Taking Over Care for a Pool - Need Help

[poolie]

Hello,

I'm taking over care of the family pool after my father passed. Unfortunately, I didn't retain much of the pool stuff he shared with me so I'm coming at this pretty green. We have an in-ground pool, 19000 gallons, we have an Autoclear ACL-14 salt to chlorine converter, and will post back later today on what the make and model of filter and pump.

Basically, the problem now is two things - the low salt light is on the salt/chlorine converter and when I did a test on the unit it reported code 91 which means low salt and a couple of other things. In the past, I remember dumping at least 3-4 bags of salt in the pool. Can't remember if this was every year, but so far this year I don't think anymore salt has been added. The company my mom is using to test the water says there's plenty of salt in the water. Can I test this with a test kit myself so I don't have to rely on them.

Secondly, the pool was getting clear, but now today it's cloudy and green. I did kick up quite a bit of algea yesterday when I vacuumed the pool so hopefully that is what's causing the pool to be cloudy now.

Can anyone help me out? thanks

[Watermom]

Sounds like you need a good test kit! The one we recommend is the Taylor K2006 or 2006C (better buy). You won't be able to buy it locally but can get it (and also a good salt test kit) through this link:> http://pool9.net/tk/

In the meantime, go to Walmart and see if they have the HTH 6-Way drops-based kit (no test strips!) and get that. If they don't, get an OTO/Phenol Red kit (yellow and red drops) instead. Use it to test and then post your numbers. Also while you are at WallyWorld, get several jugs of their generic 8.25% bleach and a couple of boxes of 20 Mule Team Borax (laundry aisle).

--Tell us exactly what all you have added to the pool -- meaning ingredients and not just product names like 'shock.'
--Find out the info about your pump and filter.
--Turn off your SWCG right now and just use bleach for your source of chlorine while you are trying to clear this up. (It will save on the cell life of your unit.)

Repost with requested info and then someone here can try and help you.

(I'll let someone else help you with the issue with your SWCG.)

Welcome to the Pool Forum!

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[poolie]

Filter is Hayward C-800 Star Clear Filter. Pump is A.O. Smith Centurion Switchless Motor

Ordered one of the test kits you recommended and also found a test kit at my mom's.

Chlorine test didn't show any trace of chlorine
Ph was normal
Total Alkilinity test says I need to add 1 1/4 gallons of muriatic acid.

I'm starting to think there's not enough salt in the pool. The water doesn't taste nearly as salty as I remember it tasting when the pool was sparlking clear last year. The low salt code is on the salt to chlorine converter too.

Should I still go ahead with adding the bleach? Do I still need to get the other testing kits from walmart as well while I wait on the other test kit?

[Watermom]

You need some way to test until your other kit comes in so you should pick up something while you wait.

What did you use to test with today?

Yes to keep adding bleach. Did you add any this evening? If not, in the morning add 3 of the 121-oz bottles of bleach. Run the pump 24/7 and clean the filter as needed.

Tomorrow, try and pick up one of the cheap kits from Walmart so you can use that to test for now.

You may or may not be right about the amount of salt. But, for now, it doesn't really matter. Since you have algae, the SWCG should be off anyways and by the time you get the algae cleared up, hopefully your salt kit will arrive.

Edit -- by the way, did you order a K2006 AND a salt kit? You'll need both.

[poolie]

For testing yesterday I used:

Pentair Pool Products - Pool and Spa Test Kit
78Hr Tests for: Chrlorine, ph, Acid Demand, Alkalinity

I'm heading to Walmart to get the temp test kits and the bottles of bleach

I also ordered a salt kit (hadn't done that originally, thanks for the reminder!) last night and it should be here in the next couple of days as I had it shipped 2-day.

Thanks for the help on this, it is much appreciated!

[poolie]

Here are my results from the HTH 6-Way drops-based kit
Chlorine - trace amounts if any
Ph - between 7.2 and 7.5
Total Alkalinity - took nine drops to turn water color
Total hardness - initial water color was lavendar/purplish.Took 19 drops to turn blue
Cya - 55ppm

Just cleaned the filter and the droid. Added 3 121-oz bottles of bleach as recommended. Do I need to do anything with the 20 Mule Team Borax?

[poolie]

Also, I assume it is not advisable to swim with the bleach in the pool?

[Watermom]

Your pH is fine. Anywhere between 7-8 is ok, so you don't need the Borax for now. It is used to raise pH. Put it on a shelf and keep it dry and you'll have it if you need it. A note about pH: With the 6-way kit, you will not get an accurate pH reading if the chlorine is higher than 5ppm. With the K2006 kit, the pH test is accurate with chlorine readings up to 10ppm. So, any time that you need to test your pH when your chlorine is higher than these values, you'll have to dilute your sample first by taking 1/4 cup of pool water and mixing it with 1/4 cup of distilled water. Then, test that mix in the normal manner.

On the TA and CH tests, you multiply the number of drops by 10. So, your TA is 90 which is good and your CH is 190 which is also fine.
(By the way, I forgot to ask before, is your pool vinyl or fiberglass or gunite?)

CYA of 55 is great right where it is so don't use any stabilized forms of chlorine which will cause it to go higher. (No dichlor shock nor trichlor pucks.) Now that we know your CYA level, it will help us to better be able to advise you as to how high you need to shock your pool. Take a look at the chart at this link that explains the relationship between CYA and Chlorine:> http://pool9.net/cl-cya/
(Don't test your CYA anymore at this point. No need to as it doesn't change unless something with CYA in it is added and you'll just be wasting test reagents.)

So, this evening when you test, you'll want to add enough bleach to take your chlorine up to 15ppm. For reference and to help you figure out needed doses, in your pool, each quart of 8.25% bleach will add about 1ppm and each of the 121-oz jugs will add about 4ppm. You'll want to continue to keep your chlorine at shock level until you meet three criteria:

1) You lose no more than 1ppm of chlorine from sundown one evening to within an hour or so of sunrise the next morning
2) You have no greater than 0.5ppm of CC. (Your 6-way kit can't test this, but your K2006 kit will be able to.)
3) Your pool is clear

At that point, we typically recommend keeping the chlorine high for one additional day for added insurance and then let it drift down and turn on your SWCG.

It is perfectly fine to swim with bleach in the pool. It is nothing more than chlorine. In fact, many of us (me included) use nothing but bleach for our source of chlorine. But, with chlorine at shock levels, you'll probably want to wear an old suit.

So, test pH and chlorine daily. Keep the chlorine high for now, brush the pool while the chlorine is high and run your pump 24/7 while you are working to clear the pool and clean your filter as needed.

You don't need to test TA and CH daily. Maybe test TA once every couple of weeks unless you notice your pH wandering around and test CH only if you use any cal-hypo or add any calcium. (Unless this is a gunite pool, don't. Only gunite pools need to maintain a calcium level. On vinyl and fiberglass, as long as the CH is not too high, you are fine.)

A link that may be helpful which shows how to interpret chlorine readings that are higher than the OTO chlorine tester can differentiate. http://pool9.net/oto-chart/
(Your K2006 will be able to read chlorine readings way higher than 5ppm which is the limit on an OTO test kit.)

Keep us posted on your progress and let us know if you have more questions.
(Remember to copy and paste links after you log out until your registration is completed.)

EDIT --- Just remembered ------ check your manual for your SWCG. Some of them have a required CYA level that you need in order for the unit to operate properly. So, it may be that you need your CYA level a little higher than 55. Let us know and we'll help you raise it if need be.

[poolie]

Great! Thank you for the help so far. I just checked the pool after adding the bleach around 11am CT and the color of the pool went from cloudy dark green to cloudy light blue. Chlorine levels are currently above 10ppm.

Bought some extra bleach just in case for later.

.

[Watermom]

Good deal. Test the chlorine again this evening and add enough bleach to shock it back up!