New guy! How am I lookin?

[madmanmarz]

So I started reading on here about a month ago after purchasing my first home (completely new to this). With strip tests and bleach and some trial and error the pool was sparkly and clear in about a week's time. Unfortunately lockdown came about and I ran out of bleach. It quickly became a green, moldy mess. I had to use some tabs to keep some chlorine in there being careful not to overdo it and get my CYA too high.

Anyway today my big order of 10% bleach arrived, as well as my Taylor k-2006c test kit. I have some liquid muriatic acid and about 10lbs of baking soda left over.

Here's what I got
Apx. 10,000-12,000 sqft in-ground gunite pool.
Hayward cartridge filter (I clean it all the time), as well as baskets.
2 built in jets opposite of skimmer
Drain is capped off (I would assume there's a leak)
1hp pump, running 8hrs a day.
Skimmer is on the wall but in a canister in the pool.

As soon as the bleach came in, I added 2 gallons just on a whim (very slowly into deep end jet) and started scrubbing the floor which immediately released green mold, ran pump for about 2hrs before testing and voila my test kit arrived.

FC 22 (first time came in at 17 next time 22, same sample water)
CC 1.0
PH 8.5 (I guessed since it was over 8)
TA 10
CH 300
CYA 60

Since the test, I added about 8-10oz of of 31.45% muriatic acid in the deep end jet very slowly (I was recommended 7oz with the app).
Waited 20 mins added about 9lbs of baking soda (app said like 10lb but I have 1lb left just in case I need to adjust).
App says to add 3oz more of 10% bleach (what I use) for SLAM @ 24ppm, about to do that.

Any other recommendations? The house came with a cheapy suction pool cleaner which I run from time to time.

 

[Brett S]

The pH test is invalid when your FC level is over 10. The high chlorine levels can appear to make the pH look too high. So you definitely don’t want to add any more acid until after you finish the SLAM and the FC level comes down below 10. Once that happens you will know what the actual pH level is.

Also, muriantic acid will lower pH and TA and baking soda will raise pH and TA. You don’t really want to be adding both of them because they will effectively cancel each other out.

For now, just focus on keeping the FC levels at the SLAM level and getting the water cleared up. Once that is done and you can bring your FC level back to normal then you can work on the other parameters.

 

[madmanmarz]

The pH test is invalid when your FC level is over 10. The high chlorine levels can appear to make the pH look too high. So you definitely don’t want to add any more acid until after you finish the SLAM and the FC level comes down below 10. Once that happens you will know what the actual pH level is.

Also, muriantic acid will lower pH and TA and baking soda will raise pH and TA. You don’t really want to be adding both of them because they will effectively cancel each other out.

For now, just focus on keeping the FC levels at the SLAM level and getting the water cleared up. Once that is done and you can bring your FC level back to normal then you can work on the other parameters.

Thank you! I did a quick strip test just for ***** and giggles and the PH did read much higher than before. I was going off the troublefreepool app which was saying to use both for some reason...I'm still not sure how/why PH and alkalinity are different things but I suppose there's more reading to do.

Should I keep the FC as high as it is now until the water clears up?

 

[madmanmarz]

So I just redid my CYA After reading about it and realizing I should only glance at the dot quickly which put me at about 70. My FC Was at 14, CC .5

The pool is visually much much cleaner and now is an aqua color but cloudy, I have cleaned the cartridge filter several times and this last time there was still some green coming out of it. Forgot to mention that before the bleach arrived I was getting impatient and I added a good amount of granulated chlorine which probably added to the cloudiness.

to get up to a 28 FC I needed about a gallon and a half of bleach so I went ahead and just added a gallon since I am unsure about my actual FC level. I guess I will now wait until the FC drops to 10 so I can retest my pH and what not, And look into ways of lowering my CYA which I presume means exchanging the appropriate amount of water.

It’s starting to make sense that even though the test strips showed I had an ideal amount of chlorine, my CYA was so high, that it was not effective. Truly wishing I hadn’t used all those tabs but lesson learned.

 

[jimmythegreek]

Just keep the FC up high and run pump 24 7. Clean and brush and add FC it will clear. Your gonna have to dump half that water at some point now would be a good time your wasting chlorine with that high CYA and its gonna be harder to keep things correct on the long haul

 

[madmanmarz]

Just keep the FC up high and run pump 24 7. Clean and brush and add FC it will clear. Your gonna have to dump half that water at some point now would be a good time your wasting chlorine with that high CYA and its gonna be harder to keep things correct on the long haul

Yes I've been running the pump 24/7 and cleaning filter 1-2x daily. As far as draining, that's what I've been thinking... I guess I'll need sump pump since the drain is capped.

Things were mostly clear and clean yesterday, FC was at 10 later in the day.
Today I got
FC 7.5
CC .5
PH 7.7
TA 130 !
CH 250 !
CYA 65 !

Anyway I will drain and fill half and report back.

 

[madmanmarz]

OK! So I drained 1/3, and while refilling, added a gallon of 10% bleach just to play it safe. Pool ended up crystal clear but dirty (yard work), got an mx6 pool cleaner on the way and fixed the screen enclosure.
Todays test shows
FC 4.0
PH 8.0
TA 100
CH 180
CYA 35

I added a cup of muriatic acid per the app. What should I focus on next? I know CYA is a little low but OK for now. CH is a little low but should increase with evaporation (I have baking soda). TA is a little high but should drop a little from the acid. PH should drop from the acid, and then I figure I will clean filter, SLAM, and clean. Getting closer though! Reminder I'm in SE FL any recommendations?

 

[jimmythegreek]

No need to slam if FC holds steady overnight and its clear. Or did I misunderstand the clear part

 

[madmanmarz]

No need to slam if FC holds steady overnight and its clear. Or did I misunderstand the clear part

OK I just read about that, pool is clear I will maintain FC and do overnight test.
Current #s
FC 7.0
PH 7.9
TA 120
CH 240
CYA 35
I added 16oz of acid

 

[wireform]

Madman,
You can't have CYA of 45 just consider it 50 and maintain the FC for that.

 

[jimmythegreek]

Wireform meant 35 consider it 40.

 

[madmanmarz]

Wireform meant 35 consider it 40.

OK I thought if it was halfway in between I could guesstimate.
So this week the water has been crystal-clear pH was around 7.6-7.8... used the new MX-6 cleaner.
I had to add water I’m not sure if it’s from evaporation or a leak somewhere.
I got a little lazy this week and was just guesstimating adding chlorine as I’m still doing so much work to my home so FC dropped to 1.5 this evening.
I’m going to SLAM and then add CYA in a day or two which was at 30 today.

Pretty much dialed in now though

 

[jimmythegreek]

The fc can drop it doeant mean you need to slam. Juat raise it up to where it needs to be amd try to maintain that. I let mine lapse all the time. If the water ever looks off and not clear then you can start a slam to be proactive.

 

[madmanmarz]

So my testing last 2 days gave me
FC 6.0
PH 7.7
TA 90-100
CH 220-240
CYA 50

It appears I added a touch too much CYA, and I have a pretty good leak coming from my pump. The pool water has been clean and blue but a bit cloudy and the filter is picking up a lot of green stuff. I clean it almost every day. I'm trying to figure out which pump I have but in the meantime, I was thinking about dropping PH to 7.0 and then adding Borax to bring the TA down some. What do you think?