Spring Opening Questions

[PoolDoc]

PF is "Pool Factor", some thing I've used privately for years, and in my local business, but not here. It's just a ratio between your pool and a pool with 1 million pounds of water.

So . . . if you add 1 pound of something that's 100% concentration, like CYA or chlorine gas, you get a 1 ppm increase of that something (CYA or chlorine). On your pool, since it's about 1/5 the size of a million pound pool, you get a 5 ppm increase.

The calculation works like this:

Say you want to know how much a box (4.75 lbs) of borax will increase your borate level. For complicated reasons, pure borax has an effective borate concentration of 11%. So this is the calculation for YOUR pool: 4.75 x 0.11 x 5 = 2.6. SO, each box of borax will add about 2.5 ppm borates to your pool; to reach a 50 ppm level (effective algistatically) you'd need 20 boxes.

Anyhow, having the PF in signatures allows me to more quickly and accurately calculate doses.

[cjblanton07]

Thanks for the explanation

[cjblanton07]

Went home at lunch and levels were pretty much the same CL 5.0 pH 6.8 (barely) "ions" .5 But the pool color was much lighter and more blue looking now but still very cloudy - still can barely see the bottom or sides. Added 1 box of Borax and will re-check levels when I get home.

On a side note NO wal-marts in my area have a 6 way test kit. They said there was a walmart within 50miles but I didn't even recognize the name of the town and not even site-to-store shipping. So I'm going to check with Lowe's, k-mart, etc. We're paycheck to paycheck kind of people so I may not be able to order the K-2006 kit until the end of the month.

[cjblanton07]

Well today is my day that I can put a little more attention to the pool. pH is still testing too low so I'll spend the day trying to get it up. Copper still too high so I'll keep doing 1.42 gallons of bleach a.m. and p.m. I'm starting to be able to see the bottom a little bit so I'm going to vacuum today and brush the sides again. Anything different I need to do?

[Watermom]

You need to get the pH above 7.0!

[cjblanton07]

Since the 17th I've added 14.2 gallons of bleach and 7 boxes of Borax. Saturday morning I really started hitting it with the Borax - using a box every couple of hours or so for a total of 5 boxes for the day - the pH stayed the same all day. Sunday morning I finally had a 7.2pH so I did another box of borax and decided to wait since that was 1 more than PoolDoc told me to use and by that night my I had a 7.6pH. So hopefully it won't continue to go up today

The water is blue but still cloudy - I can't see anymore algae. It almost looks like borax particles floating in the water - imagine that

Chlorine is well above 5.0 FC. Not quite orange but getting close. I didn't add any bleach this morning. I wanted to wait until I could check the FC level. Oh and the "Ions" are down not gone yet but definitely less than they were.

So my question is this - what should I do to maintain what I've done until I can get the Taylor kit? And what chlorine level is safe to swim in? We're going to be hitting 90 this weekend and the kids are dying to get in - they would have gotten in when it was green if I would have let them.

Thanks!!

[Watermom]

Unless I missed it, I don't think you have reported a CYA reading. Without it, we can't really advise what chlorine levels you need and are safe to swim in.

[cjblanton07]

Yes ma'am, I can't afford to order the taylor c kit until the end of the month so I attempted to take a water sample to the pool store today.

Unfortunately the girl testing the water was a friend of my husbands family so as she stood there adding drops and looking at charts so talked on and on about family, etc. She dumped all the water out and picked up two buckets of alkalinity increaser (16.99 a piece) and said "chlorine, pH and stabalizer is all good. Your alkalinity is 40 though and it needs to be 90 for your size pool so you'll need two of these" I got out of it by saying I was just stopping in to get it tested and my husband may come later to pick some up. She said "ok, but you may need to get something for pH too b/c this may lower the pH some"

Sooooo, I know you hate to advise without actual #'s but my FC is still well above 5.0 pH still at about 7.6 but the water is still a tinge cloudy. Since she said alkalinity was 40 would adding some baking soda clear any of the cloudiness.

p.s. My husband thinks the water looks great and I should quit worrying about it but I'd like to get it right and then keep it that way. I can't wait to get my Taylor Kit - I have so much fun with the little 3way kit that I know I'll love the Taylor.

[PoolDoc]

It's the pool, not the numbers. There's something to be said for your husbands' point view: if the chlorine is OK, the pH is OK, the water is clear and you are able to maintain chlorine levels . . . GO SWIMMING!

Whatever else sodium bicarbonate (alkalinity increaser) will do, it will NOT clear cloudy water. Your pool store girl is a pool chemistry doofus.

[aylad]

Adding baking soda will raise your alk, but will not clear the water. It also won't lower your pH. If anything, it might raise it just a little. If the pH is between 7.0 and 7.8, and the water is blue, it probably is okay to swim in-- except if chlorine is too high, it may fade or break down swimsuits. Plus, if it's cloudy, it is a danger to have kids swimming who might get into trouble underwater but not seen by someone who could help. So-- it's really your call, but until we know water results other than just "good", we can't tell you for certain which way to go.

Edit: Pooldoc's "post" button is faster than mine today