help with adjusting please

[mbar]

You don't need any more bleach right now. Since you have only a cya of 20, you should keep your fc at 2 right now. You don't want to have high clorine because that is what drops the metals out of the water. There is a "best guess chart" sticky at the top of the chlorine forum. You will have to check your chlorine every day though, because the chlorine will get used up more quickly breaking down what is causing the cloudiness so it can be filtered. You should keep your chlorine no higher than 5, and the puck will keep adding chlorine continueously. As for vacuuming to waste, you don't have to. especially if you keep the pantyhose on the skimmer while you vacuum. As for adding more well water - if you have enough sequestering agent in the water - which you do, then the new water will mix with the sequestering agent and bind any metals that are introduced. Just make sure that you do use a maintanance dose throughout the summer. Try to get as much aeration as you can - this will speed up the process. If possible I would try to get more aeration - you can hook up a piece of hose to a return jet and have it shoot water in the air and land back in the pool. Just be sure you watch the ph and keep it between 7.0 and 7.2 while doing this. I know all of this is confusing, but it will become second nature to you after doing it for a while Just remember, the less you put into the water, the less you have to deal with. Once you get your water in balance it is much easier to keep it that way as long as you check on the pool once a day, till you know how your water acts, everyone's pool is different - but once you learn the "reasons" you are using the chemicals it makes it easy to see what your own pool needs. Read the stickys at the tops of the forums and it teaches you what each value of the numbers you take mean. Don't worry about asking too many questions - that is how all of us on this site have learned

[poolhelp101]

the pool is starting to clear up but it is still pretty cloudy. CL 3, ph 6.8, ta 150, and my cya is 50 not 20. so i need to keep my cl at 5, is that right?
theres no way to make my other two jets aerate to lower my ta, is there anything else i need to try to do to lower it and increase my ph?
please advise and thanks so much for your help.

[mbar]

Since you have a cya of 50, you can take your chlorine up to 6, and even higher if you want to. You can take it up to shock levels (which for you would be 15-20) if you do it slowly - you have to watch to see if any stain starts to form, if it does that means that you need more sequestering agent. Your ph is low at 6.8, you need to get it up to at least 7 with aerating. You may want to invest in a pool fountain since your fill water is high in alkalinity. Here is a link to what I am talking about.
http://www.intheswim.com/shopping/dept.aspx?deptid=1257&GCID=C14163x040&e5=Y&e6=swim ming-pool-fountains&keyword=swimming-pool-fountains&s_kwcid=swimming%20pool%20fountains|7349 26481

You can find other places that sell them if you just google pool fountain.
Hope this helps, and feel free to ask any other questions you have

Just another thought, what is your calcium level? What do you mean you can't get a reading? High calcium with high alkalinity can cause a lot of cloudiness, plus sometimes it causes stains too. It's just good to know where the stains are coming from.

[poolhelp101]

i don't know what my calcium level is. when i try to test for it, the test water does not change colors at all. i plan on getting to the pool store soon to see what results they get(i live 40 miles away from a pool store that tests water).

[waterbear]

i don't know what my calcium level is. when i try to test for it, the test water does not change colors at all. i plan on getting to the pool store soon to see what results they get(i live 40 miles away from a pool store that tests water).

What test kit are you using and what color does it turn when you put in the indicator. If it turns pink you do have calcium present. If it turns blue you have non. If it turns any other color your chlorine levels are probably bleaching out the indicator.

[poolhelp101]

i use an aqua chem test kit. when i put the first solution in, it might turn just a hint of, a very little hint of yellow. then when you add the second solution it remains the same. my readings this morning are cl 5.0 ph 6.8 and ta still 150. it may take a while to get a water fountain, do i still just continue trying to aerate with the one jet or try to increase the ph another way? also, the pool has cleared quite alot, however it is still hazy. please advise and thank you

[mbar]

I would add a small amount of borax. Borax will raise your ph without raising the alk much. Just put a cup in and wait about 2 hours and test. You just want to take your ph to 7.0 - 7.2 no higher, so put a cup in at a time and wait at least 2 hours in between tests.

[waterbear]

i use an aqua chem test kit. when i put the first solution in, it might turn just a hint of, a very little hint of yellow. then when you add the second solution it remains the same. my readings this morning are cl 5.0 ph 6.8 and ta still 150. it may take a while to get a water fountain, do i still just continue trying to aerate with the one jet or try to increase the ph another way? also, the pool has cleared quite alot, however it is still hazy. please advise and thank you

There is a documented problem with the hardness test in this kit. I believe the indicator is being bleached by high chlorine levels because if you add a drop or two of the thiosufate reagent from the total alkalinity test (the first reagent for that test) the hardness test develops the proper color. This test only seems to work properly if the chlorine is 3 ppm or less. Also this is NOT a calcium hardness test but a total (calcium and magnesium) hardness test so it really isn't that useful.