Pool a disaster after vacation

[cbuchin]

no, the filter pressure isn't rising. I went back to the pool store yesterday for new readings: alk was still low at 46, so I added 11 pounds of baking soda last night. I also shocked it again. I had read about the calcium being irrelevant with vinyl pools and mentioned that to the pool store owner. He said there is calcium in the liner that the water will try to leach out if the water isn't kept high enough. Don't know if he's misinformed or what. He's a pretty honest guy and doesn't try to pressure you to buy his stuff. Does the testing for free if you buy from him or will charge you a small fee just to test. The reading this time showed cya0f 100! Could it really go up that much in 6 days? Pool guy thinks cloudy mess is dead algae....

[PoolDoc]

Ya gotta pick: if your pool guy is a "pretty honest guy" AND knowledgeable . . . trust him, and do what he says.

Otherwise, do what we say.

You can't do both.

The fact is, if he were both honest AND knowledgeable, he would have never told you to add both calcium and baking soda (alkalinity) to the same pool at the same time -- he wouldn't have even told you to add calcium at all!

Your pool guy is either:

• honest and ignorant (very common - the pool chemical companies train them to sell chemicals, not fix pool water!)
• dishonest and knowledgeable (not uncommon)
• dishonest and ignorant (fairly common)

If you want us to help you, go get a test kit, and find out what's in your water. And STOP dumping baking soda and calcium in your pool. You've ALREADY got a mess that's going to be hard to clean up!

Ben

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+ Get a cheap OTO (yellow drops) / phenol test kit, or if available at YOUR Walmart (check availability), get the HTH 6-way DROPS test kit, which is compatible with the Taylor K2006. Test the pool as soon and you can, and post the results. If you get the 6-way kit, ALSO test the water you FILL the pool with, especially if it's a well, and post THOSE results as well. (The HTH is the best available kit you're likely to find locally, but it's not the K-2006. It can only provide rough measurements chlorine levels above 5 ppm, and it measures "TOTAL" hardness, rather than "CALCIUM" hardness, which is not ideal.)

+ Having a good test kit makes pool care easier for EVERYONE, but is an ESSENTIAL tool for pools with problems. A good test kit means a kit that can test chlorine from 0 - 25 ppm, pH, alkalinity, calcium hardness, and stabilizer with reasonable accuracy. Test strips (AKA 'guess-strips' ) do NOT meet this standard. Some pool store testing is accurate; most is not. The ONLY way you'll know whether your pool store is accurate or bogus, is by testing accurately your own self. On the other hand, pool store 'computer' dosing recommendations are NEVER trustworthy -- ignore them. They are designed to sell more chemicals than you need, and WILL cause many pool problems.

+ We recommend the Taylor K-2006 test kit, which meets the requirements above, for many reasons. The HTH 6-way drops kit is a great starter kit, and is compatible with the K2006 (it's made by Taylor). There are a few alternatives; for example Lamotte makes an FAS-DPD kit that's OK -- but it costs 3x as much. But, we're not aware of any test that is better, and since we are all familiar with the K-2006 (and can help you with it) we recommend it exclusively ( Test kit info page )

One caution for the 2012 season: Amazon does not stock the kits directly. So when buying at Amazon, Amato is our current preferred seller. However, they often don't list enough stock to last the whole day, so try order mid-morning. You should expect a delivered cost under $60 for the K2006A and under $95 for the K2006C. If you can't find that, wait a day.

+ Here are links to the kits we recommend (you can check local availability on the HTH kit, using the Walmart link):

HTH 6-Way Test Kit @ Walmart
Taylor K2006A (3/4 oz bottles) @ Amazon
Taylor K2006C (2 oz bottles) @ Amazon

[mbar]

cbuchin, Your pool dealer is getting his information from the people who sell him the chemicals to put in his store. While he may not be aware of giving you any wrong information he is. You have to be careful of learning from someone who is selling you something. It is like I always say.... you can find a poll that matches your way of thinking - it is all about what questions you ask. It even goes as far as the salesmen are learning from the companies they sell for so they are believable because they are telling the truth as they know it. The thing about this forum is that the information is put here by people who have learned how chemistry affects swimming pools, and from experience. If you read through the forum you will see that we always ask for feedback on what worked and didn't work. The forum is a place that you can go to get information from regular people who have had pools and taken care of them for many years.

[cbuchin]

I tried the flok. First tried adding it as a filter aid since the filter didn't seem to be doing anything (pressure never goes up). Then, when that didn't work, got my chlorine up high and used the flok and waited two days, got it to settle to the bottom. But, when I vacuumed, all it did was stir everything up again. I waited overnight and it settled again and I vacuumed again. Once again, evrything got stirred up when I vacuum. Didn't want to leave the filter off any longer or the algae would retun. Very slight improvement. I can now see the bottom step.... Any other suggestion? Pool is a beautiful blue color, but opaque.

Also, I tried updating my profile with pool info, but can't save it....any thoughts.

I'll order a test kit today.

[mbar]

Did you vacuum to waste? You have to vacuum really slow to waste, then leave the filter off while you refil. Let it settle again and continue till clear

[cbuchin]

Yes, vacuumed to waste. I thought I was going very slowly.....just stirred it up with the slightest movement. My vac has bristles all around the edge, could that be the problem? If I try again do I need to add more floc? It's been filtering for several days now since I tried the vacuuming. Pool filter pressure doesn't go up at all. Water still blue/white and opaque.


How do you make a skimmer sock? I have lots of old stockings

[PoolDoc]

Eclipse sand filter? Is that the little round one? There's a fair chance you've lost quite a bit of your sand. If it's a side mount filter, it shouldn't be too hard to open the filter at the top, and check. If you are missing a lot of sand, the algae particles will go right on through the filter (and a skimmer sock won't help either!).

If you want to test your filter BEFORE opening, it, you can add some DE powder -- a couple of quarts -- via the skimmer. If the DE shoots back into the pool, your filter needs work!