having trouble with a cloudy pool

[PoolDoc]

#2 - I trust BioGuard no further . . . no, I don't trust them at ALL. But, I don't know that kit. Probably, the pH, TA, and CH measurements are OK. But, only the K2006 (or a MUCH more expensive LaMotte) kit has the FAS-DPD test that accurately measures chlorine above 5.0 ppm. And, the Taylor CYA test is more accurate than most wet CYA tests (and ALL test-strips). If you're not on a tight budget, please go ahead and get the K2006. Among other things, it makes it easier for us to help you, since we can have some confidence in the testing. That said, if you do get it, I'd love to have you run side-by-sides with the BioGuard kit.

#3 Where does the KK attach? (But, if the pool is clean, go ahead and take it out)

#5 There are 4 types of chlorine widely available to consumers: trichlor (tabs, etc.), dichlor (granular), bleach (aka liquid chlorine), and cal hypo (granular, also occasionally tabs). The first two add stabilizer roughly as fast as they do chlorine; the second two have no stabilizer, but cal hypo adds calcium rapidly.

#7 In a 50k gal pool, 1 gallon of 8% bleach adds about 1.7 ppm of chlorine. The jugs mostly sold now are a little less than a gallon, so figure 1.5 ppm per jug.

Do an overnight test: 4 gallons in the late evening; test 1 hour later, than again first thing in the morning. If little chlorine is lost overnight, then your chlorine loss problem = no/low stabilizer. Of course, this test is much more useful if you have the K2006.

In any case, it's best to dose in the PM, then in the AM. That way you can be sure the chlorine has 8+ hours to work, without being affected by sunlight.

[adambeazley]

I went ahead and purchased the k2006, and I will be happy to run a side by side test for ya, its the least I could do for all of this help.

The KK attaches under the basket in either one of my two Aqua Genie skimmers. I also have two sets of jets on either side of my stair (4 total).

The chlorine I'm using (concentrated bleach) has 8.25% available chlorine and is just a hair under a gallon (.97 gallons). Should I be using the 1.7 ppm number due to the 8.25%?

I "believe" I have good levels of stabilizer (somewhere between 30-50), but then again that's the varying readings I've been getting with those darn strips... Ill await the arrival of the k2006 and get a accurate reading.

Thanks for the help.

[Watermom]

The jugs I buy (Walmart generic 8.25%) are 121 oz so roughly 0.95 gallons. In a 50K pool, each of these jugs will add 1.6ppm of chlorine.

If you find that you have only 30ppm of CYA, you'll want to bump it up. I'd go up to at least 50. It's awfully hard to keep chlorine in a pool on hot sunny days with a CYA of only 30. One of the gals who used to help moderate on this forum also lives in Louisiana. She deliberately kept her CYA around 80 I think (if I am remembering correctly) because otherwise she had trouble maintaining adequate chlorine levels. A plus of a higher CYA is that you don't have to dose as often with bleach.

Regarding your question about why Borax instead of baking soda --------- Borax will raise pH without affecting Alk much.

Good decision to buy the kit. You won't regret it!

[adambeazley]

ok, so I got my taylor testing kit in and just went out and ran a few tests...

Something apparently got into the strainer and died, so my PH was below 7.0 or right at it. Just dumped 4lbs of borax into the water.

Now the thing that is confusing me is the CYN Acid test... I filled up the little bottle to the 7ml mark, added the R-0013 and mixed for 30 seconds, but the water never turned cloudy. I squirted the mixture into the small tube with the black dot, but the dot never "disappeared" when viewing t through the water from the top... Does this mean that my CYN levels are way too low?

Im heading on vacation today, the pool is starting to turn green again... what shoudl I do before leaving to help clear this up? dump a bunch of powder shock to get the CYN levels up?

[PoolDoc]

1. Your CYA test result = 15 ppm CYA *or* less (probably, zero).

2. It's too late to try to adjust chems.

3. If you're leaving today, see if you can get http://pool9.net/polyquat/ some polyquat algaecide locally. If you can, add 4x the normal algae dose, and put your filter on BYPASS or recirculate. (The filter tends to remove it).

4. Alternatively, add 1 gallon of PLAIN 8% bleach per 10,000 gallons of water AND put 1 or 2 'floaters' filled with chlorine tabs into the pool.

Good luck!

[Watermom]

But, make sure the trichlor tabs do NOT have copper in them.

[adambeazley]

ok I am back from vacation. While I was gone my mom was feeding my dogs and she dumped 1 powder super shock every day while i was gone (gave those instructions to he before seeing the responses above). It also apparently rained and flooded around here, so my pool got totally topped off and is still at the overflow drain hole, so the CYN I was hoping to get from those CYN shocks did not even register on the tests I just took tonight.
PH: 7.6
TA: 90 ppm
Calcium Hardness 110 ppm
FC: 0
CYN: 0

Just dumped 6 gallons of bleach to shock it because its green again (darn frogs). also put a couple of trichlor pucks in the strainers. About to head to the store to get some CYN and some more bleach, now that I have the time to truly shock treat it!!!

any tips at this point?

[PoolDoc]

I should have been promoting these videos more; watch them, especially the CYA (not: CYN) test, and see if you did it correctly. If you did, you have no stabilizer.

http://pool9.net/tk-guide/
http://pool9.net/tk-interfere/

Also, post your pool dimensions. You entered your address, so I looked at your pool. Scaling off Google Maps photos is not very accurate, but your pool does not appear to be a 50k pool . . . so I can't figure doses for you. It looks like a 20x40 short L, but those are typically 30,000 gallons (20 x 40, 3.5 water depth in shallow, 8.5 water depth in deep)

However, if you've got algae, 6 gallons of 8% bleach is not enough for a 50k pool and barely enough for a 30k pool.