What to do next? High Alkalinity & Combined Chlorine, Well Water & Iron issues

[CarlD]

Fiberglass pool? Alk= 190? Hardness=160? Nothing to worry about now. Seriously, it's not going to cause you any problems in the short term, so ignore it for now and fix the other stuff first.

I would STRONGLY recommend against using Tri-Chlor puck given a pH of 6.9. It's asking for trouble. Now is the time to rely on bleach and aeration.

Meanwhile, if your pump sizzles, something is definitely not right and needs to be addressed.

Carl

[aylad]

I would STRONGLY recommend against using Tri-Chlor puck given a pH of 6.9. It's asking for trouble. Now is the time to rely on bleach and aeration.

I agree with this--if the trichlor pucks drive your pH down, then it won't rise enough to let you make any progress on your alk. Stick with bleach and aeration.

Janet

[madwil]

didn't see the 6.9, saw the earlier pH reading... so retract the trichlor for now, keep using bleach!

[lady.k]

Ok folks - here's my update: A combo of the homemade batting/sump pump filter, a 1 qt. bottle of GLB Sequa Sol ($26 @ local pools store), a whole-house filter hooked up to the output, rigorous vacuuming, nightly doses of a 1.5 gal jug of bleach and we have a clear pool! We swam last weekend but I didn't have my Taylor Test kit yet so I refrained from posting. Haven't put anything in since Sunday (1/2 lb of Stabilizer).

1st try with the Taylor test kit (K2006) tonight -
FC - 0
CC - 0.5
pH - 7.5
TA - 150
Calc. Harness - 250

-Tried to test for CYA and the black dot never disappeared so I don't know if we just don't have enough to register (???)
- We haven't gotten the chlorine levels up to shock level yet (that I'm aware of) and I don't know where to go from here.
On hand, I have: bleach, borax, baking soda, muratic, 1 lb bags of sodium dichloro-s-triazinetrione (9.53% avail chlorine), and pucks that are tricholro-s-triazinetrone 93.5% copper sulfate pentahydrate 1.5% (93.50% avail chlorine), and ~3/4 lb stabilizer. The shock and pucks are from before I did my research and found the BBB method - if I could use them, great. If they will mess up the good thing I have going then I don't want to use them yet.

Do you all think I would be ok to put the pucks in and shock with I have - or just stick with the bleach? I still haven't figured out what the heck I'm doing! Thanks all - I really, really appreciate the input!

[madwil]

ok, if your CYA isn't reading, the dichlor is ok to use. the pucks, I wouldn't use because of the copper...
your pH is fine right now, so just hold on to the acid, soda, and borax for later when it's needed
add bleach- 1 gal will give you 6ppm in 10k gallons, so add enough for FC 2 to start, and add more later as needed.
As long as your pool stays clear, slowly get your FC up to maybe 5. I'd use the dichlor a little later, after you get some FC in with bleach first, then add CYA to get to 30ppm.

[CarlD]

I agree: Dichlor is a good option as it will add CYA as it chlorinates. It WILL tend to drive your pH down so be ready with Borax or lots of aeration to maintain.
I can't give you all the chemistry as to why Dichlor which is pH neutral, drives pH down anyway (but not nearly as fast as Tri-Chlor), but it has to do with chlorine in the water is acidic and dichlor doesn't counteract it.

Carl