Hello summer, hello algae, hello pool forum!

[True Blue]

I think that I can follow that plan.

I will certainly get a new pressure gauge. I am not sure what happened to that one. It was working when I took it off at the end of the season and stored it in a box in my house that went undisturbed all winter.

[True Blue]

It's raining here today, but I did go out and check my readings this morning. I decided to use my old OTO kit. It showed about 1 ppm FC, which I expected. What I did NOT expect was it to show my pH at 8.2. That surely is in error, as it was 7.5 with my Taylor kit yesterday and all I've added to it was bleach. I know that bleach is basic, but I've not added enough to bring the pH up that high!

I did add another 1.5 gallons of bleach to bring the FC back up. I'll be purchasing the dichloro later today and will use that. Oh...once there is a break in the rain, I'll go out and test with my Taylor kit.

The water is already looking better. It is switching from the swamp look to a cloudy blue-green, which is not all that unappealing, except that I know that its a combination of dead and living (but soon to be dead) algae.

[True Blue]

I just tested the pH again, this time with the Taylor kit, which only measures to a pH of 8.0. The color was off the chart (bright red-purple, certainly above the 8.0 mark).

Again, all I've added is bleach and tap water (which I tested to be about 7.6)...and now the rain.

What would cause the spike in my pH?

[BigDave]

Did you test FC and CC with your k-2006? What were the results?
How are you collecting the water sample? I try to take the water from about elbow depth - hold the sample tube upside down until my arm is in up to the elbow.
The pump is on and mixing the pool , yes? Did you collect the sample near where you dosed the bleach?

[True Blue]

Did you test FC and CC with your k-2006? What were the results?
How are you collecting the water sample? I try to take the water from about elbow depth - hold the sample tube upside down until my arm is in up to the elbow.
The pump is on and mixing the pool , yes? Did you collect the sample near where you dosed the bleach?

I do the collecting method that you speak of, upside down, well beneath the surface. The pump is/has been running. I did collect both samples near where I dose with the bleach, but the first sample this morning was at least 14 hours since I last added anything.

I did not do a FC and CC test with the Taylor kit. I'll do that in a bit, as the rain is supposed to be ending soon.

[True Blue]

Testing with the Taylor kit, "upstream" from where I add the bleach:

FC: 4
CC: 2.5
pH: >8.0

My pump is currently off, as a large amount of rain will sometimes trip the breaker.

Any thoughts on what would cause a spike in pH? It certainly wasn't that high yesterday. Again, I know that bleach is basic, as is the ammonia that the algae would be producing.

[Watermom]

Did you have torrential rain which caused a lot of rippling on the surface? Aeration raises pH. Just a thought. I wouldn't expect that kind of increase though. My rain is usually acidic and lowers my pH. Go ahead and drop the pH some.