Spring Opening Questions

[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

[cjblanton07]

Thanks for the quick responses! I know her, so I know she doesn't know what she's talking about

The water is clear just still looks a little cloudy to me, my husband doesn't see the cloudiness so we're good. Thanks for the help.

Like I said can't wait to get my Taylor kit so I can manage it better.

So until then I just maintain my pH at 7.6 and FC below 5.0?

[CarlD]

Yes, it should be fine. If the pool gets green looking get the fc up to 10 and keep it there until it is clear again.

It is going to be very hard to maintain the pool without a test kit. The fifty to seventy dollars for the K2006 will pay for itself many times over.