Hello everyone. This is my first post to the forum, although I have used this forum as a reference for the last 5 years when I bought my house with the pool. Forgive me if I give too many details, but this has been a long process.
I have a 10,000 gallon swg, in-ground, screened-in pool. It was built in 2013 and has a pebble-tec finish. When I moved in, there were some minor rust stains on the finish and scaling on the waterline tile. I maintain my pool fairly well and have had no issues until September of this year.
With Hurricane Helene, although wind effects were minimal, we had an excessive amount of rain. When I checked the pool after all the downpours, the pool had some dark gray staining on the pool finish including several footprints on the edge which could not be brushed away. I had to go to the office, so I just added a bag of shock (Clorox Ultra Blue) and headed to the office. When I got back that evening, the stains had darkened and become black. The chlorine level was high, so I thought algaecide might help. It did not.
After some research, I came to conclusion that I was likely dealing with metal staining. Earlier in the year, I had had my house, soffits, and pools cage painted, as well as my tile roof soft-washed. I do not know if those chemicals are what caused the reaction in my pool as they were washed off into it from the downpours. Anyway, I performed a Jack's Magic test kit. I ended up treating for scale, copper and iron staining. After all the stain treatments, the pool surface was mostly cleared up. The waterline tile looked like new, but the chemical balance was way off. I added baking soda to increase the alkalinity, as well as chlorine, clarifier, algaecide (not all at the same time). One morning when I got up, the pool was cloudy. I now had a huge phosphate issue. I fought that battle, first using what the pool store brand phosphate remover and finally using Orenda (which cleared things up nicely).
The battle I am fighting currently is with combined chlorine. My pool is crystal clear. There is no smell. I am using a Taylor K-2006 test kit.
FC = 5.0 ppm (I added a gallon of 10.5% liquid chlorine yesterday)
CC = >10ppm (I cannot get it to go colorless - it remains pink)
pH = 7.4
TA = 80 ppm
CH = 320 ppm
CYA = 65 ppm
Salt = 3200 ppm
Temperature 62
Currently, no one is swimming because it is too cold by Florida standards. Also, the whole subdivision is in old sod fields, so the soils are heavy and water logged. I am not allowed to drain more than 6 inches at a time because I back up to a lake.
I am willing to wait this out, if that is the best option. I don't want to raise the chlorine level to 10x the CC level because I am not sure what that will do to my pool and/or equipment. If that's what I need to do though, I will do it. I am just not sure if some of the many chemicals that were added are giving me falsely high CC readings.
I appreciate suggestions. Thank you.
I have a 10,000 gallon swg, in-ground, screened-in pool. It was built in 2013 and has a pebble-tec finish. When I moved in, there were some minor rust stains on the finish and scaling on the waterline tile. I maintain my pool fairly well and have had no issues until September of this year.
With Hurricane Helene, although wind effects were minimal, we had an excessive amount of rain. When I checked the pool after all the downpours, the pool had some dark gray staining on the pool finish including several footprints on the edge which could not be brushed away. I had to go to the office, so I just added a bag of shock (Clorox Ultra Blue) and headed to the office. When I got back that evening, the stains had darkened and become black. The chlorine level was high, so I thought algaecide might help. It did not.
After some research, I came to conclusion that I was likely dealing with metal staining. Earlier in the year, I had had my house, soffits, and pools cage painted, as well as my tile roof soft-washed. I do not know if those chemicals are what caused the reaction in my pool as they were washed off into it from the downpours. Anyway, I performed a Jack's Magic test kit. I ended up treating for scale, copper and iron staining. After all the stain treatments, the pool surface was mostly cleared up. The waterline tile looked like new, but the chemical balance was way off. I added baking soda to increase the alkalinity, as well as chlorine, clarifier, algaecide (not all at the same time). One morning when I got up, the pool was cloudy. I now had a huge phosphate issue. I fought that battle, first using what the pool store brand phosphate remover and finally using Orenda (which cleared things up nicely).
The battle I am fighting currently is with combined chlorine. My pool is crystal clear. There is no smell. I am using a Taylor K-2006 test kit.
FC = 5.0 ppm (I added a gallon of 10.5% liquid chlorine yesterday)
CC = >10ppm (I cannot get it to go colorless - it remains pink)
pH = 7.4
TA = 80 ppm
CH = 320 ppm
CYA = 65 ppm
Salt = 3200 ppm
Temperature 62
Currently, no one is swimming because it is too cold by Florida standards. Also, the whole subdivision is in old sod fields, so the soils are heavy and water logged. I am not allowed to drain more than 6 inches at a time because I back up to a lake.
I am willing to wait this out, if that is the best option. I don't want to raise the chlorine level to 10x the CC level because I am not sure what that will do to my pool and/or equipment. If that's what I need to do though, I will do it. I am just not sure if some of the many chemicals that were added are giving me falsely high CC readings.
I appreciate suggestions. Thank you.
