chemical problems

I have just a 5 way test kit from walmart. I am opening my pool. all my chems were right except for cya, which i fixed. Well 3 days later my ph dropped to like the lowest reading on the test tube thinggy. (water cloudy this whole time also) so i added just like 18 0z of ph + rechecked...no change in ph, but of course alk was up...went from 100 to 150. I didnt think that was a big deal, but the chlorine reading is like almost Orange! so way high. I decided to just take some water to the pool place, to have a test run.
this is what they gave me:

AG pool - 15,000 gal
temp: 70
saturation index: -0.9
TDS: 325
CYA: 150
Tot. Chlorine: 9.8
free chlorine: 8.9
ph: 7.1
Tot Alk: 135
Adj total alk: 90
tot Hardness: 114

Now this is what they told me to do:

Add 14 lbs of alk+ slowly
then 5 lbs of calcium hardness
then 4 lbs of shock
and then clarify.

Ok I am a bit confused.... I went on and added 4 lbs of alk+ waited 4 hrs, rechecked..of course alk goes up, and ph is about 7.4 now. So i added the 4lbs of shock. I am a lil leary this was not the right thing to do. The last 3 yrs i was proud..i used my own test kit and got the pool up and running by myself, but this yr i was at a loss.
I guess i am just looking for some reassurance that i havent totally messed up or what i can do, if i have messed up, to fix it, lol.

the pool lady said my testing may have been false, i dunno.

I also use a stablized chlorinator floater, i pulled it out immediately until i figure out what is goin on.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks so much.


edit: this was a BioGuard lab...uggg wish i had found you guys and read the "start up woes" thread before all this mess lol.....ahh well..i know now for next year :O)

Given, where your CYA level is, I would replace half your water. This may fix some of your other problems as well. Also, try to avoid that pool store. I think they are giving you bad advise. After replacing half your water, repost your numbers. Also add a gallon of liquid chlorine (bleach) given your free and total chlorine numbers are not the same. Try to stay away from the pucks as they continue to add CYA to the pool.

Quote:

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AG pool - 15,000 gal
temp: 70
saturation index: -0.9
TDS: 325
CYA: 150
Tot. Chlorine: 9.8
free chlorine: 8.9
ph: 7.1
Tot Alk: 135
Adj total alk: 90
tot Hardness: 114

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Temp: OK
SI: Irrelevant
TDS: Ditto
CYA: OK, Your CYA is 'WAY too high-- 30-50ppm is recommended. I'd drain 1/2 your water and refill just to get it to 75--which is still too high but managable.
TC = 9.8, FC=8.9, therefore CC=.9--anything over .5 means a probably algae bloom on the way.
pH a bit low, but manageable. Raise pH, T/A should go up too.
T/A 135--A tad high, but not a problem in a vinyl pool
Adj T/A--never quite know what this is...but 90 is FINE for T/A
CH (tot. hardness): Irrelevant in a vinyl pool until it passes 500--then it's a problem.

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Now this is what they told me to do:

Add 14 lbs of alk+ slowly

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TOTALLY wrong and unnecessary. They are incompetent idiots. I'll bet they charged you a lot for it too. It's no different than Arm & Hammer baking soda--same ingredient.

Quote:

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then 5 lbs of calcium hardness

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You have NO need for that in a vinyl pool. Calcium is to protect concrete and plaster. Plus, if you want to use cal-hypo to chlorinate, it uses up the lee-way you have in your water. Plus it's expensive. Useless and pricey.

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then 4 lbs of shock

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This advice ONLY makes sense if they meant Cal-hypo shock. Di-Chlor and Tri-Chlor shock makes your CYA AND pH situations worse! It's the WORST thing you can add now. But if you put calcium in AS THOSE IDIOTS RECOMMENDED, using Cal-Hypo can get you to the 500ppm limit. If you didn't add the calcium then Cal-Hypo is FINE for shocking. But you can ALWAYS use bleach--with NONE of the side effects.

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and then clarify.

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99.99% of the time if you add the correct chemicals and maintain them you will never need clarifier.

Please understand: I am furious FOR you, not at you. You have been "pool stored" so they could sell you a lot of expensive chemicals that won't help you. You have essentially been robbed.

ALL you really should do, in my humble opinion, is drain half of your water off and refill,then shock the heck out of the pool using bleach, and get your Free Chlorine level to 20ppm. Add 1 box of 20 Mule Team Borax (yup the stuff from the supermarket) to raise your pH.

Meantime, run your filter 24/7, brush and vacuum your pool every day, and be patient.

Oh, and get a good test kit so you can test yourself without the pool store guys. I've NEVER had to take my water to a pool store. I've been using Ben's kit for about 5 years now--it really, really works--and there are some OK alternatives to it, too.

Thanks for the help Mark and Carl! :)

I am draining my pool now. Yeah I think I will avoid that pool place indefinately! They told me recommended CYA was 30 - 200!! What a crock! lol! I even questioned them about my cya, but they insisted it was ok. I guess thats what led me to the net for a second opinion. You guys are great!
One thing though.... I suppose i am to blame for the high CYA.... there was absolutely none in the pool so i put the stabilizer and conditioner in, got it at the right level. For the last couple of years i have used just the floating stablized chlorinator from walmart. I only would poke out up to the 10,000 gallon mark even though i had a 15,000 gal pool. It seems to stay fine that way. Well my husband poked out up th 20,000!!! Ugg.. I think thats where it got out of hand.

About tha alk....

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TOTALLY wrong and unnecessary. They are incompetent idiots. I'll bet they charged you a lot for it too. It's no different than Arm & Hammer baking soda--same ingredient.

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well she thought she was goin to sell me some, but i told her i already had some lol. I didnt buy anything since i was a lil leary. Plus i already had everything she said i needed.

Quote:

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Quote:
then 4 lbs of shock



This advice ONLY makes sense if they meant Cal-hypo shock. Di-Chlor and Tri-Chlor shock makes your CYA AND pH situations worse! It's the WORST thing you can add now. But if you put calcium in AS THOSE IDIOTS RECOMMENDED, using Cal-Hypo can get you to the 500ppm limit. If you didn't add the calcium then Cal-Hypo is FINE for shocking. But you can ALWAYS use bleach--with NONE of the side effects.

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Well she meant super shock....so yeah totally messed up! I havent added any of the calcium. I told her i already had a 40 lb bucket of: Poollife: Active cleaning granules located HERE. She told me to go on and use that for the Shock.

My thing now is...i am definately going with the BBB way from here on out, but would like to use up that big almost full bucket of POOLIFE stuff. Will that be okay to use when i get filled back up at some point?

I also noticed my liner being stained lookin where i started draining the water, will the bleach help fix that a lil?

Thanks for your help! You guys rock!

Tracey

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tyedyed

My thing now is...i am definately going with the BBB way from here on out, but would like to use up that big almost full bucket of POOLIFE stuff. Will that be okay to use when i get filled back up at some point?
The Poolife granules are just 68% (full strength) cal hypo. They are fine to use as long as your calcium and Alk are not too high jor it copuld cloud your water. You can use it up as a primary santizer and then switch to bleach or use it for shocking and bleach for chlorination until it is used up.
I also noticed my liner being stained lookin where i started draining the water, will the bleach help fix that a lil?
Depends on what caused the stain. If it is from organics then shocking might help. If it is from metal....treat the metals.
Thanks for your help! You guys rock!

Tracey

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Hope this helps.

I agree. The PoolLife is EXACTLY the Cal-Hypo (also made by Arch ) I was talking about. Use it freely. As long as your CYA is where it is, and your calcium doesn't approach 500ppm, it's just fine to use up. Use it for daily chlorination, use it to shock. But when you see calcium levels in the mid 400's, (you have to test weekly for it), switch to bleach.

Ok i am back to update.

I drained it down and got it filled back up. I can see the bottom! That was a great feeling! I am waiting on the availability of Bens kit, but using this lil 5 way walmart kit....

150 alk (i got the same reading the other day when i tested...the pool store said i had 135 the same day)

5 cl
7.2 ph

i assume this kit only does combined chlorine?
and I am now out of the stuff to check the CYA...lucky me lol

I will be going to town tomorrow to try and find some decent testing supplies until Bens kit is available. My question now is do i still need to put that cal-hypo in tonight? I have the filter running now and have vacuumed real good to get the stuff that was settled on the bottom out. I seemed to have stirred it up a bit.

Thank you guys so much! You are all lifesavers :D

Your kit is measuring total chlorine, not combined. You can shock with the cal-hypo, it won't hurt anything.

Janet