Could use a little help!

[Watermom]

Diatomaceous earth (DE) is a white powder made from the fossilized remains of tiny, aquatic organisms called diatoms. It is the filter media used in DE filters. Many of us occasionally use it to help filter out the tiny stuff that the sand filter may not be able to catch. There is a thread with more info that may be helpful to you.

Adding DE to a Sand Filter

Are you using a Taylor K2006 kit? Can you tell us what your CC reading is? Have you done an overnight chlorine demand test?

[Aprilmaew]

Yes- my kit is Taylor k-2006. I've not done a CC because I wouldn't know what to do with that information. And I'm not sure what an overnight demand test is. Our CYA was extremely high last year (>200) I found that out when I couldn't hold chlorine and it led me here and I ordered my kit. When we opened the pool, our CYA was 0. I was worried about the ammonia? (waste products) caused from the algae if it ate all my CYA. However, the pool was partially drained and refilled right before closing last year. Before I added stabilizer, I verified the pool could hold 2 FC prior to adding stabilizer to make sure it wasn't full of waste products from eaten CYA. That was listed under one of the pool guides here.

[Watermom]

Go ahead and run the CC test and report your value. That can help us determine if your algae is all dead or if you are still fighting something in the water.

The overnight chlorine demand test is another way we determine if you are still fighting something. Test your chlorine this evening (also do the CC test at this time). Then, add bleach to get back to shock level (based on your CYA level -- look at the Best Guess Chlorine Chart in my signature). An hour or two later, retest the chlorine and make note of the reading. Then, in the morning within an hour of sunrise, recheck your chlorine. Report how much chlorine you lost overnight and if there is any CC reading.

Basically, you want to keep your chlorine high until you can do two things.
1. Go from sundown to within one hour of sunup without losing more than 1ppm of chlorine
2. Have no more than 0.5ppm of CC.

Once those two conditions are met, we usually advise keeping chlorine high for one additional day and then let it drift down and keep it between the minimum and maximum per the Best Guess Chart.

[Aprilmaew]

Right now FC 5.5 and CC 0.5. I will do an overnight demand test tonight.

[Watermom]

Good deal. And, keep your pump going 24/7 while you are trying to clear the pool. The chlorine will kill the algae but it is the filter that will remove it from the pool.

[Aprilmaew]

Last night: FC 15 and CC 0.5. This morning: FC 10 CC 0. It did rain a little last night so I don't know if that would affect the results. It wasn't a heavy rain, just a light drizzle for a few mins.

[Watermom]

Did you run your pump for awhile before you tested to make sure the rain water was mixed in and you were not just testing the top layer --- rain water? I'd go ahead and keep the chlorine high again today since you showed a drop of 5ppm and also, keep running the pump.