Checking to make sure I'm on the right track!

[lauraleellbp]

First off, thanks so much for all the info and resources posted on this forum; I'm a fairly new pool owner (about a year now) and have learned a TON just reading around on the forum in the short time I've been here.

Rundown of my pool (I did complete the pool chart a few days ago, BTW):

~17,000 gal plaster inground pool, built 1979
-Currently running 1 hp Utilitech pump with Pentair Sta-Rite Posiflow cartridge filter (ugh)
-In the process of upgrading to a Hayward DE3600 DE filter purchased off craigslist and currently refurbishing, hope to start installation this weekend
-Debating adding a Pentair inline chlorinator due to constant chlorine demand; high temps, tons of evaporation, lots and lots of rain (I live in Tampa, FL and we're entering the rainy season. I will get rain every afternoon/evening.)

The context:

Last year I did great with the pool. Had a few algae blooms, but nothing a shock or two didn't quickly knock out. Stayed on top of the pH and chlorine and regular maintenance (had never heard of CYA till I came here). I've been using the pool products sold by Home Depot and Lowes; whatever brands they happened to be carrying whenever I was low/out.

This year I'm working a new job with an irregular schedule and consequently my pool maintenance has suffered greatly. As soon as it got hot a few weeks ago (pool temps went from 60s to high 70s in a few days), my pool turned green and I've been fighting with it since. Bottom line- haven't been able to keep chlorine in it. I'd add as much as 3-4 lb of shock and still read 0ppm by the following morning.

As an avid aquarium hobbyists, I know *some* things about water chemistry, and also have an innate strong skepticism of anything told to me by owners of stores who want to sell me products... until they've earned my trust. (Don't even get me started on all the misinformation peddled by the Big Box pet stores... LOL) So anyways, consulting with Leslies or Pinch a Penny etc hasn't ever been an appealing option to me.

Due to the small fortune I've spent so far this year on chlorine/shock and my struggle/inability to stay on top of regular maintenance, I started researching online about automated chlorination (started off looking at SWCGs and now think an inline chlorinator *might* be a better decision for me), and that brought me here.

I've been reading and I *think* digesting the BBB method. At this point my pool has consumed about 20gal of 8.25% bleach (!!) in the past 2 weeks, and (until today) still hadn't haven't been able to get it to hold chlorine from day to day, so I bought a Taylor kit (I had been using just a standard OTO kit) to get a better picture of what's going on. Started using the kit last week.

As I suspected, my CYA was 0. pH and kH were also low. SOOO I bought KemTek bichlor off of Amazon per the link here, borax and baking soda and yet more bleach from WallyWorld, started working with all of these this weekend, and here's where I sit as of this morning:

Pool has gone from an opaque swampy green last weekend to a cloudy light blue-green today. PROGRESS!

-CYA 70 (yayyy!!!)
-FC 9 ppm (also yayyy!!! This is the FIRST time this season that I've tested significant amounts of chlorine 24 hours after adding it.) I just added 1 cup 8.25% bleach to keep shock levels. I work this evening so won't be able to test again till tomorrow morning.
-CC 0.5 ppm (down from 2 ppm last Saturday)
-pH 7.0 on Taylor, 6.8 on OTO kit, so probably lower (I need to dig out my aquarium kit lol) I'd used a box of borax and brought the pH to 7.6 before I added the bichlor, so I guess the bichlor brought it back down?
-kH 225 ppm (I did my baking soda math wrong and added WAY too much... oops!! I'm aerating with the swimout jets as I type)
-pool temps have been running in the mid to high 80s, and we've gotten a TON of rain over the past week.

My plan- keep the chlorine at shock levels till there is no more green in the water, and see if WallyWorld is back in stock with borax (I bought the only/last box this weekend lol) so I can bring the pH back up once I've aerated the kH back down.

Also cleaning the bleeping cartridge filter every day/every other day till I can get the new DE filter installed.

SO- clean, test, add bleach, test, probably add borax in a few days.

Am I missing anything?

[lauraleellbp]

Yesterday ~noon:

FC 3 ppm - added 1 gal 8.25% bleach
CC 0 ppm
pH 7.2
kH still 225 ppm

Tonight ~1:00 am (just got home from work so readings a little iffy due to it being dark out. Only used the OTO kit):

pH 7.6
chlorine 2ppm- added 2 gal 8.25% bleach (I think that's around 20 ppm FC if I'm doing the math right?)

[Watermom]

It sounds like you are making progress! Keep your chlorine at shock level and run your pump 24/7 while you are working to clear it.

On a 17K pool, 2 gallons of 8.25% bleach will only add about 9.7ppm of chlorine, not 20. Were they gallons? Most bleach is sold in 121-oz. jugs which is more like 0.95 gallons. If that is what you used, it would have added about 9.2 gallons. (For future reference and to help you figure out doses, in 17K gallons, each quart of 8.25% bleach will add 1.2ppm and one of the 121-oz jugs will add about 4.6ppm.)

(By the way, no need to use the 'report post' button to alert us to see a post. Especially at 1:49 a.m.! We will definitely see it when we come back online. Thanks.)

[lauraleellbp]

Yep, you're correct, I'm using 121oz jugs. And apparently I just have a faulty memory; I just realized I'd done the math last weekend to figure out I'd need approx 2 jugs to get to about 10 ppm of chlorine, and then promptly forgot! Which explains why the pool has turned greener again in the past 2 days, I've only been adding 1/2 the chlorine I need!

So back to WallyWorld for me tonight since I used the last of my bleach last night. Glad they're open 24 hours...

Question- where do I need to keep my pH in order to break up and degas the excess kH? The pH has been climbing pretty quickly.

(And sorry- I truly wasn't expecting a reply in the middle of the night, just wasn't sure I'd put this thread in the right forum to start off with. I guess I didn't since you moved it, thanks. )