Lost pool owner

[MrGammo]

Hello everyone,

Interesting story. I currently find myself struggling with keeping my pool from building algae. Clearly I am doing something wrong. So I start research on how to take care of my pool and am recommended to this website. I decide to create an account only to find out I created one 2 years ago. So here we are! I have learned a lot in the last couple of hours and look forward to learning more. First, I will buy the recommended test kit, test my water and post my results and ask for guidance. In the meantime, what do y'all recommend I do to prevent my pool from getting worst? I currently have a HTH 1273 6-way test kit and from those results, my PH is at the max 8.2, chlorine is non existent. I currently have no way to test CYA. I've gone to Leslies to get my water tested and followed all their advice and I still cannot get my pool to stay clear. It is currently a bit cloudy with algae build up. I currently use Leslies Tabs and Pool Shock, which I've learned might be contributing to my issues.

I believe my current issue is lowering my PH, but I cannot seem to get it down. I purchased muriatic acid from Leslies with a concentration of about 30%. That does not seem to do the trick. My goal as of this post is to keep my pool from getting worst while I get a new test kit.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[ajw22]

Welcome back!

Pour 5 ppm of liquid chlorine in your pool every day until you get your test kit.

Download PoolMath.

Can your HTH kit test TA? If so enter your pH as 8.2 and your TA with a target of pH 7.6 to get the amount of MA. Add the MA and test again in 30 minutes. Repeat until your pH is in the 7s.

Add liquid chlorine and MA 30 minutes apart.

Once you get your test kit post the results and we will get you going with the SLAM Process to clear the algae.

 

[MrGammo]

Test kit came in!

Here are my results:

TC - 2
PH - 8.2
CH - 420
TA - 230
CYA - 40

I found out the pool shock I was using increases my PH significantly. I have since stopped using that and started using liquid chlorine/bleach. I've seen a great improvement in the cloudiness and algae build up, but I can tell theres more to go, based on these results and how the pool looks.

 

[ajw22]

Tell PoolMath your pH is 8.2 and target is 7.6. Add the recommended does of MA. wait 30 minuets and retest. Repeat until your pH is in the 7's.

Your pH will not stay down with a TA of 230.

What is the pH and TA of your fill water?

Lower Total Alkalinity

A lower Total Alkalinity level can help a pool owner stabalize their pH increase. We'll explain how to lower TA with a little help from muriatic acid.

www.troublefreepool.com

You need to do the SLAM Process

 

[splashpad]

Welcome back! Please be sure to share pics, we love pics, it's the "proof"!

Are you sure the shock you were using was not adding stabilizer? CYA/40 is a great number, but seems low for a "pool stored" pool! Just double checking! And the CYA test must be done with bright lighting (either outdoors on sunny day, or next to daylight bulbs)

 

[MrGammo]

Welcome back! Please be sure to share pics, we love pics, it's the "proof"!

Are you sure the shock you were using was not adding stabilizer? CYA/40 is a great number, but seems low for a "pool stored" pool! Just double checking! And the CYA test must be done with bright lighting (either outdoors on sunny day, or next to daylight bulbs)

The CYA test was my toughest by far. I followed the directions and kept adding the mixture until the black dot disappeared. Back turned to the sun, test tube at waist level. The dot wouldn't disappear until about the level 40 fill line. I tested it multiple times to be sure. I thought it was strange that it's so low, especially as you stated above, a "pool stored" pool.

I will test it 1 more time just to be safe.

 

[MrGammo]

Tell PoolMath your pH is 8.2 and target is 7.6. Add the recommended does of MA. wait 30 minuets and retest. Repeat until your pH is in the 7's.

Your pH will not stay down with a TA of 230.

What is the pH and TA of your fill water?

Lower Total Alkalinity

A lower Total Alkalinity level can help a pool owner stabalize their pH increase. We'll explain how to lower TA with a little help from muriatic acid.

www.troublefreepool.com

You need to do the SLAM Process

Thank you for the info. I'll be lowering the PH along with the TA today. I'm not sure what the PH and TA of my fill water is. Is that the same test as checking pool water?

 

[splashpad]

The CYA test was my toughest by far. I followed the directions and kept adding the mixture until the black dot disappeared. Back turned to the sun, test tube at waist level. The dot wouldn't disappear until about the level 40 fill line. I tested it multiple times to be sure. I thought it was strange that it's so low, especially as you stated above, a "pool stored" pool.

I will test it 1 more time just to be safe.

You're probably good! Just wanted to double check

Thank you for the info. I'll be lowering the PH along with the TA today. I'm not sure what the PH and TA of my fill water is. Is that the same test as checking pool water?

No need to fuss with TA specifically, just test & adjust PH when it rises to 7.8+, use Poolmath to dose muriatic acid to bring it back down to 7.4. TA will settle in place for your pool

 

[MrGammo]

Welcome back! Please be sure to share pics, we love pics, it's the "proof"!

Are you sure the shock you were using was not adding stabilizer? CYA/40 is a great number, but seems low for a "pool stored" pool! Just double checking! And the CYA test must be done with bright lighting (either outdoors on sunny day, or next to daylight bulbs)

Also for clarification, I was using Leslies Power Powder Plus, which claims to be unstabilized.

 

[splashpad]

Also for clarification, I was using Leslies Power Powder Plus, which claims to be unstabilized.

That actually isn't the worst product, your pool needs calcium and that is cal-hypo. So not a terrible place to start from!!

 

[ajw22]

Thank you for the info. I'll be lowering the PH along with the TA today. I'm not sure what the PH and TA of my fill water is. Is that the same test as checking pool water?

Yes, test your fill water the same way as pool water.

 

[ajw22]

No need to fuss with TA specifically, just test & adjust PH when it rises to 7.8+, use Poolmath to dose muriatic acid to bring it back down to 7.4. TA will settle in place for your pool

Reason to fuss with TA is with a plaster pool is he likely has high CSI due to the high pH and TA. That can lead to scaling.

 

[MrGammo]

Hello everyone.

Here is an update to my pool 3 weeks later. Everything was looking good, switched over to liquid chlorine and I was constantly seeing my TA stay above 5ppm until about a week ago. My pool went cloudy within a day. I proceeded to test all TF100 test and noticed my CH was really high. I got my PH and TA to recommended levels, CYA was around 40 and started the slam process. The overnight test yielded an overall loss of 7ppm chlorine, but what is more troubling is my now CH level. Just tested the water a few minutes ago. I've also removed the light housing and cleaned behind it, as I heard that could be using up chlorine.

PH 8.0 - Easy fix
Chlorine 0
TA 150 - Much lower than before
CH - 1300 - unless I royally screwed up the first test I did, this has tripled since my first test nearly a month ago. I tested this twice and got the same results.

The app recommends I replace about 70% of my pool water. Any other advice I could get? I appreciate all the help so far.