OTO, Cloud, HELP!

[PaulR]

In a 20K gallon pool, each 8oz of trichlor is worth about FC 2.7 and CYA 1.7, so 8 pucks is around 14ppm CYA. That might cause some cloudiness in the CYA test but probably not enough to register as a true 20ppm. If you already had some CYA in there, obviously it would add up.

The CYA added by trichlor is in the pool as soon as the trichlor is dissolved. The only thing that takes time is straight granular CYA, which can hang around in small bits for some time (days).

Yes, go ahead and keep track of how much borax you've put in, it will all count towards borates if you want to go that route. The Pool Calculator says you want 48 lb to reach 50ppm borates, you're already halfway there!

Regarding your numbered questions:

1. FC kills the algae, the filter should filter out the dead algae.

2. pH test reads best in daylight against a white background. You are looking for color, not darkness. So, for example, think about yellow-ish versus orange-ish for distinguishing 6.8 from 7.2 And I would give the borax an hour or two with the pump on to settle down before retesting pH. Brushing wouldn't hurt in the meantime, it doesn't necessarily dissolve right away.

3. Pumping big bubbles into the water doesn't help much, you want lots of little bubbles. Some people use a length of PVC with lots of teeny holes in it, hooked up to something that blows air.

Whew! Let us know what's happening in the morning...
--paulr

 

[TL]

Thanks Paul! Ok, I got up and checked the pool at 8:30 this morning. And guess what? For the first time in the 2010 pool season, I saw...........wait for it.....................THE POOL DRAIN IN THE DEEP END!! It's working! Spotted a little area of leaves that had evaded the blind vacuuming, snatched those up, and then tested the water.

FC 14 ppm
CC 1 ppm
pH- 7.2
TA 130
CH- 120
CYA- None Detected

I am about to add a bunch of stabilizer to get CYA up. Things look to be improving, let's hope I can get it to crystal clear. Still hazy, but visibility is improving. Thanks everyone! I will retest chlorine at noon, and see where I am at.

 

[TL]

Quick update: Tested the water after vacuuming and brushing, about 5 hours after the test this morning:

FC - 9.5
CC - 1

So, free chlorine is still being eaten, although I am not sure how much of this loss was due to it being daytime vs. organic matter reactions. I have added 4 lbs. of stabilizer to a sock hanging in the skimmer. Since CC is still present, is it safe to assume that there is still organic stuff in the water that is causing the haze? Also, let's assume the dead matter/algae that caused the cloud is too small to be pulled out with our sand filter. Would the continued elevated chlorine eventually rid the pool of this stuff, or does it have to be removed by the filter? In other words is chlorine a "chemical filter" that will filter out any organic particulate, no matter the size? Thanks!

 

[PaulR]

The chlorine kills the algae, but the dead algae gets taken out by the filter. It can take a sand filter some days to catch up with all the dead stuff; the trick there is not to backwash too often, because a sand filter actually becomes a little more effective when it's a little dirty. Wait until the pressure goes up distinctly, like 6-8 PSI, before you backwash.

CC 1 indicates that you need to continue shocking. With no CYA you were losing significant amounts of chlorine to the sun; that should improve over the next couple of days as the stuff in the sock dissolves.
--paulr