Am I Super-Shocked (30 PPM enough) ?

[PoolDoc]

Hi Paul;

Lisa's responded to your questions.

But my impression is that you haven't consistently done anything. Is that right?

Algae will regrow rapidly. Essentially, once a pool is green, you are either winning or you are losing.

To win, you have to win consistently, without missing a beat, till the pool is clear. Otherwise, the algae just regrows, and you slide back to where you were, wasting all the chemicals used so far.

If you want me to look further at what happened over the past month, I need a chart that shows daily levels, conditions and doses. Otherwise, let's just start with where you are -- from scratch.

#1 - Get an FAS-DPD add-on, or a K2006.
#2 - Use borax to raise your pH to 7.6 or so.
#3 - Use bleach -- added within 2 hours of sunset -- to maintain a strong yellow 'flash' (initial) OTO reading. Only back off if it goes a dark orange after 1 minute.
#4 - Borax and bleach -- nothing else, for now.
#5 - Test chlorine levels 1 hour after dosing, and again early in the AM, and then again just before dosing the following day. Tell us what those readings are.
#6 - Run your filter 24/7; clean as needed but no more than that.
#7 - Give us the basic information on your pool: gallons (27K?), type of filter (DE?), type of surface, etc.
#8 - Once you get the DPD-FAS testing, tell us what your real chlorine levels are.
#9 - Do not mix and match advice; go with BBB or the pool store, but not both.
#10 - If you do it our way, NO GOOP! We need to go a couple of days with simple chemistry, so we can see what's happening.

Do this, and we can probably get you cleared up by next week end, especially if you have a DE filter.

Good luck.

[paul6585]

Ben, Watermom,

(pool info is in my signature)
Thank you for your insight and prompt response. I am happy to report that by following your instructions my pool was crystal clear within 48 hrs. You helped turn a very aggravating experience into a pleasurable one. My water is the clearest its ever been.

I think the pH increase was a key factor (up from 7.2 to 7.6). Once pH was near 7.6 on Saturday afternoon I saw immediate progressive changes. fyi - I used soda ash instead of the usual Borax which I normally use.

I am including data for the past 72 hrs so that you can see any trends. At this time my concern is FC& TC are not holding over night.

Additionally, I would like to stop 24/7 filtration as I normally run filter only 6 hrs per day during the season. (My pool gets very little use.)

Qs:
1. Water is crystal clear. Can I resume “normal” maintenance at this time?
2. What are people doing to maintain chlorine and stabilizer or are they adding CYA and bleach throughout the week? I normally use skimmer tabs.
3. FC & TC not holding overnight. Is this normal?

Please review data and comment.

Friday
• 4:00pm TA=85 CYA=30 pH=7.2
• 8 pm added 4 gal 12% shock
• Unfortunately I cannot find Cl data for Friday evenning

Saturday
• 8:00am pH=7.2 FC=0.5 TC=1.0
• 1-7 pm Added 9 lb Soda Ash
• 8:30 pm pH=7.6 FC=0 TC=1.5
• 9:00 pm added 4 gal 12% shock
• 10:00 pm pH=7.6 FC=10 TC=10 (determined by dilution of FAS)

Sunday
• 8:00 am pH=7.6 FC=0.5 TC=1.5
• 9:00am added 4 gal 12% shock
• 10:00am FC=10 TC=10
• 4:30pm pH=7.5 FC=1.5 TC=1.5, added 1 lb soda ash
• Note by 9:00pm pool was clear
• 9:00pm pH=7.6 FC=0.5 TC=1, Added 1 gal 12% shock
• 10:00pm pH=7.6 FC=6 TC=6

Monday
• 9:00am pH= 7.6 FC=1 TC=2 TA = 110
• 9:00pm CYA=35 pH=7.6 FC=0.5 TC=0.5 added 1 gal 12% shock
• 10:00pm FC=6 TC=6

[Watermom]

Thank you for providing the information.

You are not quite ready yet to go into maintenance mode. You must continue to keep the high cl until you can go from sundown one evening to sunup the next morning without losing more than 1ppm of cl. The fact that you are losing so much overnight means you are still fighting something and need to continue shocking. With a CYA of 35, you need to shock up to 15ppm. Every time you test, add enough chlorine to get back up to 15. In your pool, each gallon (4 quarts) of 12% chlorine will add about 4.4 ppm.

After you are able to pass the overnight test, then you need to maintain your chlorine reading between 3-6 all the time or you'll risk another algae bloom. Since your CYA is only 35, you can use some of the Trichlor pucks for a short time, but when your CYA hits about 50, no more pucks. Stabilizer (CYA) stays in the pool all summer and sometimes even over the winter so you shouldn't have to mess with it any more after it hits 50. (FYI -- For every 10ppm of chlorine that a trichor puck adds, it also adds 6ppm of CYA.)

Your pH and alk are both fine.

You also need to continue with the 24/7 filtration until eveything is all cleared up and you pass the overnight test.

You are getting there. Don't quit too soon or you'll be right back where you started!

Hope this helps.