Help...about to pull my hair out or tear down the pool!!!

Hello everyone, thank goodness for this awesome forum! I'm praying someone will help me get this pool under control. I have a 18' x 48" above ground pool that I have had to drain & refill 3 times this summer and I've about had it. I have done enough research to have figured out the BBB method but I'm having a hard time keeping the chlorine in my pool. Mind you my pool is in the front yard out in the open with no trees & directly under the sunlight! I have been using the 6 way test strips because I thought was the best option but i will have to go get the 6 way test kit. I'm so confused because i have read that because my pool is directly in the sunlight my CYA level needs to be between 70-80. So, the pool calculator said I needed to add over 4 pounds of stabilizer that i have tied & put in a sock just this afternoon. These are my current readings as of 10pm tonight:
TA:200
FC:10
PH:7.5
TA:120
CYA:30-50
My concern at the moment is when the CYA from the sock dissolves will my level be outrageous like in the 300's or something?? Should i go ahead & take the sock out? Oh...and what level should I be aiming for with the FC & CYA?? This stuff is overwhelming me & I don't know what to do from this point, someone please give me some advice!!

I'm guessing your volume to be a little over 7000 gallons. Adding 4 lbs. of stabilizer will add about 70ppm of CYA to your pool. Too much! Take the sock out. You report your range as being 30-50. Is there a reputable pool store nearby that will test the CYA for you? (You want a store that will use the 'disappearing black dot' CYA test.) That way you'll have a more accurate reading which will better enable you to decide how much CYA to add.

Get a good CYA reading first and then somebody here can make a suggestion about how much CYA to add.

Do yourself a favor and get a good test kit. The one we recommend is the Taylor K-2006 or 2006C (same kit, larger bottle of some reagents). If you buy it through the Amazon link in my signature, the Pool Forum makes a little money on the sale which helps us keep this form online. Only buy if the seller is Amato Industries, however. Some other sellers are substituting the K-2005 which you do NOT want. If Amato isn't listed, wait a day or two and try again. They seem to restock pretty quickly when they sell out.

Welcome to the Pool Forum!

Thank you, Watermom! I will take the sock out . I will have to buy a test kit because our closest pool store that i know of is at least 30-40 miles away. I retested this morning about 11:30am and these are my current readings:
TH:200
FC:5
PH:7.5
TA:180
CYA:30-50
It seems my TA went up a little bit, is that ok? And my chlorine seems to have been cut in half overnight! What do i need to do to keep my chlorine at a safe & constructive level? I don't want to have to keep putting in like 5 gallons of bleach a day, that's getting a bit exspensive! I will retest my levels again this evening when i get home from work & see if I have been able to sustain my chlorine. Thanks again Watermom & any other advice you could spare, I would very much appreciate!

5 gallons of bleach on a 7,000 gallon pool IS a lot -- around 40 ppm. If you've got algae, though, it may take that much.

However if you do have algae, you'd probably be better off adding plain 6% (check the %) household bleach, 2 gallons at time EVERY evening, till you'll all cleared up.

Get a cheap OTO / phenol red test kit from Walmart or whatever, and keep your chlorine in the yellow during the day, maybe 1/4 gallon doses.

You can work on other stuff, later.

Thanks PoolDoc...no i don't have algae but my pool is in direct sunlight & I couldn't seem to keep my chlorine in the pool. However, i was using the test strips from Walmart & I'm pretty sure now that they were inaccurate. I went down & bought the $20 6 way test kit & according to it I have had chlorine in it the whole time I guess!! Night before last these were my reading with my new test kit:
TH:250
FC:3
PH:7.5
TA:180
CYA:30
Now this was @ 10pm after being in the direct sunlight all day so I figure my chlorine count isn't too bad considering. Because it in the sun all day I would prefer a FC level of about 6 at least & CYA of 50 at least, that would probably be ok, right?? In order to achieve that I added 47oz of bleach to raise it from a 3 to 6 and then i added 21oz of stabilizer tied in a sock to bring up the CYA to 50. With all this research & help from you guys I think I might be getting it under control! Please just let me know if i'm on the right track...Thanks again fro everyone's help:) Oh...I was retest my PH & FC when I get home this evening to see how we're doing!

Hi, and welcome to the forum!

In Texas, with the heat we've been having (I'm near Shreveport, LA, similar climate and maybe not even as hot as it is where you are), you'll find that the chlorine will stay in your pool a lot longer if you'll raise your CYA. We normally recommend around 40 ppm in most folk's pools, but in our climate I find that I still use too much chlorine. I personally run my CYa at 80-90 ppm, but that's much higher than most people around here. That does, however, allow me to maintain a Cl level of 8 ppm in my approx. 29K gallon pool using only 4-5 of the 1.4 gallon jugs of bleach weekly.

You're on the right track, a CYA of 50 ppm is a good place to start. See how well you're able to maintain a chlorine level with that, and you can adjust from there. One thing, though--in order to determine whether the water has something in it that is creating chlorine demand, or whether it's all just from the sun, try testing your chlorine at night and then again the next morning before the sun hits the pool. If you've lost more than 1 ppm of chlorine in that time, then there's something other than the sun eating it up, and you need to shock the pool.

Janet

I'm glad you got the kit, but I would encourage you to go ahead and get the Taylor K2006.

One reason I recommend the 2 way OTO/phenol red is that it's so basic, it's hard to screw up. Walmart's pool chemicals have gone, over the past few years, from mediocre to TERRIBLE. I don't know that the kit you have is bad . . . but I don't trust it, either.

Ben, the $20 kit is the old hth drop kit that was $16 last year....but I agree, the Taylor kit is much better, and you can test for all of the things we need to know and be able to trust the result.

Janet

HTH has been re-jiggering their products, and unless you're sure it's unchanged, I'm not. They are trying to out-do BioGuard in the games they play with products -- I don't trust them even a tiny bit. There's no relationship between this HTH and the old one I knew, except trademarks, bankruptcy courts, and lawyers.

Ben

Thanks for all the advice, I have been trying really hard to keep up with the pool this past week so sorry for the late responses! But great news, I think I have got it under control for the moment, however when i can afford to I will upgrade to the Taylor kit. For now my simple test seems to be doing ok, my pool is sparkling clean & clear (minus the bugs i have to skim out everyday) lol! I have been able to maintain a clean clear pool for about a week & I'm so excited because I was really just ready to give it all up!! Thanks to you guys & my unwavering tenacity I think we've got it. Here are my current readings, please tell me if something looks wrong:
TH:220
FC:5 ( my test will only read up to 5)
PH:7.5
TA:160-180
CYA:50-70
Because my test only reads up to a 5, but there could be more! Is there any way to tell with my kit, any tricks to find out?? Is a 5 compatible with my CYA level?? We have been swimming in the pool & it doesn't have a strong chlorine smell, no burning eyes or anything. I figure as long as I can keep that chlorine level up to a 5 & there's no algae then I'm ok basically, right??

Thanks,
Candice

Here is a way you can force your kit to read higher than 5 until you get a good kit. It loses accuracy with each dilution, but is better than nothing. Testing Without a Good Kit

If you get a cheap OTO/phenol red kit, you can get a rough approximation. OTO changes from dark yellow (5+) to orange (~20) to brown (35+) as the chlorine level increases.

You could have a chlorine level of 15 ppm or more -- given your stabilizer level -- with no noticeable effects on swimmers.

Ben

I'm back. Irene hasn't actually hit us yet but the Nor'easter-type rain is here. So I just read through the thread.

I don't know about the new HtH 6-way drop kit. The old 5-way was a true bargain. I'll have to get one and try it.

Meanwhile, since your pool is clear but the chlorine keeps dropping, aylad's plan to get your CYA back up to 70-80 is probably a good one. Before, advice was based on the premise you were fighting something more than just losing chlorine in the hot, humid Southern sun.

Carl

Just FWIW, a friend of mine recently bought the $20 HTH kit in the process of trying to clear up her messed-up pool (an Intex filled with well water :eek: ) and after taking my PS 234 over to test her water, I repeated it all with her new 6-way, and all the results were the same--so it appears that this is the same 6-way they had before, just without the blue plastic storage box. And the OTO block on hers reads to 5 ppm.

Janet

That's good, and I'm glad.

I still don't trust them. The goop I found in Walmart this summer, under the HTH label, was discouraging. (BTW, I got thrown out of Walmart for taking pictures of the stuff! Still got the pics, though; just haven't gotten around to posting that info.)

All right guys....I thought i've been doing good keeping my pool nice & balanced, well not so sure:( My water is clean & crystal clear but here are my newest readings from about noon today:
TH:0
FC:3
PH:7.5-7.8
TA:180-190
CYA:50
Now i've read that harness isn't really needed in a vinyl pool, but none at all?? when i put in the blue drops & swirled it around instead of turning blue it turned a light yellow or clear color, then as it sat for a while it turned red without adding the titrant. Freaked me out because the pool looks great & i thought i was doing so well. Also the TA is a bit scary, i just kept adding & adding those drops waiting for it to turn red. I got to 18 & it turned a very slight red then i added 1 more drop & became a more noticible red. But isn't that a bit high?? The PH side on the test kit is a lil darker than usual, which usually runs at a 7.5 so i guess it would be closer to a 7.8, but from what i gather that PH is an ok level. Please any advice would help me out, i'm freaking out about my numbers being a bit off, just let me know if this is ok & if not how i could get it back to what it was! I didn't add any bleach last night so my chlorine is a bit low, but toniight i will add about 47oz to get it back up to about a 6. Please let me know if i should add anything else. Thanks:)

Your pH is ok up to 7.8 as long as 7.8 isn't the highest that your kit can measure. If it is, then a reading of 7.8 could actually be higher than that. Your TA is a little high. You can lower it by following the directions given here: Lowering Alkalinity Step-by-Step

Another guide for you to read: Using Muriatic Acid Safely

Don't worry about the calcium hardness reading in a vinyl pool.