Necessary Chemicals for Maintaining Intex-Style Pool?

[dchannes]

All this is new to me. I bought the HTH 6 way test kit and these are the results:

Intex style above ground, 15' round...the box says it's 4000 gallon.

tested 7/18/12 2pm

Chlor: 3/6
Ph: 7.2
Alk: 280
Hardness: 40
Cyanuric acid: off the chart. It's not cloudy at all.

Other notes:
The water is a cloudy blue/white color. I can almost see the bottom.
The pump has been running all day. The filter was cleaned this am and the output is strong.
This is well water with high calcium content.
There could possibly be some iron in it. Generally, it not a problem here in south central Missouri.

Chemicals on hand:

Transchem Muriatic acid
active ingredient: Hydrogen chloride 31.45%

hth 1" chorinating tabs Trichloro-a-Triazinetrione 92.4%
hth pH minus
hth Super algae guard
hth Super concentrated clarifier
hth metal control

I also have an open sack of pool salt(30lbs left). (My wife says she put 50 lbs of salt into the pool).
Sorry this is such a nightmare. But I need to know if you think this water is savable. Thanks, DC

[aylad]

Hi, DC,

I absolutely think your water is saveable--there's not really that much wrong with it!! Do you have a working pressure gauge on your filter, and is the pressure rising any as the filter runs? Do you see any claring of the water throughout the day?

Your CYA is zero, if the water isn't cloudy at all--and will remain zero until you actually add some to the water. You'll need to do this to keep the sun from burning all your chlorine up. In the meantime, you need to test and add chlorine a couple of times daily, just to make sure you keep a residual in the pool so the algae can't get started. The trichlor tabs will help, but check first and make sure they don't contain copper (read the ingredient list well!) If they add copper to the pool, don't use them. There are trichlor tabs out there that don't use copper, and they are okay to use. Your alk is high, and if your well water is high in calcium content, that may be precipitating the calcium out of the water. When you cleaned the filter, did you rinse a bunch of white water out of it?

I'll let Ben advise you on removing the calcium, but if you can drop the TA, using muriatic acid, that may well help. Until your registration is upgraded, you won't be able to follow a link, but if you'll log out of the forum, go to the main forum page, under the section that deals with alkalinity and calcium, the first sticky in that forum talks about removing calcium. The next one under that deals with lowering TA, which you'll use the muriatic acid for.

I would return the pH minus (you have muriatic acid for that), the algae guard, the clarifier, and the metal control back to the store and get your money back. Use that money to order a really good kit, like the k-2006 linked in my sig--that's going to make your poolkeeping MUCH easier!

Your water's not in bad shape--it just needs a little tweaking, and that's what we're here for!

Welcome to the forum!

[dchannes]

Thank you so much!
I don't have at pressure gauge on the pump.
There HAS been some clearing in the last 2 days. I can hold the skimmer to the bottom and still see the blue outline of it.
Btw, the pool has been closed for 4 days now and until further notice or until I get this thing figured out!
And I rinsed the filter about 30 minutes ago and white water DID come out of it.

So I guess right now, until I acquire the proper stuff, I need to just keep it from getting worse.
The hth 1" Trichlor tabs don't have the in-active ingredients listed anywhere on the bottle. I called them but they were closed...which is weird. It says they are open 8 to 10pm eastern time and it's only 7pm there now.

Again, thanks. And I will continue my studying. I printed out bunch of stuff on the Intex pools from Ben. I'll post again tomorrow.

[Watermom]

Also, please read the using muriatic acid safely page linked in Janet's signature above.

You should also get a gauge on your filter. They are cheap. When you buy it, also get some Teflon tape.

Adding my welcome as well!

[dchannes]

Yes Ma'am! I WILL be careful! It is useful, but dangerous. I've used muriatic acid before and the gas is dangerous to breathe as well as the liquid. It can really hurt you. I appreciate the warning. It's always better to be safe than sorry.

Where do I put the gauge? At the bottom of the filter canister there is an 3/4" threaded outlet. But it's before the pump, so I assume it could only measure suction. After the pump, there's a flex hose, 1 1/2" in diameter that comes up and outlets into the pool. To put a gauge there would require some plumbing modification but I guess I could figure that out. Is that where it needs to go?

Thanks for the welcome! I never thought about this before now, but I'm beginning to realize that this pool game is a serious hobby. Actually, MORE than a hobby for you all. What? A passion? I'm glad it is. I appreciate the tiresome help.

[dchannes]

Oh, another thing, I can't navigate to anything in here under anybody's signature. It won't let met me!

[aylad]

There should be a place for a pressure gauge--you shouldn't have to do any modifications to make it work. Do you still have the directions for the pump/filter?

You'll be able to follow the links in the sigs right now by logging out and then accessing them from a post either Watermom, Ben, or I have made in any thread. Once Ben upgrades your registration, though, you'll be able to follow them without logging out. It's a temporary inconvenience, but part of a system Ben has put in place to discourage spammers/hackers from the forum. We're trying to keep this as safe a place as possible.

Did you try the bucket testing on your water to see about removing the calcium?

Janet