I'm a new pool owner (old pool though, just purchased the home in December). I've had never ending trouble since the pool was opened, and I'm sure much of it is my fault. That notwithstanding the current state is thus:
Pool Filter replaced roughly 3-4 weeks ago. Filter has been cleaned twice since then due to PSI increase > 8, both times after a large chlorine shock. Lots of white/grey slime all over pleats. Spent large amount of time power washing it out of the pleats, though i'm sure there might be some left. None of these shocks would have been high enough for a SLAM. After visiting Leslie's yesterday for water chemistry test (and havijng high dosed on chlorine shock the night before), i got the following results from them:
FC - 3.3
TC - 4.69
pH - 8
TA - 117 * (They says "Adjusted due to effect of CyA on test")
CH - 271
CyA - 73
Iron - 0.1
Copper - 0.1
Phosphates - 0
TDS - 1700 (I dont know what this is?)
After discussing my issue further (i'd been there many times and discussed with this person my issues, it had been an ongoing thing) she was quite positive i had whit water mold given my chlorine consumption rate and the white/grey slime i'm scraping off my pool filter after a large shock.
Recommendation was first 4c of my dry acid to get pH to 7.8, which i did first then tested and saw 7.8 a couple hours later so i did the next step, 9lbs of their power powder plus which i had which would put it over 30ppm. I did this last night around 9:30pm. My tester only goes to 10ppm, so i only checked chlorine and pHa few times this morning and early afternoon, both came back "Hi" as expected. pH went up to 8.1, then back down to 7.9. I then check again around 7:30 and did a full round of tests on my ColorQ:
FC - 8.18
TC - 8.34
pH - 7.6
TA - 34
CH - 407
CyA - 53
I think their Alkalinity is flat out wrong, given my pH seems to swing up wildly when i do these shocks. I have Alkalinity increaser on hand, though not sure I have enough, i'll need to take a look.
My filter's PSI has gone up about 4 since i did that shock last night, I suspect i might need a good cleaning again after this and i need some filter chemical cleaner, that I dont have. My longstanding problem, even though often the pool ahs looked great has been that i can't keep it chlorinated, it was consuming it at an absurd rate. I ended up with high CyA from feeding too many pucks and ended up doing 2 water replacements (25% and 40%), to get it down.
So, my question is, how should I proceed? Have I already failed a SLAM by letting it get back down to 8? Or should Alkalinity be a priority? Is my test kit a PoS despite being expensive ( I went digital to stop having to compare colors myself, it seems to produce fairly repeatable results).
First pic is my pool this evening, second is from my latest filter cleaning on Saturday (dont have one of the actual stuff on filter).
Thank you for your time.
Pool Filter replaced roughly 3-4 weeks ago. Filter has been cleaned twice since then due to PSI increase > 8, both times after a large chlorine shock. Lots of white/grey slime all over pleats. Spent large amount of time power washing it out of the pleats, though i'm sure there might be some left. None of these shocks would have been high enough for a SLAM. After visiting Leslie's yesterday for water chemistry test (and havijng high dosed on chlorine shock the night before), i got the following results from them:
FC - 3.3
TC - 4.69
pH - 8
TA - 117 * (They says "Adjusted due to effect of CyA on test")
CH - 271
CyA - 73
Iron - 0.1
Copper - 0.1
Phosphates - 0
TDS - 1700 (I dont know what this is?)
After discussing my issue further (i'd been there many times and discussed with this person my issues, it had been an ongoing thing) she was quite positive i had whit water mold given my chlorine consumption rate and the white/grey slime i'm scraping off my pool filter after a large shock.
Recommendation was first 4c of my dry acid to get pH to 7.8, which i did first then tested and saw 7.8 a couple hours later so i did the next step, 9lbs of their power powder plus which i had which would put it over 30ppm. I did this last night around 9:30pm. My tester only goes to 10ppm, so i only checked chlorine and pHa few times this morning and early afternoon, both came back "Hi" as expected. pH went up to 8.1, then back down to 7.9. I then check again around 7:30 and did a full round of tests on my ColorQ:
FC - 8.18
TC - 8.34
pH - 7.6
TA - 34
CH - 407
CyA - 53
I think their Alkalinity is flat out wrong, given my pH seems to swing up wildly when i do these shocks. I have Alkalinity increaser on hand, though not sure I have enough, i'll need to take a look.
My filter's PSI has gone up about 4 since i did that shock last night, I suspect i might need a good cleaning again after this and i need some filter chemical cleaner, that I dont have. My longstanding problem, even though often the pool ahs looked great has been that i can't keep it chlorinated, it was consuming it at an absurd rate. I ended up with high CyA from feeding too many pucks and ended up doing 2 water replacements (25% and 40%), to get it down.
So, my question is, how should I proceed? Have I already failed a SLAM by letting it get back down to 8? Or should Alkalinity be a priority? Is my test kit a PoS despite being expensive ( I went digital to stop having to compare colors myself, it seems to produce fairly repeatable results).
First pic is my pool this evening, second is from my latest filter cleaning on Saturday (dont have one of the actual stuff on filter).
Thank you for your time.
