Cloudy water after filter change

[Watermom]

The reason Jan suggested checking chlorine several times through the day and adding chlorine each time is that without CYA in the water, your chlorine will be depleted quickly.

Don't shock to 30 or 50ppm! The downside to taking the chlorine level too high is that you may bleach out your liner. The shock level she suggested is adequate for now. Once your CYA is raised, then your shock level will also be raised. See the Best Guess Chlorine Chart in Jan's signature above for more information about the connection between CYA levels and chlorine levels.

We'll be looking for your readings with your new kit!

Welcome to the Pool Forum!

[JMann]

Okay, so I think I have good news!! I tried to send my readings earlier, but my house internet was down and it was pretty hard doing it on my iPhone... I accidentally hit cancel after I was almost done.

Anyway, shocked it (15ppm) at 5:30 this morning, then around 1:00pm and again at 6pm. Each time I was getting readings of about 3ppm for FC and 5ppm for CC prior to shocking. But I tested it around 8:00pm and here are my results:

FC: 10
CC: 2
pH: 7.1
Alk: 70
CH: 90
CYA: 0

So for the first time in 4 days I got a FC reading higher than CC!! I will check again around 10:30 and bring it back to 15ppm. Hopefully I'll have good news that it held in the morning.

That brings me to the other numbers. I have been trying to bring the pH up for the last two days. I am putting 1/2 box of borax in the skimmer every 4 hours and retesting, but it seems like the pH is not budging (may have even dropped a little) I've used 2 boxes so far. Is this a result of shocking? Anything else to consider, or should I just keep doing it this way.

Also, if I do get good results in the morning then I will have to start bringing my CYA levels up. What is the best way to do that? I have Dichlor shock bags and Trichlor mini tabs for my dispenser. Can I use these, or will they take too long?

Thanks again for all your help.

Jim

[JMann]

So I jumped the gun. When I checked later my FC had fallen from 10 to 3 and my CC climbed from 2 to 5. So I am still shocking. The pool does look better, but I am going to keep shocking until CC is <1 and I can hold my FC levels overnight.

Hopefully you can help me with my pH question and my CYA question from my previous post.

[Watermom]

Yes, you need to keep at it. And, once you do hold the chlorine reading overnight and have a CC reading no higher than 0.5ppm, then we usually advise one additional day of the high chlorine levels for added insurance.

Regarding pH -- keep adding the Borax. You have a large volume pool, so 2 boxes of Borax having been added isn't all that much.

I would wait on adding CYA for now. Wait until you have this issue finished. But, when it is time to add CYA, you have choices.

+ You can use the dichlor which would be a good idea in my opinion because it will chlorinate and add CYA at the same time. You'll need to monitor the CYA level periodically because it will add the CYA fast. Dichlor adds 9ppm of CYA for every 10ppm of chlorine. But what kind of dichlor do you have? Some pool chemical companies are adding unwanted stuff. Look at the ingredients and see what it says.

+ You can use the trichlor pucks but it will take much longer to have any CYA build up. It won't be as fast as with dichlor. Again, read the ingredients on your pucks. They, too, are often blended with unwanted stuff such as copper! You do NOT want copper in your pool!

+ Another choice is to just add stabilizer separately and just use bleach or liquid pool store chlorine as your chlorine source. (See what kind of price your pool store sells their liquid chlorine for and what percentage it is -- usually 10 or 12.5%. It may be a better price for you than bleach especially if they sell carboys of the stuff and that will also be fewer bleach bottles to deal with since you have a big pool.)

[JMann]

Okay so I will keep adding the borax. Does the liquid chlorine bring down the pH? Because now it looks like I am below 7.0. My biggest concern here is my heater. Its not on, but water is passing through it and I don't want to get metal in the water. Will it help if I bring my Alkalinity levels up with baking soda as well? That number has fluctuated between 60 and 70. 1/2 box of borax in the skimmer every 4 hours? Is that the right strategy?

As for my CYA supply, I have 1lb Power Shock bags that say 97% Sodium Dichloro-s-trianzinetrione, 3% other, with 64% available chlorine. And I have Mini-Tabs that go into my dispenser that are 99% Trichloro-s-trianzinetrione, 1% other and 99% available chlorine.

Oh and I am using the carboys (I think). 5 gallon blue jugs with 12.5% chlorine.

Thanks again for all your help

[JMann]

Alright, so I just realized that the 1/2 box prescription for borax was for 10,000 gallons. And I had my Pool Calculator on my iPhone set to "soda ash." Pool Calculator says I need to add 154 oz. of borax to raise it from 7.0 to 7.6. So I added a whole box (76 oz) and I plan on adding another box later tonight after testing. That should get me back on track.

[aylad]

Liquid chlorine does not raise pH--it in itself is alkaline, but the reaction with junk in the water is acidic, so basically you have a draw--no real measurable pH change. However, if you start using the dichlor or trichlor, keep in mind that it will drive your pH way down, so you'll need to keep an eye on it. If you're using dichlor or trichlor, bumping the alk up a little to the 110-120 range will help stabilize the pH, but if you're going to use any other form of chlorination long term, you'd be better off leaving the alk at 70.

Right now, just concentrate on keeping the pH above 7.0, and your chlorine at 12-15 ppm until whatever's causing your CC burns off (I'm betting it's ammonia demand from last year's CYA degrading--do you know what your CYA was at closing last year? Did you use a lot of stabilized chlorine last year?)

Janet

[JMann]

Yeah, ammonia demand sounds right. I don't know what my CYA was last year, but all we have used the last two years is dichlor shock once a week and trichlor mini-tabs all season. We moved in two years ago and I have been relying on the pool store for everything. No more!!!

Glad I found this site. I would have been further in the pool store web of chemicals. Thank you so much!!