PSI too high?

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You should never need more that 2 scoops. The test you did is not valid. You had 0FC and eventually all that powder somehow gave the water a pink tint.

Another advantage of the TF-100 is the OTO chlorine test that is included. That is the easiest way to confirm that you have 0 FC and do not waste the powder like you did.
 
Beens said:
to add pic of powder and liquid for FAS-DPD test. Your powder should look like the one on the left. My R-0871 bottle and the yellow lable R-0870 is what they look like with the TF-100 kit
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Yes, that's what I have. Smaller sizes (I'll get refills), but that's what it looks like.

jblizzle said:
Second, you are not doing the FAS-DPD test correctly. You should use 10ml of water, add 1-2 scoops of the powder and the water should turn pink. If it does not, then your FC is 0. If it does, you add drops until it is clear. Then you add 5 drops of R-0003 to test for CC. If it stays clear, then your CC are < 0.5ppm. If it turns pink again, then add more R-0871 until it clears. Each drop of R-0871 is 0.5ppm.
Click to expand...

Beens said:
I'm thinking you have 0 chlorine and it's time to SLAM. Add the bleach you need to get to your slam level.

Again, what jblizzle said! lol Only in the future, you shouldn't ever need to add that much powder. You'll run out in a heartbeat!

Definitely order the refills (like jblizzle said!) You're going to run out because you have to test frequently during a slam. (why TF-100 is recommended. It costs more but it comes with more of what you need so you don't have to order refills as soon, but water under the bridge..)

*edit again*! BTW, if you did use 3 drops to go from pink to clear after adding your powder the result would be 1.5FC, not .15. With a 10ml sample every drop counts as .5, 3 drops = 1.5 fc, 6 drops = 3 fc, 8 drops = 4 fc and so on. Another reason you need refills, when you raise your FC up to 26 it will take 52 drops of R-0871 to turn the pink back to clear.
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Okay, so it sounds like I need to add some chlorine since my FC is basically 0. I needed 10 dippers to get the water to stay pink. With 3 drops to get clear, sounds like I have 1.5FC. Some people say bleach, some people say chlorine… is there a preference or difference? My pool is 12,500 gallons, and PoolMath says, to go from FC1.5 to FC26 I need 635 oz of 6% bleach. Sound right?
 
I'd just use 0 instead of 1.5. Most bleach these days has gone to 8.25%. Household bleach is the same active ingredient as liquid chlorine. Sodium Hypochlorite.

I go back and forth between walmart (Great Value) brand and Target (Up & Up) brand or sometimes the Farm Fresh brand. All 8.25%. Some hardware stores and even some walmarts carry 10% or greater as do Pool Stores.

As far as the amount, I'm not going to answer that because I'm not as quick with pool math as everyone else here. I'm sure jblizzle can answer that though!

*edit*

I get 490 oz of 8.25% for 12,500 to go from 0FC - 26FC but I never make suggestions for amounts. I don't trust myself with any pool but my own.
 
No. Your FC is 0ppm ... that 1.5ppm was not valid.

Bleach and liquid chlorine are the same thing, just different strengths. Shop for the best price. This may help:
http://www.troublefreepool.com/threads/56787-Liquid-chlorine-calculator

And you may not find 6% bleach any more. Most has been replaced with 8.25%.

- - - Updated - - -

Please add your pool details to your signature as described HERE as it will help us help you.

It looks like you are using PoolMath correctly.
 
All right dudes, SLAMing has begun. I got the pH to 7.4 and dumped almost 6 gallons of bleach into the pool. I'm not getting much flow at all (filter probably got clogged up after I cleaned up some debris and vacuumed). I know the instructions say backwash as needed, so I just want to make sure I understand it correctly. I'll let this round of bleach sit in the pool for an hour (I need to run out to Leslie's to get some refills for my FAS-DPD test, other than that I have 20 more gallons of bleach on standby and I'll be monitoring the pool through the weekend), then backwash to get the filter going again, then repeat. Correct? I want to make sure as obviously the backwashing will get rid of a lot of the bleach (and change the pH as I'll have to re-fill pool with regular water). Thanks again!
 

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Do you have a sight glass on the backwash valve? Backwash until it is clear out the water coming out is clear. Then note the clean pressure. You should backwash when the pressure rises 20-25% over the clean pressure.
 
Great tip! I didn't even know I had a sight glass until I looked around back behind the pump. Cleaned it out and now the water is clear after about 15-20 min of backwashing. Clean pressure is 15ish PSI, which is what started this whole thread. After a good scrub/vacuum it would get up to 25 or 30 which is what got me to almost zero circulation. Feeling really good now, will SLAM the bejeezus out of my pool over the next couple days. Can't tell you how helpful TFP has been. Thanks again.
 
I can't seem to maintain the ideal PSI of 15ish. I backwash, then it's good, then I check back 20 min later and it's back over 25. I assume that's normal? The water in the sight glass is clear, but I'm not seeing the flow I know I need to see to ensure good circulation (since I can't maintain that clean pressure). Between constantly backwashing and refilling, I just want to make sure I'm still good in terms of keeping that shock FC up. I keep adding bleach to keep it up, but I feel like it's almost all for not with the backflushing and refilling. Essentially, I haven't been able to run the standard circulation/filtration consistently since I began the SLAM. I figure its normal, assuming it's just algae etc getting into the filter and backing it up (which I feel is good since that means the pool is getting cleaner), but is there anything else I need to do or just keep with the current rotation of back flush, refill, back flush, refill, etc?
 
SLAMing is coming along, pool is in much, much better shape. Thanks for all the help. Scrubbing yesterday in the jacuzzi, I noticed a lot of cloudy-milky-white coming up, which I think I read somewhere here is dead algae, so that's good. While the pool is looking much better, I noticed some stuff that I just can't scrub off, both on the walls and the floor. I've included pictures here, but not sure if you can make it out (and sorry about the shadow lines in the right photo). I'm going to do the CC and OCLT tests tonight (I'm on day 5 of the SLAM). Water looks clear, but now I'm wondering about this stuff in the photos I can't scrub off. Just keep the SLAM going and it should come up? Any thoughts and tips are appreciated, thanks!

Pool Stains.JPG
 
Yes, I've had to backwash for 10-20 minutes (initially during the slam) at a time since my pool got pretty bad. The water is clear in my sight glass, but to get the PSI where I need to go, it takes a little longer. I'm at the point now where I can keep it to 5-10 minutes, probably because most of the heavy lifting is done. Everything looks much better, just need to figure out what that last 'bit of stuff is, I can't seem to scrub it off currently.
 
If it's organic, it will lighten with the SLAM and then with proper chlorine levels during maintenance. If it doesn't, it'll either be metal staining, or calcium scaling. If either of the latter, the process is mutually exclusive with the SLAM, and you can tackle that stuff when the SLAM is over.
 
Thanks. I'll SLAM for another day or two, depending on the CC and OCLT tests tonight. The water looks clean, so I'm hoping those tests come out good and I can focus on just maintaining the FC level while taking care of the staining/scaling. I don't remember either of these every being a problem in the past so I'll do some research to see what comes up. Any tips on it are certainly appreciated.
 

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