Where to go with cl level while cleaning pool

[keastman]

I"ve got a post going on plumbing and pumps about my pool due to a poorly designed system but thought I"d throw this one in here. As in my other post, I have a non screened pool in NE Fl, 22K gal with four large live Oaks surrounding it. This time of year it is heavy pollen, leaves and catkins from the oak trees daily.I vacuum every 2 days and clean the filter every 2 days and it's a mess for a month every year, then I get it sparkling when the trees let up. I have a swg but mostly rely on liquid cl from the pool store until it's clean though I do keep the swg running too. I usually use OTO dilutions and pool store tests to eyeball the chlorine I dump in daily but this year I finally got the K2006 kit from the link on here. I've always figured it was mostly pollen causing the green pool with perhaps some algae thrown in. From the results I'm seeing with two days of testing so far, I think it is pollen and organic debris, not algae. Last night I tested 20ppm free chlorine and 0.5ppm cc, this morning it was 19 ppm and 0 ppm cc. This was with the swg turned off overnight and only the pump running. So, I don't think there is any large degree of algae consuming the Cl. The CYA is low at this point between 15-30 at best. I"ve probably had the pool around 20 ppm cl for 3-4 days. It's gone from green can't see bottom to a light shade of green can see bottom but still a lot of powdery green/yellow on the bottom that gets stirred up when cleaning. Now that I know the real cl levels, I'm debating do I just keep up the cleaning routine and manitain the cl, or add more cl to try and burn off the rest of the organic debris.

The pool store guys of course think I'm crazy and want to sell me some enzymes and other stuff. I told them I get is clear every year with cl alone but thanks for the suggestion.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I don't care to waste Cl if I don't need to.

Kevin

[aylad]

I would keep the chlorine up for a few more days--looks like the chlorine has finally "caught up" with the green it was trying to clean up but with that amount of pollen and oak tree debris, it won't take much for it to get behind again......keep brushing it like you have been, and maybe you can catch a good bit of the junk in your filter. You might also try using skimmer socks--they're like a fine mesh netting that fits inside your skimmer basket and traps a lot of that stuff before it gets to your filter, so that might save you some work. It's amazing what they catch. (note that it goes inside the basket, not underneath--you don't want it sucked into your pump!!)

You're doing yourself a favor by avoiding the pool store list of junk that they want you to buy--the bleach it will take to finish cleaning up will cost a LOT less in the long run than the stuff they're going to try to sell you, that still may or may not get the job done!

[keastman]

Thanks, if you want to see how much crap is coming out in the filter every 2 days, take a look at my post on the equipment section. That was last week, it's not quite as bad now but still a lot for 2 days. That is also post vacuuming. I guess I'll hold it at 20 and keep the brushing and vacuuming and see if that does the trick. At least now I know the exact amount the cl level is. I love that kit so far. It's like back in college chem lab.

[aylad]

I guess I'll hold it at 20 and keep the brushing and vacuuming and see if that does the trick. .

Yep, that's where the POPP comes in-- pool owner patience and persistence!!

Just remember it'll all be worth it when you can float around the sparkly pool with a cold one in hand.......

Janet