I cant get it clear

[golfer]

Yes it is a large metal pole, gray vynal side pool .above ground pool. the cap you talked about is blue.... i removed it like you suggested..

where do i buy the DE powder... pool store or does lowes or home depot have it.. ?

[mr_clean]

Yes you can buy at pool store or lowes. When pool store tested water for you, did they test for?
FC-free chlorine
TC-total chlorine
CC-combined chlorine
Your chlorine level should be above 20 until clear, How does it look today? You can add a bag of shock to bucket of water then add to pool &
liquide chlorine will be stronger than bleach when adding to reboost levels until water clears.
Investing in a good test kit like Taylor would be a good idea for future, It will test for everything you want to test, with you only needing to buy refill bottles for it which are not to much money.

[golfer]

10-1-07


Hi, they tested for

FC 8.5
TC 8.5

but i do not see combined chlorine


I ended up using a whole bottle of super floc. 16 oz the first day , let it set but still couldnt see the bottom, so i did 16 more the next day... finally this morning when i went out it had all settled to the bottom..

I have been vacuuming all day.. this stuff is very fine and flots around very easy if disturbed.. but very slowly i vacuuumed it all aut... well there is just alitttle,, and i may floc one more time next week.. but for now i can see the design on the bottom with just alittle bit of haze..

I am still considering the DE powder... is the name actually DE powder.. i think doing as you say and get it in the filter it will help with the fine stuff.... The Sock is actually catching alot of stuff that would other wise end up in the filter.. So i am going to continue to use it..


Thank you so much for all your help... I am a very happy pool owner today... got to actually swim for the first time since Sept 1st..

I am adding back the water that i lost in vacuuming... and how high should i keep my Chlorine... we live in the country and farmers are alway doing something around us so.. i think that is part of the algae problem...

thanks again... I have learned alot..

MESSAGE TO NEWBIES..... of INTEX POOLS

when vacuuming do not vacuum the stuff on the bottom of the pool thru your filter.. it breaks it up even smaller and floats around and that makes it hard to settle down to the bottom after that.. Vacuum it out into the yard...

With Intex pool i dont use my filter to vacuum ... i just create a siphon by filling the tub with the vaccum end submerged in the water... once the tub is filled in quickly put the other end that would attach to my skimmer out on the ground (this has to be done quickly to cause the siphon effect..)
In this way you do not mess up a good filter cartridge and run the risk of putting this fine debris back in your pool..

[golfer]

happy happy

[chem geek]

Combined Chlorine (CC) is the difference between Total Chlorine (TC) and Free Chlorine (FC) so in your case this is zero which is good -- it should normally be near zero.

With your relatively high CYA level of 71, assuming the pool store measured this accurately (you should really get your own Taylor K-2006 test kit), you would need to maintain an absolute minimum Free Chlorine (FC) level of 5.3 ppm and realistically probably around 7-8 ppm to give yourself some buffer. If you lose chlorine during the day, you need to ensure you have enough to not drop below the minimum at any time. This is one option.

Another option is to use a weekly PolyQuat 60 algaecide to keep away algae. Yet another option is to have the water tested for phosphates and use a phosphate remover. These options are more expensive than using chlorine alone, but they don't require you to be as rigorous at maintaining chlorine levels.

HOWEVER, I am totally confused by your CYA readings. You say you started with 30-50 then say it dropped to 20 then say it's at 71. Did you add CYA before that measurement that said 71 (that sounds like a pool store measurement -- not something from your own Taylor K-2006 test kit)? CYA doesn't jump around by that much that quickly. Did you add stabilized chlorine (Trichlor or Dichlor) since that adds to CYA?

I'm glad that you are clearing up your pool, but getting reasonably accurate readings of the CYA level is important so you will know how much chlorine you will need -- or else you will have to use an algaecide or phosphate remover instead.

Richard

[golfer]

10/5/07

the pool is now crystal clear.... i am very happy..

you asked about the cya.... yes when i first did the test it was before i removed about 2 foot of water trying to clean the bottom..

then i refilled and ,, followed your instructions,, vacuuming again what deposited on the bottom

so i think that the low cya came from lowering and refilling the water..

then i added all the chlorine etc.. and took the water to be tested... and they came up with 71..

once the water started to become clearer the cya has stayed pretty normal..
using my little walmart test kit i got when i first bought my pool..



A taylor kit is the next thing to buy on my list..


i will say raising the chlorine and adding the floc did the trick..

so far every day i go out and look down at the bottom of the pool, i do see alittle more settling to the botttom... 10 minutes of syphoning (vacuuming) into the yard and the bottom looks great..

Like i said earlier.. this stuff is like micro particals.. and the moment my vacuum moves around it , it poofs up into a whitish floating stuff... but slowly but surely it is less and less..

I am going to add more floc this weekend and i do believe that will help settle anything left....

But i am very very happy with the results i have now.. and i think i am becoming a compulsive cleaner ,,and am addicted to having such a crystal clear pool.. and i dont want to see anything settled on the bottom..


But I would like advise for the up coming winter... i dont want the water to get nasty.. this pool is right next to my deck and i dont want to be looking at a nasty pool for months..

so what is your advise to keep it nice thru the winter.??

and again thank you for all your help..

[chem geek]

Different people do somewhat different procedures for closing, but you've basically got 3 options. One is to maintain a chlorine level through the winter and this is very easy to do since the cold water will use up chlorine very slowly so you'll only have to add it about once or twice a month, if that (depending on how cold the water gets). Another option is to first shock with chlorine, then wait a day, then add a full "algae bloom" dose (per instructions on the package) of PolyQuat 60 and close up for the winter. The third option is to do nothing and let it go and clean up the possible algae bloom in the spring (or add chlorine to the pool before it warms up again since most algae blooms will start in the spring, not in the winter).

Generally speaking, you cover your pool in the winter. This not only keeps out sunlight which helps make the chlorine last longer, but it keeps junk out of the pool as well.

If you pool ices over in the winter, then you need to do other procedures to lower the pool water level below the skimmer, clear the lines cap and fill with anti-freeze, etc., but others can help you out with that better than I as I don't do that procedure where I live (no freezing over).

Richard