Helping neighbor with pool

[Watermom]

What CYA reading did you get? If you got 100, then it could actually be much higher than 100 since the test can't differentiate levels past that. The chart you are referring to is the Best Guess Chlorine Chart in my signature below.

Is this pool on well water or city water?

[PoolDoc]

OK. Watermom asked me to take a look. Please do the following:

1. Add borax 3 boxes at time (slowly, in the skimmer, pump running).
2. You know your CYA is high, and you know you've got slime, so look at the Best Guess chart: you need 25ppm of chlorine! For a 36,000 gallon pool, that's 16 gallons. BUT, we've got to get that pH up first, so add ONLY 12 gallons for now.
3. Get a gallon of distilled water (must say "distilled", not spring, not Ozonated, not natural: "distilled"!) at Walmart in the water section.
4. Begin testing pH with 1/2 pool water and 1/2 distilled water. (With distilled water, the pH will still be about the same) High chlorine can create bogus phenol red results.
5. AND, retest the CYA, with 1/2 pool water and 1/2 distilled. In this case, multiple the result X2.
6. Let us know if the green color is CLOUDY green (algae) or CLEAR green (alkalinity or sometimes iron).
7. As SOON as you have a valid pH greater than 7.2, add 2 MORE boxes of borax, and then enough chlorine to get to 25 ppm.

Good luck!

[jilted]

Thanks. Yes on the CYA test the dot was gone well before the 100 mark. Since they are still not home from work I went ahead and added 9 gallons of bleach that I went and picked up. So until I can get those results do you suggest dilution at all? It needs vacuuming so they can waste vac some water and we can add some fresh if you think that will help.

So far the water is clear green but you can see a little build up on the surface.

Challenge accepted!

[PoolDoc]

You need to find out what you are diluting with, before you dilute!

build up on the surface

-- what kind of build up??

[jilted]

looks like algae but i could be wrong.

[PoolDoc]

. . . better add more chlorine, and better get that CYA test done ASAP.

If the CYA is > 100 ppm, some forms of algae can continue to grow (once established) at 10 ppm of chlorine.

[jilted]

Right before (maybe an hour) they put 3 boxes of borax in.
Also, they did a little waste vacuuming this evening to get dirt out and that stirred things up so now we're green and just a little cloudy.

ok here's the 1/2 pool water and 1/2 distilled water tests:

pH: very close to 7 so let's just say 7. I am assuming this is a good thing? Finally getting close? :-)
Base demand: 5 drops to get to 7.4, 7 drops to get to 7.6
CYA: reading was 70, multiply by 2=140
I tested ALK with the 1/2 and 1/2 water and it tested 40 ppm just like earlier with only pool water.
Also tested FC with the 1/2 and 1/2 and it tested at 22ppm

Will test again in the morning. They wiped out the store of Borax again. I think they have 4 more boxes in inventory and 4 more jugs (6 gallons) of bleach.

thanks
-stephen

[PoolDoc]

Sounds like you are on the right track.

A few more boxes of borax, and you'll have the pH in range. You might want to do side-by-side OTO and FAS-DPD chlorine tests, so you can get a feel for what OTO at 22 or so on looks like. You can actually use OTO up to around 50 ppm!

Be sure and keep the chlorine up -- it will probably drop over night, with all that algae.

[jilted]

So the water is pretty much clear again this morning... 90% clear I would say... mostly blue

Did the 1/2 and 1/2 pH test again... it came back a little darker than 7 (barely). I added 3 more boxes of borax.

FC is still off the charts... around 20ppm.

So it seems like we are finally making progress and getting the pH under control. Also, I turned their chlorinator down to MIN to keep from adding more and more stabilizer to the pool. What are the next steps going to be once pH is where we want it? Remember I came to this forum as a salt guy because I had given up because of lack of education on standard chlorinated pool so I have never properly cared for a non salt chlorinated pool! The CYA is still going to be high. ALK is still at 40.

Thanks again for all the help,
-stephen

[Watermom]

Glad the pH is almost there. Keep at it.

Regarding next steps -----

The best thing would be to have your neighbor register here at Pool Forum and let him/her learn to take care of their pool themselves. Otherwise, the job will be yours forever! Seriously, if they are going to be pool owners, they really need to know how to take care of their own pool. Hopefully by now, they see that what you have learned at PF has been working for their pool and should be convinced that our methods will work. Send them on over!

(In all honesty, we typically don't help via a third party most of the time, feeling that is usually best for the pool owner themselves to get educated about pool maintenance. We have kinda bent our own rule in this thread. So, please don't be offended. We all should have as nice a neighbor as you!)