Post Floc, Still Cloudy-HELP!

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J

Jess1982

0
Jun 4, 2018
7
Asheboro, nc
Hello guys. First post here. This is the second summer that I have had my pool. This summer has been a night mare trying to get the chemicals right. We’ve only swimmed in in once and I’ve had it opened for about 6 weeks. The chlorine will not keep. It hasnt gotten above 1 ppm if that. Most of the time it is 0. My cya has been 0 as well so I put 3 lbs of stabilizer in it 8 days ago and it is still reading 0. I put a pound of shock in last night after brushing hoping we could at least swim in it today but after just testing my readings are

ph 6.8
cya 0
fc 0
tc 0
ta 120

I just want my boys to be able to swim. It’s 90 degrees here in North Carolina and it seems everyday I have to tell them no you can’t swim. Please help me. I am so lost.
 
I opened my pool about 3 weeks ago. After my third summer of trying to figure out my pool on my own, I decided to start with the pool store this year. My pool was extremely green. I bought a new sand pump right before I started working to open my pool. I let my pump run for several days before heading to the pool store. I brought a water sample and she told me to not even look at the results but to tackle the algae first. Even though she said to nix the results, they are below:

FC .30
TC .30
Combined Chlorine 0
PH 8.7
Alkalinity 81
Adjusted Alkalinity 79
Hardness 30
Cyanuric Acid 5
Iron .10
Copper .40
Phosphate 0

But she crossed this all out and said lets start getting rid of the algae first and then we will worry about the numbers. ??? I am not sure if this is correct.

My homework was to brush the pool good twice, then backwash, add algaecide (GLB 600) and put 5 pounds of shock in together but when I told her I didn't want to buy the shock they had in the store because I had been stocking up on HTH 4 in 1 bags of shock the past several weeks she said I would need to put 8 bags in since there isn't as much chlorine in those as what they sell. Then bring another sample in to retest.

I did this and my pool turned a beautiful blue but cloudy. I couldn't see past the first step on the ladder.

I then brought another water sample in 4 days later and these were my readings:

FC .08
TC .47
Combined Chlorine .39
PH 8.7
Alkalinity 59
Adjusted Alkalinity 57
Hardness 96
Cyanuric Acid 5
Iron 0
Copper 0
Phosphate 0

After getting these readings I told her the water was very cloudy now. She stated that I needed to add 2 more pounds of shock and then add 2 oz of clarifier each day until the water is clear and you can see the bottom. It has been 4 days and I still can't see past the first step. Sooo, I got impatient and went to Walmart last night and bought HTH Flocculant. I added the recommended dose yesterday around 715 pm. I expected to wake up this morning and see it all sunk to the bottom but no. Still the same. I called the pool store and told them what I did and she said to wait until tomorrow and give it at least 48 hours then bring a water sample in. So, this is where I am.

I have had so much trouble year after year getting the PH and chlorine to balance. Can someone please tell me what I need to do or has the pool store led me on a goose hunt or telling me correct information?

From what I have read, shouldn't my PH and chlorine levels be correct before doing any of this?

Thanks for reading and I apologize for writing a book tonight.

-Jessica C.
 
Jess, you nailed it. Test strips. Those won't do you justice. You need a good, reliable test kit. We recommend the TF-100 (link below), but he Taylor K-2006C will suffice. See Test Kits Compared Anything less and you are simply guessing and wasting your time and $$$.

Since you just opened, we need to know 3 very important components because you've been feeding a pool with a lot of stabilizer and nothing to show for it, so we have a vested interest in what the FC, CC and CYA are at this moment. But the strips won't tell you much. The sooner you can get the proper test kit the better you'll be, and the sooner we can help you fix that water.
 
You are being pool stored.
You need your own test kit to manage your pool water chemistry and get your pool clear and sanitary. You should never use clarifier or floc, unless you meticulously vac it all to waste, multiple times.
Order a TF-100
The only other real option for a test kit is a Taylor K-2006-C. Be careful comparing prices because the K-2006 comes in sizes, designated by a letter. The basic K-2006 has .75oz bottles. You need to get the K-2006-C to get the larger bottles that you want.
I also have the Speedstir. It makes testing much easier.

While waiting on your test kit, add 5 ppm FC worth of liquid chlorine each evening to the pool water. When you get your kit, run a full suite of tests and post them here.
 
Jess, I combined your two threads since one spoke of test strips and the other of pool store testing. Neither of which will do you any favors. We encourage you to get a TF-100 for best results. We look forward to helping you.
 
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Texas Splash said:
Jess, you nailed it. Test strips. Those won't do you justice. You need a good, reliable test kit. We recommend the TF-100 (link below), but he Taylor K-2006C will suffice. See Test Kits Compared Anything less and you are simply guessing and wasting your time and $$$.

Since you just opened, we need to know 3 very important components because you've been feeding a pool with a lot of stabilizer and nothing to show for it, so we have a vested interest in what the FC, CC and CYA are at this moment. But the strips won't tell you much. The sooner you can get the proper test kit the better you'll be, and the sooner we can help you fix that water.
Click to expand...
Thanks! I will work on getting that kit!
 
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mknauss said:
You are being pool stored.
You need your own test kit to manage your pool water chemistry and get your pool clear and sanitary. You should never use clarifier or floc, unless you meticulously vac it all to waste, multiple times.
Order a TF-100
The only other real option for a test kit is a Taylor K-2006-C. Be careful comparing prices because the K-2006 comes in sizes, designated by a letter. The basic K-2006 has .75oz bottles. You need to get the K-2006-C to get the larger bottles that you want.
I also have the Speedstir. It makes testing much easier.

While waiting on your test kit, add 5 ppm FC worth of liquid chlorine each evening to the pool water. When you get your kit, run a full suite of tests and post them here.
Click to expand...
Thanks! I am working on getting the kit now.. Dumb moment but what do you mean "add 5 ppm FC worth of liquid chlorine"? How do I know how much that is? Sorry I am learning :)
 
I ended up with a CYA of over a 100 thanks to test strips..Added CYA, tested zero so added more and more then finally bought the TF kit after finding this site and realized why i battled algae and shocking wasn't working :( I do use test strips for basic to just make sure I have some chlorine but not for seeing how much.
 
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