Need Help with Pool Chemicals

[www]

Recently I have had to take over pool maintenance as my husband has flown the coop, so to speak.

I had severe algae problem, shocked the pool and it died. I got it sucked up and cleaned the pool filter. So the water looks very clean, sides of pool look good, etc.

Now I'm trying to get pool chems in balance.

I show no PH, no chlorine, no CYA, perfect alkalinity. Over the past two weeks I keep upping the chlorine - set auto dial to 4.5 out of 5, and added 3 3" tablets to floater. I use Arm and Hammer pool clarifier tablet once a week. I added a huge amount of PH up and have not had any change in PH reading.

I've read through some of the topics here, but don't understand what my first step should be.

It is a fiberglass inground, small (5000 gal) pool. Like I said the water looks beautiful - very clear and inviting. But all the tests show nothing for chlorine or PH. I've shocked twice in the last two weeks also.

Any help is very much appreciated - hopefully in a step by step format for a newbie.

Thank You

[lbridges]

You don't mention how you are testing. Many people have found the test strips to produce large errors. A really good test kit such as the Taylor 2006 or the TF-100 kit produces the best results.

Meanwhile, is there a local pool store for you to use - they usually will test and report the pool chemistry numbers for free. Just don't buy anything until you post the results.

Two helpful items:

1. Pool School - lots of good reading, such as the article on pool chemicals, and

2. The Pool Calculator - will tell you how much chemicals to add once you know the numbers for your pool. Just remember to change the pool size at the top, and pool type down below (for being fiberglass).

[www]

OK - I ordered the TF-100 kit. I'll get back with the numbers once I test with the new kit.

Should I try aerating for now to get the PH to come up, since my TA is at about the right level.

Any easy ideas for aerating, that I might be able to accomplish?

Thanks

[floridapooltech]

OK - I ordered the TF-100 kit. I'll get back with the numbers once I test with the new kit.

Should I try aerating for now to get the PH to come up, since my TA is at about the right level.

Any easy ideas for aerating, that I might be able to accomplish?

Thanks

Usually when TA is good, the pH is fairly close too, so putting more increaser in your pool is not wise at the moment. Unless your pool is extremely hot on the surface, aerating is not necessary and is usually only done in competitive pools to keep the temperature within regulation. Using your new test kit, please post the numbers.

FC
CC
CYA
pH
TA

By the way...regarding your "zero" test readings...how much chlorine have you added, (qty. of tabs dissolved, how many gallons is your pool, how much shock and liquid chlorine have you put in the last week) we should be able to figure out your issues based on these. Thanks!

[www]

OK - Why I'm waiting for the test kit to come in. I took a sample down to the local pool store.

Here's what they gave me:

5000 gallon, in ground, fiberglass pool, heater running occasionally

TA - 40
PH - yellow
CYA - 100
FC - 0.5
Calcium - 130
TDS or TOS ?? - 500

She told me the CYA was way too high too swim and that I should pull all 3" tablets out of the pool.
Add 8 pounds of Sodium Bicarbonate.
Use liquid chlorine to get the FC to the right level.
Add 8 pounds of Calcium hardness.

Of course - tried to sell me alot of items. I didn't buy anything as I'd like to hear recommendations. She said pool was unsafe to swim in.

Any help appreciated.

[floridapooltech]

OK - Why I'm waiting for the test kit to come in. I took a sample down to the local pool store.

Here's what they gave me:

5000 gallon, in ground, fiberglass pool, heater running occasionally

TA - 40
PH - yellow
CYA - 100
FC - 0.5
Calcium - 130
TDS or TOS ?? - 500

She told me the CYA was way too high too swim and that I should pull all 3" tablets out of the pool.
Add 8 pounds of Sodium Bicarbonate.
Use liquid chlorine to get the FC to the right level.
Add 8 pounds of Calcium hardness.

Of course - tried to sell me alot of items. I didn't buy anything as I'd like to hear recommendations. She said pool was unsafe to swim in.

Any help appreciated.

well, with a pH reading of yellow, of course it's unsafe to swim in! (what is yellow) ok...enough humor...

TA - 40 (should be 80-120, add 56 oz. of ordinary baking soda should fix this)
PH - yellow (if we only knew what the "unsafe" value of yellow was, we would be able to help with this too) ask for the number, if you can
CYA - 100 (it is ok for now, yes, you should quit using tabs or dychlor for awhile until this goes down. liquid chlorine it is for a few weeks or months)
FC - 0.5 (1/2 of a chlorine jug should fix this and compensate for the CYA level)
Calcium - 130 (1697 oz calcium chloride)
TDS or TOS ?? - 500 (ok)

hopefully this is all you will need to fix the issues for now.

[lbridges]

It does seem like the pool is seriously out of adjustment.

I would tackle pH and Chlorine first - but pH=Yellow doesn't mean much to me - there should be a number that goes with that.

At any rate, use the link I gave you for the Pool Calculator. It will tell you how much of each thing - then the Pool School will provide simple and ultimately cheaper sources for the chemicals. For example: Things like sodium bicarbonate is simply baking soda - pick it up at walmart (or wherever you shop) & save $$$.

A gallon on 6% unscented bleach should get you to a safe number. But with CYA at 100 it will be critical to get the test kit in since that's the only good way to measure the free chlorine level you will need to maintain. Don't panic as high CYA actually makes it a little easier to maintain once established. If you continue to use the tabs the CYA will continue to climb.

edit, too slow to post, seems like mostly the same advice

[floridapooltech]

correction...IGNORE calcium hardness additions as you have a fiberglass pool. My apologies!

[www]

OK - So the pool gal was a little overly dramatic?

Can the six year old swim today? Does it have special medicinal qualities at this point that I should advertise to the neighbors?

Sorry for the humor, I just got done reading about the trash bag method (from Texas) of replacing pool water. And they say us Californiains are weird...

So I will - buy the Baking Soda, and put it in.
Take out 3" tablets for awhile.
Run the pool slide all day with lots of splashing out of water (bring over 10 six year olds!)
Pour in half gallon of liquid unscented bleach.
Add that calcium stuff - where do I get that - pool store only?

I really appreciate the help. I'm pool clueless. Starting to look at the BBB method posted on site.

[www]

Oh and my little OTH kit says PH of 6.4 or so. Still yellow - Hep A.

[floridapooltech]

Oh and my little OTH kit says PH of 6.4 or so. Still yellow - Hep A.

the baking soda may fix this too. put all those chems in I posted and have the water re-tested tomorrow (after the pump circulated the water).

[duraleigh]

You should immediately get some chlorine in the pool. 2 small jugs of Clorox will do for now until you can do your own testing. Then, 1/2 of a small jug daily until your kit gets to you.

Next, get some 20 Mule Team Borax at the grocery store and raise your pH up to around 7.4 - 7.6.

Post back and tell us what your water looks like...Crystal clear? Cloudy? etc.

[www]

OK - After adding 8 lbs of baking soda, the TA shows 130 and the PH is at 7.2. I also added 1 1/2 large bottles of bleach (1.4 gal size). I only have the little OHO tester and it shows 3 for Chlorine. I don't know if that is FC or what. The Pool Calculator says I should shoot for 8?

I recalculated gal size of pool (it's fiberglass) and it is closer to 8000 gals.

Water is still crystal clear. No odor. I couldn't test water at pool store as it was closed yesterday and today.

Hopefully my better test kit will arrive sometime early this week.

Also, it looks like a calcium reading of 130 is fine for a fiberglass pool. The pool store had said to raise it, but the pool calculator says 120 - 150.

So should I be adding around 48 oz of liquid chlorine a day? I've removed all the 3" tabs from the system.

Thanks again

[floridapooltech]

OK - After adding 8 lbs of baking soda, the TA shows 130 and the PH is at 7.2. I also added 1 1/2 large bottles of bleach (1.4 gal size). I only have the little OHO tester and it shows 3 for Chlorine. I don't know if that is FC or what. The Pool Calculator says I should shoot for 8?

I recalculated gal size of pool (it's fiberglass) and it is closer to 8000 gals.

Water is still crystal clear. No odor. I couldn't test water at pool store as it was closed yesterday and today.

Hopefully my better test kit will arrive sometime early this week.

Also, it looks like a calcium reading of 130 is fine for a fiberglass pool. The pool store had said to raise it, but the pool calculator says 120 - 150.

So should I be adding around 48 oz of liquid chlorine a day? I've removed all the 3" tabs from the system.

Thanks again

Do not add any calcium to your pool. The "salesman" at your pool store is just trying to sell you something you don't need. Calcium is required for the shell health of a marcite, quartz, or similar type pool. Fiberglass and vinyl pools do not need calcium. I think he/she needs to go take a chemistry class (or two) or read a pool operator training manual. TA is 10 pts. too high, so a very little bit of acid may be needed to bring this down. If you do this, make sure you add it in a straight line (column) in the pool so it ONLY drops the TA, and leaves the pH alone!

Regarding your chlorine, Your CYA is about 2-3x higher then recommended levels of 30-50ppm., so you will need 2-3x the amount of FC in your pool until it comes down. Not sure how much your pool will need as you will have to monitor this, however you should be running between 6-9ppm until your CYA is back within normal ranges and you can level it off at 3ppm.

[James Watson]

Calcium can be useful for a fiberglass pool. Raising it to about 175 wouldn't hurt.

The TA of 130 is fine for now. You should leave it alone.

The pH at 7.2 is a little low. However, it should rise on its own. You should not do anything to raise it. I recommend a pH of about 7.6 to 7.8. If it goes higher, then you should lower it to about 7.6, and not lower.

The Cyanuric acid at 100 is a little high. You should drain some water and refill to lower it to less than 80 ppm. Until you do that, you should maintain your chlorine at 8 to 10 ppm. The chlorine should be maintained at about 7 to 8 percent of your cyanuric acid level.

When adding acid, always dilute the acid in water before adding it to the pool. Or, pour the acid into the stream coming out of your returns to make sure that the acid is well distributed. Do not pour the acid in a column, it will sink to the bottom and is not good for any pool surface.

You should not use tabs or dichlor as they both contain cyanuric acid. You should user liquid chlorine to maintain your chlorine level.