New Homeowner - CLEAN POOL [back to shocking.]

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Re: New Homeowner - Green Pool [HOLY AMMONIA BATMAN!]

This is quite the saga that just raises questions in many mind. How did the ammonia get so high? And if it was bacterial conversion of CYA, why do you still have CYA and not zero?

At least you appear to be making headway :goodjob:

Posted from my Droid with Tapatalk ... sorry if my response is short ;)
 
Re: New Homeowner - Green Pool [HOLY AMMONIA BATMAN!]

jblizzle said:
This is quite the saga that just raises questions in many mind. How did the ammonia get so high? And if it was bacterial conversion of CYA, why do you still have CYA and not zero?
Click to expand...

It was likely zero in the beginning. He took over a green swamp that was untended to for two weeks and started dumping bags of shock that were not cal hypo per posts from page 1.

Later test strips said zero cya and his test kit gave a result of 15-20 after potentially using a dozen bags of dichlor or trichlor.

It is a loooong thread easy to lose track - I had to go back and read the first two pages again.
 
Re: New Homeowner - Green Pool [HOLY AMMONIA BATMAN!]

I have no idea where the ammonia came from. It may have already been in the pool - who knows. I know that the previous owner maintained with trichlor, dichlor, and calhypo. It was my boneheaded move that shut off the pump - save for a few hours here an there - for nearly 3 weeks. THEN I added MORE CYA to get up to 50 (from 20) and this disolved over a couple of days and I was able to get a high sun proper 50 CYA reading a few days ago... But earlier today I had a reading of 30. So there's definitely something converting CYA to ammonia. I have been trying to maintain a 16-25 shock level for about two weeks (i think?) based on the most recent CYA reading at time of chemical adding - so that may explain why CYA isn't 0 - since I have fc in the pool and am staving it off? Who knows.

At this point yes, I think I am making some really good headway. I still can't keep FC to save my life, but ammonia is going down and - the pool DOES look really good... I'd be in it if it weren't for the fear of ammonia and the fact that it's only 69 degrees in there. Hopefully it'll warm up enough over the next few days to give us a week or two of pool time before we have to close around labor day.

Since the beginning of this saga, I believe that there have been 8 or 10 trichlor pucks added, 12lb of dichlor granules, 4lb of cal hypo granules, 21lbs of ph minus, 28 lbs of ph plus - that was before i found TFP and got my kit, and after: 41 gallons of 6% bleach, 50 gallons of ~8.25% (supposed to be 12.5% but testing today shows it was likely degraded) bleach, half a gallon of 20 baume MA, and 24oz of CYA.

Wow. Yeah take it from me folks... DON'T get algae. And if you get it, FIX IT EARLY!
 
Re: New Homeowner - Green Pool [HOLY AMMONIA BATMAN!]

UnderWaterVanya said:
Just the dichlor and trichlor together added nearly 70ppm of CYA.
Click to expand...

Not to mention a bunch of copper :/ Yeah. It was a mess. Thankfully you have all set me straight and I won't be making that mistake again!
 
Re: New Homeowner - Green Pool [HOLY AMMONIA BATMAN!]

Yeah, I'm staying up tonight until I kick this ammonia's, clear, chlorine eating, butt.

fc: 1
cc: 5.5
nh3: .5-1

This time I'm going to add 8 gallons of my 8.5% to get me up to 30.5 give or take. Normally I wouldn't go so high above shock (14 for mustard algae w/ my current numbers and assuming that my CYA is still 20) but the ammonia is eating it so quickly I don't think it's going to matter much.
 
Re: New Homeowner - Green Pool [add NaClO to lower NH3]

For those of you following this oh so exciting (I think it is, anyway) thread, I figured I'd spice things up a bit and post a little Test Kit Porn while I'm waiting for my next round of testing...

Here is my test kit. It includes:
  • TFTestKit.net's TF-100
    I have already used and replaced the DPD Powder and R0871 reagent since this saga began. The R0871 and DPD powder you see are the replacements.

    [/*:m:14g18onx]
  • Taylor's SpeedStir Magnetic Stirrer
    This has made testing SOO much easier, especially when having to do it 8-12 times a day! I also like the graduated cylinder that comes with it, it's the one that has the yellow capped bottle in it.

    [/*:m:14g18onx]
  • a 12 oz squeeze bottle
    I use to take my samples and distribute water to the cylinders. I also use this to rinse everything before and after each test, I find that it just makes things easier.

    [/*:m:14g18onx]
  • Ammonia Test Kit
    This is the two bottles with the red rings just under the tops on the left of the kit, the small capped cylinder in the right bottom corner, and the colorimeter in the top right corner.
    I can't remember who makes it, but I got it for about 7 bucks at a local garden center, go figure. Funny story here - I called to see if they had one about 20 minutes before closing. The owner must have sensed the desperation in my voice, and said that he'd leave it outside for me in case I couldn't get there by closing - and I could stop by later and pay for it. I DO love living in a small town!

    [/*:m:14g18onx]
  • 3 more .75oz Bottles of R0871.
    For those of you following the thread, these are the R0871 I found at my local supplier. I thought they had given me 3 2oz bottles but was mistaken. They did give me 2.25oz though for the price of 2oz... I wouldn't have ordered them, but I waited too long to get my TF-100 refills and had to keep on keeping on! Turns out by the time that I ran out of my original R0871 I already had my replacement from TFTestKits, but I figure I'll have enough for next season.

    [/*:m:14g18onx]
  • 113 Grams of DPD powder
    This is in the big jar with the black lid. I use way too much DPD powder when testing, less so now that I have the SpeedStir, but wanted to make sure I wouldn't run out again - this was my solution.[/*:m:14g18onx]

LN1aJ.jpg
 
Re: New Homeowner - Green Pool [add NaClO to lower NH3]

Your green pool. :mrgreen:

You keep adding bleach, and I'll be bringing my whites over. :lol: :lol: :lol:
 

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Re: New Homeowner - Green Pool [add NaClO to lower NH3]

Wait until I can actually keep fc in the pool before you bring your whites. At this point all they'd do is get wet. I've got plenty of beer though, so I'm sure that the trip wouldn't be completely in vain...

It's not green anymore. It's pretty crystal clear actually at this point, I just haven't been able to keep any fc in it. There are some pictures earlier on in the thread that show it, but I have been doing most of my testing and posting at night, and the pool has no light, so it's been hard to get any kind of decent pictures. I'll see if I can get some tomorrow if I'm not too busy recovering from the ammonia battle...

Time for another test:

fc: 2
cc: 2
pH: 7.2
nh3: .25-.5

I'm getting that ammonia down. Hopefully I'll be able to fully get rid of it AND have a nice fc residual before I have to stop for the night or run out of bleach... I've only got 20 gallons left... Since I started testing for ammonia yesterday, I have added 17 gallons of 6% Wal-Mart Great Value bleach, and 28 gallons of 12.5% (more like 8.25%) liquid chlorine. Still working on getting the ammonia down.

Another 6 gallons going in.
 
Re: New Homeowner - Green Pool

kimkats said:
Keep adding bleach. You are not done with the shocking PROCESS.

Shocking:
Measure the FC level
Add enough chlorine to bring FC up to shock level (or a little higher)
Repeat steps 1 and 2 as frequently as practical, but not more than once per hour, and not less than twice a day, until:
CC is 0.5 or lower;
An overnight FC loss test shows a loss of 1.0 ppm or less;
And the water is clear.

You can do it! Let us know your progress!

Kim
Click to expand...
Hi I am so sorry for asking a question in the middle of a trend, but what is SHOCKING LEVEL? I have the same problem as this guy. My pool was green and then after running my SandPro 50 all night is cloudily.
 
Re: New Homeowner - Green Pool [add NaClO to lower NH3]

Just wanted to offer you some encouragement and let you know that I for one am rootin' for ya. I've been following this thread from the beginning with great interest as I'm totally knew to all this pool stuff and trying to soak up everything I can. Your little "adventure" has been a great learning experience and a heckuva lot more entertainment than anything I can find on TV lately. :) I wanna see more frequent updates, and heres another vote for more pics as well! :p
 
Re: New Homeowner - Green Pool

denisrenepl said:
Hi I am so sorry for asking a question in the middle of a [s:37qj27ly]trend[/s:37qj27ly] thread, but what is SHOCKING LEVEL? I have the same problem as this guy. My pool was green and then after running my SandPro 50 all night is cloudily.
Click to expand...
This is technically thread hijacking, so you should start your own thread to ask this question, but I'll give an answer here cause I'm nice. Kind of.

I say everything below in the nicest possible manner, please don't think that I'm being rude. I just know what it's like to [s:37qj27ly]spend[/s:37qj27ly] waste time and money trying to fix a green pool without the proper knowledge an equipment, and I don't want you to make the same mistake.

First off, and I speak from experience here... STOP!! FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS FINE AND GOOD IN THIS WORLD, DO NOT, I REPEAT, DO NOT DO ANYTHING ELSE UNTIL:

Go order a real test kit, you can get it here: http://tftestkits.net/TF-100-Test-Kit-p4.html. I also highly recommend the SpeedStir, available at the same site. Strips are not accurate, the 5/6 way test from Wal-Mart doesn't test the right things in a meaningful way, and pool stores have known to be just as bad as the test strips. Until you can accurately measure your Free Chlorine (fc) and Combined Chloramines (cc) and know what they are and how they work, you're flying blind.

I would also highly recommend that you hit up an aquarium supply store and drop 6 to 10 bucks on an ammonia test kit. You won't likely have any ammonia, but it'll be good to have in case you end up adding gallon after gallon of bleach and wonder why you can't maintain any kind of decent fc level, even when your water is clear.

Read Pool School. Then read it again. Then print it out and read it a third time.
http://www.troublefreepool.com/pool-school/

Then, read the shocking process again.
http://www.troublefreepool.com/pool-school/shocking_your_pool

Then, read this thread on how to go from a swamp to crystal clear water:
http://www.troublefreepool.com/turning-your-green-swamp-back-into-a-sparkling-oasis-t4147.html

Once you have your kit, read up on the extended directions at this link and run a full panel of tests.
http://www.troublefreepool.com/extended-test-kit-directions-t25081.html

Finally, learn to love the Pool Calculator
http://www.poolcalculator.com

Then, you should know the answer to your own question, and many more. To give a quick answer so it doesn't seem like I'm being mean or blunt, the shock level is going to depend on your current pool chemistry - specifically the amount of CYA you have. Your CYA could be anywhere from 0 to 100+, depending on what you are using to chlorinate, and higher CYA means that you'll have to raise to and maintain very high levels of Free Chlorine (fc) to shock. If you're at 0 CYA the fc necessary to raise and maintain shock is much lower, but you'll end up burning off a lot more during the daylight hours.

It is also worth noting that if you can't test properly and just blindly add chlorine to the pool, you could bleach your liner (I assume it's a vinyl liner since it's an above ground pool) by adding too much chlorine.

Read the links I provided, over and over, and you'll get it. Trust me, it can be a long arduous process, but the sooner you develop your POP (pool owner patience) and know what you're doing, the sooner you'll be able to get your pool back on track.
 
Re: New Homeowner - Green Pool

denisrenepl said:
OMG Thank you SO much! I am so sorry for hijacking this thread. I will read. Thank YOU!
Click to expand...
Glad I could provide a response, no problem, and welcome to TFP! :wave: :wave: :wave: Creating your own thread is more about making sure YOU get the visibility you need instead of getting lost in someone else's thread.

I'm also really bad about editing my posts. I think I've edited 3 or 4 more things into it. If you're up to it, read my original reply again so that you don't miss anything.

Best of luck to you!
 
Re: New Homeowner - Green Pool [add NaClO to lower NH3]

fc: 4
cc: 3
nh3: .25 or less

In the home stretch now, AND starting to keep a bit more fc in the pool in between tests. So stoked to be making such good progress! Need 5 gallons 2 quarts to get up to my somewhat improvised shock level again, so I'll just go with 6 to keep it nice and easy.

For anyone that hasn't been following, I'm using 12.5% liquid chlorine that I ran a dilution test on (two separate bottles from two separate boxes) and got readings of 7% and 9.5% so I'm figuring that this bleach is pretty degraded and using an estimate of 8.25% strength when running calculations at the pool calculator.
 
Re: New Homeowner - Green Pool [add NaClO to lower NH3]

denisrenepl said:
Ryan.. are you close to a clean pool?
Click to expand...
The pool has been crystal clear for several days now, but was having a very hard time maintaining my free chlorine levels.

Turns out that I managed to get a very high amount of ammonia in the pool somehow, my guess is something near 16-24 ppm. I should be done with that tomorrow (and 48 gallons of 12.5% liquid chlorine) and hope to pass my fourth attempt at the OCLT tomorrow evening.

Don't let that 48 gallon number scare you. My pool is about 4.5-5 times the volume of your pool, so hopefully you'll be able to get yours clear with a lot less chlorine!
 
Re: New Homeowner - Green Pool [add NaClO to lower NH3]

fc: 4.5
cc: 2
nh3: .25ish. Pretty sure I was under it, but not totally sure - reading colors, after all.

Added the last 6 gallons of my liquid chlorine, and I need to sleep. Hopefully I won't lose too much ground by having to stop for a few hours to sleep and get more bleach. I'll run another CYA test tomorrow morning too before I start dosing again.

Night everybody. Thanks to everyone who stayed up and kept me company :)
 

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