Bet you haven’t heard this one before…hahaha. Ok, so filled my Facebook marketplace pool last Tuesday and didn’t bleach first because I’m a newbie and didn’t know what I was doing (still don’t, but I’m learning)
Let my kids swim in it because why the heck not…it’s fresh water, right? I was going to start the chlorine process Wed but we lost power to a storm and didn’t add chlorine till Thursday night because I didn’t realize I could hook the pump up to the generator (genius concept? I know).
I “shock” the pool with Calhypo cause I read someplace that’s what you’re supposed to do. My free chlorine levels didn’t go above .5ppm. Eh, ok.
Could my pool water really be this dirty?
At some point I read I’m supposed to adjust my ph levels. I have these 7-1 test strips that say my ph is super high (8.4+) and my alkalinity is 180pp. So I buy sodium bicarbonate (HTH ph down) and after putting dose after dose totally 70oz of that junk in there…I but muriatic acid. But not before convincing myself that my little square wasn’t so red and shocking the pool again. I should have kept a log here…but I shocked two or three times with Calhypo because my free chlorine levels were not staying up. Was probably losing quite a bit on some of these shocks due to sunlight but even my overnights didn’t sustain my FC.
Finally, talked with someone who used to work at a pool place. He told me if I have mustard algae, use liquid chlorine and put 3/4 gallon of 10% liquid chlorine in it. When the water gets cloudy…change the filter every 4 hours or so until it’s clear. Well, I added CYA and brought level to 35ppm…and did what he said.
Next morning, I had a FC level of 5ppm. It’s remained at 5ppm…but that little yellow stuff at the bottom of the pool (only at bottom and in filter) is not going away. Maybe I had some stuck to my pool cover or something, I don’t know……but I AM AT MY WITS END.
I have 20 little people coming over next week and I am about to drain this thing and start over.
My combined chlorine is off the charts (20ppm +) and there’s no way they can swim in that. My filter gets clogged when I try to run it overnight. I’m changing the filter at least two times per day.
SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME.
I should add, I bought an HTH 6-way OTO test kit…..the alkalinity test only turned yellow (never red) and it says my pH is 7.3. Strips read 8.4. My alkalinity has been dropping a bit every day the past 3 days and now it’s below 80ppm.
Should I just drain and start over? So frustrated.
Let my kids swim in it because why the heck not…it’s fresh water, right? I was going to start the chlorine process Wed but we lost power to a storm and didn’t add chlorine till Thursday night because I didn’t realize I could hook the pump up to the generator (genius concept? I know).
I “shock” the pool with Calhypo cause I read someplace that’s what you’re supposed to do. My free chlorine levels didn’t go above .5ppm. Eh, ok.
Could my pool water really be this dirty?
At some point I read I’m supposed to adjust my ph levels. I have these 7-1 test strips that say my ph is super high (8.4+) and my alkalinity is 180pp. So I buy sodium bicarbonate (HTH ph down) and after putting dose after dose totally 70oz of that junk in there…I but muriatic acid. But not before convincing myself that my little square wasn’t so red and shocking the pool again. I should have kept a log here…but I shocked two or three times with Calhypo because my free chlorine levels were not staying up. Was probably losing quite a bit on some of these shocks due to sunlight but even my overnights didn’t sustain my FC.
Finally, talked with someone who used to work at a pool place. He told me if I have mustard algae, use liquid chlorine and put 3/4 gallon of 10% liquid chlorine in it. When the water gets cloudy…change the filter every 4 hours or so until it’s clear. Well, I added CYA and brought level to 35ppm…and did what he said.
Next morning, I had a FC level of 5ppm. It’s remained at 5ppm…but that little yellow stuff at the bottom of the pool (only at bottom and in filter) is not going away. Maybe I had some stuck to my pool cover or something, I don’t know……but I AM AT MY WITS END.
I have 20 little people coming over next week and I am about to drain this thing and start over.
My combined chlorine is off the charts (20ppm +) and there’s no way they can swim in that. My filter gets clogged when I try to run it overnight. I’m changing the filter at least two times per day.
SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME.
I should add, I bought an HTH 6-way OTO test kit…..the alkalinity test only turned yellow (never red) and it says my pH is 7.3. Strips read 8.4. My alkalinity has been dropping a bit every day the past 3 days and now it’s below 80ppm.
Should I just drain and start over? So frustrated.
