Advice please.

[savdoc2]

We have a 24' AG pool with 52in walls. I calculate it to be 14,500 gallons.

We uncovered yesterday, had a light coat of green algae. The pool water was below the level of the skimmer and return and since we have a well, we haul water from the city to fill the pool. We put the sump pump in the pool to circulate the water. The Cl tesed 0 and the pH was 7.8 - using the drop test from Walmart (I ordered one from Pool Solutions for later use). I added bleach to the water until it was registering 10+, so that I could start killing the algae. Much to our surprise the pool was sparkling clear when we got up this morning.

We started hauling water this morning and we have it just about full enough, so I tested everything tonight. These are my results:

pH 7.2
Cl 10+ the color was a dark orange, nearly red
Alk 350
Ca no color registered
CYA 80

I had a few strips left from last year (before I knew any better) and got these results:

hardness: 250
TC 10+
FC 10+
pH 7.2
Alk 120-180

So I didn't add any chemicals tonight. I don't really trust the strips, but the Alk test on the drop seems very high.

We had the mineral system last year (private label of the Frog), but have decided not to use it this year. The cycler is still in place, but we are not goingto buy a cartridge for it.

What are your thoughts?

[Watermom]

Retest with a drops based kit and repost with current readings. I'm especially want to see the next alk reading. If your ph is 7.2, you need to watch it and not let it drop any further. If it were my pool, I'd probably add just a little Borax and bump the ph up to about 7.4. Also, if your cya really is 80, you'll need to run higher than normal chlorine levels or you'll risk another algae bloom. See the chart at the following link.

http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?t=365

Watermom

[savdoc2]

Tonights numbers using the HTH drop kit:

pH 7.2
Cl 10+
Alk 240
Ca 280
CYA 70

[Watermom]

OK. As I said above, since your cya is a little high you either have to run higher than normal chlorine readings (see link above) or do a partial drain to lower it a bit. Your choice. Either way will work. Also, you need to lower your alk to between 80-125. You can read about how to do this in the thread at the following link.

http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?t=191

BTW: Until you lower your alk to the desired target, disregard my advice in the earlier post to raise ph. After your alk is where you want it, if the ph doesn't rise up on its own, then you can add a little Borax to raise it to about 7.4.

Watermom

[savdoc2]

I happened to be going ti the city today (80 miles) and since I don't trust my results yet, I took a water sample to Leslies to get their results. The water sampler was collected almost 5 hours before I had it tested, so I don't know if that could effect the results. This is what they told me:

FC = 2.5 (the Walmart test only tests for TC)
pH = 7.6
Alk = 210
Ca = 200
CYA = 40 (he actually said 35-40, but wrote down 40)

It is rainy and cold today, so I haven't done my own sampling. It did rain overnight, so I suppose that could effect my chlorine level.

Also, I wonder about the accuracy of my testing. I am using a Walmart drop test kit and I know that Walmart sometimes keeps things from one season to the next. Or the difference in results could simply be my inexperience. I do have Ben's kit on preorder and am trying to wait patiently.