Sudden cloudiness

[aylad]

It's not that "bad" really, but it's not surprising that you frequently have algae problems. Your sudden cloudinesss was almost certainly an algae bloom, which has been handled for now with the shock, but not for long since your chlorine is too low. With no stabilizer in the water, the sun depletes chlorine rapidly, making it hard to maintain a residual. I would add enough stabilizer to target 40 ppm, but you need to be maintaining 3-6ppm chlorine til it's in there, which can take a few days. This will take multiple daily chlorine additions. Your pH is ok at 7.2, hardness doesn't matter in a vinyl pool, and yoir TA needs to come up a bit, I'd target 60-80. You can use baking soda to raise alk.

Janet

[Barry J]

Should I shock again and how much??/ How much baking sode should I put in???? And is there a certain type of stabilzer to buy???
Also, i'm leaving on Saturday for one week, I have my dad coming every other day to chlorinate any suggestions??
Thank
Barry

[Watermom]

Since your chlorine dropped so low, I think you should shock your pool up to about 10. In your pool, every quart of 6% bleach will add a little under 1ppm of cl. So, I'd suggest adding about 2-1/2 gallons of bleach this evening. (Your volume is probably around 17,500 gallons.)

You'll need to test the water several times per day and each time, add enough bleach to get back to about 6. You don't want the chlorine to go lower than 3. Once you get some CYA in there, you'll be able to test and dose in the evenings only.

Go ahead and buy about 5 lbs. of stabilizer. Put it in an old sock and hang it in front of a return jet. Give it a squeeze once in awhile to help it dissolve faster. it will take a few days. Don't test the CYA level until at least a week after you add it so you don't waste your reagent. Any brand of stabilizer is fine as long as the ingredients are cyanuric or isocyanuric acid. If you can get it in there tomorrow, if you're lucky, it will have dissolved before you leave town.

Is your Dad going to test the water for you or only add bleach?

[Barry J]

Can't I use the shock instead of the bleach or is the bleach better, I've never put straight bleach in my pool before. So, just pick up regular bleach at the store.??
My dad does not usually add or test anything else accept the chlorine, I try to make it as easy as I can for him.
Thanks
Barry

[aylad]

The shock you have is sodium hypochlorite, 12.5 %. Regular ultra bleach is sodium hypochlorite, 6%. So yes, you can go ahead and use the "shock" that you have--it's the exact same thing as "straight bleach", only twice as strong.

Janet

[Barry J]

How much shock should I use?? Tonight

[aylad]

in 17,500 gallons of water, 1.5 gallons of 12.5% chlorine will add just over 10 ppm. I would start with that tonight, give it time to circulate, then test for chlorine after sundown. Test again in the morning before the sun hits the pool, and if you've lost any chlorine overnight, you need to maintain that shock level until you're no longer losing chlorine during the night when the sun is off the pool.

Janet

[Barry J]

It's the next morning , and here is what I did last night.
I put in one gal of shock , 4 lbs of stabilizer (3lbs in a sock hung in front of the return, and the rest thru the skimmer), and I also put in 6 lbs of baking soda.
I have not check on it yet, but will in ten minutes.
I ordinally do not run my filter all night, I hope I do not have to , to much longer, my electric bill is going to hurt this month.
Barry

[Barry J]

Just teted (5am)..chlorine is up to 3, and ph is still hovering around 7.0,maybe a little less.
Questions:
Should I put more baking soda in?
At what hours should I be running my filter(on normal days)?
How offer should I be putting in granular shock?
and last, how often should I be putting in stabilizer?
Thanks
Barry

[Watermom]

Go ahead and add about 6 more lbs. of baking soda. Maybe put in 3 lbs. and an hour or two later add the other 3 lbs.

Your pH is a little low. Get some 20 Mule Team Borax from Walmart (laundry aisle) and add a half a box slowly into the skimmer while the pump is running, breaking up any clumps. Wait a few hours and retest pH. Redose as needed to get pH to about 7.4-7.8. Once the pH starts to move, you'll probably want to add less than a half a box at a time.

Go ahead and add another 1/2 gallon of your 12.5% liquid chlorine. That should add about 3.5 more cl. In your size pool, each quart of 12.5% bleach will add about 1.8ppm of cl. Use that as a reference point. For the next couple of days, test at least morning and evening and each time, add enough bleach to get back to around 6ppm. Hopefully by Friday, your CYA will have dissolved and you'll be able to test and add chlorine in the evenings only. Every time you test, you'll add enough to get back to about 6. You don't want it to dip below 3.

You need to add the other lb. of CYA to the sock in front of the return jet. (4 lbs. is not enough.) Then, wait until you return from your trip before you retest the CYA level and then report it back here and we'll decide at that time if you need to add anymore CYA.

For the next 2 days, I'd suggest running the pump 24/7 until that CYA dissolves. After that, you can run it for 8-10 hours per day and that should be plenty. If you want, you can break it down into two 4 or 5 hour sessions. But, always make sure you run the pump at least an hour after adding things.

Repost new readings (except CYA) this evening. When are you leaving town?