Green, green, green and running out of patience.

[AnnaK]

That's a very clever temporary solution! People have also used ladies' knee high hose. I haven't tried it.

The reason I suggested distilled water is because it would be pH neutral pH=7). Tap water can have a pH anywhere between 6.5 and 8.5 depending on the source and whether it's going through a softener or filter. But you can boil a couple cups of water and let it cool to room temperature. That'll bring the pH close enough to 7 for our purposes.

[marciastz]

I boiled the water and mixed 2 cups of it with 1 Cup pool water and it tested 7.5 this evening. So I think my PH is OK. My temporary skimmer sock caught quite a bit of dirt and it was green this evening. Took it out and washed it completely and replaced it. Ordered a couple of boxes of "real" skimmer socks today. My FC this morning @ dawn was 19, CC .5, I added two bottles of bleach and brought it to 24 ( I think I mistakenly said it was 26 earlier today but it was 24). Tonight, after sun was down, it tested FC 21.5, CC 0, Cya was 90. I added one bottle of bleach tonight to bring it to 24. Why would my CYA be 90 tonight when it was 80 this morning? Maybe because the light was better in the sun and I could see the black dot longer??? It surely can't still be rising, can it? I have added nothing but bleach since Saturday. Will vacuum to waste again in the morning. The water is still very green!

[AnnaK]

You are doing very well! Keep adding the bleach. You lose bleach during the day to sun light which is why we suggest testing in the evening (as a base number) and in the early morning for the comparison number. Don't worry about the difference in CYA. That's a very subjective test and yes, the lighting when you read it has much to do with it. + or - 10 points won't make a difference in how we need to treat the water anyway.

There will come a morning when the difference in FC readings is 1 ppm. Or 0 ppm difference from the night before. That's the day before the day you're done adding so much bleach. It'll happen soon now. The water will look blue but will probably be cloudy from the DBs. The dead algae bodies And your CC will be .5 or even 0. It can take 6 days or so to get the green out and then another 10 days, sometimes longer, of constant filtering and brushing the bottom to clear the cloudiness. A long time, I know, and we've all gone through it. The good part is that we are not polluting the water further by throwing chemicals at it that don't work any better or faster than the bleach but that do cost a whole lot more.

Great job on the pH testing! And the improv on the skimmer 'sock'

P.S.

If you haven't already, would you please fill out the PF Pool Chart Form (see last item in my signature)? It asks for information about your pool and the equipment you have and is a source of reference for us when we need to devise a solution to a problem your system may have.

Pool Chart Entry Form
Pool Chart Results

[CarlD]

Anna's advice is spot on. I would not worry or waste my chems testing CYA at this time. You are close enough. As you are keeping FC in the 20-25 range I wouldn't worry at all about CC at .5 either. If it was 2 or 3 I still wouldn't worry given your FC levels.

Love the diaper-as-skimmer sock solution! Very creative and should work at least as well as the skimmer sock, better than ladies hose, and just a little less convenient.
Carl

[marciastz]

Thnaks so much for following me on this difficult journey. This morning my FC was 21.5 (still lost 2.5 ppm overnight). I vacuumed to waste this morn and then added 2 more bottles of bleach. I didn't test again until after sundown and it was 23ppm, so I didn't add anymore bleach. My best guess would be that I lost 3.5 ppm during the daylight hours. My CC stayed consistent at .5 ppm last night, this morn, and this evening. My water is still green, but a lighter shade of green. Just when I really get down in the dumps about this, you say something encouraging and I become hopeful again. Thanks for the support, AnnaK and CarlD. I will keep up the good fight. I hope it won't be too much longer. My grandkids (I have 19 total, ranging in age from 19 to 1 yr old) are so dissapointed that they can't swim @ grandma's. Today I took 6 of them to the creek to play in the water and explore.

[AnnaK]

Lighter green is very encouraging. And creeks are a lot of fun. They'll swim in the pool soon, really!

[marciastz]

Ok, I'm back with great news! We were out of town for the weekend but my granddaughter came over and added 2 gallons of 6% each morning and evening. She doesn't know how to test but since that was pretty much what I'd been adding each day to keep my ppm at 20-25, I just had her add that amount and pray for good results. We came home today to a beautiful BLUE pool, very clear and I would even say "sparkly"!!!! My readings this evening look like this..FC-16 CC-0 CYA-50 ALK-90 PH- 7.5. I assume the CYA is lower because we did so much vac-to-waste and refilling last week. We put the auto vac in and it has been working for a few hours, the bottom is clean as a whistle, although when I was brooming, I stirred up a little something, not sure if it was brown or green!
The water is definitly not cloudy, I'm not sure what dead algae looks like, but I don't think there is any. I haven't added anything to it today as of yet. So I bet now would be a good time to add algecide??? And should I continue to keep my chlorine levels on the high side for safety's sake or let them gradually fall back down to a lower level? What level would you recommend? When is a safe level for swimmers? I have let them swim in the past when it was 10 ppm but not over that.Thank You, thank you for encouraging me through this!

[AnnaK]

That's fabulous! Your granddaughter deserves a little tip for being such a good pool girl

The pool chart indicates you're using a PS233 test kit so your results are believable. Your CYA is fine as are your other values. You can let the FC drift down and maintain it at between 3 and 5 as long as you have no CCs.

The stuff you broom up is probably just dust and dirt which falls in the pool just like it does on furniture and floor in the house. It gets stirred up when you brush and whn you swim and mostly gets filtered out. That's why I like the filter socks so much–they pick up that brown stuff.

You don't really need algaecide but if you feel you must have it, the only one we recommend is a product that says "polyquat-60" on the label. The active ingredient name is much longer but it will have 'polyquat-60' somewhere.

It's safe to swim now.

Congratulations on a job well done!

[marciastz]

Thanks! It is such a great relief to see blue water again. Maybe I'll be able to sleep better now! You have been a great help and a confidence booster for me. My granddaughter will be getting a nice tip, btw! Polyquat 60 is what I've always used, I genereally add 6 oz. a week as a preventative. I am planning on using my skimmer socks also. I hope this is my last post about this issue. But I will continue to read this forum periodically, because everything I do know about pool maintenance I have learned here over the last few years!! Just a quick comment, I went to Leslie's the other day to get another bottle of R=0871 (I was using so much of it, I thought I might run out) and they didn't have any. He asked me what it was used for and I told him you use it with the powder for a chlorine drop test. He says "Oh, the powder, well that's been discontinued because it is soooo very inaccurate! You need to stop using that!" I just said "I guess I don't have any business being here then." And I walked out! He must be an idiot, because how else would I measure these high FC levels?? Before I discovered Pool Solutions, I would have believed and trusted him. HA!

[AnnaK]

Inaccurate? Discontinued? Really?! I wonder if someone has told that to Taylor

I bought a 16 oz bottle of the reagent and a 125 g bottle of the DPD powder from amatoind.com. I keep them in the basement fridge and have not noticed any degradation. Every once in a while I test a known sample to make sure the reagents are still good. You can get refills from amazon as well, just be sure the vendor is Amato.

Knowledge is power. It's great that you found useful information here on the forum!