Test Results are in :(((

[MattinAZ]

Hi

I have a 10,000 gal inground fresh water pool. Purex Clean and Clear 320 Cartridge type filter. 1 hp pump, also a connected (discharges to the pool) 1000 gal spa. Pump runs 8 hours a day , since I am in Southern Arizona, it is hot and sometimes afternoon rains, I feel may be I should run it for longer periods

The pool has been resurfaced Pebble tec about 2 years ago and restarted by the resurfacing company. Initially a pool guy was taking care of it. However since his service has deteriorated day to day we started to taking care by ourselves. I bought a bucket of tablets from Sam's club and kept the pool in good order for another year or so. However recently I have realized that it started to take more tablets just to keep the pool clean.

I have a 3 way HTH test kit from walmart and used it to test the Ph, Chlorine and one more thing i guess.

Anyway long story shot, this summer went for a vacation and when we return we have a green pool. Actually before we left it was greenish and cloudy (we were already giving up on it) and after finding this forum I started dumping Walmart Chlorox into the pool about the rate of 5 gallons a week or every ten days or so.

When I returned from vacation I added Chlorine tablets (3 inch) it started clearing a little bit but (we started to see the bottom of the pool at the shallow sections) still very green and I can see insects all over.

Yesterday I took a sample of the water and took it to Walmart as they now have an HTH machine which tests the strip that you dip in your sample. And my test results are ;


Free Chlorine 0 ppm
Alkalinity 80 ppm
pH 7.8
Hardness 800 ppm
CYA 200 ppm


So not looking good I guess.

As far as I understood from this forum for excessive CYA levels we need to discharge and refill the pool and I am OK with that. I am on a budget ( read I do not want to be robbed by the pool guy, they asked $ 300 just to discharge and refill the pool, using my own power and water, basically he is renting the submersible pump to me for that price, unbelievable !!!) so it will be a DIY job.

I want to buy new cartridges for the filet, on the net and at local branch of well known Pool Supply Chain they run about $ 69 each I need 4 of them.

Here are my questions, those probably have been asked before but please bear with me as I am trying to learn how to do this thing scientifically. and since this will be a start from scratch I want to do it right this time.


- I guess I need a better test kit, or is the HTH machine at local Walmart OK

- Is there a better place on the web to get the supplies at more reasonable prices, which stores other members are using to get supplies, chlorine tablets etc.

- Anything I need to do when the pool is empty ( I am planning to brush the walls with some mild detergent and clean the pop ups)

- After I discharge the pool what do I need to restart the pool. Walmart sells some HTH restart kit, but I want to do this the correct way by testing the water and adding chemicals as needed, however do not want to miss a step in the beginning. I think this is an important step to a happy and healthy pool.

Thanks very much

Matt

[Watermom]

You have to be careful completely draining a pool so it doesn't pop out of the ground like a big boat. I'm assuming in Arizona the water table is extremely low so this probably is not an issue for you but wanted to throw it out there just in case.

I wouldn't use any type of sudsing detergent to clean the walls with. Any leftover residue and you'll have a pool full of bubbles! You can scrub it with baking soda.

When you do refill it, you can use our Super Simple Start-up Recipe which is ideal for a freshly filled pools. You can read about it here:> http://pool9.net/ssr/

You also need a good test kit. Test strips are pretty worthless. The kit we like is the Taylor K2006 or 2006C (better buy) that you can get through this link as it is very doubtful that you'll find it anywhere locally:> http://pool9.net/tk/

By the way, the reason your CYA got so high was from the trichlor tabs. Using the dichlor in the start-up recipe will add the needed CYA as well as chlorine so don't use any more tabs. When your CYA gets to around 50 or so, discontinue the dichlor and then go with just bleach.

If you don't want to use the recipe, you can just use bleach from the get-go but you'll have to add some CYA separately. If this is the route you would rather take, let us know and we'll figure out how much CYA you need to add.

This link has a chart that explains the connection between CYA and chlorine:> http://pool9.net/cl-cya/

Hope this helps. Let us know if you have further questions and someone here will be glad to help.

[Pappy]

First thing is to get the test kit and verify your numbers. If your CYA is really 200 ppm, drain and refill might be the best way to go. There are some on this forum that run high CYA , but around 100 ppm is the highest I've heard.

Many Home depot locations have a tool rental department. If there is one close to you, they'll rent you a 2" submersible pump and hoses for WAY less than $300 (you might be able to BUY one of their used ones for less than $300).
http://www6.homedepot.com/tool-truck...ble_2/0009112/

You might want to drain only 1/2 or 3/4 of the water instead of a complete drain. Then you'll have your CYA and can switch to bleach for your chlorine source.

Good luck!

Pappy

[dubbedout]

Everyone has already added all the important information as far as getting a good test kit. I had to drain my pool last season and also in AZ. I went to Home Depot and rented the submersible pump as recommended above, they'll give you as much hose as you need for no extra charge as well. I also picked up a cheap power washer from Harbor Freight and sprayed the sides down as the water went down. You can also notify your water company (Town of Gilbert here) and let them know when you refill and they'll cut you a break on water usage. I didn't even notice a difference on my bill when I refilled.

[PoolDoc]

Hi

I have a 10,000 gal inground fresh water pool. Purex Clean and Clear 320 Cartridge type filter. 1 hp pump, also a connected (discharges to the pool) 1000 gal spa. Pump runs 8 hours a day , since I am in Southern Arizona, it is hot and sometimes afternoon rains, I feel may be I should run it for longer periods

I want to buy new cartridges for the filter

Here's what you want

Unicel C-7470 Replacement Filter Cartridge Clean and Clear Plus
Filbur FC-1976
Pentair OEM R173573

Get one of these three -- a GENUINE "Unicel", "Filbur" or Pentair OEM cartridge, and NOT anything else. Currently, my preference is for the Unicel, but the current (Aug 5, 2014) Filbur price on Amazon is a terrific deal. Watch out for the Pentair -- the Amazon description is all messed up, and they may not be shipping the correct item. By the way, either Unicel or Filbur MAKE most of the OEM cartridges for Hayward, Jandy, and Pentair.

Yesterday I took a sample of the water and took it to Walmart as they now have an HTH machine which tests the strip that you dip in your sample. And my test results are ;

Free Chlorine 0 ppm
Alkalinity 80 ppm
pH 7.8
Hardness 800 ppm
CYA 200 ppm

I'd love it if, once you have a K2006, you could compare the results from the K2006 with the Walmart strip reader.

[MattinAZ]

Thanks for all the replies.

Here is the preparations so far

- Ordered K-2006 from Amazon - Once I receive the kit ( hopefully this Friday) will retest to compare results with HTH-Walmart machine and put it on this thread.
- Ordered Filbur Cartridges from Amazon - thanks for heads up @PoolDoc
- Will rent submersible pump from Rent-All here in Tucson cost $ 27 per day but i'll pick it up on Saturday and return on Monday for the same price, so it is two days effectively. I may as well rent a pressure washer as suggested.

i'll buy the diChlor. Found it at Sams club (Pool Brand), they sell 24 packs (it says one pouch will treat 10,000 gallons ?) for 58.98. My questions are
- do I need 24 packs or shall I go for smaller ? if yes what are the commercial names for example does HTH have it ?
- do you place the contents in the strainer or just throw in the pool ?

Will get Borax from Local Walmart

Looks like thats all I need for the start up then if needed I may get the Muratic Acid from HD or Lowes

Anything else I may need to start up the pool ?


Here are some pictures



.

[Pappy]

If your CYA is really 200 ppm, you will need to dilute your pool water to get readable results. Carefully measure and mix 1 cup of pool water with 1 cup of tap (your drinking water will have no CYA in it) or distilled water. Double the reading you get. You may need to add 2 cups of tap/distilled water to 1 cup pool water to get a useful reading, if so, multiply the reading by 3. There are some videos on the test kit you should watch before you start testing. I don't have the links right now, but I'll find them.


Are you going to do a complete drain and refill? If you're doing a partial drain & refill, you don't need the dichlor. If your pool's pH tends to drift down, like mine, you may never need MA.

Pappy

[PoolDoc]

I'd hang on to the dichlor, unless you do a drain and refill. Dichlor adds 9 ppm of stabilizer for every 10 ppm of chlorine.

Instead dose with PLAIN bleach, at the rate of 2 gallons of PLAIN 8% household bleach for each 10k gallons of water in your pool. Even if you're going to drain, you don't want your pool to get totally swampy. Add 2 gallons EACH evening until you drain, or until the algae is all gone.

[Pappy]

Here's the thread with the test kit videos,

http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthr...eos-on-YouTube

Good luck!

[MattinAZ]

If your CYA is really 200 ppm, you will need to dilute your pool water to get readable results. Carefully measure and mix 1 cup of pool water with 1 cup of tap (your drinking water will have no CYA in it) or distilled water. Double the reading you get. You may need to add 2 cups of tap/distilled water to 1 cup pool water to get a useful reading, if so, multiply the reading by 3. There are some videos on the test kit you should watch before you start testing. I don't have the links right now, but I'll find them.


Are you going to do a complete drain and refill? If you're doing a partial drain & refill, you don't need the dichlor. If your pool's pH tends to drift down, like mine, you may never need MA.

Pappy

Today I have received my Taylor K2006 test kit I bought from Amazon.
I have tested the CYA levels. On a 50% diluted sample (as suggested by Pappy) CYA Level was 100 which corresponds to 200.

Looks like HTH machine result is confirmed. I decided to go ahead drain the pool. Both chlorine and ph and bromium levels are high too as I was adding 10 % bleach to get rid of the algae in any case.

So tomorrow is the big day. Will discharge the pool, power wash and fill up. For a 10,000 gal pool to bring the CYA levels to required 50 ppm what do I need to do ?

I still have some 3 inch trichlor tablets if I am to use them approximately how many tablets I would need before switching to use bleach? Is there a rule of thumb ? Or shall I hold off using tablets and start with bleach or some other product ?