Learning On The Fly

[odddon]

I think I have found the promised land, and it is here! I know next to nothing about caring for a pool, but I married into a 13x25 ("portable"? come on...) above ground Legacy pool about 1 1/2 years ago. When my wife and I got together 3 1/2 years ago, it was mostly empty and very scuzzy. She had it drained, cleaned, and set up, and other than adding shock and pucks, and vacuuming and cartridge cleaning, it stayed chemically correct year-round. Until this year.

I worked out of town a LOT this off-season, and frankly just let it go. I live in the high desert in California, which means LOTS of heat, sun, and high winds full of blowing dirt. Add to that a neighbor's constantly shedding tree, we wound up with a thick layer of gunk on the bottom. Vacuum, clean filter, repeat. Over and over. Maybe I should have drained it and started fresh, but oh well. I got it mostly clean, except for very cloudy water that would not clear. The XStream cartridge was 5 years old, and having been hosed down and cleaned so many times, I thought I'd replace it. Still cloudy water.

The new cartridge came with a free pack of Pooltime test strips. According to their online tester, I needed about $75 worth of stuff to "fix" it. Ph down, metal/scale/stain stuff, clarifier, algicide, shock, etc. I went to the local pool shop to see if they had what I thought I needed. Surprisingly (from what I've read here), they said to hold off on the stuff and just bring in a sample and they would test it for me. Results turned out that all levels were fine, with the exception of free chlorine. To help with the murkiness, they said I could go with bleach, but suggested I get liquid chlorine from them for about the same cost in the long run. I bought 4 gallons for under $20, with a $5 deposit on the crate and bottles. They said to add 1 gallon at first, then 1 quart - wait - test - repeat. For 2 days I noticed no difference. Then I stumbled across this site.

The pool shop neglected to mention the effects of sun, and that too much chlorine wasn't neccessarily a bad thing. Before bed last night (and after finding this forum), I added a full gallon of liquid chlorine. This morning the water was about 50% clearer than yesterday. I vacuumed, then removed and cleaned the very green cartridge. Just now I added my last gallon, and anticipate more results in the morning. I have spent the better part of today reading this forum, and have become a believer. I need to get a better test kit, as mine doesn't do FC and CC, just TC, but tomorrow I will return with my readings and ask for any advice you all may have. And I promise to learn P.O.P.P.

Reading this forum has taught me sooooooo much today.....

odddon

[Watermom]

Glad you found us and although I don't know about us being the "promised land" -- you are right about at least one thing. This IS the place to learn about pool care and we can help you. (I remember years ago when I found PF, I did just what you did --- spent hours and hours reading. Fortunately, I found the forum before I had my pool so could start right off the bat avoiding problems.)

Come back with current numbers and somebody here will take a look and try and help you out!

Welcome to our forum!

[odddon]

LMBO! When you don't know the correct terminology, and you're googling for answers, the only guaranteed result is confusion. "Promised Land" might be stretching it, but this place is darn close to it. OK, here's what I'm working with:

10,500 gal. Legacy above ground pool (13x25)
Hayward XStream filter

No pucks or shock recently

(I need a better test kit, I know )
TC = 5+ (that's as high as my current tester goes, and I added 1 gal. liquid chlorine last night)
pH = 7.8
TA = 170
TH = 530
CYA = 55

Water is still fairly cloudy, a bit on the green side. But it has been improving since adding 1 gallon of liquid chlorine each of the past 2 nights, and vacuuming and hosing down the cartridge each day.

Is bleach more economical than liquid chlorine? And should I keep adding a good sized dose of one or the other each night? Inquiring minds need to know! And thanx in advance.

odddon

[Watermom]

Yes, you do need a good test kit. I'm sure with all the reading you've done here you now know that we like the Taylor K-2006 or the 2006C which as larger quantities of reagents. Order one so you can get it as soon as you can.

In the meantime, you can use the dilution method (also referred to as the shot glass method) to allow your tester to register higher cl readings. Take one part pool water and mix it with one part distilled water and use some of this to test with. Multiply your result by 2. If that doesn't read high enough, use one part pool water, and two parts distilled and multiply the results by 3, etc. You do lose some accuracy with each dilution but it will at least give you a ballpark figure until you get a good kit.

If your cya is 55, you need to be shocking up to about 15. You need to test as many times a day as you can right now, and each time add enough bleach to get back to 15. At the very minimum, you need to test and dose with bleach in the evening when the sun is off the pool and in the early morning before the sun is on the pool. When you get to where you are no longer losing more than 1ppm of cl from sundown to sunup, then you can let the cl drift back down between 3-6. But, never let it go below that or you'll have a green pool again. Twice a day is the minimum times to test while dealing with algae but there is no such thing as testing and dosing with bleach too much. The more often you do, the faster it will clear up. Also run the pump 24/7 right now while you are working on this problem.

Your pH and alk are both a little high. Take a look at the folllowing thread in regards to that. If you have any questions, let us know.

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

A good range for pH is 7.3-7.6 and for alk 80-120.

Your calcium level is pretty high. Vinyl pools don't need calcium. This is probably contributing to the cloudy water problem. If, after killing and filtering out the algae and lowering the alk --- the water is still cloudy, you may need to do a partial drain and refill to drop the calcium hardness.

Have you been using cal-hypo? If so, NO MORE. Also, no more trichlor or dichlor because those two will cause your cya to increase and it is already high enough. Stick with bleach or liquid chlorine. As to which is more economical, it varies from one place to another. You'll just have to check out your prices locally.

BTW -- In a pool this size, each quart of 6% bleach will raise the cl by about 1.5ppm. Use that info to help you figure out how much to add each time you test.

Repost if you have further questions. Hope this helps.

[odddon]

Funny, I forgot to ask about the pros/cons of aerating, but it was answered in the alkalinity link you added. OK, off to walk and feed some dogs (we're pet sitters), then to the store for bleach, distilled water, and more CYA reagent. (Can't afford a better kit until the 1st.) I've never used cal-hypo, and won't use tri- or di- anymore. And thanx again!

odd

[Watermom]

Funny, I forgot to ask about the pros/cons of aerating, but it was answered in the alkalinity link you added.

odd

I "knew" that you wanted to know that cuz I'm a mind reader!

[odddon]

Ahhhh, you are wise, Watermom!

On another note - You know how you can go to the same store for ages, it seems, every day seeing the same things and people there? Then one day you walk in and see someone you haven't seen in like forever? Well, that very thing just happened to me. I walked out into our backyard, looked into our pool, and There Was The Bottom! Even all the way across to the other side! I could even see the fake water pattern on the bottom! Thank you all for the wealth of information posted here, and for a certain person's one-on-one help. I'm not naming names, but her initials are Watermom. I'd wager that in a few more days all will be well in PoolVille. Now to worry about the bowed-out-sides problem.....

[Watermom]

Glad you found the bottom again! I was happy to help. But, bowed-out-sides are not my department, so I'll have to let somebody else help you with part. Enjoy your pool and again, really glad to have you on the forum. Your posts are always fun to read. Hope you'll stick around here with us.