New Pool Owner, No Chlorine less than 24 hours after shocking.

[DistantHorizon]

New Pool Owner, No Chlorine less than 24 hours after shocking.

Bought house. Pool sat for a week with no maintenance (just pump running 75% of the time) while I waited for a pool guy to come out and show me the ropes, and it's likely the previous owner did shoddy maintenance there at the end. Previous owner's occasional pool guy says he'll show me the ropes.

I don't know the exact figure yet, but the best information I've found at this point says this is a 22,000 or 25,000 gallon pool.

Here is my Leslie's (I think the Leslie's staff on this side of town is inexperienced) water test at that point:

Thursday, June 2
FAC .5
TAC .5
pH 7.9
Total Alk 70
Calc 100
Cyan Acid 30
TDS 650
Phos 100

Pool guy shows late Thursday and checks my motor, which is loud. Says I can grease it for a crutch, if that doesn't work we'll have to put up with noise or put in new one (bad bearings he says). Says he'll be out tomorrow morning to show me how to vacuum and shock.

Friday, June 3
Pool guy comes out Friday morning. We add 4lbs Chlor Brite Granular (99% Sodium Dichlor) and an unknown amount of something unknown to adjust the pH, he showed me how to vacuum, I vacuumed, backwashed, and added 8lbs Chlor Brite Granular. (It turns out he had also told me to add 4lbs Conditioner and 2 capfuls Phos Free, but I didn't catch that). Pool guy is apologetic for being super late Thurs, and charges $20 for chemicals and two visits.

Later on that day, I went to Leslie's and got a water test:
June 3
FAC 0
TAC 1-2
pH 7.1
Total Alk 70
Cyan 100+ (How'd this go up? Pool guy said I needed it, but I've never added it. I think maybe Leslie's made an error here. My test shows 50, but I'm just learning to read the thing.)
Calc Hard 300
TDS 700
Phos 300
Also tested Nitrates: 2

Leslie's says add 2.5lbs of Soda Ash, then 3lbs shock in 4 hours. I call my pool guy, he mentions maybe it's locked up. He says add 3lbs Soda Ash and sounds more experienced than Leslie's, so I do it. He finds out I haven't added conditioner, and says he'll be by before I add conditioner or shock. From talking to my gf's mom, I think I have algae. I wait. Pool guy doesn't show and is unreachable all of Friday, June 3, says he'll be out late Saturday, June 4. That night he texts and says he'll be out Sunday morning (June 5).

Here's Saturday, June 4 water test from Leslie's:
FAC .5
TAC .5
pH 7.3
Total Alki 90
Cyan Acid 40
Calc Hard 100
TDS 750
Phos 150

I finally remember to add two capfuls Phos Free.

Sunday morning arrives. My chlorine is still pretty well unreadable on my test. After calling around being concerned about algae and inability to hold chlorine, I end up adding 8oz Leslie's Copper Algaecide and brushing the walls, with plans to the shock with 7lbs Power Powder Pro (73% Calcium Hypochlorite). Pool guy is unreachable via txt or phone. Since then my gf saw the pool and doesn't think I have algae.

Deep end of pool has greenish tint. Water is cloudy. It looks like a thin film of algae grows here and there, and I brush it, but now I don't think I have much algae - there's no moss-type stuff or anything thick.

What do I do?
1. Do I have algae, or the beginnings of it? I don't know what to look for.
2. Why can't I measure chlorine? Is it locked up, or is algae destroying my chlorine?
3. When can I shock? The more-trusted Leslie's store said wait 12 hours after copper algaecide; the nearby store said wait 24.
4. How do I know if it's locked up?
5. Do I need to add conditioner?

Figured I need to figure out all this and then worry about that last little bit of pH.

Thanks for reading my novel and any help you can provide.

[PoolDoc]

For now, forget about EVERYTHING but chlorine . . . and let's use bleach, since it's fairly cheap and relatively side-effect-free. So . . .

Turn your pump on, and run it 24/7!

Go to Walmart (or equiv) and

#2 - Get a cheap OTO / phenol red test kit
#3 - Get 30 gallons of plain 6% household bleach.
#4 - Get rid of copper by adding cal hypo to skimmer in 1# doses every 8 hours till used up.
Make SURE (really, REALLY sure!!) you have NO tabs, feeders, cartridges, minerals, gizmos or other chemical thing-a-magidgits installed BEFORE doing this. Otherwise, really bad things will happen. Cal hypo must NOT come into direct contact with any other chemical or device that might have been installed in your piping.
#5 - Once you're done with the cal hypo, add 6 gallons that evening, no sooner than 2 hours b4 sunset. Pour slowly through skimmer.
#6 - Test chlorine with OTO 1 hour after adding bleach.
#7 - Test next morning no later than 2 hours after sunrise; report those readings in this thread.
#8 - If chlorine in evening is below 5 (strong yellow); repeat.

=> No such think as "locked up" -- read "best guess" page linked in my sig for fuller explanantion.

[DistantHorizon]

Sorry, before anyone else tries to answer this, I tried to post this LAST Sunday and have been in registration limbo for a week. The next thing I did was add 8lbs Cal Hyop (it sent chlorine through the roof, the next afternoon using dilution measuring method I was at 20ppm) and since then I've done nothing but a few tabs in the skimmer (yeah, I know I don't wanna use those very often due to Cyan Acid).

Through lots of internet research and a lot of luck, chlorine, pH and alkalinity have been within spec for 3 or 4 or 5 days now (today chlorine is down to between 3 and 5, pH is 7.6, alk is 100).

Spider gasket has gone bad but as soon as it is fixed I will be adding more chlorine. What flavor should I use? I have:

Chlorbrite - Sodium dichloro-s-triazinetrione dihydrate 99% (55% available chlorine)

Power Powder Pro - Calcium hypochloride 73% (min 70% avail)

Poolfresh 3" tablets - Trichloro-s-triazinetrione

6% bleach

Plan to get my spider gasket fixed in the next couple days.

[madwil]

use the bleach for now...
Until we get good readings on all the rest of your chemicals, you want to avoid dichlor, trichlor, and cal hypo, I think
Use muriatic acid to lower pH, borax to raise pH, maintain between 7.2 and 7.8
Use bleach to maintain your chlorine
get a full set of tests when you can, and post numbers
What does the water look like? Is it clearing up, or still green, or cloudy?

[DistantHorizon]

Using a Taylor test kit (k-2005), I got the following:
FC .5-1
TC .5-1
ph 7.2-7.4
Alk 100
Calcium 200 or less (got a little drop-happy, might be around 180 or so)
Didn't do Cyanuric Acid 'cause I'm short on the test chemical, but I'm sure it's still around 40-50 based on numerous tests I and the pool store have done.

I wanna shock in the next couple hours, how much should I use? Would prefer one of my pool chems unless 2 182oz 6% bleach containers are enough.

[DistantHorizon]

What does the water look like? Is it clearing up, or still green, or cloudy?

Forgot to answer that - water is really clear and has been for many days now. The last big shock about a week ago took care of that. Oh, and I see my posts are still delayed, have to be approved by moderator... thought paying for a subscription would avoid that. No?

[aylad]

. Oh, and I see my posts are still delayed, have to be approved by moderator... thought paying for a subscription would avoid that. No?

I'll get Ben to look at this thread to take care of that.

If you want to shock to 15, and don't want to use bleach, then it looks like about 30 oz of cal hypo or 90 oz of dichlor will get you there--but then you're going to need to maintain it.


Janet

[DistantHorizon]

If you want to shock to 15, and don't want to use bleach, then it looks like about 30 oz of cal hypo or 90 oz of dichlor will get you there--but then you're going to need to maintain it.
Janet

Poolcalculator.com is telling me more like 55oz by volume of cal hypo. (Pool at 22,000 gallons, FC at .5, goal 15). What am I doing wrong there?

[CarlD]

When you added all that calhypo you hammered the algae and was the heavy lifting that cleared your pool. Reading this was painful as you seem a really capable person being badly mislead by all the misinformation being given you.
Your problem was caused by the pool guy and everyone saw as a chance to sell you stuff. You got "Pool-Stored" big-time. It has happened to all of us. Pool care is really simple but if everyone knew how simple it was the pool services would be out of business and half the pool stores with them.

Check out our sister site, poolsolutions.com and read the section on the BBB method. You will be amazed how simple it all is! It only gets complicated when the pool store has you put in a bunch of junk that makes it worse. Luckily Ben could walk you through it. From now on it will be so simple you will never use a pool service again and you wont believe how inviting your water looks.

Carl

[DistantHorizon]

When you added all that calhypo you hammered the algae and was the heavy lifting that cleared your pool. Reading this was painful as you seem a really capable person being badly mislead by all the misinformation being given you.
Your problem was caused by the pool guy and everyone saw as a chance to sell you stuff. You got "Pool-Stored" big-time. It has happened to all of us. Pool care is really simple but if everyone knew how simple it was the pool services would be out of business and half the pool stores with them.

Check out our sister site, poolsolutions.com and read the section on the BBB method. You will be amazed how simple it all is! It only gets complicated when the pool store has you put in a bunch of junk that makes it worse. Luckily Ben could walk you through it. From now on it will be so simple you will never use a pool service again and you wont believe how inviting your water looks.

Carl

Yeah, read about BBB, but don't have enough bleach around yet... was trying to get by with cal hypo tonight. Guess I'll run to the store and get some more bleach. One way or another, I'm shocking this thing tonight 'cuz my gf is having her niece and nephew over tomorrow afternoon. Hoping poolcalculator's 662oz 6% bleach is accurate.

[aylad]

Poolcalculator.com is telling me more like 55oz by volume of cal hypo. (Pool at 22,000 gallons, FC at .5, goal 15). What am I doing wrong there?

You're not doing anything wrong, I mis-typed the volume of the pool. Sorry. Correction is 68 oz by weight of 65% cal-hypo, or 80 oz by weight of dichlor. Personally, I use bleach and strongly recommend it, especially when trying to clear up a problem.

Janet

[CarlD]

Cal-Hypo's FINE since you CH level is 200ppm. Other than adding calcium it has the fewest side effects of powdered chlorine compounds. I don't use it much because I always have Liquid Chlorine around (Just really strong bleach--12.5%--but "Liquid Chlorine" sounds so pro...It actually works out to be the same as if I was paying $1.45/gallon of 6% bleach, so I use it. But it's the same stuff).

Using Dichlor or Tri-chlor tabs is only appropriate when you need to add stabilizer and your pH is fairly high, because both (especially Tri-chlor) drive pH down and both add lots of stabilizer.

The B-B-B method is really a philosophy of easy and sensible pool care. You can do EVERYTHING with Bleach, Borax, and Baking Soda, and just augment it with Muriatic Acid and CYA powder. You don't need ANYTHING else to run a clean sanitary pool, year after year. Oh: You DO need two more things: 1) Knowledge 2) a really good test kit.

Everything else is just for convenience.

Carl

[DistantHorizon]

Well there we go, added approximately 3.6 x 182oz (662oz) of 6% bleach, should be at or greater than 15ppm at this point. I erred on the high side since I didn't have anything to measure with and don't know my exact pool volume yet, maybe I put in 3.7 jugs?

Will test tomorrow morning, and if I have time I'll post the results first thing.

THANK YOU to all of you who have trudged through this thread and assisted me!

[DistantHorizon]

90 minutes after shocking last night, I used the OTO test and dilution method and thought it should be a hair darker, so I added in the rest of my 4th jug of bleach (728oz total added last night). (Figure my pool might really be 25,000 gallons, haven't done the math yet, need to get on that. Plus we had a lot of rain last week, and despite backflushing, I'm still a couple inches high, right at the top of the skimmer).

This morning, once again using dilution and OTO, chlorine is somewhere between 9 and 15. Water still looks nice and clear. Going to work now, I'll measure when I get home.

[CarlD]

It's working!

Carl

[DistantHorizon]

Got home and checked chlorine today. Used cheap OTO, diluted 50% with Brita water, and still had stronger yellow color than the 5ppm the test max's out at - so chlorine is over 10ppm.

So I think things are rolling along nicely... I think other questions I have should probably go in different threads.

Thanks for all the help!