The Dreaded Cloudiness!

[dcsharpe]

Guys, let me say that I am in no way trying to offend or belittle anyone's advice. I just don't have any experience and am looking for layman's terms. I am a nurse and am no way stupid, just ignorant. It is like this, if I were to talk to you about medical stuff, I wouldn't realize that I wasn't speaking so that someone who isn't working the field could understand. I understand that the intricacies of the chemicals are important but I just want to know the basics. I go to work. I can not sit by my pool all day taking samples and adding chemicals every hour on the hour. It might be nice if I could though Perhaps the BBB method is not for me since I just seem to be getting more and more confused and am saying all the wrong things and offending people. I never have enough info in my questions and something is always wrong with what I do or did. It just isn't "trouble free" for me. How much does it cost to hire a pool person? lol!
Donna

FWIW- my water is cloudy. In layman's terms, clouds are white. I am starting to be able to see the bottom except after I vacuum and stir it all up.

[aylad]

Hi Donna,

I'd like to welcome you to the forum--and assure you that pool care really doesn't have to be a pain and involve lugging lots of heavy stuff, we just have to help figure out your pool's problem in order to get you to that point.

I first wanted to clarify something in Pooldoc's post, when he said "Add 2 boxes per evening (slowly, to the skimmer, basket in place, pump running) till your pH is above 7.2.", he meant Borax--the stuff in the green box. The purpose of the Borax is to raise your pH so it gets to a level that's safe for your liner, so you won't need muriatic acid to lower it. (There are two reasons why we recommend adding a lot of Borax. The first is to raise your pH. The second is the addition of lots of Borax and muriatic acid, and that's done when you're trying to raise your borates to help as an algaecide and clarify water. The reason you're adding the Borax is to raise pH, which is why you don't need to worry about the acid for now.)

I can assure you that you haven't reached the point yet where Homeland security is worried about the quantity of bleach you're using--I think I hold that title around here due to an overreaction to a situation in my pool a few years ago. However, you will need to either keep a good quantity of bleach or dichlor on hand until you get your stabilizer up. You can get the stabilizer in a small quantity and add it via a sock tied in front of a return while you're using bleach to chlorinate, or you can use the granulated dichlor, which will also add stabilizer. It will, however, lower your pH, so you might have to keep adding the borax for awhile to compensate for it.

In the meantime, get the smallest amount of DE you can find, drop a handful of it in your skimmer and watch the returns to test your filter as Pooldoc described, and then post here with your results and we can help you go from there.

Janet

[CarlD]

DC:

It sounded as if you said TFP told you to take those steps. While there are differences in approach between them and us, those differences are minor compared to the rest of the world and what pool stores tell you. In other words, as Chem_Geek has pointed out they tend to be more wedded to the idea that bleach/Liquid Chlorine is the only way to go, and we are willing to use the other forms of chlorine more. Right now, I have a floater full of tri-chlor pellets in my pool. Why? I need stabilizer, my pH is controllable, and they provide a constant feed of chlorine while they provide stabilizer. Plus I had 'em lying around so I put them to APPROPRIATE use. It's not that TFP is "wrong" and we are "right", though our directions may be clearer and wider ranging. They simply have a different "take" on the B-B-B approach, but overall, their advice should not be too different than ours. It stems from the same root.

OK, let's get to what you need to do and not beat the PF vs TFP dead horse any further.

You said you're pretty far out in a rural area, so getting to a pool store with a sample may be tough. But if you can, that would be good and would give us a better baseline of where you are coming from.

You should also get a proper FAS-DPD test kit--you can't get them in stores but you can order them on line. TaylorTechnologies.com has their K-2006 and K-2006C, the basic kit we recommend. I also recommend from Leslies On Line their Chlorine FAS-DPD Service Test Kit. It's the same as the Taylor but stuck into a Leslies box. All the chemicals ("Reagents" in tech talk) are the same as the K-2006. TFP also makes a kit but I can't give you any details about it other than I believe it's FAS-DPD as well.

Meanwhile, you can extend the range of your OTO/pH kit using Steam Distilled water, available at your local supermarket or discount drug chain. If you mix pool water with distilled water 1:1 you double the range of the tester. If your reading with the diluted water is "3", it's really "6". If you use 2 parts distilled to 1 part pool water you TRIPLE the range. If your "cell" measures to 5 for chlorine it now goes to 15! Search our site for the CarlD Shotglass Method.
Please try to get us the best readings you can from the OTO/pH kit.
The strips can give us a rude idea of total hardness, total alkalinity, and CYA/Stabilizer levels, but their TC, FC and pH readings are not nearly as accurate as your OTO/pH drop kit. (I'm assuming WM means WalMart* OTO/pH test kit).

When Ben said "add 2 boxes every evening" he didn't say that he meant 2 boxes of Borax (yes, 20 Mule Team Borax) but that's what he meant. Trust me on this.

For now, the rest of his advice, plus a proper kit, is your first set of steps.

Start with that.

Good luck,

Carl