Backwashing and shocking

[jmcrae]

Hey, I'm back!
My pool hasn't beat me yet. Hurricane Alex almost did! We had constant rain in Katy... 26 miles west of Houston ... for two days. Needless to say, lilly-livered coward that I am, I did not venture into the pool for any length of time. I took advantage of breaks in the rain to vacuum when I could and every time I vacuumed I backwashed to waste (Alex was doing just great in replacing the water!) and I dumped a gallon of bleach morning and night.

Every time I looked at the pool after dumping the bleach, I had a visible layer of algae... but it decreased with each application. Yesterday evening I vacuumed just before sunset, poured another gallon of bleach and lo and behold, this morning I had negligible algae!!! I vacummed, dumped another gallon of bleach and raced to WalMart to get some distilled water. I did the 3-1 (OTO) ratio for the Chlorine: FC/15; TC/15; I did the regular DPD test for the rest: AK/140; pH/8.2; CYA/55.

The water is beautifully clear.

Did I do good?

[Watermom]

Yep. You done good! Tonight, test the cl at sundown and then early tomorrow morning and see if you lose more than 1ppm. If you do, shock it back up. Continue keeping high cl until you can hold it overnight. Also, retest your pH whenever your cl isn't high so you can get an accurate reading.

[jmcrae]

Will do.
Thanks to all for your wonderful assistance!

[waterbear]

Just a caveat:

If your kit is the "DPD" kit, using the "DPD" test for chlorine, you cannot use the dilution method--that only works on the OTO chlorine test.

Carl, not true!!!!!

In fact, there are instructions for dilutions on the lid of the Taylor K-2005 (and the equivalent Leslies kit) and the comparator has markings molded in for 1:1 and 4:1 dilutions. While it is more cumbersome than using an FAS-DPD kit it is no diferent from doing dlutions with OTO and it give more meaningful info since you can test both FC and CC and not just TC.
If the sample is diluted low enough it doesn't bleach out.
I suspect that the $47 Leslie's kit that jmcrae said they bought is the rebranded K-2005 that Leslie's sells.

[jmcrae]

I checked the kit I got from Leslie's - It says it's manufactured for Leslie's Swimming Pool Supplies by Taylor Technologies, Inc. and the Pool & Spa Water Tests sheet says Taylor 11/05. The back of the instruction sheet is filled with instructions to raise chlorine level by 1ppm; superchlorinaton for algae removal; to raise pH with soda ash; to lower pH with muriatic acid; to lower pH with dry acid; to raise total alkalinity with baking soda; to lower total alkalinity with muriatic acid; to lower total akalinity with dry acid; to raise calcium hardness with calcium chloride.... but no dilution instructions.

That's why I did the chlorine test with my little Walmart OTO chemicals; and the rest with the Leslie's DPD test kit.

Was I wrong? Should I have done all the tests with the same chemicals?

[waterbear]

Use the Taylor kit for all tests. What does your kit test for?

[jmcrae]

Chlorine (free, combined, total) / Total bromine test;
pH test;
Total Alkalinity;
Calcium hardness (I have an above-ground pool with vinyl liner); and
Cyanuric Acid test.

[jmcrae]

Oh... and also Acid Demand Test and Base Demand Test

[waterbear]

Does your test kit use the same larger comparator tube for testing pH, TA, and CH and use the small chlorine tube for the CYA test? If so then you have the K-2005 and you might seriously consider addding a stand alone FAS-DPD test since that is the only test that is different in the better K-2006 kit.
If your test kit has a small tube for the pH test (same size as the chlorine test) and a separate large tube for the TA and CH tests then you might want to consider getting a K-2006. It is a much better test kit.

[jmcrae]

My kit came with four devices. Chlorine and pH are tested in the same container - one side for chlorine and the other side for pH.

The TA test and calcium hardness tests are performed in a different container - looks like a tall shot glass with ml measurements 5mL to 25mL - no top.

The CYA test involves using two containers - one for mixing the chemicals and when the solution is cloudy, pouring it into a very slender tube with a black dot that is supposed to disappear when viewed from the top and the tube is then read at liquid level.