Calcium Hardness Plus

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chem geek
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Calcium Hardness Plus

Postby chem geek » Sat 14 Jun, 2014 17:32

It sounds like your filtration is not working or your circulation is very poor. Be sure your valves aren't set to recirculate bypassing the filter and that your filter doesn't have channeling or other problems. Neither a clarifier nor DE will help if your circulation/filtration isn't any good.

Adding calcium hardness won't clear up the water. In fact, if you add too much it can cause cloudiness from over-saturation of calcium carbonate. You could go through the 100 Reasons for Cloudy Swimming Pool Water to see if anything rings a bell, but assuming your readings are correct with chlorine high and the pH, TA and CH not too high, this does sound like the circulation/filtration is not working properly.


Jimbochap

Calcium Hardness Plus

Postby Jimbochap » Sun 15 Jun, 2014 16:40

Guess I will put a plug on the side of the pool on the return side and shut the valve off near the pump on the strainer side and take a look inside the filter tank and check out the turning valve on top of the tank.

Sad part is the sand in the tank was put in last year at the beginning of the pool season and worked fine all summer long last year.
Jimbochap

Calcium Hardness Plus

Postby Jimbochap » Mon 16 Jun, 2014 22:05

Don't see anything wrong with the filter.

My control on top of the filter is like this one.
http://www.pools.com/parts/Waterway-Topmount-Valve_-925

thought maybe my Spider Gasket was bad allowing the dirty water to out through the return outlet to the pool but it looks perfect, spring looks like it's doing it job too.

I will be going Going for my 4th water test in the morning to the 4th different pool store.
Jimbochap

Calcium Hardness Plus

Postby Jimbochap » Wed 18 Jun, 2014 14:58

Water test showed chlorine level low, could mostly be because we had some very hot sunny days.

Well anyway, added 2 shot bags and just used a wet vac and sucked out all the sand from the filter tank. Replaced all the sand with new.

So we can eliminate any problems with it being the filter or pump.........If it doesn't clear up now it is a chemical related problem I guess
Jimbochap

Calcium Hardness Plus

Postby Jimbochap » Wed 18 Jun, 2014 14:59

"shock bags", not shot bags.......
Jimbochap

Calcium Hardness Plus

Postby Jimbochap » Fri 20 Jun, 2014 08:26

Been running the filter 48 hours straight, when back washing some dirty water is coming out but not enough to make the water crystal clear. Still can not see the bottom of the pool.

Chlorine levels are really high now.

Must be a chemical imbalance of somekind.

Sure am spending alot of money on electric for not even using the pool this summer yet.

:(
Jimbochap

Calcium Hardness Plus

Postby Jimbochap » Fri 20 Jun, 2014 15:14

Went back today to the very first place i had the water tested. The pwners wife tested the water this time and not just one of their part time school kids that work there.

Found something interesting that just might be my problem.

The Phosphates were really really high, she said they should be from 0.0 to 300.....my results were 1000.

I asked her what causes this and she said people spraying chemicals on their grass on a windy day can cause this............well guess what is behind my house? A farmers field where they grow soy beans. They have sprayed down weed killer and liquid fertilizer a couple different times.

I'm just about sure some of that went in my pool, it's always windy here behind my house.

So I put in about 16 oz. of SeaKlear Phosphate Remover.

They also measured my Calcium Hardness...result was 250....Min is 200, Max suppose to be 400..........wonder how it went up we I added none of that?

Put the Phosphate Remover in this morning, and it might just be wishful thinking but it does look clearer now................... but she did say it might take a few days to clear it up.

In a couple days I report back how it made out.
chem geek
Pool Industry Leader
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Joined: Thu 21 Jun, 2007 21:27
Location: San Rafael, California

Calcium Hardness Plus

Postby chem geek » Sat 21 Jun, 2014 20:01

Sounds like you had algae growth and should have just SLAMed your pool. In the 100 reasons for cloudy water link I posted earlier, the #1 reason is having too low a Free Chlorine (FC) level for your Cyanuric Acid (CYA) level. In fact, in the second post of this thread I told you to SLAM your pool. Your initial FC readings were high but your second ones were low so you weren't consistently keeping the chlorine up and you apparently never got a proper Taylor K-2006 or TFTestkits TF-100 test kit.

A phosphate remover will remove an algae nutrient so like an algicide it will slow down algae growth, but you could have prevented such growth in the first place if you had maintained an FC level appropriate for your CYA level as shown in the Chlorine / CYA Chart.
Jimbochap

Calcium Hardness Plus

Postby Jimbochap » Mon 23 Jun, 2014 06:37

In the beginning the pool was slammed.........it's just after I opened the pool the farmer starting the spraying the field behind my house with liquid weed killer and then liquid fertilizer with the wind blowing. That is when the pool started to turn cloudy again.
chem geek
Pool Industry Leader
Pool Industry Leader
Posts: 2381
Joined: Thu 21 Jun, 2007 21:27
Location: San Rafael, California

Calcium Hardness Plus

Postby chem geek » Mon 23 Jun, 2014 20:10

Then you weren't properly maintaining an FC level high enough for your CYA level and algae started to grow faster than chlorine could kill it. That assumes that you were getting phosphates (and nitrates) into your pool. You really need to get your own proper test kit and cannot trust pool store numbers, especially not for CYA which they often get wrong.
Jimbochap

Calcium Hardness Plus

Postby Jimbochap » Sun 29 Jun, 2014 17:36

No chlorine or shock bags added in any of the last 12 days. SWG is making enough I assume.

Levels are good and have been good.

Only thing that turned it around and cleared the water up was 32 oz. of Phosphate Remover. 16 oz added twice 2 days apart.

Water is crystal clear now the last 6 or 7 days.

Thanks for your help everyone.
chem geek
Pool Industry Leader
Pool Industry Leader
Posts: 2381
Joined: Thu 21 Jun, 2007 21:27
Location: San Rafael, California

Calcium Hardness Plus

Postby chem geek » Mon 30 Jun, 2014 11:30

Doing a proper SLAM (which includes maintaining a high FC/CYA ratio until the pool clears) would also work if the FC after the SLAM were then at least 7.5% of the CYA level. However, with a phosphate remover, you now have insurance that if the FC gets too low then algae growth won't take off quickly.

In the past in my pool I had 3000+ ppb phosphates and was able to prevent algae growth by never letting the FC get below the minimum for my CYA level. Of course, the pool was very reactive so if the chlorine did get too low, it would have had algae grow fairly quickly which of course depletes the chlorine faster. At some point a manufacturer of a phosphate remover came over and tried their product in my pool and since then the pool is no longer reactive if the chlorine level gets too low.

So the bottom line is that algaecides and phosphate removers are not necessary if one maintains the appropriate FC/CYA ratio, but these can be like insurance making the pool less reactive if the chlorine level does get too low. Or alternatively, it lets you have a lower FC/CYA ratio than would otherwise be needed to prevent algae growth.
Jimbochap

Calcium Hardness Plus

Postby Jimbochap » Thu 03 Jul, 2014 18:18

So did the farmers spraying chemicals on his field have anything to do with my problem? Yes or No?
chem geek
Pool Industry Leader
Pool Industry Leader
Posts: 2381
Joined: Thu 21 Jun, 2007 21:27
Location: San Rafael, California

Calcium Hardness Plus

Postby chem geek » Thu 03 Jul, 2014 22:21

Yes, the farmers probably fertilized and the phosphate and nitrates entered your pool and your removal of phosphates solved the problem, but the point was that you had other alternatives for preventing algae growth. Maintaining a proper FC for the CYA level prevents algae growth regardless of phosphate or nitrate level.

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