cloudy water

[mrszaff]

after adiding more bleach, I'm convinced im in a vicious metal cycle, I added ascorbic acid to see if it helps and it did, my chlorine is down to 1.6 so is it safe to put in polyquot 60 and Metalfree now?

[mbar]

You are going to lose chlorine continually until all of the ascorbic acid is used up.. This is probably not algae if you have used algecide and started to use chlorine as soon as you did...you do not want to shock for at least 2 weeks after the stain treatment or you will be in a " metals cycle". Your water can get cloudy from the ascorbic acid precipitating calcium out if the water- this will clear up with the filter running 24/7. You just need some patience. You can swim in it if you are holding any chlorine. It takes a lot of choline to eat up the ascorbic acid especially if you had to add a lot to get rid of stains. Keep your ph no higher than 7.2, and if you see stain start to come back add more sequestering agent. Remember when you add anything to your pool you will use up extra chlorine. Poly quart and sequestering agent use up chlorine...I know it seems like you will never get stain free and balanced at the same time but you wll! If you have any other questions feel free to ask!

[mrszaff]

thanks, I haven't put any algacide in yet this season,I have only shocked with bleach, and used ascorbic acid , i was going to put sequestering agent and polyquot 60 today, water looks tinted/stained but bluish and cloudy in deep end.
Is that a good idea?

[mbar]

Did you put in any sequestering agent after the ascorbic acid? THe ascorbic acid only lifts the stain from the pool surface. You need sequestering agent to keep the lifted stain (metals) in soluble form - sequestered in solution which keeps them from redepositing on the pool surface. You never get rid of the metals - we are trying to see if there is an easy way, but so far we have no sure way. So what you are aiming for is to keep the metals from falling out of solution on the surface of the pool. High chlorine along with high ph levels will cause any metals in your water to fall out of solution, therefore they will deposit on the surface of whatever it can. Please read the sticky Pooldoc has posted at the top of this forum. Let me know if there is anything you don't understand. You should have put the algaecide in the water before you started the stain treatment. After you let the ascorbic acid recirculate in the pool for at least a 1/2 hour, and you see that all of the stains are gone, then you should have added enough sequestering agent as the bottle suggests for the amount of water in your pool. Until you have done that, the stain will just come back. Once all of the stain is gone and the sequestering agent is in, then you can start to bring up ph and then add chlorine in to get it to the bottom end of the best guess chart, and continue that process until your chlorine starts to hold in the pool, which means all of the ascorbic acid is removed. If you see stains start to come back you drop the ph back to 7.0 - 7,2 and add more sequestering agent. If you don't follow these steps you will be in a vicious cycle of stain battles.

[aylad]

Even though it's late in the process, I think it would be okay to go ahead and add the Polyquat and sequestering agent. The worst case scenario is that you may have to use the ascorbic acid again, but at least now you know what order to use them in. Just watch your chlorine, because as Marie said, the acid will use a lot of it up, as will the Polyquat. Be prepared to add low amounts of chlorine to make sure there is "some", but not "a lot" of chlorine in your pool.

I know balancing metals and chlorine is tricky, but mbar is the resident expert (besides Pooldoc) on metals around the forum, so if you'll stick with her advice, she'll get you on the right track

Janet

[Watermom]

mbar is the resident expert (besides Pooldoc) on metals around the forum, so if you'll stick with her advice, she'll get you on the right track

Absolutely right!

[mbar]

aaw shucks

[mrszaff]

Hi I had to leave for a few days, so I put 3 pucks in the chlorinator and left the filter running 24/7, the pool is still clear and beautiful but my numbers are off and I want to add the right amounts of everything
TC 3 CC 0
ALk 60 PH 7.0 cya 100
also, is arm aand hammer super washing soda of any use? we bought it by mistake instead of baking soda, but havent used it.
thanks!

[aylad]

The washing soda can be used to raise both pH and alk, so it would be okay to use it with your current numbers. Better get some chlorine in the pool, though, because running a pool with CYA of 100 and chlorine level of less than 8 ppm is an invitation to algae! If your chlorine has been low for more than a day or so, I would go ahead and shock the pool to make sure you don't have something already trying to bloom.

Janet

[mrszaff]

ok I will add 2 gallons of bleach tonight, how much washing soda ?