Test Kit Arrived Today - I need someone to walk me through this

[Kittson]

Hi! I posted yesterday but I'm back again today. My test kit arrived and I just finished.

Here are the results:

FC: Off the charts. See pic.
PH: Off the charts. See pic.
TA: 400. Seriously didn't change color until after 40 drops.
CH: 150
CYA: A little less than 30.

Pic of Chlorine/Bromine

Pic of PH

Here is a comparison shot of how the water looked the night we got it vs tonight. It's so green.

I am starting to wonder if sand came through the fire hydrant.

Where do I go from here? I am really anxious about getting this water right. I am sorry that I need the extra help. I want everyone to know I appreciate their helpfulness and kindness.

I have a 15' x 42" above ground PVC pool - Summer Waves Sand Pump 10" - HTH 6 way test kit.

 

[DrHorshenschwartz]

Hi! I posted yesterday but I'm back again today. My test kit arrived and I just finished.

Here are the results:

FC: Off the charts. See pic.
PH: Off the charts. See pic.
TA: 400. Seriously didn't change color until after 40 drops.
CH: 150
CYA: A little less than 30.

Pic of Chlorine/Bromine

Pic of PH

Here is a comparison shot of how the water looked the night we got it vs tonight. It's so green.

I am starting to wonder if sand came through the fire hydrant.

Where do I go from here? I am really anxious about getting this water right. I am sorry that I need the extra help. I want everyone to know I appreciate their helpfulness and kindness.

I have a 15' x 42" above ground PVC pool - Summer Waves Sand Pump 10" - HTH 6 way test kit.

Search YouTube for above ground pool testing with Taylor k-2006. It's not the same as the tf-100 but i think it will give you some insight on the process.

 

[DrHorshenschwartz]

And if the water is green right now it would be good to put at least a gallon of chlorine in right now.

 

[cfherrman]

Are you using the hth 6 way or something else?

 

[mknauss]

Good job at doing your own testing.
Are you using the HTH 6 way kit or a K2006? Your signature says the 6-way.

The FC will come down with sunlight. You will need the FAS-DPD to do a SLAM which it appears you need to do.

Use muriatic acid to lower your pH. Use Pool Math with a starting of 8.2 and target of 7.2. It will continue to rise and you will be repeating this multiple times until your TA drops to a lower level.

Good Luck.

 

[Kittson]

I am using the HTH 6 Way Kit.

I added one gallon of 12.5% Splash Pool Shock on Monday night and another gallon yesterday. This was before I had the test kit. I obviously overdid it on that.

mknauss - thank you for the telling me the next step. I will plug those numbers into Pool Math and get the muriatic acid in the pool tonight. Much appreciated.

 

[mknauss]

You will not be able to do a SLAM with the 6 way kit. So if you have algae you will need to treat this as a temporary pool and drain it, clean it out, and refill. You need to be able to test FC above 10 ppm for a SLAM.

Take care.

 

[DrHorshenschwartz]

You will not be able to do a SLAM with the 6 way kit. So if you have algae you will need to treat this as a temporary pool and drain it, clean it out, and refill. You need to be able to test FC above 10 ppm for a SLAM.

Take care.

Can he save it at this point if he (maybe she) orders a proper kit tomorrow?

 

[Fingaling]

Please don't add the acid tonight. The ph test is invalid if your chlorine is above 10 and with a bright red Oto test, it likely is above 10.

Your kit doesnt have a fas-dpd test. You can continue to test with the oto chlorine test you have and whenever it drops to 5ppm you can boost it back up to your shock level of 12ppm. It will take longer than if you had the fas-dpd test but could work.

Your chlorine is likely very high. I've done the Oto test with fc of 20 and it didn't look like that... The only problem is the oto test measures combine chlorine CC, not just the useful FC.

 

[mknauss]

Can he save it at this point if he (maybe she) orders a proper kit tomorrow?

Sure. But that depends on how one wishes to manage this size pool. You can drain every time you have an issue or get a proper test kit to manage the water.

Take care.

 

[Kittson]

You will need the FAS-DPD to do a SLAM which it appears you need to do.

Is this test an FAS-DPD test that would work for a SLAM?

- - - Updated - - -

Sure. But that depends on how one wishes to manage this size pool. You can drain every time you have an issue or get a proper test kit to manage the water.

I definitely want to try to manage the water I have in there. I live in MN and summer is almost over. Ack! (oh, and I'm a she! )

 

[mknauss]

Yes it is. You would have been better off buying the TF100 from TFTestkits.net.

Amazon is not always the best place to buy specialty items.

Take care.

 

[DrHorshenschwartz]

Sure. But that depends on how one wishes to manage this size pool. You can drain every time you have an issue or get a proper test kit to manage the water.

Take care.

Well then

 

[Kittson]

Yes it is. You would have been better off buying the TF100 from TFTestkits.net.

Amazon is not always the best place to buy specialty items.

Take care.

I just purchased the TF100 from the suggested website. It is shipping priority. What do you suggest as damage control until that test kit arrives?

 

[Fingaling]

How soon after adding water did it turn green? I read your other posts and your water is only two days old and already very green.

Where does your water come from? To me, this seems more like a metal issue, or maybe something else.

If you have a pool store nearby, maybe bring a sample in and have it tested for copper and iron.

 

[mknauss]

Add enough bleach for 5 ppm FC each day until you get your kit. Use Pool Math to generate what you need.

Good luck!

 

[Kittson]

How soon after adding water did it turn green? I read your other posts and your water is only two days old and already very green.

Where does your water come from? To me, this seems more like a metal issue, or maybe something else.

If you have a pool store nearby, maybe bring a sample in and have it tested for copper and iron.

The water came from a fire hydrant. It was green right from the get-go. The other families in town that use fire hydrants to fill their pools did not have the same issue - their water cleared very quickly. The fire dept says that this fire hydrant is city water, but I am truly doubting it when I look at it, or perhaps very old pipe with lots of metals. The other families were not our neighbors and very likely had different lines supplying their water.

We don't have a pool store near us, we live in rural MN with limited options.

 

[mknauss]

If it is iron it is normally bright green and very clear. Not cloudy at all. So if that is what you have it may be iron, not algae.

There are methods to filter out the iron. Use the search box above. Swampwoman is our resident expert on that ---

Take care.

 

[cfherrman]

Iron will be tinted green and will be able to see bottom. There are some tricks for it.

If you’ve got iron in your fill water, use Polyfill to remove it

 

[Fingaling]

Did you add chlorine as it was filling? Chlorine plus metally water will be instant green.

Once you get the fas-dpd kit, perform an overnight chlorine loss test first. If you don't have algae, you should only lose about 1ppm FC overnight. Test right after sunset and, if possible, right before sunrise.

With the pool the size you have, water as fresh as yours is, your low cya and the amount of liquid chlorine you've put in there you should have seen some improvement if it were algae. You dropped the equivalent of a nuclear chlorine bomb in there.

Unless the pipes that supply that hydrant had algae in them, and in that case, eww. That would be something to take up with your town council because those are likely the same pipes going to your and your neighbors houses.