Printable View
I need help to balance my pool I have a 5,300 above ground pool and I can never keep it clean..or clear..its made out of vinyl and I have read about the BBB method but I have chlorine granules and baking soda and Borax but how much of it I need...
My levels today are
Hardness 100
Free Chlorine 0
Ph 6.4
alkalinity 40
cya 30-50
I have been trying to battle this war for years and I need any help I can ..Thank you so much!!!
Jamie
Hello, and welcome to the forum!!
We'll be happy to help... But your first priority is to get your pH up. Anything below 7.0 is acidic and can damage your liner. Start with 1/2 box of Borax, added slowly through the skimmer to avoid clumps. Give it a couple of hours to circulate, test again, and if needed, add more Borax, 1/2 box at a time, circulating and testing in between, until your pH is between 7.2 and 7.8. In the meantime, stop using any stabilized form of chlorine, including trichlor pucks and dichlor powder. Get several gallons of plain, unscented bleach. In your pool, each 1/2 gallon should add about 6 ppm chlorine to your pool. With your CYA that high, you'll need to shock up to 15 ppm and hold it there as consistently as possible, filter running 24/7, until the pool clears.
You'll need a good kit-- you can get by with the $20 6-way drop kit from Walmart, but we recommend the K-2006 kit available through the Amazon link in my sig--only if Amato Industries is the seller.
Thank you I will try this..I think that I was about 1,000 gallons off in my pool does that matter? I looked and looked and could not see on pool the gallons but I do think that it is about 5,000 gallons.. So i can not not use the Chlorine granules? I was just wondering I love bleach and will get some but I have tons of this left over so wanted to try to use it up if you think it wont work with the borax then i will not..
Thank you!!
What is the ingredient in the chlorine granules? If it is cal-hypo, you can use it for awhile until your calcium hardness approaches 400 but after that, you'll need to switch to bleach.
You must be using test strips to get a range of 30-50 for CYA. If you have a reputable pool store nearby, ask them to test your CYA for you but don't let them talk you into buying a bunch of stuff. When we find out if your CYA is closer to 30 or closer to 50 we'll decide if you need to bump your CYA up any. If so, then if the granules are dichlor, you could use it for a short time. If you are closer to 50, then as Jan said, you would be better off just switching to bleach now.
Post CYA when you get a more accurate reading and work to get that pH up ASAP!
Thank you all for your help...I will switch to Bleach I am using the test strips htp 6 way test strips. Added my half of box of Borax now waiting for a bit and will test it again.. THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH like i said above this is a war I been fighting for years..
Unfortunately, you're probably going to continue to fight it as long as you're using test strips to make your chemical changes. They are unreliable, and sometimes wildly inaccurate. When you get a chance, please think about ordering the test kit I pointed out in my above posts, but if not, at least get the 6-way drop kit--it'll make pool care so much easier for you--and help you conquer the algae beast! :)