Please help me get my pool back!
- Thread starter daskiker
- Start date
With a CYA of 80 and not testing, you are wasting time. you would need to keep you pool at 31 FC to shock/SLAM to pool. When you do this, you NEED to re-test to see what happens when you have your FC there. You need to keep you FC as close to 31 for as long as it takes to get the pool clear.
What you are doing is the like getting into a car, flooring the gas pedal (chlorine) to 100 MPH and then letting off the gas and coasting for an hour (even if you come to a stop, ignoring it for a couple days) and then pressing one the gas again as you speed back up to somewhere between 50 and 150 and then coasting for another hour and then wondering why you can't seem to get from SF to NY in a day.
Many people do this by testing and then adding chlorine once an hour for the first couple days, threes time a day for another week and then once a day for the rest of the time you want the pool to stay clear...
Until you are willing to make the effort, you will not make any progress. Take ownership of this problem, no one here can do it for you.
What you are doing is the like getting into a car, flooring the gas pedal (chlorine) to 100 MPH and then letting off the gas and coasting for an hour (even if you come to a stop, ignoring it for a couple days) and then pressing one the gas again as you speed back up to somewhere between 50 and 150 and then coasting for another hour and then wondering why you can't seem to get from SF to NY in a day.
Many people do this by testing and then adding chlorine once an hour for the first couple days, threes time a day for another week and then once a day for the rest of the time you want the pool to stay clear...
Until you are willing to make the effort, you will not make any progress. Take ownership of this problem, no one here can do it for you.
Thanks Techguy. I suppose what I was thinking was that if I shocked the pool to the mustard algae level then I would be more than OK for "regular" algae, given that I read on here that mustard algae is very often misdiagnosed. Also, my CC was 0 from the beginning, which was after a battle with algae, so I thought that was going to be OK throughout this battle as well. In any event, I get the message that I need to be far more vigilant in testing if I want to take care of this problem once and for all. I will do my best to get some accurate readings in the morning and I hope that you all will be kind enough to help me through this. IThanks so much!
Pols are like a big pet. When they get hungry, they turn green and require a lot of attention everyday until they are happy. Then they require food everyday, including the days you don't want to play.
A few readings from about 2 hours ago:
FC: 31 (this was when the water turned to what I would call "blue" rather than "clear" as the instructions say. I am assuming red--> blue = "clear?")
CC: 0 I'm pretty confident about this
PH: 7.5 I'm prettty confident on this one too
ALK: 120 (turned yellow, not red)
Overall:
Pool looks pretty good, but not quite sparkling. The shallow end is very clear with what I think is dead algae at the bottom. Sides are clear all around the pool but there is still 2-3 patches of green on the bottom of the deep end. I will turn to the pol calculator and check to see what it recommends after I finish up some work and post my plan before I do anything else. Thank you for your help!
FC: 31 (this was when the water turned to what I would call "blue" rather than "clear" as the instructions say. I am assuming red--> blue = "clear?")
CC: 0 I'm pretty confident about this
PH: 7.5 I'm prettty confident on this one too
ALK: 120 (turned yellow, not red)
Overall:
Pool looks pretty good, but not quite sparkling. The shallow end is very clear with what I think is dead algae at the bottom. Sides are clear all around the pool but there is still 2-3 patches of green on the bottom of the deep end. I will turn to the pol calculator and check to see what it recommends after I finish up some work and post my plan before I do anything else. Thank you for your help!
Brush it off the bottom and up into that chlorinated water....don't let it sit there.
Given my readings from earlier today (FC:31, CC:0, ALK:120, PH:7.5), I think the plan for tonight is to put 2 more 96 oz. jugs of chlorine in the pool. I believe that this will ensure that I do not drop below FC:31 overnight and then I will test it again in the morning.
I saw that with a CYA at 80 (which, honestly, I am not confident in that reading because if you look at my recent history it was at 70 before I drained a fair amount of water and refilled with tap water) a "mustard shock" would be around FC:44, with the caveat that you can still kill it at a lower level it will just take longer. Thus, my general plan is to keep the chlorine level as it is right now (31) and just make sure it doesn't fall below that number. (Note that I just tested the FC again and it read 31.5 so it doesn't appear to be dropping, at least since earlier this afternoon).
Does this sound like the right plan, at least for tonight?
I saw that with a CYA at 80 (which, honestly, I am not confident in that reading because if you look at my recent history it was at 70 before I drained a fair amount of water and refilled with tap water) a "mustard shock" would be around FC:44, with the caveat that you can still kill it at a lower level it will just take longer. Thus, my general plan is to keep the chlorine level as it is right now (31) and just make sure it doesn't fall below that number. (Note that I just tested the FC again and it read 31.5 so it doesn't appear to be dropping, at least since earlier this afternoon).
Does this sound like the right plan, at least for tonight?
daskiker said:
You clearly understand that CYA matters. If you are not confident in the CYA reading, retake it. You can pour the test mixture back in the bottle and use it to repeat the test a couple of time to make sure you're confident in the reading. I see that you had put tablets in the pool before getting the reading of 70. If those tablets were dichlor or trichlor, they would have added CYA, and it can take up to a week to show on the test. That could be where the "extra" CYA came from if your reading now is higher than before. I understand you drained some water, too. It sounds like you need to repeat the test so you will have a confident number.
After practicing the CYA testas you suggested, I am more confident that the reading is, in fact, 80. This puts draining the pool again in the morning in play, but if I can wait out this algae by continuing to treat it with bleach I am willing to do that.
The tablets we put in before this all started were 3" chlorinating tablets sold under the brand name Aqua Chem. This, along with chlorine granules (used only occasionally when the test strip showed low chlorine), was how we got along for years. When we had algae, we went to the pool store. From what I read about that pool maintenance regimen, it is not surprising that we had high CYA. I am surprised that we were not battling algae much more often. On the other hand, our Polaris has been hit or miss for years so I have routinely vacuumed the pool on waste down to the skimmer line and refilled with tap water. That probably kept it in check somewhat. At least, that is my understanding at this point! Anyway, any thoughts on the 2 jugs of bleach tonight and test in the morning plan? Other options? Thanks again for your assistance. When I went out there tonight, the pool was definitely looking much better than when we started this whole process!
The tablets we put in before this all started were 3" chlorinating tablets sold under the brand name Aqua Chem. This, along with chlorine granules (used only occasionally when the test strip showed low chlorine), was how we got along for years. When we had algae, we went to the pool store. From what I read about that pool maintenance regimen, it is not surprising that we had high CYA. I am surprised that we were not battling algae much more often. On the other hand, our Polaris has been hit or miss for years so I have routinely vacuumed the pool on waste down to the skimmer line and refilled with tap water. That probably kept it in check somewhat. At least, that is my understanding at this point! Anyway, any thoughts on the 2 jugs of bleach tonight and test in the morning plan? Other options? Thanks again for your assistance. When I went out there tonight, the pool was definitely looking much better than when we started this whole process!
I dumped 2 jugs of bleach in last night. This morning the pool was looking clear and I saw no signs of algae on the walls or the floor. I manually vacuumed the pool on waste and removed all of the debris. The pool is clear enough that I can see the drain in the deep end pretty clearly but not perfectly. After cleaning the pool, I filled in some tap water.
About 3 hours after all this I tested the free chlorine and it was at 30.5. I dumped 2 jugs of bleach in just now and that is where I am. Of course, the pool pump has been running the whole time through this process.
About 3 hours after all this I tested the free chlorine and it was at 30.5. I dumped 2 jugs of bleach in just now and that is where I am. Of course, the pool pump has been running the whole time through this process.
Yay! Good job on getting it visually cleaned up. Keep the FC at SLAM levels like you've been doing.
Once the water looks clear, test FC and CC right after sunset, and then again in early morning. You're looking for an FC drop less than 1 ppm, and a CC of less than 0.5 ppm. Once you have those 3 things (clear water, overnight chlorine loss less than 1 ppm, CC less than 0.5 ppm) you can stop the SLAM process and let the FC drop to normal levels.
Once the water looks clear, test FC and CC right after sunset, and then again in early morning. You're looking for an FC drop less than 1 ppm, and a CC of less than 0.5 ppm. Once you have those 3 things (clear water, overnight chlorine loss less than 1 ppm, CC less than 0.5 ppm) you can stop the SLAM process and let the FC drop to normal levels.
Thank you! That is just the information I was looking for. I will test it in the morning.
FC was 33.5 late this afternoon. My wife and son came home from out of town and they both agreed that the pool looks clear. I agree. If you dropped a penny in the deepest part of the pool you would easily see it. There was a patch of dead algae in the shallow end and a bit had gathered in each corner of the deep end, but not much. In short, the pool looks great! Tomorrow, I plan to test it at sunset and in the morning as the last poster had suggested. I don't want to get ahead of myself, but I think the pool will meet the criteria he or she laid out. I predict the battle is over and that 36 hours from now I will be declaring the pool an oasis!
Thanks again for all the help and support.
Thanks again for all the help and support.
I don't know how to interpret this. The pool today is crystal clear. However, there was what appeared to be new growth algae right in the shallow end corner where this all first started. There also seemed to be just a hint of it on some of the walls. There was certainly not much, but I do not think my eyes were playing tricks on me either. On top of this, there did not appear to be any additional dead algae that dropped to the floor. I would have expected some more of this if I still had a live algae issue, but I could be wrong about that. I dumped 2 more jugs of chlorine in and waited until sunset to test the water. The CVA was still at 80 and the FC was at 31. I keep getting a level of FC of 31, but it seems that I am having to add about 2 jugs a day to keep it at that level. The plan is to wait until morning and retest the PH, FC, CC and CVA.
Brush!daskiker said:
The overnight loss test will tell you the rest. If you didn't pass, maintain the shock level and ignore the rest for now.
The water was pulled from my pool this morning by my wife, who left it on the counter for me to test. It sat for 2 1/2 hours before I got up and tested it. I am throwing that out there just in case that might make a difference in interpreting the results. (The water was gathered at sunrise).
FC: 29
CC: .5
The plan is to put 3 jugs of bleach in, test at sunrise tonight and then again at dawn in the morning. Visually, the pool looks perfect!
FC: 29
CC: .5
The plan is to put 3 jugs of bleach in, test at sunrise tonight and then again at dawn in the morning. Visually, the pool looks perfect!
You really can not let the water sit for that long before testing the chlorine or pH.