Scale?

[Andrea B]

Hi All! I really hope this is an easily answered question...My hubby took off our cover this past Wed. night, we planned on doing this on the weekend but he decided to put me in the hospital!--I was not prepared with any bleach. When I came home cover was off, crap from the cover was in the pool since he just pulled it from one end to the other by himself. I went to Wal-Mart(only place open at 10pm) and loaded up on shock and bleach, put 4 packs (1lb) into pool, next morning before work put 4 more in and since I didn't have time to vac. didn't turn the pump on, hoping all the green would die. Water is clear but when I vac. I suck up the leaves and dead algea, but there is a white/ creamy looking residue all over the bottom of the pool. I have vac. 2 more times and took the brush to scrub it but most of it won't budge. I did get some off with the vac sucks in a spot so hard that I can't move the brush. The water is clear and there is no green in the pool, just this stuff that looks like sand but it isn't. Is this the "shock" grains I put in without the filter running?

Thank you in advance,

Andrea
18' x 36' inground, Hayward sand filter, 3/4 horse pump

[PoolDoc]

Yeah, I have a pretty good idea what it is, but now is not the time to focus on it. Do this:

1. Add PLAIN 6% bleach at the rate of 6 gallons EACH evening.
2. See if you can get the HTH 6-way kit at your Walmart (check availability)
3. If you can't get a cheap OTO (yellow drops) kit
4. Keep your chlorine readings in the DARK yellow range -- skip the evening dose if the color in the EVENING is DARK yellow or orange
5. Brush the entire pool to make sure no algae is left in the cracks and crannies.
6. Test the pH when the chlorine is MEDIUM yellow or less; use muriatic acid to adjust the pH to near 7.0; keep it there (see the muriatic acid guide in my signature)
7. Report stabilizer, calcium and alkalinity results as soon as you can. If you get the HTH 6-way, run those tests when the chlorine is MEDIUM yellow or less. Otherwise, see if you can get a pool store to do those test ASAP.
8. Order a K2006 -- Wednesday or Thursday. The regular sellers are currently out of stock and will need a day or two. (Link in my sig) HTH 6-way is made by Taylor and is compatible.

Focus right now on get the water clear and clean, and finding out what your test values are. Do NOT try to scrub the scale too hard; you'll damage your liner. You CAN remove the scale safely, but it will take awhile. If you have a heater or an SWCG, do NOT operate them, till you have reported test results. Once the pool is clear and clean, you can swim, scale or no scale.

[Andrea B]

Hey PoolDoc,

These are my numbers from 5-28-12:
Chlorine-5+(med. yellow)
Ph-7.5
Alkalinity-180
CYA-0(couldn't get a reading, so I am saying 0) I added alittle less than a pound of stabilizer to get this up.
I just started using the BBB method last year and had good success with it. I am looking forward to having better looking water than last year(it was sparkling!!).

[PoolDoc]

Calcium hardness level?

Also, please test alkalinity and calcium levels in whatever water you fill the pool with . . .

[Andrea B]

Hardness is 230, sorry, forgot to put that in.

I will test my fill water, it is well water, and I will get back to you. thank you.

===========================

Just tested my tap water:
alkalinity-280
calcium-300