Hi All,
My name is Amy and I’m here because I’m assuming I should stop everything I’m doing, drain my pool and start with a new tanker delivery of pool water. This is summer 3 for my family with this pool. We have used it about half the time we have owned it due to the following problem.
We were told by a store at the end of last year that our pool was in chlorine lock and had high phosphates. The pool was crystal clear and didn’t smell like chlorine. They told us to drain 12” off the pool. We did and filled with water from our garden hose (city water). It was still high so we didn’t swim in the pool the rest of the season.
We went to a different place to close the pool they told us to add some chlorine reducer and not to worry about the phosphates and winterize the pool. Fast forward this year. Same deal. High chlorine, high phosphates. Husband had the water checked and a different pool place said don’t worry about it. Don’t add any chlorine it will go down. That was the solution. Too high to swim so wait it out. A month later still the chlorine is 6.9 and the phosphates are 1330.
I read the test paper this time and it recommended phos out. We decided to use it. The pool within an hour was cloudy white. We ran the filter for hours and still white. We read on another site that if it wasn’t filtering out to add flocculant. Which we did.
Well now I’m reading that was probably the worst thing we could have done. Am I best to just get a pump and drain the pool? Seriously I’m worried I put this in and it is going to ruin our filter even after we vacuum it out. We didn’t know about waste so we are trying to figure out how to use the pool pump directly and just disconnect the filter and attach a drain line to run it away from the house and pool. Someone else I saw mentioned siphoning. Not sure on that.
If anyone could give me their opinion on this I would welcome it. We are lost and are just feeling like we are making one mistake after another.
Last reading numbers before we started this:
Total Chlorine 6.9
Free Chlorine 6.9
pH 7.5
Alkalinity 91
Hardness 240
Stabilizer 130
Copper .3
Iron 0
Phosphate 1330
We use the Frog bac pac system for chlorine and have had it at 0 with no pac just a mineralizer cartridge and we did a non-chlorine shock 4 days before this. We have only been doing this once a month because we can’t swim in it with the high chlorine.
My name is Amy and I’m here because I’m assuming I should stop everything I’m doing, drain my pool and start with a new tanker delivery of pool water. This is summer 3 for my family with this pool. We have used it about half the time we have owned it due to the following problem.
We were told by a store at the end of last year that our pool was in chlorine lock and had high phosphates. The pool was crystal clear and didn’t smell like chlorine. They told us to drain 12” off the pool. We did and filled with water from our garden hose (city water). It was still high so we didn’t swim in the pool the rest of the season.
We went to a different place to close the pool they told us to add some chlorine reducer and not to worry about the phosphates and winterize the pool. Fast forward this year. Same deal. High chlorine, high phosphates. Husband had the water checked and a different pool place said don’t worry about it. Don’t add any chlorine it will go down. That was the solution. Too high to swim so wait it out. A month later still the chlorine is 6.9 and the phosphates are 1330.
I read the test paper this time and it recommended phos out. We decided to use it. The pool within an hour was cloudy white. We ran the filter for hours and still white. We read on another site that if it wasn’t filtering out to add flocculant. Which we did.
Well now I’m reading that was probably the worst thing we could have done. Am I best to just get a pump and drain the pool? Seriously I’m worried I put this in and it is going to ruin our filter even after we vacuum it out. We didn’t know about waste so we are trying to figure out how to use the pool pump directly and just disconnect the filter and attach a drain line to run it away from the house and pool. Someone else I saw mentioned siphoning. Not sure on that.
If anyone could give me their opinion on this I would welcome it. We are lost and are just feeling like we are making one mistake after another.
Last reading numbers before we started this:
Total Chlorine 6.9
Free Chlorine 6.9
pH 7.5
Alkalinity 91
Hardness 240
Stabilizer 130
Copper .3
Iron 0
Phosphate 1330
We use the Frog bac pac system for chlorine and have had it at 0 with no pac just a mineralizer cartridge and we did a non-chlorine shock 4 days before this. We have only been doing this once a month because we can’t swim in it with the high chlorine.
Like so many before you, you've been manipulated by pool store products and advice. Everything you noted above pushed you in the wrong direction. We see it all the time. With about a month left in your season, now is the time for action so you can close with nice water. So here is your Rx for better water: