Newbie - Stain removal via ascorbic acid

[herb396]

OK,,so Monday night I put in the Metal Free and dropped in a one of the new tabs into the skimmer,,pump is still running 24/7 and were brushing ,,alot.

Water is still cloudy white so it's hard to tell for sure,,but the stain does seem to be fadding.

Were backwashing once a day. Again hard to see for sure what's coming out with the water being so cloudy. (odd note here is that my pressure never seems to go up on the filter?)

Current readings as on noon yesterday:
Tot Chlorine = 0
Free Chlorine = 0
Ph = 7.2
Alkalinity = 130

I added another tap to the skimmer due to the flat 0 on the CL

[aylad]

Your pump pressure probably won't go up if you're backwashing daily--it never gets enough "stuff" in it to cause a rise.

Janet

[herb396]

Current readings /conditions as of 10:00 am today:

Tot Chlorine = .7
Free Chlorine = 0
PH = 7.4
Total Alkalinity = 190
Adjusted Alkalinity = 164

Water is still very cloudy/white (can not see bottom) even at shallow end.

Guees I'll add more muriatic acid to lower the pH

[PoolDoc]

Just to echo what Janet said -- don't backwash daily. That does NOT help things, when you have a sand filter. The way they work, the dirt become part of the filter, and big dirt pieces end up helping to filter little dirt pieces. But, if you backwash daily, that can never happen.

So, wait till you see a pressure rise before you backwash.

I'm not sure adding the muriatic acid had anything to do with the cloudiness. You've had really low chlorine . . . and I'm guessing the pool is still in use. If so, continued use with low chlorine will cause a build up of something that will cause a pool to go cloudy or even almost milky. If your pool has been used a lot, the cause may be the people goo, and not have anything to do with muriatic acid.

You need to keep your chlorine low BUT you need to add it often enough so that you ALWAYS have at least a little chlorine present. ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALYWAYS . . . or else you've gotta stop using it.

And . . . you need to go back to lowering the pH.

Ben

[herb396]

Ben,
Understood,,I should be able to hold the CL now that I have the right pucks. Just finished adding a qt. of muriatic acid to lower pH..I will test again around 6:00 pm....thanks for the continued guidance.

[herb396]

Wednesday Night:

CL = 1
pH = 7.0

Water is still cloudy/milky,,little less than before. Can see thru to shallow end bottom, but not clearly. I'm still brushing, alot.

[PoolDoc]

Keep your chlorine up, above 0.5 and below 2.0. Go ahead and lower the pH another notch.

Don't backwash too much. Brush if you like, but unless you think you're getting algae (slick sides to the pool) I don't know that I'd bother yet, until you can see what you are doing. 1x per day should be fine.

Ben

[herb396]

This morning readings were the same.
CL = 1
pH = 7.0

Added another qt. of muriatic acid this morning. Water is still cloudy/milky, same as last night,,will take sampe to pool store for a more complete reading.

[PoolDoc]

Added another qt. of muriatic acid this morning. Water is still cloudy/milky, same as last night,,will take sampe to pool store for a more complete reading.

Unless you have reasons to think your test results are wrong, I wouldn't go to the store. They are just going to have you 'fix' stuff we've been working to get right. Your stabilizer wouldn't have changed much; your alkalinity is down some; your calcium wouldn't have changed much more than the stabilizer (both due to backwashing & replacing).

So unless you need something from them, I'd stay away!

Keep filtering (and not backwashing until the pressure goes up); keep not adding stuff unnecessarily; hold your pH just under 7.0; keep a little chlorine in; use the polyquat weekly or 2x weekly.

And . . . . be patient. Pool owner IMpatience is the #1 profit maker for sellers of unneeded pool chemicals: they can't fix you up faster, but they can sell you something that claims to do that! They don't have magic wands for pools; they just pretend they do.

Ben

[waterbear]

And . . . . be patient. Pool owner IMpatience is the #1 profit maker for sellers of unneeded pool chemicals: they can't fix you up faster, but they can sell you something that claims to do that! They don't have magic wands for pools; they just pretend they do.

Ben

Amen to that!