Running out of POP!

[sosspenc]

Ok, so I walk out this morning....cloudiness is about the same. There may be a very slight difference, or it may be my eyes being optimistic. As to the pump, the model # C48J2N131B1 and the motor # SP-1605-Z1-M Service: 1.0.

I was thinking of taking a bucket of the pool water and adding floc to that (as a trial) before adding to my pool, to see if it would settle in the bucket.

[sosspenc]

I did some experimenting today. I hauled about 10, 5 gallon buckets to work with me. I work with fish. I filled 3 five gallon aquariums with my water, and hooked up a mini sand, DE, and cartridge filter. After about 6 hours, the DE had started to clear the water; the sand and cartridge will probably still be the same a month from now!. I tried a few different polymer pool flocs. I used one beaker with nothing added as a control, none of them did a thing. I had cultured for algae last week (just in case I hadn't shocked it into oblivion)...no algae in the pool water (or there wasn't last Wednesday, and I have maintained same cl level). I don't know if any of this will help. Is there a chance that an alum based floc would work?? I couldn't get my hands on any today.

[PoolDoc]

Is there a chance that an alum based floc would work??

Yes, but as you probably know, alum is 'twitchy' -- you have to get your CA high and your pH low (by pool standards) for optimal results with most particles. Polyaluminum chloride is more effective and less twitchy. I'd found some on Amazon, but it's not available, but I did some more looking and found that GLB Drop-n-Vac is an alum and PAC blend. You may want to try that:
GLB Pool & Spa Products 71408 1-Quart Drop n' Vac Pool Water Clarifier @ Amazon

I would recommend a jar test, first.

I'm trying to find some plain, high concentration PAC, but I'm not having a lot of luck.

[sosspenc]

Thanks for the link! It will ship out tomorrow or Wednesday; wasn't eligible for overnight for some reason...oh well. I've found some alum; gonna jar test that in the morning...should know something by tomorrow afternoon. Fingers crossed. I added half a dose of muriatic acid tonight to lower pH some...just in case the alum works. (pH -7.8) I am aiming for 6.9 -7.0. My alk is around 120 right now. Ca+ is around 200 ( I will get a definitive number tomorrow, very rarely test ); what would you recommend I target for Ca+? I know I need a sizable alkalinity buffer so the floc can hopefully work it's coagulating, floccing, and settling magic.

[PoolDoc]

Well, alum will probably work if you tweak it, and it definitely sounds like you know enough to know how to do so. PAC is just easier and more effective. I think the critical elements are pH in the 6.5 - 7.0 range, and sufficient alkalinity to buffer it, as the floc forms. Sorry, but I don't have time to look it up now -- traffic on the site has gone crazy!

[sosspenc]

Just an update...I found the ProTeam super floc locally. I am at home today so didn't have fancy equipment. I bucket tested both granular alum and the ProTeam stuff. ProTeam made tiny, tiny flocs after about an hour, but they were having difficulty settling. Alum turned the bucket water VERY cloudy for about 10 minutes ( I panicked even though it was just a bucket, lol); when this dissipated, I could see 1/4 inch to maybe 1/2 inch flocks forming in addition to a fine precipitate. My alum bucket settled in about 90 minutes. The PAC is still struggling to settle, I am not sure if they are going to be able to do so, as they are barely visible....I may have miscalculated the dose...the instructions were vague, and of course the MSDS says "proprietary" and lists no concentration! Both products went into the bucket at 8 am.

At noon I decided to go ahead with the granular alum. I half dissolved it and dumped it into my pool. Let the filter rein in recirculate for about 2 hours. I just checked and it is settling fast!!!. I used 10 lbs of Leslies in 15k of water. pH was 6.9, alk 120 and Ca+-400. I will let you know how the PAC does overnight. Thanks for your help!!!!!!!!

Stella

[PoolDoc]

Thanks for the info, Stella.