First test readings of season

[michael3]

To start off with, I messed up big time. I didnt cover my pool in the fall and we started with a frog pond, yes we had frogs. I didnt have the reagents to test my water and I never got by a pool store for them to test it. I started dumping bleach and plenty of it, got the water to a grey color for a short time, then it went green again. I thought surely I cant have any cya in the water so I dumped a 3 lb container in yesterday. I got some reagents today, my numbers were FC 20.5 CC 1.5 TC 22. PH 6.8 ALK 120 and the shocker, tested 2 times CYA 55-60. I stopped the pump and backwashed for 3+ minutes, I figure the CYA may still go up some? I havent added any bleach today so Im scared to think how high I got it yesterday. THe pump has been running 3 days straight 24/7 Im brushing and vaccuming 2 times a day. Water is still light green/ and very cloudy. Sorry for the long post, but just hoping to slowly see some improvement. We have a 24' above ground pool with 1.5 hp pump and 200 lb sand filter

[sunlove]

It can take a couple of weeks to turn swamp into swimmable. It's so much easier to keep it clean than to clean up a swamp-- been there done that Why did you add 3lb of CYA? And yes CYA does take a few days to fully dissolve, ideally you should add a small amount, and wait a few days before testing... much better to undershoot it.. Good luck and be patient it will get better if you keep at it.

[michael3]

I did the wrong thing and assumed since all the bleach I was adding wasn't helping, I figured there was little or no stabalizer. I jumped the gun without having tested the water.

[michael3]

ok, this morning I go out and test the water, its still the same light green color. I got a FC of 23 CC of barely 1. I didnt add any bleach yesterday after getting a FC of 20.5 and CC of 1.5 I do have one of them floating chlorine tablet containers in the water that has 2 3" trichlor pucks in it. With my stabalizer reading between 55-60 should I take this out? I guess the good news is the pool isnt rapidly consuming my chlorine and the CC came down.

[Charlie_R]

Yes, it would be better if you removed the puck.

Sine your pool is still a light green, keep your FC at the best guess level until you lose no FC overnight and CC ~<.5 and water is clear.

Not too shabby a recovery!

[BigDave]

I'd let the pucks dissolve then switch to unsabilized chlorine, Bleach or Cal-Hypo. CYA of 60 should be plenty.
Did you get a pH today? High FC can artificially raise pH reading but I'm concerned that the last report pH was 6.8.
You are on the right track to clean the pool.
Keep the FC above 20
Run the filter 24/7, backwashing as necessary (when pressure goes up 6-10 psi)
Test and adjust FC at least twice a day
Brush the walls and floor daily
Continue this regimen until one day after all these conditions are met:
The pool is clear.
It loses less than 1 ppm FC from sunset to sunrise.
There is 0 or nearly 0 CC (less than one drop)

The BBB method of clearing a swamp: Bleach Bleach Bleach, Brush Brush Brush

Sorry, Charlie_R and I were posting at the same time - similar advice though.

[michael3]

Thanks BigDave, yes ph is still showing 6.8, and I read a post earlier where Ben had said when you use alot of trichlor that the ph could actually be much lower than the 6.8 the test is showing, basically the test is showing atleast 6.8 I had put probably about 12 of the 1 lb shock granual bags in the pool over the past 3 weeks. I found some liquid chlorine at Home Depot says it is 10% bleach its called liqui-shock. SO should I continue adding borax till I get that ph test up or will it test correctly with FC so high? Whats so bad is that I knew better than to add all that granual shock, but I assumed my cya was much lower. How long should I wait before I test the cya again to see if it has climbed any from the pucks, and I did remove them.

[BigDave]

What's in the granular shock?
Borax is a good way to raise pH and I would most certainly raise the pH of this pool. Do you have a K-2006? You can get a good idea how much Borax you'll need using the Base demand test. It'll take more Borax than Soda Ash. Start with half the calculated amount, let it dissolve / mix for a few hours then test again. You do, however want to get the pH into the readable range of the test as soon as you can.

[michael3]

The granular shock was the aqua chem shock xtra blue, says 63% dichlor, .26% copper, 36% other. the test kit I have is an old PS233 from Ben years ago, I have new reagents and it has always worked well for me

[BigDave]

I would avoid using any more of that shock. Copper is not a good thing to have in a pool. Dichlor is fine when the pool needs more CYA and lower pH - this is not really the case here.
I don't think the PS-233 had Acid / Base demand test (pretty sure Ben felt these tests encourage "one huge dose" adjustments). So... Add some Borax, let it dissolve / mix, test again.