Chlorine stabilized, pool not green, what's next.

[keastman]

OK, the spring battle with my pool is near an endpooint, or should I say new starting point for swim season maintenance. I've got a post going in the equipment section, but to recap, my pool is in NE Fl, uncovered, under large Live Oaks which contribute massive pollen and organic loads in the spring for a couple of months. I've been running the Free Cl level near 20 for over a week with no CC, the pool has finally transformed from brown/green to a slightly cloudy transparent stage which usually indicates I'm ready to go on to the next chemistry correction. My CYA is 20-30 at best and I have a SWG. My TA is 140 or so and Calcium Hardness is 500. The pH is 8 on the test kit, but if I recall correctly, that value doesn't register well with high CL levels like I'm running. IL'm thinking that the higher pH is probably contributing to the cloudiness but I also have some particulates to vacuum/filter out left over from burning off all the pollen and organics.

My question is, what next? My plan is to next add in some acid since my ph usually rises from the swg and also try to get the cya up to at least about 60. Then after the pH, and CYA are in a better range and I've let the Cl level get closer to 10 or lower, go after reducing my TA. I don't have any plans for the Calcium at this point, other than keeping up with de-scaling my salt cell every few months.

Does my plan sound reasonable, or should I do things differently?

Thanks in advance. I'm soon to revive my pump thread as I get the water in shape, so I can get things running better on the mechanical and efficiency end.

[Watermom]

Your plan sounds reasonable except -- don't trust that pH reading while the chlorine is so high. You may be getting a falsely high reading. Once you get a true reading, then you may need to use some muriatic acid to lower it. Your calcium is high. Is that all from fill water? You certainly don't want to use any cal-hypo in this pool.

Run the pump 24/7 while you are trying to clear the cloudiness and clean the cartridge filter as needed.

[keastman]

Thanks, what level of cl will give more accurate pH reading? I do believe that it is high though since I've been running the swg on 70% for about 20 hours a day for a couple of weeks and even at 8 hours a day I usually have to add acid weekly, especially with the TA being above normal. I do need to test my fill water. I use water from a shallow well we use for lawn watering. I do know that it has sulfur in it but I'll need to check the calcium. Metered water is a bit expensive so I use the well since it's free .

[Watermom]

If you are using a Taylor K-2006 kit, you want your chlorine level to be under 15ppm before checking pH. For other kits, you want chlorine to be below 5ppm.

(If you're not using the K-2006, you should be! You can order one through the Amazon link in my signature below.)

[keastman]

Yes I ordered the k2006 off the link here

[Watermom]

Yes I ordered the k2006 off the link here

Good decision!