Pre-Filter on a Refill?

[PoolDoc]

Not showing anything there that needs to be pre-filtered.

Of course, if the distance from the plant is great, and the distribution is old and iron . . . that's a different matter.

You can do the white bucket test:

1. 5 gallon CLEAN white plastic bucket
2. 4 gallons of tap water
3. 1/8 cup of bleach
4. 1/8 cup of baking soda
5. Mix, cover, wait 24 - 48 hours
6. If there's colored sediment on the bottom of the bucket, you might want to pre-filter

.

Use Clorox bleach for this test; some cheaper bleaches might have small amounts of iron.

[Rottwieler]

Thanks Doc.
Been developing a new problem over the past week. Actually noticed it a couple of weeks ago after a bad dust storm that coated the bottom of the pool with dirt. The vacuum seemed to not be getting everything and I thought it was just the handy son not brushing very well, but then I brushed good and the dirty looking sediment doesn't come off. I haven't been adding ANY chemicals to the pool on anticipation of doing the drain and refill, but now I'm not sure when I will be able to do it. Might be several weeks. Anyway, over the past few days what was just dirty looking bottom corners has grown to cover most of the floor and lower walls... Any ideas?
Also, we have cartridge filters - 4 or 5 in the big compression tank - each one is about 3' or 3.5' long and about 6" around. We run the pump about 8 hours a day. Should we run the pump more, and how often should we clean the filters? Thanks. Sam

[Anonymous [GDPR] European in Spain]

I'll let the experts tell you more, but get some bleach/chlorine in there quick.

[PoolDoc]

It could be iron.

Go to Walmart, and get a bottle of Vitamin C tablets - small one is fine; larger TABLETS are better -- and a container of Iron Out (detergent section). Get some snack or sandwich baggies, if you don't have any.

1. Place a couple of tablets on a stained spot.

2. Put a couple of tablespoons of Iron out in a snack baggie, along with a couple of tablespoons of water. Force all the air out, and seal the baggie. (Do NOT suck on the baggie, to get the air out!!)

3. Get into the pool, with the baggie and an old cotton rag or towel. Carefully place the baggie on a stained spot, and then open it so the Iron Out is released. Cover with the towel to protect it from currents.

4. Check back in an hour, and see if the stains are affected.

5. While you're waiting, check the interior of your toilet tanks -- see if they are stained, and if so, what color.

Are you running the bucket test? Do you have a K-2006 on order?

[Rottwieler]

The white bottom portion of the chlorine tab floater is stained brown like rust. Toilet tanks look good.
You think maybe a recent dust storm blew some iron dust into the pool?
I got the test kit yesterday. Been trying to wade through the manual before wasting a bunch of reagent doing tests wrong.
I've also been trying to figure out exactly how much water my pool holds. We had been running on estimates of around 18k, but I can't find any documentation to confirm that and I'm thinking it might be much less. It's shaped sort of like an acoustic guitar body and varies between 3' and 5'6" + a broad step and a bench. I measure it at 28' x 17' at its longest and widest, but that doesn't help me much. I'm going to take more measurements and graph it. maybe I can get a good number that way.
I found a couple of recent water analysis reports from the pool store I'll share for the time being.
Here's what they're saying: FAC = 0, TAC = 0, CYA = 100, TA = 90, pH = 7.6, TDS = 2501, Pho = 100.
Full weekend scheduled. Hope to get bucket test going and do tests on the staining. Also hope to figure out how much water is in there and how to use the test kit.
I put in a couple of bags of shock and the water is looking very good.
I appreciate your help.
Sam

[PoolDoc]

You're welcome.

If you haven't ordered a K2006 yet, you might want to wait till Tuesday or Wednesday to do so. Stocks are low, and I've noticed that orders at Amazon are getting kicked over to high priced suppliers, as the regular ones are out of stock.

[Watermom]

Unless he is talking about a different kit, he says he got the Taylor K-2006 already. If that is the case, and your CYA reading is from testing done with the K-2006, it means that it actually could be much higher than 100 since no kit can differentiate at any levels higher than that. Dilute your water sample and run the CYA test again. Take one part pool water and mix it with one part distilled water. Run the test with that sample and then multiply the result by 2. if you still get a reading of 100, dilute it one part pool water and two parts distilled and multiply the result by 3. Repost with your number after doing this.

By the way, there is an online demo about using the Taylor kit. It might be helpful for you:

http://www.taylortechnologies.com/pr..._slideshow.asp
http://www.taylortechnologies.com/Ch...P?ContentID=11

Hope this helps.

[Rottwieler]

OK, got the Taylor K2006C test kit and managed to do some testing.
It was late in the afternoon and the pool was registering Zero chlorine. No color change at all.
PH was high - 8.0 or a little darker - 10 drops to bring it down to around 7.4
Alkalinity came out at 210ppm.
I think I screwed up the Calcium hardness test. I'll try to redo it on Thursday.
Cyanuric acid was very high. The solution was so cloudy that it looked like skimmed milk. I didn't have any distilled water to cut the pool water with, but I would say it would take at least a 3:1 solution to get it to even register on the scale.
Does that mean I need to replace at least 2/3 of the pool water?
The Vitamin C test looks like it worked. The sock left a clean spot in the middle of the stain. I also dropped a couple of tablets in a shallow bucket of water and put the badly stained chlorine tab floater thing in it. It took all of that off.
I'm doing the bucket test of the tap water overnight tonight. I'll be away tomorrow so we'll see what it looks like tomorrow night or Thursday morning.
I did test Calcium hardness of the tap water and didn't get any color at all... I'm going to redo that test for the pool and the tap at the first opportunity.
So, assuming the bucket test is good, I'm assuming I need to at least partially drain the pool and refill it with fresh water.
Here's what I'm thinking I need to do:
1. Read up on Ascorbic Acid for removing rust stains and do that first. (clean filters, let chlorine stay low, adjust PH, add a bunch of Ascorbic Acid and run the pump)
2. Clean the filters again.
3. Drain most of the water out of the pool.
4. Add fresh water (and chlorine as it's filling?)
5. Add CYA slowly, running pump continuously and retesting after a couple of days.
6. Balance PH, Alkalinity, and Hardness and get Chlorine levels in range.
Is that all about right, or am I backwards on something? Have I left anything out?
I'll be asking for detailed guidance as I go through each step, especially when it comes to balancing the chemicals in the fresh water and trying to keep them that way.
Always open to information and suggestions.
Thanks,
Sam