Trying to learn to adjust chemicals

[CarlD]

I don't think that even with that TA and CH level your cloudiness is coming from them. That's more likely to happen when CH is at or above 400 and TA is approaching 200.

However, I'm not convinced your algae is all gone unless your FC is at 4.4 after having kept the pool at a shocking level of 15 for a few days. If you haven't done that, then you'll need to push it to 15 to kill the last of the algae.

Definitely too much pump for the pool, and probably the cart filter. A 3/4 hp is MORE than enough, generally, for 13,000 gallons. You can fix it by replacing the filter with a larger one capable of handling the pump's gal per min output.

[onemsmom]

Can I just put a new FILTER in, or would I replace the whole filter unit?

[onemsmom]

Also,

Today, the #'s are:

2.5 FC
7.8 pH, 2 drops acid demand to 2.4
TA 130
Ca 300

After the aerating thing, it did get completely clear, but is now just slightly cloudy. The water is not green, but I have a little green sediment on the bottom after the filter/pump were off overnight.

I notcied the TA went down, but the Ca went up.

I am going to add the bleach & MA right now.

FYI - The tri-chlor puck has NOT been in the pool.

Do you think I need to do the "keep it up to 15 for several days" thing again? Or just keep on with the normal Chlorine/pH adjustments?

Jennifer
24' round above ground, 13,000 gal

[aylad]

After the aerating thing, it did get completely clear, but is now just slightly cloudy. The water is not green, but I have a little green sediment on the bottom after the filter/pump were off overnight.

I notcied the TA went down, but the Ca went up.

I am going to add the bleach & MA right now.

FYI - The tri-chlor puck has NOT been in the pool.

Do you think I need to do the "keep it up to 15 for several days" thing again? Or just keep on with the normal Chlorine/pH adjustments?

Jennifer
24' round above ground, 13,000 gal

You have to have a little patience when clearing up an algae bloom. If you shock the pool and don't keep it at shock level long enough to kill all the algae, then you're just wasting time and money. You need to shock it to 15 ppm and hold it there until 1) all the green is gone, 2) your combined chlorine is zero, AND 3) the water is clear. Only after all three indicators are met, should you let the chlorine come back down. And even then, you don't want it to ever get below 3 ppm. Letting it get below 3 ppm with a CYA of 50 is an invitation for the algae to come right back in. "The aeration thing" is not to clear the water up, but rather to raise your pH back up after you've added acid to lower TA. You can try turning the pump off overnight to let the stuff settle and then vacuum it to waste, or keep the filter running to try to filter out the dead algae, but only after you have killed all the algae and removed it from the water through vaccing or filtering will you have clear water.

Janet

[onemsmom]

I've been doing well for a while now & pool has been clear and blue. I thought of two questions that will help me understand more......

Should the CC ALWAYS be zero? If you get a little pink on the CC test even though FC ppm are 3-6, does that mean you have to do the whole "push the ppm up to 15 until the three indicators are met" thing again?

and

Now that it's cold & we are not swimming, do I still need to mainain the ph and other levels besides chlorine, or is that just for when we are swimming? We do not "close down" or cover the pool (we live in FL) - we just aren't swimming because it's to chilly.

Thanks!

Jennifer

[Watermom]

To answer your questions ---

Yes, you always want the CC to be zero, although if it is 0.5 at times, that is no big deal. In regards to maintaining your other levels --- you want to make sure the pH never drops below 7.0 as any reading lower than that is acidic and will damage your pool. Since you never close the pool, just test cl and pH once in awhile and keep them in check. Everything else should be fine until swim season next year.

Glad you are still around! Merry Christmas!

Lisa

[waterbear]

where in FL do you live? If you are in the northern part of the state that gets fairly cold weather then you can cut your filter run time down to about 4-6 hours a day and check your levels every two weeks. If you are getting the chance of a hard freeze (like my area expects in a few days in NE Florida nearJax) then run your pump 24/7 until it passes to prevent the pipes from freezing.

If you live in the southern part of the state (I grew up and also lived part of my adult life in Miami then lived in Lauderdale for many years before moving to the St. Augustine area) then maintain the pool as usual since what is 'too chilly for swimming' down there are normal swimming temperatures, both air and water, in the northern parts of our country in the summer (I vacation in Cape Code and New Hampshire in the summer and it's a true fact!)

Hope this helps.

[onemsmom]

Thanks very much! Now I won't freak out and send DH to the store for bleach when I see .5 CC.

I'm in the middle of the state, so I'll tone down the filter time a bit, but keep things mostly normal until it's warmer.

It's too cold to swim now, but I do remember years when I was in the pool in January!

Have a wonderful Christmas (or any other holiday you celbrate!),

Jennifer

[onemsmom]

I've been going along fine all of this time & then missed a few days, so I'm seeing green and need to do the shock thing again.

I did my CYA and it doesn't get cloudy enough to cover the dot almost at all - even up to the tippy top, so my CYA is way less than 30.

So, how do I know how much ppm I should keep the bleach at to shock the pool until there's no more than 1ppm drop, no green, etc.?

It used to be 15, but that was when my CYA was 30ish.

Since my CYA is so low - can I throw a few pucks in? I was hoping that would help me keep the ppm up while I'm shocking. If that would work, that would help soooo much. This shocking thing is so hard for me due to my hectic life - I'm not around the house so much to keep checking and adding, checking and adding, checking and adding.........

Thanks so much,

Jennifer

[onemsmom]

If it helps to know - my ph is very high - it needed 6 drops in the "acid demand" test. I haven't added the muriatic acid yet. Wanted to hear what you guys said about the pucks first.

Jenn