Please help with chemicals

[Cheechee]

Hi everyone I am new here, but have been lurking for a while and found some great advice.

But I really need your advice on my chemicals.
I have a Bestway powersteel above ground pool 18ftx9ftx48, it holds 3,913 gallons. It is under cover so not in direct sunlight although as I live in Turkey it is up around 40°.

I opened it up this year and all was fine with it until a few weeks ago, I bought a new Bestway sand filter, initially I had a number of problems with sand in my pool, which I have now sorted as I believe I was given the wrong sand. However I did have a kind of clear scale floating on the surface, I decided to bite the bullet empty the pool, do a full clean, also of the sand filter and start fresh.

It has now been done 4 days, I put in the chlorine and the cleaner and run my pump, but the day before this I noticed it looked like a few of the floating scale was beginning again.
I have just got the insta-test 6 plus strips and my readings are as follows.
FCI 10
TCI 3
ALK 240
PH 9
TH 250
CYA 100.
And there is more of this floating scale, I really do not want to have to empty it again, and I need to find out what this is floating.

Please is this fixable?
I was wondering as I live in Turkey that perhaps the main water has changed from the previous 2 years as this is the 1st time I have had this problem.
I have attached pictures of the pool water and my pump.

Thank you in advance for any help or information

 

[ajw22]

You really have to get a better test kit then your test strips. You can’t have CYA 100 from fresh fill water if you have not added stabilizer. CYA does not naturally occur in water.

Without a decent test kit you are operating blind to try and fix your water chemistry.

Pool Test Kits - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[mgtfp]

Hi Cheechee,

Welcome to the Forum! I don't know these strips that you are using. But I am struggling to believe that after a refill (was that complete or only partial?) your CYA is 100, which makes me question the other parameters as well. How are you chlorinating? pH is extremely high, so is Alkalinity, resulting in a very high calcium saturation index, making calcium scaling very likely. If pH and CYA are really that high, then they need to get down. But it's hard to give advice when we can't really trust the test results.

Is there a chance to get one of the recommended test kits (Test Kits Compared) in Turkey? Have a look at our Wiki article on test kits, it also contains a paragraph on how to get test kits outside the US, maybe that helps:

Pool Test Kits - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

And did you already go through Pool School?

Pool School

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[Cheechee]

Hi Cheechee,

Welcome to the Forum! I don't know these strips that you are using. But I am struggling to believe that after a refill (was that complete or only partial?) your CYA is 100, which makes me question the other parameters as well. How are you chlorinating? pH is extremely high, so is Alkalinity, resulting in a very high calcium saturation index, making calcium scaling very likely. If pH and CYA are really that high, then they need to get down. But it's hard to give advice when we can't really trust the test results.

Is there a chance to get one of the recommended test kits (Test Kits Compared) in Turkey? Have a look at our Wiki article on test kits, it also contains a paragraph on how to get test kits outside the US, maybe that helps:

Pool Test Kits - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

And did you already go through Pool School?

Pool School

www.troublefreepool.com

Hi
Thank you both for your replies. It is not possible to get the named test kits here, however I have purchased one in which you add the drops to, put the instructions are not clear. I shall use this and post the readings.
I too am very surprised with the readings considering it is a full new refill. I am wondering if they have added chemicals to the general water as we have had a number of cut off, where once the water comes back on it is very cloudy.

At this point I am at such a loss as to what to do and willing to try anything in order to get back to using my pool especially as the heat here keeps rising!

 

[Texas Splash]

You are one of those pool owners in a location without proper resources, but we'll do our best to help. Once you post your drop test results, it may help. Just remember these two very basic concepts:
1. FC & CYA balanced per the FC/CYA Levels: to prevent algae
2. PH, TA, CH (with water temp): to control scale

We have the recommended levels here at TFP (and in my signature), but how you test and obtain those levels will be your challenge. Good luck!

 

[Cheechee]

So I have used the other test kit which is available here.
1st picture of the kit.
2nd picture following 5 drops each of relevant drops for chlorine and pH.
3rd picture for total alkalinity - 25ml pool water. - 2 drops Alk10, 5 drops Alk10 turned green
Alk 30 drops added until turned red - total 30 drops added.

Just to confirm yes this is a complete new pool refill

 

[Cheechee]

So I have used the other test kit which is available here.
1st picture of the kit.
2nd picture following 5 drops each of relevant drops for chlorine and pH.
3rd picture for total alkalinity - 25ml pool water. - 2 drops Alk10, 5 drops Alk10 turned green
Alk 30 drops added until turned red - total 30 drops added.

Just to confirm yes this is a complete new pool refill

Sorry forget to add pictures.

 

[Cheechee]

Sorry forget to add pictures.

 

[mknauss]

In the chlorine/pH color block, you need to fill the water to the line in the top block. You do not have enough water in the test you show to accurately use that test.

 

[Cheechee]

I filled the water to where it says max, is that not correct?

 

[Texas Splash]

It looks as though your TA is high, probably around 300 or so if it's like our test (each drop = 10 ppm). But that is not unusual. Here in the US we have some places with a fill TA of over 400. So we'll tell you how you can lower that with the link below. But TA is only one part of the scale equation as I noted above. You need to control the pH right away as well. Each time you lower the pH down to about 7.2, it should also pull the TA down a little each time. But use the link below to help.

In the meantime, it's very important to confirm your CYA so that you know what your FC needs to be.

Lower Total Alkalinity

A lower Total Alkalinity level can help a pool owner stabalize their pH increase. We'll explain how to lower TA with a little help from muriatic acid.

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[mknauss]

I filled the water to where it says max, is that not correct?

No, that is the test manufacturer implication of the max level of that parameter. Not correct, but that is another discussion.

Fill the device to the line in the top block.

 

[Cheechee]

No, that is the test manufacturer implication of the max level of that parameter. Not correct, but that is another discussion.

Fill the device to the line in the top block.

Thank you,

Filled to the block line, 5 drops each of relevant chemical, result pictures attached.

 

[Cheechee]

It looks as though your TA is high, probably around 300 or so if it's like our test (each drop = 10 ppm). But that is not unusual. Here in the US we have some places with a fill TA of over 400. So we'll tell you how you can lower that with the link below. But TA is only one part of the scale equation as I noted above. You need to control the pH right away as well. Each time you lower the pH down to about 7.2, it should also pull the TA down a little each time. But use the link below to help.

In the meantime, it's very important to confirm your CYA so that you know what your FC needs to be.

Lower Total Alkalinity

A lower Total Alkalinity level can help a pool owner stabalize their pH increase. We'll explain how to lower TA with a little help from muriatic acid.

www.troublefreepool.com

Thank you,
If I need to buy any chemicals to fix this I shall go tomorrow, I have been reading the pool chemical information page here, but given it is a complete new refill I am at a loss at what could be happening.

Any thoughts/advice really appreciated

 

[mknauss]

Great. Chlorine is fine, above 5 ppm. As you have said no CYA was added (correct?), you need to add 30 ppm worth of that. Can you buy dichlor? Some call it shock. That is half CYA and will raise your CYA as you chlorinate. But stop using it when you add enough to get your CYA to 30 ppm. Start using liquid chlorine then.
Your pH and TA are causing the scale flakes. Start lowering your pH with acid. Assume you pH is 8.2 and target 7.4. Add enough acid to achieve that and circulate pool for an hour and test pH again. Repeat until your pH reads in the 7's. This process will lower your TA too, so test that after every two acid additions.

 

[Cheechee]

Great. Chlorine is fine, above 5 ppm. As you have said no CYA was added (correct?), you need to add 30 ppm worth of that. Can you buy dichlor? Some call it shock. That is half CYA and will raise your CYA as you chlorinate. But stop using it when you add enough to get your CYA to 30 ppm. Start using liquid chlorine then.
Your pH and TA are causing the scale flakes. Start lowering your pH with acid. Assume you pH is 8.2 and target 7.4. Add enough acid to achieve that and circulate pool for an hour and test pH again. Repeat until your pH reads in the 7's. This process will lower your TA too, so test that after every two acid additions.

Thank you,

We can not buy "shock" here, but they do have other chemicals. It is also very difficult to get liquid chlorine, but can get it in powder, which I have. They also have pH+ and ph- here in powder form.
Dichlor is also available here, at different percentages.
Given what is available here what would be your recommendation as to what to do next.
Thank you

 

[Cheechee]

Thank you,

We can not buy "shock" here, but they do have other chemicals. It is also very difficult to get liquid chlorine, but can get it in powder, which I have. They also have pH+ and ph- here in powder form.
Dichlor is also available here, at different percentages.
Given what is available here what would be your recommendation as to what to do next.
Thank you

Correct no Cya was added

Thank you,

We can not buy "shock" here, but they do have other chemicals. It is also very difficult to get liquid chlorine, but can get it in powder, which I have. They also have pH+ and ph- here in powder form.
Dichlor is also available here, at different percentages.
Given what is available here what would be your recommendation as to what to do next.
Thank you

Correct no Cya was added

 

[mknauss]

The powder chlorine -- is it calcium hypochlorite? That is just making the scale issue worse. You will struggle with this water using Cal Hypo.

Dichlor is one percentage. Cal Hypo comes in different percentages.

My recommendation is to use Dichlor until you have added 30 ppm CYA. Then switch to your other available chlorine source. If that is Cal Hypo, be sure it is the 73% chlorine one. And be ready to fight scale. You will have to aggressively control TA and pH.

 

[Cheechee]

The powder chlorine -- is it calcium hypochlorite? That is just making the scale issue worse. You will struggle with this water using Cal Hypo.

Dichlor is one percentage. Cal Hypo comes in different percentages.

My recommendation is to use Dichlor until you have added 30 ppm CYA. Then switch to your other available chlorine source. If that is Cal Hypo, be sure it is the 73% chlorine one. And be ready to fight scale. You will have to aggressively control TA and pH.

Again thank you,
The first picture is what I have used, it is 12% as I have highlighted.
2nd picture is a new chlorine powder which I haven't used, 90%
3rd picture is of dichlor available here.
Afraid I am not knowledgeable with the different chemicals.

 

[mknauss]

Picture 2 and 3 are both dichlor. You can use that to raise your CYA, but then stop using it. Picture 1 is great if you can get it. 12.5% bleach. Good stuff.