Please help with test results and some questions.
- Thread starter trishalinn
- Start date
I feel like I must be doing something wrong. The pool looks AWFUL right now. It's turned very green and has lots of those dark nasty floaty things all over it again. We did go to the pool store this morning and purchase a new brush with a longer pole. Apparently it is something special for concrete pools because it has some stainless steel bristles in it. Anyhow... I think I've been able to reach some of the areas of the deep end better with it because it's longer. I realize this is probably breaking up some more of the gunk. I've continued to check the chlorine levels and it's right at 10. I haven't added any bleach since yesterday around 5pm. Should the levels be staying up this long? Is there a chance I've screwed something up? I've itching to throw more bleach in there because it's irritating me seeing the pool look this nasty after it was looking so much better yesterday!
Have you put the CYA in yet? If you're targeting CYA 30, then your shock level goes up to 12, per the Chlorine/CYA chart.
--paulr
--paulr
You really need to do a CYA test. Your CYA level might be too low or too high, both of which could cause problems.
I put about half of it in last night. I noticed it said on the package that you shouldn't backwash until 48 hours after putting it in, but I've been having to backwash at least a couple of times a day I'm assuming because there was so much gunk in my pool from sitting 2+ years unused. I'll check my CYA and see what the level is. Thanks for the advice!
Hello there~
I've been following your story; I've been in the same boat as you.
I'm not clear on whether you have a deep-end intake/drain. You may not even know yourself yet, or know whether it is clogged or open and working. If there is gunk and stuff down in the deep end, you need to get it out of there. You could have clear-ish water one day, stir that stuff up, and then your water will look worse for a while.
Have you been vacuuming your pool? Simply leaving the vacuum cleaner head down in the deep end is a good way of getting all that water to circulate.
A lot of modern pools have straight vertical sides. My old pool, and perhaps yours, has sloped sides in the deep end. This is something to consider when trying to calculate the volume of your pool. We used to think our pool held a lot more water than it actually does. We thought it was nine feet deep. Now that we're under renovation, we learned that it is actually eight feet deep.
Anyway, you are not the only one to have your pool water clarity fluctuate as you go through the process of cleanup. Mine was two steps forward, one step back, two steps forward....
Hang in there--Pool Owner Patience is indeed something to develop.
Lana
I've been following your story; I've been in the same boat as you.
I'm not clear on whether you have a deep-end intake/drain. You may not even know yourself yet, or know whether it is clogged or open and working. If there is gunk and stuff down in the deep end, you need to get it out of there. You could have clear-ish water one day, stir that stuff up, and then your water will look worse for a while.
Have you been vacuuming your pool? Simply leaving the vacuum cleaner head down in the deep end is a good way of getting all that water to circulate.
A lot of modern pools have straight vertical sides. My old pool, and perhaps yours, has sloped sides in the deep end. This is something to consider when trying to calculate the volume of your pool. We used to think our pool held a lot more water than it actually does. We thought it was nine feet deep. Now that we're under renovation, we learned that it is actually eight feet deep.
Anyway, you are not the only one to have your pool water clarity fluctuate as you go through the process of cleanup. Mine was two steps forward, one step back, two steps forward....
Hang in there--Pool Owner Patience is indeed something to develop.
Lana
With CYA at 25, and more on the way, you should target an FC level of 15 while shocking.
JasonLion: Thanks for the advice. I've upped the FC shock level to 15
Lana537: I do believe I have a deep end drain (though I haven't seen it, I think I've felt it while brushing the floor in the deep end.) Our pool also has sloped sides. It actually has a ledge (about 10 inches) around the deep end thats around 3 feet deep and then it slopes down. I'm not exactly sure how deep it is, but I'd guess it is 9 feet. Thanks for the encouragement... I keep getting worried that I'm not doing the right thing!
Lana537: I do believe I have a deep end drain (though I haven't seen it, I think I've felt it while brushing the floor in the deep end.) Our pool also has sloped sides. It actually has a ledge (about 10 inches) around the deep end thats around 3 feet deep and then it slopes down. I'm not exactly sure how deep it is, but I'd guess it is 9 feet. Thanks for the encouragement... I keep getting worried that I'm not doing the right thing!
I was curious to know if you are vacuuming. This would help to circulate the water if your deep end intake/"drain" happens to be clogged.
Lana
Lana
We have vacuumed twice. I am going to try to get around to doing it again tonight. It's definitely been back and forth with this whole process. The water starts to clear up, and then I scrub everything down and it looks terrible again. I'm hoping we can get it mostly cleared up by the end of the week because on Saturday we leave for vacation and will be gone a week! My 19 year old brother agreed to come over and keep the chemicals balanced for me while we're gone. I don't even know what that looks like right now. I'm so busy shocking and scrubbing and trying to get rid of this algae!
Hang in there - you'll get there. Hows your CYA level? If it's going up, remember your shock level should too. How often are you testing and adding bleach?
I checked my CYA level last night and it was at 30. I'm shocking to 15ppm as suggested by JasonLion. I'm testing the water about 4 or 5 times a day. It only seem to need more chlorine added once a day right now.
I do have a question about testing the chlorine. When I run the test after the water turns pink and I start adding the other reagent drop by drop, sometimes the water turns clear for a second and then back to pink... it can do this for quite a while. Do I count the FC level when it stops turning back to pink?
I do have a question about testing the chlorine. When I run the test after the water turns pink and I start adding the other reagent drop by drop, sometimes the water turns clear for a second and then back to pink... it can do this for quite a while. Do I count the FC level when it stops turning back to pink?
Yes, when it stops turning pink that's your level.
IF you let it sit for more than a minute after it's turned clear, it will possibly turn pink again. It should stay clear for a good 30 seconds.
IF you let it sit for more than a minute after it's turned clear, it will possibly turn pink again. It should stay clear for a good 30 seconds.
Just a quick update. I'm still shocking to keep the FC level up to 15. It was at 12 this morning, so I added a bit more bleach.
I don't think my pump was running well all night last night, it seems to have been having some problems. I did a little reading last night and realized it was probably the O-ring. We cleaned it off this morning and put some lube on it. It seems to be running just fine so far today.
We scrubbed the pool like crazy yesterday and had some more muck come to the top. Because the pump wasn't running real well last night it didn't get filtered out, but it is getting filtered through now.
I'm going to keep plugging away at it. We're leaving for vacation on Saturday and we'll be gone a week. I'm getting a bit nervous about the pool while we're gone. I don't want to lose all of the progress we've made. My 19 year old brother said he'd come over and help out with it while I"m gone, but I know he doesn't have time to figure out all of the in's and out's of everything. I was hoping by the time we left that it would be at a stage where he could just come over and test the chlorine and keep it balanced until we get home.
I don't think my pump was running well all night last night, it seems to have been having some problems. I did a little reading last night and realized it was probably the O-ring. We cleaned it off this morning and put some lube on it. It seems to be running just fine so far today.
We scrubbed the pool like crazy yesterday and had some more muck come to the top. Because the pump wasn't running real well last night it didn't get filtered out, but it is getting filtered through now.
I'm going to keep plugging away at it. We're leaving for vacation on Saturday and we'll be gone a week. I'm getting a bit nervous about the pool while we're gone. I don't want to lose all of the progress we've made. My 19 year old brother said he'd come over and help out with it while I"m gone, but I know he doesn't have time to figure out all of the in's and out's of everything. I was hoping by the time we left that it would be at a stage where he could just come over and test the chlorine and keep it balanced until we get home.
I'm optimistic that if you keep hitting it hard things should be good by Friday and then he'll just need to add a bit of bleach each day. 
wow looking good! this gives me some hope and excitement to see all the people sharing advise with you. I'll be tackling the same type project soon! keep up the good work!
FC was still up at 15 this morning when I checked it. I added 1 gallon of chlorine Tuesday AM, and haven't added any since then. Is it typical for the FC levels to stay up this long?
The water is really looking nice and blue. It's still cloudy, but the color is looking so much better. I'm going to get out there soon and try to scrub the pool down really well, but I'm HOPING that I've finally brought up all that nasty algae.
How long do I keep the FC level up at 15?
The water is really looking nice and blue. It's still cloudy, but the color is looking so much better. I'm going to get out there soon and try to scrub the pool down really well, but I'm HOPING that I've finally brought up all that nasty algae.
How long do I keep the FC level up at 15?
Well that's a good sign. 
Tonight do the Overnight FC Loss Test - tonight, after the sun is off the pool, test the FC and record the result. Don't add any bleach or anything that might raise the FC. Then tomorrow morning before the sun hits the pool test it again.
If you lose more than 1ppm you are not done shocking. Our criterian for knowing you are "done" is FC holds overnight; CC is .5 or less and (if you don't have an FAS-DPD test) the water is sparkly clear.
If it holds, you can allow the FC to drop down to the "target" level for your CYA (see the chart) and then add enough each night to keep the FC above the "min" level at all times.
Your test may confirm that the algae is all dead and you just need to let the filter clear the dead stuff. Great progress! :-D
Tonight do the Overnight FC Loss Test - tonight, after the sun is off the pool, test the FC and record the result. Don't add any bleach or anything that might raise the FC. Then tomorrow morning before the sun hits the pool test it again.
If you lose more than 1ppm you are not done shocking. Our criterian for knowing you are "done" is FC holds overnight; CC is .5 or less and (if you don't have an FAS-DPD test) the water is sparkly clear.
If it holds, you can allow the FC to drop down to the "target" level for your CYA (see the chart) and then add enough each night to keep the FC above the "min" level at all times.
Your test may confirm that the algae is all dead and you just need to let the filter clear the dead stuff. Great progress! :-D
So here are my overnight test results.
Last night
FC- 12
CC- 0
Today:
FC - 11
CC - 0
THe water is still very cloudy, but the color isn't green anymore. Do I keep shocking or stop now?
I am now having another problem. On the filter down below there is a little cap thing (I'm not sure what it is or what it does). Anyhow, I noticed yesterday that the water was dripping out of that. My husband went out and took it off, he said there were some leaves and gunk he cleaned out when he did and screwed it back on. It didn't seem to drip anymore. Until this morning when I turned the pump off for a minute and then back on. Then it started to come out as more of a trickle. My husband again took it off and put it back on, but this time it kept coming out. Any thoughts on what might be going on there?
Last night
FC- 12
CC- 0
Today:
FC - 11
CC - 0
THe water is still very cloudy, but the color isn't green anymore. Do I keep shocking or stop now?
I am now having another problem. On the filter down below there is a little cap thing (I'm not sure what it is or what it does). Anyhow, I noticed yesterday that the water was dripping out of that. My husband went out and took it off, he said there were some leaves and gunk he cleaned out when he did and screwed it back on. It didn't seem to drip anymore. Until this morning when I turned the pump off for a minute and then back on. Then it started to come out as more of a trickle. My husband again took it off and put it back on, but this time it kept coming out. Any thoughts on what might be going on there?