Opening Pool Questions and Levels

[jrsdws]

Hi all. This is my 7th year with our 27' round 48" deep above ground pool. It has been a pretty easy ride keeping things clear and clean....until last year. As stated in my first post...I had a few algae blooms last year...bought a TF-100 test kit...and found that I had some serious problems with some of my water chemistry. First problem fixed: CYA loomed around 100 so I drained around 60% of my water and refilled. Just finished refilling this morning and have the pump and filter running.

I ran some tests and here are my numbers....a couple of things are pretty far out of whack it seems:

FC: 0
CC: 0
TC: 0
pH: 7.2
T/A: 520 (yeah I did it twice to make sure)
CH: 700 (did it twice also...been filling from a well for years...we have hard water)
CYA: 40

It's about 70 degrees out...pool water is still COLD as we haven't had much sun in Central Illinois yet this spring.

I'm catching alot of crud in the skimmer socks right now and tending to the pool closely as I'm catching alot of stuff.

So where to start? There is algae present now...I'm assuming to start shocking it good and shoot for keeping chlorine level around 12?

I'm curious about the total alkalinity being so high. What causes it? What does it cause in return?

[PoolDoc]

Hi jrs;

Your first priority is commit yourself to never again having to report FC=0 ! You'll absolutely guarantee problems if you let that happen much, and nothing else we can tell you will help much when your chlorine is zero! Use bleach, dichlor, what have you, but get that chlorine up. You can work out how to do it *best* later. Right now, use whatever you can most easily get your hands on.

Set your target levels using the best guess (like below) levels for shock or a little higher -- make sure you use the row that corresponds to your CYA level.

Once that's done, you can look at your TA & CH. I'm going to assume you do NOT have a heater. So long as that's true, you'll only need to watch our for cloudy water from that high CH combining with that high TA. Fixing it is simple, though it takes a little time: lower your pH, and aerate. This page explains how
http://poolsolutions.com/gd/lowering...p-by-step.html

Dunno why it's so high in the first place: use your kit to test your fill water, and see if it's the source. If it is, it sounds like your water company may be trying to do some "lime-softening" but hasn't gotten the process down.

Ben

[jrsdws]

No heater....I am pounding it with bleach right now but I'm only able to maintain about 4ppm FC. I've put in 36 jugs of bleach!!!

Keep pounding it or try something else?

[Watermom]

Bleach, bleach and more bleach. Try to consistently maintain shock level without letting the chlorine level yo-yo up and down. How much bleach are you adding at a time? Also, run the pump 24/7. Keep an eye on the pH and make sure it stays above 7.0. Keep us posted how things are going.

[jrsdws]

I'm adding 6 jugs (576oz) at a time and checking FC about a half hour afterwards. Pump is running fulltime. I'm using scum socks in the skimmer basket as there is a BUNCH of scum in it. Socks are filling/plugging maybe every 20 minutes or so.

I still don't get any more leaves or anything up from the bottom as I brush or use the basket across it.

I will test pH again right away.

Am I just experiencing a massive algae kill?

[jrsdws]

pH hovering at 7.0....what do I add?

[PoolDoc]

Let it hover there.

Also, please test both FC and TC, and report those results. As far as trying to hold the chlorine stable, I wouldn't worry too much about that -- you can't really do so till you get your algae and chemistry issues resolved. Instead add some bleach during the day, to keep it above 2, but add 6 - 8 gallon doses in the evening. Keep doing that till you can hold high chlorine levels overnight.

Ben

[jrsdws]

In frustration I dumped 20 jugs of bleach in shortly before dark. I let it circulate for an hour and tested.

FC = 39
TC = 43

We'll see how much is left in the morning.

If it's all gone, is it ok to switch to cal-hypo to get the shocking done?

[jrsdws]

Morning readings:

FC = 25
TC = 28

Time to go by another store...or two...out of bleach.

[madwil]

with your TA and CH so high, I would not use anything but bleach for CL... anything else will just add more crud you don't need...
for pH, it will slowly increase due to aeration, so just don't let it get to high- let it get to 7.6 or 7.8, then adjust back down with MA...
with your CYA level, if you shoot for FC 15, you should be good; I wouldn't go above about 20 to much, because that will just increase the amount of loss to other factors without kiling algae; keep it at 15-20 as consistently as you can, especially overnight when it will do most good!
Once you maintain FC overnight with <1 loss, and your CC stays <.5, you can go to normal FC levels of 3-6 (I usually stay on the high side, when it reaches 4-5 I add to 8)...