Dubosity's Thread: Lost in Cloudiness/Mustard Algae Hell

[Watermom]

Test after you refill and post numbers. It doesn't hurt to look at some of the threads with "brand new pools" but remember, yours is going to be a different situation. Brand new fills have NO cya in them, so the procedure to get them up and running is going to be different than for you. When you post with your numbers, we'll advise you on next steps.

[Dubosity]

Gotchya. :-). Thanks!

[Dubosity]

Finally! Refill is done. :-)
New numbers (still waiting for my K2006 test to be delivered so I don't have CH yet):
OTO CL~4 (darker yellow than 3, but definitely not orange)
pH = 8
TA = 80
CYA = 50 (yea!)

I added 1.5 qt of muriatic acid to bring the pH down a bit.
I've also removed the pucks and bought plenty of bleach (Sam's Club @ a bit less than $2.25 per 182oz bottle) :-)

The pool looks VERY clear!

So...shall I just be diligent about keeping the chlorine between 3 and 6? What would be a good starting point in terms of how much bleach to add (and how often)?

[Watermom]

In a 30K pool, each quart of 6% bleach will add 0.5ppm of chlorine. Test in the evening when the sun is off the pool. Add enough bleach to take it back up to 6ppm. Each evening, do the same. If you find that you have less than 3ppm when you test in the evening, take it to 7ppm with your doses of bleach. You don't want it to ever drop below 3ppm or you risk an algae bloom.

Keep adding muriatic acid to work to get the pH down. Good job! Keep us posted how things are going! Enjoy the pool.

[Dubosity]

Will do. Thanks (again and again) for all your help!!

The pool looks SO clear...beautiful and inviting. I can't even begin to tell you how excited we are!

[Dubosity]

2 full days and the pool remains clear and beautiful. The chlorine level is quite stable: 3 at the end of the day, 4-5 in the morning (after adding 5.5 qts of bleach in the evening). So...I just want to make sure I fully understand. I am to add 5.5 qts (one full 182-oz bottle) EVERY evening? That will equate to about $75 per month...at least during the summer months...possibly more if more bleach is required to raise the chlorine level depending on conditions. I'm assuming that less will need to be added to keep the pool at or above 3 ppm during the cooler months. Is this correct?

Also, I'm getting very different pH readings depending on which test kit I use. I'm still waiting for my K2006 kit to be delivered. In the meantime, I have 2 kits at my disposal: the Taylor K2000 kit and the OTO/Phenol Red kit (the brand name on the bottles is Porpoise) which I purchased to get a more dependable chlorine reading, per Ben's instruction. The Taylor kit shows pH at 7.2-7.4; the Porpoise kit shows pH at 8.0-8.2 (the colors on both are somewhere in between the shades given on the hue charts). Which should I trust? (Hopefully, the K2006 kit will show up soon!) Am I more concerned about this than I should be?

[PoolDoc]

For pH readings in a fairly high chlorine water, you should absolutely trust the Taylor more.

Ben

[Dubosity]

Okee doke. Thanks Ben! My Taylor kit is now testing at a solid 7.4 :-) it's interesting, cuz I used to run consistently at 7.8 (constantly arguing with the pool supply clerks that my pool just "wanted" to run high. No more argument now!

P.S. I'm going to assume your answer to my other question is, "Yes, Debra, you are correct...assuming the temperature ever gets back to being lower than 95 in northern FL". :-)