When to admit defeat and start over?

[CarlD]

One thing to add is that if your FC number is correct, your TRUE pH is probably lower than 7.8, which is good. Watermom has it nailed.

[SpacemanSpiff]

Greetings all.
Our Unicel filters and Taylor K-2006 test kit arrived the other day.
I replaced the filter immediately. Didn't have a chance to test until now.

FC = 3.0
CC = .4
pH = 7.1
CYA = ~38

Note: We feel the CYA test is pretty subjective and depends a lot on incident light.
But we agreed it was around 38 when the black dot "disappeared".
We'll gladly accept hints for performing this test.

We haven't added any chemicals since my last post.
The water is still cloudy, but we can now see the squares pattern on the bottom.

Now what?

Um, just re-read Watermom's post about keeping FC ~15.
We failed.

[BigDave]

Not failed, but maybe losing. Get back on it. Persistence is key.

[SpacemanSpiff]

So, given our new numbers above, is there anything else we need do but get the FC to 15 and keep cleaning the filter?

[CarlD]

Couple of things:
1) 1 gallon of 8.25% bleach SHOULD add about 12ppm of FC to your pool
2) When you measure your FC and CC, use the 10ml line and not the 25ml line. You'll use up your reagents too fast and the .5 measure for each drop is more than accurate enough.
3) When measuring CYA do it the same way every time. I hold it at waist level and face into the sun. Then I spill the solution back into the squeeze bottle and do it again, at least once, sometimes twice, using the same solution until I'm satisfied I've gotten a good reading. The scale on the side is a log scale so halfway between 30 and 40 is NOT 35, it's less. Your guessing at "38" but it may be lower if it's not right on the "40" line.
4) If your FC is 3 and you add a gallon of 8.25% bleach to your pool you'll be (nominally) at 15.
5) You need to check and adjust your FC level at least 2x/day, preferably 3x until what you are fighting is dead. You CAN go a bit higher but may bleach the pool a bit.

[SpacemanSpiff]

Thanks, this helps a lot.
Will report back in a few days.
Hopefully with good news.

[Watermom]

Only one tweak to the good advice Carl gave you. When you test CYA, you want the sun at your back.

[SpacemanSpiff]

Only one tweak to the good advice Carl gave you. When you test CYA, you want the sun at your back.

Thanks, Watermom.

In order to get a definitive answer, I asked the Director of Education @ Taylor Technologies, Wayne Ivusich, and he was gracious enough to pass along this bit of information:

"the "correct" way to test for anything (not just CYA but for all the other tests, especially color-matching) is to NOT face the Sun. The Sun will alter you eyes' ability to match colors. The Sun should be behind you or on your shoulders. Never face the Sun. If it's an overcast day then it kinda doesn't matter!"

You might want to put that in a sticky as Taylor's Instruction Manual doesn't address it.

I don't know if we'll ever get our pool clear, but I'm certainly enjoying all the conversations about it.
There's some nice people in this business.

[PoolDoc]

Honestly, if you're not clear yet, you may want to consider draining, refilling, and then following the SSR (http://pool9.net/ssr/)

I've ofter said in the past that pools are not that hard, but that they aren't forgiving, either. That's doubly true with the soft-side pools, like the Intex. With the seriously undersized pumps and filters that can just barely keep up with a normal, there's simply no extra capacity for cleaning a mess.

If you have a cartridge filter, do make sure you get the Unicel cartridges, before you start up. Those seem to make quite a bit of difference.

[Watermom]

Honestly, if you're not clear yet, you may want to consider draining, refilling, and then following the SSR (http://pool9.net/ssr/)

Yeah, that's kinda what we thought and advised him up in post #2 in this thread. Especially since he said it would only cost $47 to do so!

I don't know if we'll ever get our pool clear, but I'm certainly enjoying all the conversations about it.
There's some nice people in this business.

That's nice of you to say but......... we want you to get it clear so you can enjoy swimming. After all, that's what having a pool is all about!