Having Trouble Cleaning a Pool..

[BoredOne]

It's a function of time, filtration, and vacuuming.

You should think about clearing it AFTER you are pretty sure all the algae is dead. ALL the algae.

The key ingredient here is P.O.P. -- pool owner patience, or sometimes, pool owner persistence.

If you get impatient or in a hurry, and go buy some "floc" or other pool store chemicals, you can *sometimes* speed things up. But, there's some skill involved -- doing the right thing, the right way, at the right time -- and also some luck, because different 'blends' of muck react differently with various types of floc. Experienced pool service guys can usually be successful with this stuff, particularly when they've gotten used to working successfully with a particular product. But what happens, more often than now, when pool OWNERS use that stuff is that they make it worse, not better.

And, it's possible to make it MUCH worse. Many clarifiers actually work in reverse, suspending guck rather than sinking it, or making fine particles harder to filter rather than easier, if you misuse them.

Well much to my surprise this morning I wasn't really feeling great so I left the pool alone, later in the evening I went out to check on it while there was still some day light left and the pool was actually fairly crystal clear.. I can see all the grime that is kinda stuck to the floor of the deep end and can see perfectly that the drain does in fact have a grate thingy on it.. Also pulled out a screw driver that I guess the previous owners through in..

However while testing my levels I seem to be having troubles determining the correct levels on this chemical test..

The Chlorine looks like its 3.0 Tho my mother thinks its at 5.0.. As for the PH this image doesn't really do it to much justice as I thought it was 7.6 while it looks like in the picture a 7.8 Suppose I can do an acid test on that and compare.. However for the Chlorine how can I be more sure? Its been slowly degrading over the few days as I havn't added more chlorine in, tho I'm thinking about doing another shock..



As for the pool it looks better than this, I think it looks a little cloudy because I spent the night vacuuming it so small dust might have popped up..

[aylad]

If you've just gotten it clear, I wouldn't let the chlorine drop just uet, otherwise you'll find yourself back at square one. You need to maintain that "shock" level til the green is gone and you're not losing any chlorine overnight.

Janet

[BoredOne]

If you've just gotten it clear, I wouldn't let the chlorine drop just uet, otherwise you'll find yourself back at square one. You need to maintain that "shock" level til the green is gone and you're not losing any chlorine overnight.

Janet

Well it doesn't actually have that green color at all.. Its actually very clear, and the chlorine level seems to stay at the same level.. Its been slowly going down since I shocked it like last week, havn't added chlorine in about a week and its still at about that level..

[PoolDoc]

Actually, it looks like 5+ and 7.6 to me . . . but I'm kinda ignoring the testkit color blocks and just looking at the solutions.

[BoredOne]

I would edit my latest post, but I still gotta wait for admin to add it, so I'm making another post.. The guess strips as you guys call it show my Total Chlorine at 3, but my Free Chlorine at 10 or even over.. Umm dunno what this means for me tho I thought I'd share for you'd have the info..

[Watermom]

FC + CC = TC so the numbers you gave in the last post aren't possible. (Part of the reason we call them guess strips!)

[ corrected typo => changed 2nd CC to TC ]

[BoredOne]

Well I brought a sample to pinch a penny to get tested, these are the results of the printout they gave me..

TC 4.0
FC 4.0
CC 0? Maybe they didn't put this one in?
pH 7.4
Alkalinity 120ppm
Calcium Hardness 155ppm
Stabilizer 50ppm
TDS 1200ppm

It states I need to raise my CH with 11.7 pounds of Suncoast Calcium Hardness Increaser..

I havn't bought anything yet cause I wanted to come here and see what you thought..

Also when will I not have to wait on an admin for everything? Wanted to add the basic info about my pool in my sig but I can't access my account info..

[PoolDoc]

+ Don't even think about adding calcium, till you have a K2006 or equivalent (LaMotte?), and have accurate test results.

+ Like Watermom *meant*, FC + CC = TC. If CC is 0, then FC = TC.

+ Right now, the only consistent way to get out of "Restricted" status is to subscribe. That will probably change some time before summer 2012, but I don't have a definite date.

[BoredOne]

+ Don't even think about adding calcium, till you have a K2006 or equivalent (LaMotte?), and have accurate test results.

+ Like Watermom *meant*, FC + CC = TC. If CC is 0, then FC = TC.

+ Right now, the only consistent way to get out of "Restricted" status is to subscribe. That will probably change some time before summer 2012, but I don't have a definite date.

Honestly right now we just don't have the extra money to spend on an $80 testing kit.. Which is why I went to pinch a penny to get a test, as far as I can tell they've got all the testing equipment and then some that the k2006 kit comes with, and the calcium level seems appropriate being that we are getting orangy stains around the pool, especially areas that I've swept out coins you can clearly see the circular outline of the coins.. I've pulled out coins, tools, even a battery from this pool.. Think what I'll do is they have this thing were they'll come out to your pool and evaluate it.. So they have a fresh sample of water instead of the one I have been holding for 20min to the store.. Tho I don't see why their test wouldn't be accurate?

[Watermom]

+ Like Watermom *meant*, FC + CC = TC. If CC is 0, then FC = TC.

Yep. That's what I meant. Thanks for catching my typo!