Need MAJOR help please

[Bama Rambler]

You're getting wonderful advice.

The reason the CYA test showed zero is because you don't have any. You're going to need some as mentioned above.

At 28,000 gallons you need to add 7lbs of stabilizer to get you to 30ppm CYA. Since we're not sure if you're fighting an algae bloom on not I don't suggest adding it to the skimmer. You should tie it up in an old sock (or a new one) and hang it in front of a return. You can massage the sock to help it dissolve.

If you have some Cal-Hypo left you can use it to bring your FC up. Add 1 lb of it.
If you don't have any left you need to add 1½ gallons of bleach right now. This will get you through today.

Have you learned how to use the Pool Calc yet?

 

[anonapersona]

You're getting wonderful advice.

The reason the CYA test showed zero is because you don't have any. You're going to need some as mentioned above.

At 28,000 gallons you need to add 7lbs of stabilizer to get you to 30ppm CYA. Since we're not sure if you're fighting an algae bloom on not I don't suggest adding it to the skimmer. You should tie it up in an old sock (or a new one) and hang it in front of a return. You can massage the sock to help it dissolve.

If you have some Cal-Hypo left you can use it to bring your FC up. Add 1 lb of it.
If you don't have any left you need to add 1½ gallons of bleach right now. This will get you through today.

Have you learned how to use the Pool Calc yet?

if Bama says use 1 lb of cal-hypo, I withdraw my suggestion of 3 lbs, go with his advice.

 

[Shablam]

I just wanted to comment.

I am new here as well and until the last week was maintaining my pool like your husband. Dumping tons of chlorine in and refilling my tab feeder when low. Was also following the advice of my pool store and wasting a tone of money.

I had a test kit but like you the numbers didn't mean very much. Everything was fine until the bad habits caught up with me and my pool turned green.

Today my pool is almost completely clear and seems cleaner then ever. I have started using the BBB method, have turned off my tab feeder and cannot wait for my test kit to arrive so I can take control of my pool for real this time.

Trust the advice you get here, it really does work.

 

[alyssatuininga]

Thanks everyone for all your help. I did add the CYA and calcium-hypo. My kit arrived today and I did all the tests. Here are the results:

FC- 9 ppm
CC- 0
TC- 9 ppm
pH- 7.2
T/A- 160
CH- 150
CYA- 30

Ok what do I do now? I need to vacuum but I am paranoid to do it.....

 

[lightingguy]

Before you vacuum -

How's the water clarity at the moment?
Is there debris at the bottom?

How often do you backwash the filter?

 

[alyssatuininga]

The water is very clear right now but there is dirt looking stuff at the bottom in the deep end. We back wash the filter like once a week. Should I backwash before vacuuming?

 

[lightingguy]

I'm not a sand filter guy...... It just seems odd how much stuff comes out when you vacuum.

You could just vacuum to waste. You'll loose quite a bit of water though.

I'd try vacuuming a very very small section and give it a couple minutes and see what happens. If it starts to cloud I'd just wait and vacuum to waste the day before the party and get someone to look at the filter system next week.

As to the FC numbers and such - depending on how consistent the chlorine has been this week you may have shocked the pool. I'd bring the pool up to shock (12ppm). Tonight after the sun is off the pool measure FC and in the morning before the sun is on the pool measure FC. If you've lost more than 1ppm overnight this would indicate there are contaminants in the pool which require additional shocking.

 

[DCAG]

Just a thought... make sure your filter is set to "filter" and not "recirculate", the latter by-passes the sand in your filter. So, if your vac hose is dirty, it could suck the dirt out of the hose, and push it back into the pool (without filtering).
Do not backwash before vacuuming.

Dan