use of liquid chlorine in AG vinyl lined pool

[PoolDoc]

the good news is that the filter came today. its a baleen filter

"Baleen" is whale teeth, more are less. What do you mean?

[CarlD]

One thing that concerns me is the use of dilution with tap water. Steam-distilled water should be available in your local supermarket and chain drug store-- people use it in such pedestrian items like old-fashioned steam irons. Tap water can contain all sorts of stuff including chlorine. So always use steam-distilled water for your dilution testing.

[Darkside]

PoolDoc - its says baleen filter on the package. i found the manufacture but dont wanna post up a link. i was just wondering if anyone heard of this model filter and if they had any thoughts. as i said it looks to be of better materials than the factory one.


CarlD - i hear ya 100%, but the taylor kit even says use tap water for dilution test. i did an FC dilution test with the K2006 kit and i measured .5ppm difference from the K-1515, so it seems the tap water didnt mess the test up, but ill go ahead and pick up some for future dilution test on my next chlorine run.

a few things going on here. i brought FC up to 23.5 last night. i tested this morning and had just a 2.5ppm drop to 21ppm, and it rained quite a bit over night so that may have diluted my water some. im not loosing much FC over night. i also measured CC this morning and its .5ppm or less. the new filter has been in for almost 24 hrs. the water looks really really clean, but its still cloudy! i have no visable algae on the floor of the pool.

i was reading a response from PoolDoc to another poster and PoolDoc asked them to list eveything they added to their pool in the last couple of months, this made me nervous since i have added all kinds of junk at the recomendation of the pool store. so here is a list of things ive used in the pool in the last couple of months, maybe this will help diag why the water is still cloudy ( i hope )

i dont have any of this left aqua chem "shock xtra blue" the site does not list ingredients but here is a link ( i used a bunch of this over time). http://www.walmart.com/ip/Aqua-Chemi...roduct+Reviews

also used from walmart - aqua chem "natural water clarifier" the bottle does not list ingredients but here is a link. i only used thos once about a month ago per the instructions on the bottle. http://www.walmart.com/ip/Aqua-Chem-...ifier/19795894

also from walmart arm and hammer "clear balance" active ingredient sodium bicarbonate 86.60% clarifier and other ingredients 13.40%

leslies 3" jumbo tabs active ingredient trichloro-s-triazinetrione ive used this since we got the pool a couple years ago

i dont have any of this left and the site doesnt list the ingredients ( maybe i cant find them ) ive also used this a bunch since we got the pool http://www.lesliespool.com/Home/Pool...ock/12047.html

and finally, probably the mother of all screw ups recommended by the pool store guy a few weeks ago before i found this site.... "green to clean" this has been discussed here as i did some searching last night and found out that this is bad stuff.

last thing i should mention. i have a 5 gallon bucket attached under my stairs filled with golf ball sized river rocks to help weigh it down. i drilled a bunch of 1/2" holes in it to allow water to get in and around the rocks to prevent algae. i was using bags of sand at first but i was getting sand in the pool and the bags were trapping algae inside. could it be that the higher levels of chlorine are breaking down, or eating away at the rocks and causing cloudy water?

i feel like a knuckle head for never educating myself on the pool from day one! i have caused myself much aggrivation and money because of it! funny thing is the first two years were good, now all the crap chemicals have finally caught up with me.

the GOOD news is i have learned more about my pools water chemistry in the last week or two on here than i did in the last two years...

[PoolDoc]

Go ahead and post a link: I'd like to know what it is they are calling a "baleen filter".

Regarding dilution: I haven't checked what Taylor says, but here are the facts:
1. You MUST used distilled water when using dilution to extend the range on a chlorine test, because you have to dilute with some thing that (a) is chlorine free and (b) is chlorine DEMAND free. That rules out tap water (has chlorine) and bottled waters (may have chlorine demand), leaving distilled water as the option.

2. You MAY use tap water when using dilution with a CYA test, since tap water is always CYA free, except in very rare circumstances.

3. You MUST use distilled water when using dilution to perform a phenol red pH test on water with high chlorine; distilled water is the only readily available water that is free of all pH buffers.

Regarding Xtra blue -- it's a diluted dichlor with added copper. If you haven't had stains yet, you may be OK.

[Darkside]

i didnt order from these people. i ordered from amazon, and thought i was getting a unicel filter, though i may have misread something. read the area in the center of the page in blue. http://www.rjfiltration.com/

everything you said makes sense about the distilled water so i will get some to have on hand. no stains from the xtra blue, and i used plenty of it. so, the green to clean should not cause me problems, or cloudiness? i only used 1 pound and followed the directions by adding shock after.

[Darkside]

the pool is looking much nicer today. i can actually make out the swirly designes at the bottom of the liner! i cleaned out the filter today and a bunch of white/milky water was coming out. ive been brushing, or vacuming every afternoon. yesterday after vacuming i decided to leave the poll and vacume in the pool with the vacume head upside down on the floor. i left the poll to lay against the side. also, i left the vacume on the opposite side of the pool as the return is facing the flow of water, i figured this may help pull water from the bottom of the pool through the filter. it may have helped as i noticed a big difference this morning vs yesterday afternoon. PH is right at 7.4 - 7.5 and i have kept FC over 10.5 CC is at .5 or less

we just MIGHT be able to use the pool this weekend for the first time this season! once i get this all cleared up i may drain off some water to get my CYA down around 80-90

[Watermom]

Sounds like you are definitely making progress!

[BigDave]

...yesterday after vacuming i decided to leave the poll and vacume in the pool with the vacume head upside down on the floor. i left the poll to lay against the side. also, i left the vacume on the opposite side of the pool as the return is facing the flow of water, i figured this may help pull water from the bottom of the pool through the filter...

I love it - homemade main drain.

[Darkside]

it worked like a charm BigDave! i ran this set up over night two nights in a row after vacuming and it cut the cloudiness in half! ive been running the pump on low since my pump is a monster on high... but seems to be clearing up on low just fine.

we got ALOT of rain the past few days. we got so much rain yesterday ( couple inches at least ) that the water level was above the top of the skimmer .rather than drain off water i left it alone. i thought for a second.... i realized that with the water below the top of the skimmer im only pulling water from the top 2 inches or so DUH. with the water over the top of the skimmer i noticed much more water flowing into the skimmer. its as if the water WANTS to go through the skimmer rather that be pulled through the skimmer. so this is a way to move MUCH more water through the skimmer/filter vs running the pump on high and blowing all the dead algae etc through the filter and back into the pool. this seems to have improved the clarity even more since yesterday. my wife was impressed this morning at how well the pool and water look.

i hope all this makes sense. at the rate im going i expect to be crystal clear in another 2-3 days tops!

when we started geeting all the rain i got a bit nervous as rain has caused me problems in the past, mainly throwing off my chemistry by diluting the water. testing with strips wasnt helping the situation. now with a proper test kit the rain IMO is a non issue from here on out! tested just a bit ago and the numbers are as follows...

FC 12.5
CC 0
PH 7.4
TA IS 110

everything is where i want it to be. the only concern i have is TA is up about 10ppm from a week ago. is there a reason my TA is creeping up? im guessing a TA of 110 is OK for now, but what happens if it keeps trending up? from what im reading swimming and splashing will bring this down right? dont wanna use chemicals/acid if i dont need to to lower it.

a huge thanks for everyones help! you guys rock!

[aylad]

A TA of 110 is fine. If it keeps trending up, you might find that your pH doesn't stay as stable. If that happens, the steps to lower it are listed here http://www.poolsolutions.com/gd/lowe...p-by-step.html