Super low pH (and other problems)

[Watermom]

Yes. As Ben stated in post #7 above, with a CYA reading of 95, you needed to keep your chlorine at LEAST 5ppm. Since yours was 2-3ppm, that wasn't high enough to keep algae at bay and it sounds like you may have an impending algae bloom. So, now you need to shock the pool up to about 20ppm (per the Best Guess Chlorine Chart in my signature below).

Run a full set of numbers when your kit arrives tomorrow and post them. You'll want to do this before you shock the pool, especially the pH test because it won't be accurate at a chlorine level of 20ppm.

[wildweasel]

I got the kit, started the new chlorine test, and couldn't get the water to turn pink - I check with the old HTH kit, and got 0 total chlorine and a pH of 6.8. (strangely enough, the pool was noticably clearer though)

So I added 4 boxes of borax, 9 gals of chlorine (per The Pool Calculator) and waited 5 hours.
Then I got the following k2006c results:

FC: 3 ppm
CC: 1.5 ppm
CYA: 110 ppm (slightly more than 100?)
pH: 7.2
Alk: 80 ppm
Cal: 100 ppm (I do have a plaster pool)

So more chlorine? 8 gals by the calculator (3 -> 20 ppm)?
More borax too?

[Watermom]

If you add 2 scoops of powder and it does not turn pink, then you have no chlorine.

Yes to adding more bleach and keep an eye on the pH. You are ok at 7.2 but don't want it lower.

Can you dilute a water sample (1 part pool water, 1 part distilled water) and then run the CYA test with that mixture and multiply the result by 2. Then, post with that result.

[wildweasel]

@ 9 AM:

FC: 12 ppm
CC: 1.0 ppm
pH: 7.2


@ 7 PM (and a trip to the store for some distilled water)

FC: 7.5 ppm
CC: 0.5 ppm
pH: 7.2
CYA: 110 ppm

I can see the bottom, though the pool is still just a bit cloudy.
Gonna go dump in a box of borax and 4 1.4 gal jugs of bleach.

[PoolDoc]

Pool History Entry Form for wildweasel
Pool History Results for wildweasel

[wildweasel]

Pool History Entry Form for wildweasel
Pool History Results for wildweasel

I like those forms, especially as often as I'm now checking the pool.

It looks great - not quite crystal, but I can see the bottom easily.

When I do the CC portion of the chlorine test, and add the 5 drops, it's clear (no change at first) and after it sits for 20-30 sec it gets a real slight pink tint, that one drop of the other solution clears right up. Does this mean I've gotten rid of the the CC, or that there's somewhere between 0-0.5 left?

Thanks,
Matt

[PoolDoc]

Don't worry about low CC residuals. The DPD test is not perfect. I'm not sure what some of those residuals are, but I've seen them on pools I was running, when there was NO problem with the water -- crystal clear, no irritation, etc. Remember the goal is not perfect numbers, but a great pool -- and they are NOT the same thing.