Re: Murky pool, tadpoles, and an inexperienced owner!
Yeah, we know the look! We've all gotten it before, too!Originally Posted by JV1980
Ignore the bromine column on your tester. You have a chlorine pool, no bromine. Also, don't bother retesting the CYA again for awhile. Until you add some, the reading isn't going to change and no need to waste the reagents.
I am estimating your volume to be around 15,600 gallons. In a pool this size, each quart of 8.25% bleach will add about 1.3ppm of chlorine and each of the 121-oz jugs will add around 5ppm. Chlorine levels are related to CYA levels which you can read about at this link:> http://pool9.net/cl-cya/
So, since you are showing no CYA, you'll want to shock up to around 10ppm, although honestly, since your pool is so green, I think I'd go up to 12-15. It isn't going to stay at that level for long as it will quickly be consumed killing algae. What you want to do is keep your chlorine level high until you have met three criteria:
1) You can go from sunup to sundown without losing more than 1ppm of chlorine.
2) You have no more than 0.5ppm of CC
3) Your water is clear.
Then, at that point, we advise holding the chlorine high for one additional day for added insurance and then you can let it drift down.
Your OTO kit won't read past 5ppm but you can use the color chart at this link to help decipher higher chlorine levels to help you judge where you want yours to be:> http://pool9.net/oto-chart/
(By the way, do yourself a favor and go ahead and order the Taylor K006 that I linked above. The 6-Way is ok to start out with since you can get your hands on it quickly but it can't compete with the K2006. It has the advantage of being able to test chlorine levels past 5ppm. It will also test CC readings which is another number that you need to know.)
Your most critical thing right now is getting your pH up! Readings below 7.0 are acidic and can damage your pool. The bad news is since your tester can't go below 6.8, it may be that your actual pH reading is way below 6.8! You need to add some Borax ASAP and get the pH up! Add a half a box at a time, wait a couple of hours, retest and keep redosing til you get above 7. Anywhere 7-8 is ok with the mid 7s usually being the best for most pools. You can add Borax directly into the skimmer (slowly!) while the pump is running, breaking up any clumps. One thing to be aware of --- your test kit cannot accurately measure pH when the chlorine is higher than 5ppm. So, either test the pH when the chlorine is 5 or less, or dilute your sample by mixing 1/4 cup pool water with 1/4 cup distilled water and then run the pH test with that mix.
It is also fine to add bleach and Borax one right after the other right through the skimmer. Some pool chemicals don't play nicely together if they come in contact with each other but for those two, it is fine.
If you want to bump your alk up a little, you can just use some baking soda. Add a lb at a time in the same way as the borax until you get into the 80-120 range. (Baking soda also plays nice with bleach and borax.)
You'll need to increase your CYA but let's do that after you get the swamp cleaned up.
Run your pump 24/7 while you are working to clear the pool and clean your filter as needed.
Hope this helps. Let us know if you have other questions and keep us posted of how things are going.
Isn't that the name of a song??
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