algae and leaves in the fall and let it go for the winter and then have to battle back in the spring again with algae and metals that fall out when I shock for the algae. We live in GA, so I typically don’t close the pool for the winter. Not an ideal situation, but again, here I am.
This year I was able to get ahead of the metals early and used Clorox Scale, Metal, and Stain remover to pull the stains, then let it filter for several days and used Bioguard Sparkle Up to help filter the metals out. At the same time I also added HTH Algae Guard because there was also some algae. It has stayed sparking blue for about 2 weeks, since shortly after I added those, but I am burning through chlorine.
I have added as many as 6 bags of shock at a time. At one point I did it twice in one week, which was also the week I had the metal dropout and staining. Now I am adding 1-2 gallons of bleach at a time, and can’t keep my chlorine at a good level for more than a day. I thought at first it was because I had used the metal remover, because in years past I have used vitamin C and it takes forever to get my chlorine up at all, but based on my research the remover should not have this effect (though please correct me if I’m wrong). Now I am considering other options.
Our pool only gets full sun from 12-3pm and is almost completely in the shade before 11am and after 4pm. Last year I forgot to regularly check CYA and I was running through chlorine until I figured out my mistake late in the season and realized my level was <30. I don’t usually use the pucks because they don’t ever seem to help keep my chlorine up. For the past couple of summers I will put 5 pucks in a floater and unless I am adding 1 or 2 gallons of bleach every week my chlorine stays <1. I have been more diligent about keeping CYA up this year and am currently at around 40. I did the overnight FC test last night and it was at 3.0 at 8:20pm and was at 1.0 at 9:10am.
Prior to starting the overnight FC test we put the solar cover on the pool for the first time this year . I tested the pool at 7:10pm and the results were as follows:
FC- 1.0
CC- <.5 (Very pale pink)
PH- 7.4
TA- 90
CH- 190
CYA- 40
These results were after putting 2 gallons of 5.25% bleach in about 24 hours before and it was 4.0 that morning. After the above testing I added 1 gallon of 5.25% bleach, which brought my FC up to 3.0 after an hour, which is where I started my overnight FC testing. Also, I tested FC again tonight after a sunny and 80 degree day with the solar cover on all day and the FC is 0.5. I haven’t added any more bleach, because I need to go buy more and want to get enough for the next steps. Based on everything I read on this forum, I think I need to SLAM, but I am kind of afraid to because of the metals. Also, I have a hard time keeping my pH up, as it was 7.6-7.8 just a couple of days prior to this testing. Any advice or guidance would be appreciated because I really want to get these chemicals well balanced and enjoy our pool this year instead of being frustrated by it.
