You are giggling at my city thing. I live in a tiny mountain town outside of Asheville so when we need supplies we have to drive in. It is funny to me too after living so many years in Manhattan and now calling Asheville the big city.
Stain Removing: Cloudy Blue Water Stage
- Thread starter Briar
- Start date
-
- Tags
- calcium buildup stains
- May 23, 2015
- 24,400
- Pool Size
- 16000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
Former denizen of NYC myself....grew up on Long Island. We live out in Pima County now just outside the Tucson city limits (east side in horse farm country) and that’s close enough to “the city” for me. I prefer to see the stars at night ....
This is my sanctuary. Amazon keeps me from doing without the necessaries and I’m with you on the stars. City life was made for my twenties. I just want to live on top of my mountain now and let the rest of the world slide on by.
Todays fun is false ph readings with Taylor. In the morning test ph was 7.6. Afternoon test and it had jumped off scale to way over 8. Tested with LaMotte and it read 7.5. I read some threads where this happens during a SLAM so I did not worry too much. Last night I lost 2ppm FC so that was a little better. Pool is much clearer but it has an odd blue hue so I will continue. Loaded up on bleach at Aldis. I WANT MY LIFE BACK. I’m going to drink with my best friend tonight and do a water ritual to the gods in hopes they take pity.
I am a big goober with this testing thing. I just tested CYA with my Taylor and got a 20 reading. Tested with LaMotte and got a 39. I was doing the test incorrectly with Taylor kit and getting readings around 50. Not sure I do any better at LaMotte as you have to crush that tablet completely and then time the result. Very ripe for user error. I’m trying to read the threads that address accuracy in testing CYA. Any help is appreciated. And my pool is looking clear and the FC has been holding well today. Dosing less quantity and more often seems to be working now. Ran out of chlorine agent so have to rely on LaMotte readings until new stuff comes. LaMotte only tests up to 10ppm FC so I am relying on intuition...eek! I know it is higher than 10 so I am erring on the side of too much vs too little. But until I get a handle on what my actual CYA reading is, I’m not sure I am trying for the right target set which is 12 FC.
- May 3, 2014
- 58,346
- Pool Size
- 6000
- Surface
- Fiberglass
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
It is a bromine pool. Am I testing for something that isn’t there? I know I need a CYA level to compute a slam. I’m so confused.
- May 3, 2014
- 58,346
- Pool Size
- 6000
- Surface
- Fiberglass
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
- Jul 21, 2013
- 52,412
- Pool Size
- 35000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
Unless you added stabilizer you don't have CYA in your bromine pool.
Use CYA 20 SLAM FC of 10.
pH test are not valid if your FC is over 10. Don't bother testing pH when Fc is over 10.
I never added CYA. Pool was switched over to bromine about 3 years ago. What would cause a CYA reading other than CyA? If I am using liquid chlorine to SLAM the pool, what parameters would I use to calculate the bleach? Just use a zero factor for CYA in the chart? Maybe I should not be trying to use this methodology to sanitize the pool as it is bromine. If there is no CYA in my pool, then a 12 FC target is way too high, right? I’m not very good at this.
- Jul 21, 2013
- 52,412
- Pool Size
- 35000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
You are over thinking it. CYA 0 or CYA 20 is about the same. FC 10 or FC 12 is about the same.
You have a chemical stew in there and I can't say what chemicals are interacting with the CYA test to cloud the water a bit.
Chlorine is what will sanitize and oxidize the stuff in your water.
Ok, that helps. No wonder I am fumbling with the CYA test. So I will go for a target of 10. That’s good. A little easier to hit that. I think it is coming around. I still have the pesky stains so the whole thing AA was kind of a waste. But, I would not have found TFP if I had not tried it. I will live with the stains. Should I start adding Calcium back in when the FC holds? It is really low.
- Jul 21, 2013
- 52,412
- Pool Size
- 35000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
Not crystal yet. Still has a wee bit of a blue hue. I have 24 lbs of Robelle Calcium Up. Don’t know why I bought that this time. I’ve always used the ProTeam. I guess it is the same stuff. I will wait and add it as soon as pool goes crystal. Thank you for helping me thru this process. I truly appreciate you and everyone who helped. I feel good about using the bleach instead of quickie shock. Now I get there are implications for any of those shocks and I was using the worst possible one for my pool. I only used the MPS once as I never let the pool go long enough that I thought I needed a shock. I will keep to the path. I’ve learned so much here. It’s tres cool.
Maybe the CYA came from the shock powders you used before? Dichlor has CYA. What's "quickie shock"?
I only used MPS shock once several months ago. I use Nat Chem’s Perfect Pool Phosfree once a week so I’m wondering if that might have CYA in it. It’s a head scratcher. Bromine tabs wouldn’t have it. Bleach doesn’t have it. I don’t use stabilizer. I used Metal Free and then Jack’s Magic Blue Stuff during the AA treatment but I don’t think that has it either. Two years ago or so I put some water softener in the pool. But CYA couldn’t possibly last that long and I don’t know if it had CYA in it. I dunno.
Briar,
While getting help with a bromine pool will prove difficult, you really should read "The "ABC's of Pool Water Chemistry" up in Pool School. You are mixed up about several functions of your chemistry and you need an essential grasp of your situation before you can progress.
While getting help with a bromine pool will prove difficult, you really should read "The "ABC's of Pool Water Chemistry" up in Pool School. You are mixed up about several functions of your chemistry and you need an essential grasp of your situation before you can progress.
That's interesting - we have very different routines! My pump runs everyday, but at low speeds. I manually kick it up now and then for better skimming. I've never had a weir door. I figured my pool was so old that a retrofit would be a challenge, but while recently taking measurements to look for a generic door that would fit, I realized that all the parts are still available for my skimmer. The door should arrive today. It will be interesting to see if it makes a difference.
I hardly ever vacuum. What are you picking up while vacuuming? Phosfree every week? What's the strategy behind that?
I hardly ever vacuum. What are you picking up while vacuuming? Phosfree every week? What's the strategy behind that?
Crystal clear water and FC holding at 12 and CC at 0. I think I am done. New problem. I have some black specks in the shady corners that I am afraid might be black algae. I scraped one off and put it on a white napkin and it smeared a little bit. It did not look green, just grayish black. I have been scrubbing them for a couple days with a wire brush and I think they have faded a bit but I’m not sure. So disheartening! I thought they were metal stains but the AA did nothing to them. My Culator has turned rusty and looks like it is puffed up to the point of exploding. It is a 4 inside the pump basket and there is a small one in the skimmer basket. I can see where metal stains came off the walls. But there is still quite a bit of brownish staining along the lower curve of the walls. The pool just looks dirty there. It seems to be lessening each day with the FC so high. My FC is 12 right now. Still confusion around how I got CYA in the pool but it is still showing up on the tests. I called my old retired pool guy and he said to keep brushing with steel brush, triple shock the pool with cal-hypo, recommended Proteam 73% and then add Silvertrine algaecide. Need confirmation or is this a wacky plan?
- Jul 21, 2013
- 52,412
- Pool Size
- 35000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
It’s a wacky plan. You will again end up with a chemical stew.
www.troublefreepool.com
Brush, brush, brush! Why have you not brushed those spots during your SLAM? Breaking the biofilm by brushing is the most important task with algae, especially black algae. Then have enough FC in the water for the chlorine to attack it.
Keep your FC up and brush.
Black Algae
This guide provides a step by step procedure for eliminating black algae in your concrete or gunite pool. Read full post here.
www.troublefreepool.com
Brush, brush, brush! Why have you not brushed those spots during your SLAM? Breaking the biofilm by brushing is the most important task with algae, especially black algae. Then have enough FC in the water for the chlorine to attack it.
Keep your FC up and brush.