Green (algae ?) water-test results karenkr

[karenkr]

Thanks for the info. There is no pool store within 30 miles and today being the 4th they are probalbly closed so I will re-test. All I have to re-test with is the walmart drop test - will that do any good to re-test with that? Sure appreciate your input

[aylad]

Yes, go ahead and retest with the kit you have....but ignore the Bromine scale since you don't have a bromine pool.

Janet

[karenkr]

Re-tested the water. Results as follows
Chlorine: 0
Ph : 6.8
CYA : 100
Should I add some more borax to try and bring up Ph? I have more dura chlor but am afraid to add until I hear from someone.
Thanks

[Simmons99]

You can add some Borax to raise the PH to 7.2, but you need to get the chlorine to at least 25ppm and keep it there (testing 3X a day). There is a bleach calculator that some of the members have on their signature that can assist you in the amount of BLEACH (plain unscented ULTRA bleach) to add. NO more tablets (trichlor or dichlor)- your CYA is too high and it will keep the chlorine from being as effective.

Also a 50K gallon pool is HUGE. What are the dimensions? You need an accurate # of gallons otherwise you will be overdosing your pool.

[karenkr]

I tried to measure my pool but I dont think I did it right. It is kinda L shaped and is 9-10ft deep at one end and 3-4ft deep at the other. The measurements I came up with were 14ft x 18ft at one end and 19ft x20ft at the other. I feel so dumb because I dont know what I am doing. I am basing the gallon size on what the pool guy told me . Im going to walmarts and getting about 10 gallons of bleach and a couple boxes of borax. Hopefully someone will tell me about how many gallons I should add and how much borax to add. I am a total geek at this , have always relied on the pool guy---but this year it has just about gotten the best of me financially with all the stuff he has put in and what he has sold me. Then I found this site so I am trying to go it alone ( with help from you guys) Test reading now are
chlorine: 0
ph: 6.8
TA: 120
CYA: 100
Sure hope someone out there can help me!!! Appreciate any input given
Thanks in advance

[karenkr]

Just got an email from the pool guy I used???? to deal with. Scared the living daylights out of me.Said he tested my water (I didnt know that he did) yesterday with these results, States I have to drain my pool because I have minerals in the water. Also that my water hardness is 540 and that I had a Phosphate reading of 1000. Also said that my pool is leaching through the concrete/gunite. Said my pool surface was shotand I needed a new gunite job--cost of $5000-6000. Can someone help me. There is no way can afford to re-gunite this year. Any suggestions?????? Back to my algae problems, I did add 4 gallons of ultra bleach earlier in the evening. Just re-tested my water and FINALLY had some chlorine , New test re: Free Chlorine: 5/10 Ph: 7.5 (finally coming up too) TA: 120 CYA: 100. For me this is an improvement. What do I do next??
Thanks

[aylad]

If you've been able to shock the pool without staining so far, then don't worry about the minerals--if they're there, the pool guy must have put them there. Ca hardness is high at 540, but as long as your TA and pH stay fairly low, it shouldn't be a problem for you right now. Ignore the phosphate reading, it's meaningless to you for right now. As far as the new gunite job, how does your pool look?

As far as the algae goes, shock your pool up to 25 ppm and keep it there by testing and adding more a couple of times daily...here's the link to the bleach calculator you can use to help determine how much you need.

http://www.hal-pc.org/~mwsmith2/BleachCalc262.exe

Janet