Need instructions on opening a pool

[littleHeidi]

Okay, I just got back from the "pool store". (And laughed all the way out. She tried selling me Calcium Hardness again for my VINYL pool. And when I questioned her about it she said "you still need it because it acts as a barrier for the machinery". WHATEVER!!!) Anyway, here's the results:

FC .1
TC .4
CC .3
pH 8.2
CYA 9
ALK 55 (adjusted alk was the same)


I added one more gallon of Clorox (all I had left until tomorrow) and put 2 tablets in the skimmer. (May as well used the darn things up since I wasted the money on a WHOLE bucket full of it!!) I also ordered some more stabilizer solution so I can test the CYA myself again.

I have a question. The sheet said my temp. was 85 but there's NO way!! It feels more like 55 or so to me. I know the car ride there must have altered it in the 10 minutes it took to get there. Would it also affect the other results any?

[littleHeidi]

One more thing, she didn't even say anything at all about the algae. Shouldn't she have been able to tell from the water that it had algae in it?

[SJohnson]

It'll be fine to use the tablets as you need to raise your cya level anyway, needs to be 30-50ppm. Your pH needs to come down to about 7.4-7.6 and the tablets will help that too, so I'd stick with the tablets and shocking with bleach, but don't pour the bleach anywhere near the tablets . . . The important thing here is just making sure you maintain chlorine at about 12 ppm, this may require testing the water everyday or maybe even twice a day. Add the bleach at night, test in the morning, get it back up to 12 ppm, then test later in the day and add enough to get back up to 12 ppm, repeat until the algae is gone or dead. Also bringing your Total Alkalinity level to around 100 - 120 will help keep your pH level a little more stable. You really need a titration or DPD-FAS test kit for testing higher levels of chlorine. That would make this process a whole lot easier for you. What are you testing with now? The pool store? I don't see how your FC could be .1 when you just added 4 gallons of bleach yesterday, is the pool getting full sun all day or something? . . .Hope this is helping . . .

SJohnson

[littleHeidi]

Yes, apparently it received quite a bit of sun that decreased it so much. I put the bleach in at the deep end jet away from the skimmer. I'm going tomorrow to get more bleach. How many jugs do you think I should buy? I recall last year a guy telling how to test the higher levels but I can't recall HOW he did it. Something about multiplying something by 10? I so hate that all the other data was destroyed. (Poor Ben!!) Maybe he'll read this and post the info again. I think it was pouring two of the tubes of test water into a glass and adding the drops or something. Janet may remember, she's quite the genius! So, should I deal with the alkalinity at the same time I'm trying to deal with the algae? I pulled up the calculator and according to it, I need to add 16.9 POUNDS of Borax??? Is that right? That'd be a little less than three boxes, correct?
Right now I only have the AquaChem test. It has seemed pretty darn accuarate so far. I only went to the pool store today because I was out of Stabilizer agent and needed that result. (I ordered some- for free!- early this morning and will receive it next week.)

[mwsmith2]

You are using the borax calc for the wrong purpouse. It's not for pH. Please read the borax calc page closely.

Michael

[littleHeidi]

You are using the borax calc for the wrong purpouse. It's not for pH. Please read the borax calc page closely.

Michael

Huh? I was testing how much I would have to add to raise the alkalinity, not the pH. I'm not worried about the pH right now. I just pulled the calculator up again and noticed the borax one. Didn't see it before because I was looking only for Alk and Cl. I read that it is only for controlling algae in the future. HOW would you know when to use that calculator? I guess I just don't "get" that one.


My bad, I got borax mixed up with baking soda again. If I understand correctly, borax raises JUST your pH while baking soda raises your alk AND pH. Correct?

[waterbear]

Huh? I was testing how much I would have to add to raise the alkalinity, not the pH. I'm not worried about the pH right now. Out of curiousity, where is the borax calc page?

Borax will not raise your carbonate alkalinity. For that you need baking soda! Borax will raise pH. The borax calc page is to calulate how much borax will provide 50 ppm which is supposed to act as an algae preventative. Unless your pool water is VERY acidic, that much borax all at once will probably drive your pH up to about 8.0 which is where the borate buffer system tends to stabilize.

[JohnT]

It's the algae that is consuming the chlorine. When you want to test high chlorine with a kit not designed for it, just add 3 parts distilled water to one part pool water, mix and test. Multiply your result by four.

[littleHeidi]

It's the algae that is consuming the chlorine. When you want to test high chlorine with a kit not designed for it, just add 3 parts distilled water to one part pool water, mix and test. Multiply your result by four.

THAT'S right!! Thank you so much. I couldn't remember exactly what the details were. I only have well water, will that work? Don't really have to worry about it at the moment because the cl isn't registering at all yet. But thank you for posting the instructions!!

[waterbear]

It's the algae that is consuming the chlorine. When you want to test high chlorine with a kit not designed for it, just add 3 parts distilled water to one part pool water, mix and test. Multiply your result by four.

Just be aware that you will lose accuracy in the process so consider those results more of a "ballpark figure".