Water circulating before testing?

[Watermom]

To add to what Janet said, I would also not using any cal-hypo to chlorinate with. Your calcium hardness is already high. I think if it was my pool and it had high cya, high calcium hardness and somewhat high TA, I'd do a partial drain and refill. This would bring all those levels down to more manageable levels. Do NOT do a total drain, however. You should never totally drain a vinyl pool or you risk ruining your liner. In your pool, I think I would drain half and refill.

[onemsmom]

If I partial drain & refill - just so you know - I'd be filling with well water. Is this important for you to know?

Jenn

[Watermom]

The wording in their directions is a little confusing. What it means is --- if you use a 10ml sample, you multiply the number of drops by 0.5. If you use a 25ml sample, you multiply the number of drops by 0.2. The 25ml sample gives you a little more precise reading, but uses more of the reagents. Using the 10ml sample saves your reagents and gives you a reading that is good enough.

Since you used the 10ml sample and it took 9 drops to clear it, 9 x 0.5 is 4.5 So your FC is 4.5. Then, after adding the R-003, it took only one drop to clear it so your CC is 1 x 0.5 or 0.5.

You were right to take the trichlor tab out. It is adding more cya and yours is already way high. Just use bleach. Since you are fighting an algae bloom, test as many times a day as you can and each time, take your chlorine back up to shock level, which for your pool with cya of 90 will be 20-25. The key to killing algae is to sustain high cl readings without letting it yo-yo up and down.

Regarding adding well water if you do a partial drain and refill, yes, that complicates things. Maybe since it is nearing the end of swim season and you will be draining some when you close the pool for the winter and then adding some water in the spring, maybe just live with the high cya for now and deal with the metals issue in the spring. Any chance you could truck some water in for refilling?

A couple other questions I have:
-- Is this a new pool that was just opened for the first time this year? If so, was it filled from the well?
-- Is your pool green and cloudy or green and clear?
-- Have you recently added any well water?

[onemsmom]

No, this is an old pool. Re-filled in the early spring (well water) when liner was replaced. Water was clear & beautiful off & on for a while (had a pool guy coming). Here is the recent series of events as I rememer them:

pool went green
pool guy said the water had "phosphates" or "sulfates" or something, can't remember.
he put something in to treat it
pool guy became undependable
I fired him & started to go to pool store - did everything they told me
pool was clear & beautiful for several weeks
left for 5 weeks (had a new pool guy come - did chemicals only)
he said it kept going green
was starting to get green when we got home & we didn't deal w/ it right away. Then got quite green (of course!)
added some kind of green out stuff pool store told us to add
became cloudy but not green
added clarifier (husbands idea)
still cloudy
added stabilizer (pool store's directions)
got frustrated with pool store - found this site
in the time it took me to get the kit - it turned green.

Here I am. The pool is green AND cloudy.

Had to be out much of today due to prior commitment. Bought O ring today & bleach, will start dealing with this again late tonight & can stay on it from tomorrow on.

I truly appreciate your help.

No recent well water added, actually we've had tons on rain & have drained it off a couple of times lately & it's probably going to pour again this afternoon. and, as a matter of fact, it's a little high now. It pours almost every afternoon here for 15 min or so.

Just FYI - this pool is swimmable most of the year - we live in south-ish Fl.

I hope I have given you all the puzzle pieces you need,

Jennifer

[Watermom]

OK. Glad to hear it is green and cloudy (algae problem) rather than green and clear (metals problem). Go ahead and keep hitting it with bleach as frequently as you can test and redose. Also, run the pump 24/7. It will clear if you consistently maintain shock levels.

As far as whether or not to drain and refill, it is your call. If you can live with the high cya and the subsequent higher chlorine levels, then fine. If you stop using any stabilized chlorine and if you continue to have rain additions and subsequent drainings when the pool gets too high, over time, your cya will come down. But, it will take time. When you do get a lot of rain, run the pump and circulate for awhile after the rain so it gets mixed in with the rest of the water before draining. Otherwise, you'll be draining mostly off the top of the pool via your skimmer which will be the rain water which has no cya in it. This might be the best plan since you are on a well and will avoid the necessity of adding well water and dealing with the possiblity of metals in the well water.

On the other hand, if you want to try and do a partial drain and refill, you'll have to do so carefully with well water. Read through some of the threads in the metals section for some info about dealing with well water.

[onemsmom]

o.k - I am keeping chlorine levels up today & it's starting to look a little better. Here are some questions.

How long after it's not green any more does the chlorine level need to stay up at 20/25?

Once it can be allowed to go down, where should I keep the chlorine # on a daily basis?

Are you saying I should not put the tab back in ever, or just until CYA, etc. are down?

When will it be safe to swim in?

When should I do the full test kit again to report numbers to you again?

p.s. I have been draining from the bottom (i.e. using suction to vacuum the pool while other end of hose is draining out of the pool. This is getting green junk from bottom of pool out of pool w/o going through filter & simultaneously draining pool).

[Watermom]

I would keep the chlorine at shock levels until the pool is clear AND you can go from sundown to sunup without losing more than 1ppm of chlorine. After you can do this, then you can let the chlorine level drift down and then with a cya of 90, you'll need to keep the cl between 5-10 ALL the time. (Necessary chlorine levels are based on your cya reading. Take a look at the "Best Guess" table at this link:

http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?t=365

You should not use any more tabs or any more types of stabilized chlorine products unless your cya level is less than about 30. Then, you can do so for a short while but will need to monitor the cya level. We usually suggest 40-50ppm for cya. Those tabs add a lot of cya quickly. They are fine to use if your cya is low, but if it is 90 as yours is, you should not use them.

You can swim when the water is clear and when you aren't losing more than 1ppm of chlorine overnight.

You should be testing cl at least 2 or 3 times a day and even more often will just speed this process up. Each time, take the cl back up to shock level. Test your pH once a day. Don't retest your cya for awhile. It doesn't change very fast unless you drain and refill a lot of water. While you are clearing this, you might post once a day or once every couple of days to let us know how it is going. If you are consistent with keeping cl at shock level, it should clear pretty quickly. Good luck.