Help some Cheeseheads please!

[GOFN1]

Moved into a new home that has a pool we opened week ago Friday. Water was pretty clear we were impressed. We did nothing to it but gather the leaves out the bottom. Still looked good the following Monday (Memorial Day) thought we had some time to get it all going. Tuesday RAIN! Wednesday GREEN : (

Today it is of course even greener we have been trying to figure out what to do. Been on your forum so here are our readings...someone please help us!!?!

Chlorine Level - didn't even register on my tester. Water was clear so way below the min. No Chlorine is our best guess obviously

pH - 7.8
Alk - 160 ppm
Hardness - 450 ppm
CYA - 30 ppm

Pool size is an above ground 18ft round. Approx gallons estimate is 6800...

We have bought bleach, backing soda, borax from reading on this forum however can't figure out what to do now with the combination of the readings and our supplies.

Any feedback would be very helpful!
:eek:

[mas985]

First thing is to kill algae. Put two gallons of bleach in the pool and keep the FC to 15 ppm by adding chlorine over the next few days until all of the algae is dead and cleaned up. You will know it is dead when the pool turns cloudy. Vacuum to waste or filter, then clean filter.

At this point you do not need any baking soda or borax since your Alk is high and PH is high. You need acid. I use muriatic acid. You can start with a pint and then re-measure your PH and Alk after you have cleaned up the algae problem and your chlorine has dropped to below 6 ppm.

[GOFN1]

Ok. So do we need bleach and chlorine as I thought the bleach WAS the chlorine..??

You say adding chlorine over the next few days but how do you know how much chlorine/bleach to add each day??

We couldn't find muiatic acid so we bought "pH minus balancer". Is this ok? Do we add this once the algae is dead/water cloudy or with the chlorine?

I guess maybe we need a more step by step procedure???

Trying to figure out how often to test and add stuff...

Thank you for replying and I look forward to another response if you can help us further!

[Poconos]

GOFN1,
Welcome to the forum. For now I'd just concentrate on getting the chlorine up. The pH and TA are indeed high but nothing that needs to be addressed now. A question though....since you just inherited this thing are you sure the previous owner used chlorine as the sanitizer and not Bacquacil a.k.a. Bacquagoo? Because if they did then you have a totally different situation.
Al

[GOFN1]

Poconos -

Thanks for the welcome. I am finding everyone so far very helpful.

The previous owner used what we think is called a "pool frog" chlorine dispenser?? Does that help? We have yet to use any of what they left behind.

I thought we read this in another thread but just going to throw out the question - When adding the bleach to the skimmer do I have to set my filter to anything but filter?

Thanks,
The Cheeseheads

[tundraSQ]

Ok. So do we need bleach and chlorine as I thought the bleach WAS the chlorine..??

You say adding chlorine over the next few days but how do you know how much chlorine/bleach to add each day??

We couldn't find muiatic acid so we bought "pH minus balancer". Is this ok? Do we add this once the algae is dead/water cloudy or with the chlorine?

I guess maybe we need a more step by step procedure???

Trying to figure out how often to test and add stuff...

Thank you for replying and I look forward to another response if you can help us further!

Chlorine=Bleach....Add the 2 gallons around sunset... and take a reading about an hour later...as for how much you add each day...best guess for that size pool would be a gallon every 3 days once you get the algae under control...plus you might want to bring for CYA up to about 60 in order to conserve bleach usage. And like the previous post...be sure you are not inheriting a bacquacil pool.

[Poconos]

Nope...just pour it in. Until you get the algae under control measure the chlorine a few times a day and keep it at 15 like Mas985 said. It will get eaten up pretty fast. There is a calculator available to help you figure how much bleach to add. Look for any post from MWSMITH2 and look in his signature for the link. For lack of any other guide just throw in a small jug (3 quarts), circulate for a couple hours and measure. I don't know what that pH- stuff is...never used it and never paid attention to posts about it. Someone else will kick in about it.
Al

[GOFN1]

Ok. Clear on the bleach=chlorine thing. Many Thanks!!

I googled Baquacil and I see nothing around this house that leads me to believe she used that.

I have infront of me

Pool Frog Bac Pac - She left a ton of these. Active ingredient is 99% Trichloro-s-Triazinetrione with available chlorine listed as 89%.

hth Liquid Chlorinator - She left 2 jugs of this. Active ingredient is 10% Sodium Hypochlorite..

Does this help?

Thanks to everyone who replying...it is very appriciated.

The Cheeseheads

[Poconos]

Yeah...a chlorine pool. Good. Don't know about the frog things but the 10% probably isn't anymore but use it up anyhow. Won't hurt anything. Higher concentrations of bleach degrade fairly fast and no idea how long the stuff has been around.
Al

[aylad]

Yeah, that helps..it means that you probably have a chlorine pool instead of a Bacquacrap pool, which is good news! You've already been given the best advice--get your Cl level up to 15 (using the bleach), and keep it there by daily testing and additions to get it back up to 15. If you can do this 2-3 times a day, it will clear faster.

Before you use the pH minus balancer, (which you don't need to worry about 'til after the green is gone, anyway), could you please post the ingredients? I'm concerned with the "balancer" part that it may contain CYA, which you're not gonna need if you're using trichlor.

Janet

[Watermom]

Trichlor is just a type of chlorine that has cya in it. Since your cya is only 30, you can use the trichlor after you get the pool clear. But, you'll need to monitor your cya reading and when it gets to 50, stick with only bleach. Trichlor isn't used for shocking which is what you are being advised to do for now. So just use bleach now.

10% sodium hypochlorite is just strong bleach. Household bleach is 6%. However, if it has been sitting for awhile, it isn't going to be full strength. You can go ahead and use it however. Just make sure it doesn't list any other stuff besides sodium hypo. It may not raise your chlorine level significantly if it is really old and weak, but it won't hurt to use it up.

[Watermom]

GOFN1 -- How do you rate having 3 of the mods all responding to your post within 3 minutes of each other?

[GOFN1]

Can I just say how great the internet is??! It is GREAT! My husband took a 2 hour pool lesson at Pool supply store and didn't get HALF this much info and it has'nt been quite 2 hours since our orig posting! Thanks again!

Ok The pH Minus says it contains:
Sodium Bisulfate 82%
Inert Ingredients (Sodium Sulfate & Water) 8%

[GOFN1]

10% sodium hypochlorite is just strong bleach. Household bleach is 6%. However, if it has been sitting for awhile, it isn't going to be full strength. You can go ahead and use it however. Just make sure it doesn't list any other stuff besides sodium hypo. It may not raise your chlorine level significantly if it is really old and weak, but it won't hurt to use it up.

Watermom - All it says on the "strong bleach" bottle besides the 10% sodium hypo is "other ingredients - 90%" so I guess I don't know if it contains anything else???

[GOFN1]

GOFN1 -- How do you rate having 3 of the mods all responding to your post within 3 minutes of each other?

I don't know but it is awesome! :) Somebody must be watching out for me because I think my husband was about ready to drive his truck thru the pool so it would just be done and gone! Now he at least feel better about the entire situation!!

[aylad]

what Watermom meant was that you don't want to use it if it is scented, or has extra additives for whitening, etc.


Janet

[GOFN1]

After the bleach...green is pretty much gone...yeah!

Here are day two levels:
Cl = 5.0
Br = 10.0
pH = 7.8
Alk = 210
Hardness = 410
CYA = Same as yesterday

Now our question is, yesterday everyone was saying to get our chlorine level up to 15 ppm but when I look at tester we have it doesn't go up that high. Am I not reading it correctly or do I need a different tester?? The highest on my tester is the reading above

[Watermom]

First of all, you don't have bromine in your pool. Glad to hear the pool is clearing. Keep adding bleach. You still need to raise it to 15 for a few more days to be sure you kill all the algae. Most testers don't get past 5. The one Ben sells at www.poolsolutions.com does and that is why it is so great to have it. In the meantime, you can make your tester read higher than 5 if you dilute your sample. Take one part pool water and one part distilled water, mix, test as usual and then multiply the result by 2. If you need to go higher, take one part pool water and two parts distilled water, then multiply by 3, etc.

Be sure you don't use any cal-hypo for your chlorine. Your calcium hardness is already pretty high and that might make your water cloudy.

[GOFN1]

Before you use the pH minus balancer, (which you don't need to worry about 'til after the green is gone, anyway), could you please post the ingredients? I'm concerned with the "balancer" part that it may contain CYA, which you're not gonna need if you're using trichlor.

Janet

I thought I responded with this but I don't think I did...pH minus contains

Sodium Bisulfate 92%
Inert Ingredients 8%

On the back it says all it contains is Sodium Bisulfate, Sodium Sulfate and Water.

[GOFN1]

Returned home from running errands and the pool is less cloudy than this morning! I can see the bottom again. My husband was going to start to vacuum...is that the next right step?

Once we get the Cl level using bleach to 15ppm is that where we should always keep it? From then I tackle the other levels?

So today...Should we add just one more gallon or two again? Someone replied back that we will add approx a gallon every 3 days but that was said I believe for when this is all under control.

Also can we only add the bleach at dusk or can it be added anytime?

Regarding that testing kit - is the kit only good for one season? Here in WI our pool season is pretty short. Researching the kit it looks around $75 but sounds like it could take a month to get here. Just not sure if it seems worth it to buy this season???

And of course the most important question...when will the pool be ok to swim in?

Oh and one more thing...Watermom - what did you mean when you said I don't have bromine? I just was typing what was located in the testing kit so I just put it on there. Is it on the test kit for another purpose? Do other pools and I just don't? Just trying to learn more...

[GOFN1]

Is anyone there? I haven't heard from anyone since my last posts and want to make sure I am understanding this. I have been reading some other threads trying to find stuff out for myself but am getting more confused in some aspects. I am thinking I am not doing my CYA test correctly though after reading one thread. My test says to fill my pool water to 7ml mark and then take the Cyanuric Acid Reagent and fill to 14ml mark. Mix for 30 seconds and then slowler transfer the mixture into this little tube with a black dot on the bottom. You are supposed to base your reading on the level at which the dot just disappears when viewed from top. Mine NEVER disappears or is cloudy in any way. I am thinking this should change my "shock" cl level from 15 to 10ppm???

I am off to do more reading on CYA...sounds like this is the hardest for everyone to understand by what I am seeing.

Thanks again!

[Sherra]

The mix should be a 50/50 mix, so the 7 then 14 is right (or you can do 10 then 20 if those readings are easier to see on your measuring tube. You should mix well, then let it SIT for 30 seconds then begin the slow transfer into the black dot tube.

[Watermom]

If the cya test never gets cloudy and the black dot never goes away, then you have no cya reading. So, yes, that will change your shock level to 10. Keep the chlorine level up for a few more days until the pool clears and keep running the pump 24/7. You can go ahead and vac if there is something there to vacuum up. Or you can just filter for a few days and vac later.

In a pool this size, each quart of 6% bleach will raise the cl by a little more than 2ppm. Test morning and evening and each time add enough bleach to get back to 10. After you get the pool cleared up, you are going to need to add some cya. (Before you decide to add some, though, retest your cya and verify that your reading is still 0.) Add an initial dose to get to about 30. Add it to the skimmer and then don't add more, retest or backwash for about a week to give it time to dissolve.

The kit will last for a couple of seasons except maybe the DPD-FAS powder may have to be replaced. The other things should be fine for next year.

And, re: bromine - bromine is a different type of sanitizer. This is a chlorine pool, thus no bromine reading. Hope this helps.

[GOFN1]

OK...we are back in business.

We have been keeping our Cholrine levels right around 10 and happy to report that the pool looks great! Water is clear, just need to vacuum one more time (Spring cleanup) and I think we are ready to balance out everything else.

So my question of the night is CYA...as posted earlier, we could never get a reading. I think we have to go to the dreaded pool store to get the stabilizer, but I just what to make sure that is the direction to go. Up until this point all we have been checking is chorline levels and ph which has been..Chorline 10ish ph 7.5. So, what should be our next step?:eek: :eek:

[Brock]

Hey where are you in WI, I am in Green Bay.

Anyway now that the algae is likely under control you can drop the Chlorine levels back to 3-5 ish for normal use depending on the CYA level, but since it sounds like you have none 3-5 is good to shoot for right now. Was the "frog" a floater that you dropped sticks in to and it just floated in the water or what? I would start using them if you have them it will reduce the amount of liquid chlorine or bleach you have to add since it slowly dissolves releasing chlorine in to the water. It will also add stabilizer as it dissolves. Just keep checking the CL level for now.

[Watermom]

You can probably by cya at Walmart, Lowe's or Home Depot. It may be called stabilizer or conditioner. Check the ingredients and make sure it says cyanuric or isocyanuric acid. Aim for an initial reading of 30. Put it in the skimmer and then don't retest, redose or backwash for about a week to let it dissolve. If it was me, I would just add the cya outright instead of messing with the frog floater. Until the cya starts dissolving, you'll need to test your chlorine morning and evening and each time add some bleach. After you start to get a reading, you'll be able to just test and dose with bleach in the evenings only.

[Brock]

I should have been clear. I would recommend using liquid chlorine or bleach regularly, but if you have the sticks and dispenser for the "frog" I would just use them up instead of tossing them or going to waste, then go back to liquid CL.