Tired of Leslie's. Ready to do this on my own.

[faigenistic]

Hey everyone!

First time poster here after lurking for a few days. We installed an 11,000 gallon fiberglass pool with a Heyward saltwater system 3 years ago. I do have a local pool company do the annual closing and reopening of the pool and generally the pool is in good shape for the entire summer here in Charlotte, NC.

I do take a water sample to Leslie's every 2 weeks or so just to get them to test the pool chemistry. I know this is not the preferred method around here and I am very aware of the fact they are in the business of selling products, but it was simply easier for the year or two of owning the pool and I have not really had many issues thankfully. I do have a Taylor K-2005 test kit at home and I do use it to validate pH, total chlorine, etc. so I am not totally unfamiliar with taking readings myself.

I took a sample in on June 1 and had pretty high phosphates, so later that day I added No-Phos and followed all the instructions. I even disassembled the filters and cleaned them after 3 days so they were nice and clean again. The problem I'm having is I noticed that over the last week, during which we used the pool quite a bit, the water has become cloudier. Nothing crazy, but just slightly milky and I had my kids complaining that their eyes were burning just a bit. I also noticed that my SWG was showing my instant salt at around 3700ppm at my normal setting, which seemed crazy high, so I backed it off 10% and now it's reading around 3200ppm steady. I took another sample today to Leslie's and got the following:

Free Chlorine: 1.16
Total Chlorine: 1.41
pH: 7.5
Total Alkilinity: 74
Calcium Hardness: 160
Cyanuric Acid: 17
Phosphates: 0

I did use my Taylor kit and got the same readings for Chlorine and pH, so I had no reason not to trust the Leslie reading today. I also know that I had yet to add any CYA to the pool this year, so today I came home and added liquid conditioner. The pool is currently circulating and on Friday I will clean the filters again. I run the pool robot daily and brush/sweep and clean the filter, but I am still seeing this very slight milky hue to my water.

My questions are two fold here as I'm a newbie and really want to learn to do this on my own:
1) what is the general order of operations for adjusting pool chemistry and what should i be doing next?
2) any explanation on my water is not crystal clear like normal? i had zero issues with cloudiness 3 weeks ago.

Thanks in advance everyone.

 

[PoolStored]

My questions are two fold here as I'm a newbie and really want to learn to do this on my own:
1) what is the general order of operations for adjusting pool chemistry and what should i be doing next?

Get chlorine in the pool. Follow this chart. Link-->FC/CYA Levels
Your pH is fine. Let it rise to 8.0, then reduce to 7.6 with Muriatic acid.
Your TA is fine. Don't mess with TA generally, manage pH.
Ignore phosphates.

2) any explanation on my water is not crystal clear like normal? i had zero issues with cloudiness 3 weeks ago.

Algae.
Get a FAS-DPD test kit. Taylor K-1515C or FAS/DPD Chlorine Test Kit You need it to manage your pool.

When you get the test kit, do this test. It will tell you if you have algae...Link-->Overnight Chlorine Loss Test

Use your test kit and trust it. Do not use pool store testing.

Sincerely,
PoolStored

 

[JJ_Tex]

Welcome, we can get you squared away. Pool Stored has you covered, but one item to add:

Please do not add any more conditioner until you get the cloudiness under control. How much liquid conditioner did you add?

 

[faigenistic]

I added one gallon at about 10AM this morning and it has been circulating continually since. I had zero plans to add anything until it had time to circulate properly and get another reading.

 

[faigenistic]

Get chlorine in the pool. Follow this chart. Link-->FC/CYA Levels
Your pH is fine. Let it rise to 8.0, then reduce to 7.6 with Muriatic acid.
Your TA is fine. Don't mess with TA generally, manage pH.
Ignore phosphates.

Algae.
Get a FAS-DPD test kit. Taylor K-1515C or FAS/DPD Chlorine Test Kit You need it to manage your pool.

When you get the test kit, do this test. It will tell you if you have algae...Link-->Overnight Chlorine Loss Test

Use your test kit and trust it. Do not use pool store testing.

Sincerely,
PoolStored

quite possibly another dumb question, but to add chlorine in the pool i simply turn up my SWG, or do i need to add other items?

 

[PoolStored]

Use Liquid chlorine ro raise fc, SWCG to maintain.

 

[proavia]

If you need to get the FC level up quickly, use liquid chlorine.
A SWG is great at maintaining a FC level but not so good at raising it quickly.

Post a full set of current test results from one of the recommended test kits. Test Kits Compared

FC
CC
pH
TA
CH
CYA
Salt
Water Temperature

Fill out your signature with pool, pool equipment (including manufacturers and model numbers) and test kit info.
This assists us in providing help specific to your pool without the need to ask you each time.

https://www.troublefreepool.com/account/signature

 

[elwood58]

Salt Reading and % setting have nothing to do with each other. % setting affects how often plates are powered to produce chlorine. Turning your down just created more of a Fc problem.
Wait several days to add CYA. It takes time to show up on a test.

 

[faigenistic]

Salt Reading and % setting have nothing to do with each other. % setting affects how often plates are powered to produce chlorine. Turning your down just created more of a Fc problem.
Wait several days to add CYA. It takes time to show up on a test.

got it. i turned it back up to the setting it was at the past 2 years which kept my chlorine fairly consistent. i added liquid CYA this morning. waiting on that to circulate a few days to take more readings.

 

[faigenistic]

Get chlorine in the pool. Follow this chart. Link-->FC/CYA Levels
Your pH is fine. Let it rise to 8.0, then reduce to 7.6 with Muriatic acid.
Your TA is fine. Don't mess with TA generally, manage pH.
Ignore phosphates.

Algae.
Get a FAS-DPD test kit. Taylor K-1515C or FAS/DPD Chlorine Test Kit You need it to manage your pool.

When you get the test kit, do this test. It will tell you if you have algae...Link-->Overnight Chlorine Loss Test

Use your test kit and trust it. Do not use pool store testing.

Sincerely,
PoolStored

FAS/DPD Chlorine Test Kit has been ordered.

 

[proavia]

got it. i turned it back up to the setting it was at the past 2 years which kept my chlorine fairly consistent. i added liquid CYA this morning. waiting on that to circulate a few days to take more readings.

If your pump is running after the add of liquid chlorine, you can retest after 30 minutes to see if the FC is in the target range for your CYA.
FC/CYA Levels

 

[faigenistic]

If your pump is running after the add of liquid chlorine, you can retest after 30 minutes to see if the FC is in the target range for your CYA.
FC/CYA Levels

so i should adding liquid chlorine now even though i won't techincally know my new CYA level for a few days once it circulates?

 

[proavia]

How did you add the CYA?
What was your CYA goal after the add?
Dose chlorine based on what that goal is - even if it doesn't register fully yet.

 

[faigenistic]

my CYA reading this morning from leslie's (take it for what it is) was 17. I added 1 gallon conditioner to my 11k gallon pool hoping to get the CYA to a level of around 50; however, it is raining all week, so realistically it may end up at 40. still lower than i need for a saltwater pool. but based on what you are saying is that i need to grab some free chlorine and add enough to get it from the 1ppm up to around 4ppm - correct?

any concerns about botching this? i know it's not rocket science, but i have company coming in this weekend and i'd like for everyone to swim if possible when it stops raining.

 

[faigenistic]

How did you add the CYA?
What was your CYA goal after the add?
Dose chlorine based on what that goal is - even if it doesn't register fully yet.

if i don't have liquid chlorine on hand, will shock suffice? i do have 1 lb of shock at my disposal.

 

[Oly]

Assumptions are taking a toll on you now. Your CYA was not 17ppm and where it is now is anybody's guess. You need to increase your FC ASAP as algae is reproducing rapidly. Adding solid forms of chlorine will be adding other products only liquid chlorine (no additives) will raise your FC alone. Time to take control.

 

[faigenistic]

Assumptions are taking a toll on you now. Your CYA was not 17ppm and where it is now is anybody's guess. You need to increase your FC ASAP as algae is reproducing rapidly. Adding solid forms of chlorine will be adding other products only liquid chlorine (no additives) will raise your FC alone. Time to take control.

agreed. that is why i decided to create an account and post on here. to the store i go for bleach now.

 

[faigenistic]

Assumptions are taking a toll on you now. Your CYA was not 17ppm and where it is now is anybody's guess. You need to increase your FC ASAP as algae is reproducing rapidly. Adding solid forms of chlorine will be adding other products only liquid chlorine (no additives) will raise your FC alone. Time to take control.

technically, couldn't i just super-chlorinate with my SWG, or does that only work if i actually have chlorine available in the system already?

 

[jark87]

technically, couldn't i just super-chlorinate with my SWG, or does that only work if i actually have chlorine available in the system already?

Running your SWG will raise FC, but it may not raise it to the level you need. You can use the Pool Math app to calculate how much FC your SWG will generate, with % and number of hours run as variables. It’s easier and faster to grab some bleach and pour it in, and you’ll also increase the lifespan of your SWG by not running it at 100% for long periods.

 

[JJ_Tex]

+1 on the advice to bump up your chlorine with liquid chlorine. Your SWCG could do it but it would take several days going all out. For a $6 bottle of liquid chlorine I would rather get the instant rise in FC and save some wear and tear on by SWCG.