New Pool

[Gobil527]

Hello All,
Making my first post and just put in a pool and filled it with city water ( FYI, trucked in from Laurens, SC ) and it was GREEN! Driver got it right from the main facility too. The driver brought the first load from NC and it was crystal clear and was shocked at what he got in Laurens. I can't believe they drink the stuff. Yuk,

[Watermom]

How long was the water on the truck? Water just sitting for long without being chlorinated will turn green pretty quickly. Did you get it cleared up or do you need help doing so? Tell us more about your pool (type, volume, type of filter, size of pump) and also post some current water testing results taken with a drops-based kit and let someone here have a look.

Welcome to the Pool Forum!

[Gobil527]

Watermom, the water was on the truck less than 1hr. I have a 24' round 52" tall above ground. 1HP dual speed pump (60gpm) and Sand Filtration and inline chlorine dispenser (off). I currently only have the test strips for sampling the water.
I shocked it 4 times (at once) and waited 24 hours with the following test:
Bromine = >10ppm
Chlorine = >10ppm
Alk = very low
pH = 6.8
Calcium = very low

After 4 days had a strong chlorine odor so shocked again and I have the following:
Clear water/no smell
Bromine = 10ppm
Chlorine = 5ppm
Alk = <80ppm
pH = 6.8
Calcium = 100


Water seems to be coming around nicely. The Bromine level is worrisome, hoping the sun will burn it off.

[Watermom]

First of all, you can ignore the bromine side of the tester. You don't have bromine -- this is a chlorine pool.

You need to get a better test kit. We recommend the Taylor K-2006 or 2006C which you can pick up at a good price from the testkit link in my signature below. (You can't buy it locally.)

With your tester, since you are hitting the limits on the range that it can read, you really don't know if your chlorine is 11 or 20, only that it is higher than 10. Until you can get the good kit, you can force your kit to read higher with a dilution method. It isn't very accurate and isn't meant to replace getting a good kit, but it is better than nothing. Read more about it here: Testing Without a Good Kit (http://poolsolutions.com/gd/how-to-test-your-pool-without-a-good-testkit.html )

What have you used to shock with? We need ingredients -- not just "shock."

Again, with your kit, your pH may actually be much lower than 6.8 since there is no way to differentiate lower than that. You need to get the pH above 7.0 ASAP because any reading below 7.0 is acidic and can damage your pool. However, you need to test the pH when the chlorine reading is no higher than 5 or you won't get an accurate reading. You can raise pH by using 20 Mule Team Borax (laundry aisle at Walmart.) Start with a half a box added slowly to the skimmer while the pump was running, breaking up any clumps. After a couple of hours, retest and redose until you get the pH above 7.0. This is pretty critical so you need to do this ASAP.

Hope this helps you get started. Come back if you have further questions and ...... order the good kit as soon as possible. You need it.

EDIT -- I just noticed that you said you had test strips or "guess strips" as we call them. They aren't reliable. You need a good kit as I mentioned above, but in the meantime, pick up a cheap OTO/Phenol Red kit (yellow and red drops) or if you can find it, some Walmarts have a HTH 6-Way kit that will suffice for now. Also, get some distilled water while you are there. You'll need it for the dilution test.

[Gobil527]

Thanks Watermom, I will find a kit you recommend and order it, and get more reliable results. ( fyi, I don't have permission for your signature links )
Thanks

[Watermom]

Until your registration is completed, you will have to log out first and then you can see and follow the links.

[PoolDoc]

Registration updated - PoolDoc.

[Gobil527]

Ok, I got the K-2006 test kit today. After much frowning and testing I got the following results.

Chlorine 10ppm
pH needed 2 drops of R-0006 to be 7.4
Alk 90ppm
Calcium 220ppm
Cyanuric Acid <30 filled small test compartment and could still see black dot (barely)

Table D is 10.3oz (Sodium Carbonate) for 10,000 gal pool. I have about 13,500 gal pool. So I need a scale now??

[BigDave]

Congrats! The k-2006 will help you control your pool and maintain your liberty.
For now, put away the acid and base demand tests and the book and the wheel. And don't frown:)

What was your pH reading?
How have you been chlorinating?
How does the pool look?

Another half box of Borax poured slowly in the skimmer will help raise your pH.

[Gobil527]

Hi Dave,

The pH was just barely 7, and I have not added any chlorine although I have an inline auto feeder. The water is crystal clear.
I have some pH up from Walmart but it has been raining steady for 3 days (added 1/2" to pool level) so haven't made any adjustments or readings since it started.
By half box of Borax you mean 2lbs?
thanks for you help

[BigDave]

Yep 2lb - but what I meant was about/around 2lb. You don't need a scale. Measure - treat - measure - treat ... is the process we promote here. Put in less than you think you need at a time, wait for it to mix, test and re-dose. Try to approach your treatment goals slowly to avoid going over. Calculating and dosing all at once sets us up to see-saw and chase numbers which is not as much fun as swimming.

Is the pH up you have Sodium Carbonate? Add about a pound (instead of 2lb Borax) at first. It will also raise your TA.

Your cl feeder is on and has trichlor pucks in it?

[Gobil527]

I added about 1lb of Sodium Carbonate (pH up) yesterday. Then it rained a ton.
The feeder is NOT on, and the tablets (3" trichloro-s-triazinetrione tablets) are still in the car, lol.
Chlorine dropped to 6ppm.
pH is 7.6 now after adding and waiting approx. 24hrs to retest.

I have no Combined Chlorine reading still. Is that a problem?

looking good i think.

[PoolDoc]

You don't WANT a CC reading, or rather, a reading of CC=0 is optimal. So, no, it's not a problem.

[BigDave]

You need a source of chlorine. If you don't maintain chlorine, your pool will go green again. You can use tabs in your feeder for a while but when your CYA reaches 40-50, it would be best to stop the stabilized chlorine and start using bleach.