Newbie needs advice....so confused

[Watermom]

I am definitely not the metal expert on the forum, but I do know that you don't want to shock if you have metal in your water as it can fall out and stain your pool. (Reread Marie's post above - #4.)

[AndieP]

My supplier has been having me shock with chlorine shock all along

So it sounds as if until I get a metal out that I should just add a small amount of bleach to at least have something in the water to sanitize or maybe just do nothing and hope the 0.2 copper is enough to keep the algae at bay. Am I even remotely on the right track?

[mbar]

I think you would be fine to get your chlorine up t without any problems, I would do this right away. If you keep your ph low, no higher than it is now,( 7.2 would be better) use bleach and take the chlorine up slowly. One gal of 6% should take you up about 2ppms at a time. I don't think with copper at .2 would cause staining now, especially if you are fighting algae. It is more important to get rid of the algae now, even if you get a few stains they can be taken care of. You can swim in your pool with stains, you can't swim with algae! Since you have no cya I would put a puck in the skimmer - this will also help to have the water hit the chlorine puck on it's way to the filter so that if metal does fall out of the water it will land on the filter first. Don't put a puck in the skimmer if you have a cartridge filter. Let me know if you have any questions.

[AndieP]

Thank you Marie for your input. Just to make sure I am clear on your instructions...

So with 0.2 copper level you think it is OK to go ahead with the conversion process w/o a metal sequester? When you say I would be OK to go ahead and raise chlorine level are you saying all the way to 10ppm since at this point I don't have any CYA? And you mentioned to raise it slowly...so how long should I wait between adding each gallon to raise it in 2ppm increments? I don't think we have algae right now but last night the water was clear and I could see the bottom. This morning it is still a clear color but cloudy...I can't see the bottom in the deep end.

I will add a puck to the skimmer (sand filter) to increase CYA. Should I just use the pucks to increase the CYA or try to go buy a product to increase it?

Lastly, once I get to 10ppm I should keep it there until it holds from pm to am? At that point I would be through the conversion process and could let it drop to whatever ppm indicated by the CYA level?

Sorry for all the questions, I'm just tired of relying on the pool supplier for what has been questionable advice to this point and really want to be able to understand and do this on my own.

Thanks again!
Andrea

[mbar]

If possible, get a metal sequesterer - you can find them anywhere that sells pool chemicals - some will say "stain and scale preventor", others will say metal out, or metal free. If not, I would still raise my chlorine up to 10, it will clear up your water and not let any algae take over. Usually cloudy water means something is starting. If you can find stabalizer (cya) go ahead and put it in your pool, use a third of what they say, and don't test for it for a week - it takes that much time for it to show up sometime. Keeping the puck in the skimmer will give you some protected chlorine during sunlight, but you must test often as the sun will eat up the chlorine really fast without cya in the water, leaving you open for the algae. Consistancy is the most important thing. I would add a gal of bleach every hour or so till you reach 10 (which will take you all day). Then make sure after sundown you check and add bleach till you hit 10, and again before you go to sleep. The chlorine will continue to go down if it is fighting something even after the sun goes down. That is the way you can know that the algae is gone - the chlorine will hold overnight (no sun to eat the chlorine). After you hold your chlorine overinght, then you can let the chlorine drop to the level according to the cya.

1. Put puck in skimmer
2. Add bleach (not in skimmer) at return jets 1 jug per hour till you reach 10ppm
3.backwash filter
4. Add cya
5. test often, taking chlorine up to 10ppm
6. Keep filter running 24/7
7. Have patience! Your water will clear!

[AndieP]

Thanks again Marie for mapping it out for me step by step.

I went to get bleach and pucks to start putting some stabilizer in the water but all Walmart had was HTH pucks that had copper added in them as an algaecide. Do I want that? I am trying to get away from putting copper in the water not add more. Are there pucks that don't have copper in them? I am thinking I might be better off to just order some stabilizer online.

I also decided I would check my calcium level since you asked about it earlier.....I tested it twice and both times came up with 100! The pool dealer kept telling me my calcium level was fine ....isn't 100 too low for a concete/plaster pool (which appears to have been painted too before we moved here)?

I haven't added anything yet b/c I just today had a chance to go get bleach and we are also dealing with trying to find a leak

Do I need to increase the calcium before adding bleach/stabilizer?

[Poconos]

If you go the puck route just be aware that I've seen containers at Sam's Club that were $10 apart in price for 40#, one said 'multi-use' or something like that and the other didn't. Cheaper didn't. Ingredients lists were the same...no mention of copper but I suspect the multi-use had it.
Al