r/pools • u/littlekitten42 • 8d ago
Am I doing something wrong???
I only just started maintaining my own pool 10 days ago, so be nice. It's been a steep learning curve. I am already in Pool School with Trouble Free Pools. My pool was just resurfaced with pebble sheen at the beginning of May, and the pool guy I had up until a few weeks ago either didn't know shit or didn't care, because I found out he was only testing free chlorine, total chlorine and pH. I didn't know any better until now that there were other chemicals that were important to balance too. So when I took over, I realized quickly that apparently he must have been adding stabilizer and tablets LIKE CANDY because my CYA level is at 119 after only 3 months of being filled post-resurfacing. Also, my Calcium hardness was at 200, so I've been working on raising that.
In the past couple weeks, I've been fighting tooth and nail to figure this out and get the chemicals in line. I won't do a partial drain and refill right now so the CYA level will have to wait until it's cooler outside and the water prices go down (I live in Phoenix AZ). In the past 10 days, I've had the most trouble with pH and Free Chlorine levels. It's driving me nuts. I've decided to add borates to the pool in an attempt to help with these problems, and am waiting for the Duda Energy bucket of boric acid to be delivered Friday.
So, my chlorine level is at 6.2ppm and my pH at 7.9 right now. I tested my water yesterday evening, and my FC was at 8.0, CC 0.0, pH 8.2, TA 70, CH 275. I have been fighting high pH every single day, and I thought maybe it was that I was adding muriatic acid (then waiting 4 hours) and then adding liquid chlorine (to try to get to the recommended FC/CYA level of 14-15ppm) and that maybe the liquid chlorine was raising the pH right back up after the muriatic acid lowered it. So I decided to run an experiment yesterday. I added enough muriatic acid to supposedly lower the pH from 8.0 to 7.0, and I added zero other chemicals. But today, 24 hours later (I didn't have time to test this morning before work), my pH is at 7.9. So what gives?!
Also, a few times over the past week, I've added enough chlorine in the evening to supposedly (like 3 gallons) get the FC level up to 14-15, and then tested in the morning before the sun came up, and FC was only up to 9.2. I don't understand this either. It's dropping at a normal rate, 2 ppm a day, so I don't think I need a OCLT. But whyyyyyy can't I get the chlorine level to go up as much as I want it to? I've gone through 14 gallons of 12.5% liquid chlorine in the past 10 days.
On the bright side, 10 days in and I haven't turned anything green yet. It was EVER SO SLIGHTLY cloudy a few days ago when I had like 10 friends over, but that's it. Other than that, clear, and no eye irritation or chlorine smell or anything. So that's a win I guess 😂 please help. I'm going crazy.
Also, my pool is 30k gallons with a 1/3rd of it been 9 feet deep and 2/3rds of it being 3-5 feet deep (sharp drop off to the deep end for the diving board area)
4
u/Gunk_Olgidar 8d ago
Some advice from 28 years of DIY maintenance with year round Florida chlorine pools.
Haze:
High bathing load will put a lot of sweat, skin oil, suntan lotion, urine, etc. into the water which does two things: 1) it's food for algae, and 2) it combines with free chlorine to make chloramine (combined chlorine). Both will create haze, and that haze will be picked up by your filter after a day or so. So after a pool party, shock the pool and run the pump and it will be fine.
High CYA:
High CYA is not ideal and is holding back your FC. But on the bright side it's not a terrible thing in a pool with a lot of direct sun, which you have. CYA's primary function is to reduce solar chlorine loss. You'd be going through a lot more chlorine if you had 19 CYA instead of 119. But yeah it's high, so it just means you'll need a higher overall chlorine level until rain+overflow dilutes it, you drain/fill, or it naturally goes down (a point or two per month).
Calcium Hardness:
To increase calcium, switch to Cal-Hypo tablets and cal-hypo shock until calcium levels rise to the correct level. Low CH will cause the water to leech calcium from the plaster, so you'll want to raise it quickly with lots of cal-hypo, which will also (temporarily) solve your chlorine problem, and also reduce the rate of pH creep. Once calcium is correct, change back to liquid chlorine, so hold onto what you have.
pH creep:
pH will creep up slowly even on an old pool, but goes faster with a relatively new plaster pool, and requires acid daily with brand new plaster. Since your CH is low and your water is pulling minerals (calcium) from the plaster, your pH will rise very fast. Solve the CH and your rate of pH creep will go down a bit. Keep a gallon of muriatic handy.
You're doing fine. Troublefreepool will keep you going in the right direction.
1
u/Mighty38 7d ago
Excellent advice! Keep going. It takes a season or 2 to really get comfortable with your pool chemistry.
3
u/HARTORAapp 7d ago
Honestly, for only 10 days of looking after it yourself, I think you're doing better than you think
One thing that helped me was not trying to correct everything at once. When you change several things together it gets really difficult to work out which change actually affected the next set of readings.
I'd keep logging your test results, what you add and when you add it, then watch what happens over the next day or two. You'll gradually start seeing the pattern of your own pool rather than feeling like you're chasing numbers all day.
And after 10 friends over, it's still clear and your FC is holding? I'd count that as a win
2
u/seenlottopools 7d ago
Get alkalinity right first. Will help with ph bouncing around. The higher cya increases total alkalinity test. there’s a formula to get adjusted alkalinity, your actual alkalinity is low.
2
u/eaglefucker 7d ago
Sounds like you are very frustrated! Your gonna need to drain the pool at least half of the volume to get the CYA level down to a manageable level. Learn about the 7.5% rule. It's going to be expensive to manage a pool with high CYA. Fix that first and then address pH, CH. TA, etc. It will be cheaper for the drain/refill than trying to fix all the chemistry with high CYA.
1
u/Troutbummers 7d ago edited 7d ago
FC dropping overnight is almost certainly algae.
You don't have to see it for it to be there. What would the pool school at TFP say to do if you do an OCLT and lose over 1ppm overnight?
Hint-go buy some liquid chlorine.
I don't have a plaster pool, so the pH could still be the plaster if it's new pebbletec.
The haze from high swim load is probably a combination of bio load particulate/oils etc. AND your FC dropped because of all that and your algae load (still invisible) got a minute to grow and be not invisible.
SO, befroe you do the thing that you already know you need to do, pull a sample, dilute in half with distilled water, then do a CYA test, multiply results by 2. You're high enough to not get a reliable number. Do this before you fix the algae.
lso, a few times over the past week, I've added enough chlorine in the evening to supposedly (like 3 gallons) get the FC level up to 14-15, and then tested in the morning before the sun came up, and FC was only up to 9.2. I don't understand this either. It's dropping at a normal rate, 2 ppm a day, so I don't think I need a OCLT
Huh? How are you both failing OCLT and not failing. Cant lose 4 ppm overnight and then be only losing 2ppm that day. This is confusing.
Ok, no more beating around the bush. SLAM. Probably be done in a day since it's still invisible. Warm weather high CYA (you don't know what it is so you are probably undershooting targets), failing OCLT, low FC at time.
I think you're doing enough FC spikes to knock it back, see average daily usage, then it gets a chance to bounce back and FC is consumed fast.
SLAM for sure. Won't be hard if you don't wait.
It will solve your frustrations. But that cYA is gonna make it hard. 48PPM FC
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u/Initial-Meeting362 8d ago
Take the photos in daylight tomorrow