DriveMeNuts

Thanks....I am not adding any PH increaser. I have an auto safety cover on the pool. My fill water is good old fashioned well water that is high in PH and TA. That makes sense with the fill water. I have been adding more fill water this year than in the past due to the kids getting older resulting in more splash out of water. I'll keep an eye on it. Thanks again for the explanation and advice.

Hello All - I have a 35K gallon gunnite pool. Since opening the pool, I have been fighting an Alkalinity creep issue. My TA level is currently at 130 ppm. I get it to 100 (w/ PH at 7.1) and in about a month its near 150 ppm (PH 7.3). The pool is four years old. This is the first year requiring several acid treatments. I was not sure if this was normal as the plaster cures (not the right word) or if something else is causing the creep. Could I have metals in the water causing the creep? Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks....

I appologize for the delay in responding regarding the status. After adding the 48 gallons of bleach....the CC went to 0 and has been holding chlorine levels. My FC and TC levels are currenlty at 3 and have been this was for the past two weeks. Thanks so much for all the advice. Richard, You Are Da Man....

Here's where I am now...I had a chlorine reading in the bucket test 48 hours after adding 3tsp of bleach to the bucket. The reading was 5 ppm. I added 34 gallons of bleach to the pool. In 48 hours, I was down to 1 ppm. I did another bucket test. I added 1/2 tsp and that held at over 5 ppm for 48 hours. I added 6 gallons of bleach and then another 6 gallons the following day. Its been over 48 hours and my chlorine levels are holding above 10 ppm. I think maybe I am finally there. I had the water tested today and here are the results: FC >10 ppm TC >10 ppm CC 0 PH - 6.8 Hardness - 260 ppm Alk - 120 ppm CA - 10 ppm Question - My CA was 55 on May 10 (date of last test). Since the last pool company test I added 48 gallons of bleach (over the course of a week). I am trying to figure out why my CA dropped significantly. I noticed my Alk increased between the tests. Could there be a correlation between the two? I plan to add some CA to the pool this-evening. Final question, how do I know if I am out of the woods on the Chlorine issue? It will be 72 hours at 8:00 pm tonight. Richard...you have been awesome..... Thanks.... Jack

Okay, here's where I am. I have four gallons of pool water in the bucket. I am up to 3tsp of 6% bleach. At present, I get a reading of about 20 ppm. I hope it holds.... I did the same test yesterday with 2 tsp of bleach. I woke up this-morning with a 0 FC reading. Note: The pool store had me add 20 lbs of shock (Calc-Hypo) on Sat. On Sun I had 0 FC in the pool. The readings from the pool store water test post shock were as follows: FC 0 TC 1.2 PH 6.7 Alk - 94 Hardness 220 CYA - 50 Here's the strange part. I am not getting an ammonia reading on the test kit I purchased. I thought the kit might be bad so I purchased another (first one from Wal-mart). Same results...no reading. Any further gudiance or help would be appreciated. Jack

Thank you for the advice. I just purchaed a test strip kit for ammonia. I conducted the test and the results came back at .25 ppm. Would this be enough to cause my chlorine problem? I calculate the amount of FC needed (based on the reults of the test and the formula you provided) -- (8 * .25) (ammonia) - 0.1 (CC) = 1.9 FC. Is this correct? That seems low considering I added 12 gallons of bleach to the pool. Unless of course I was ever so close to destroying all the chloramines and just did not have enough to sustain the FC levels. If this is correct, how do I detemrien how much shock I need to add to the pool (35k gallon). I have 15 1lb bags. I wish I would have paid more attention in chemistry class..... Thanks again for all the help.

I am a newbie to this site. I found this forum after searching for answers to my water balance problem. I have been working with my Pool Stealer-ship to no avail. The only thing positive from my partnership with the pool store is their profits. Wow, I actually feel better now...on second thought.... Okay, here goes. We have a 20' x 40' (35,000 gallon) plaster (Grey bottom) pool with an auto safety cover. Oh yeah, the pool is four years old. Two weeks ago I pulled the cover back to check the status of the water. I noticed (no lie) thousands of fishing worms on the bottom. The pool water smelled like rot and was very cloudy. I decided I better open the pool and get them out of there. After removing the worms and decaying vegetation, I double shocked the pool (six 1lb bags of Calc Hipo 53% shock). The pool water said is that all you got. Actually it was...I did not have anymore shock. I tested the free chlorine level with my handy liquid tester (only tests Ch and Ph) and the level was 0. I took a sample to my pool store and the levels were. April 27 FC 0.0 TC 0.1 PH 7.6 Hardness 300 Alk - 189 CA - 5 The pool store told me to add 6 3" tablets to the skimmer, add 1/4 gallon of Muriatic Acid, 8lbs of stabilizer, and triple shock the pool. Of course they were nice enough to sell me the chemicals right there (w/ a smile). I added the chemicals, tested the water about 30 minutes later and registered 0.5 ppm of FC. I took the sample to the pool store the next day. The readings were: May 1 FC 0.4 TC 1.6 PH 7.3 Hardness 200 Alk - 188 CA - 40 They told me to add another 1/2 gallon of muriatic acid and calcium. I added no shock. The readings following this chemical add were. May 3 FC 0.0 TC 0.6 PH 7.0 Hardness 290 Alk - 180 Phosphates 300 CA - 40 They tested for Phosphates this time. I was told to add another 1/2 gallon of muriatic acid and PhosAway (it should be called wallet away). They also told me to shock the pool. Instead of using the bags of shock. I decided to use Walmart 12% ultra bleach. I purchased 12 gallons. After adding 6 gallons initially, my FC was at 1.5 ppm. I kept adding bleach hoping my FC would get to at least 10 ppm. I added the remaining six gallons and the FC made it to 3 ppm. By morning it was down to 0. The readings after this round were. May 8 FC 0.0 TC 0.1 PH 6.7 Hardness 270 Alk - 140 CA - 45 (increased due to adding bleach (i assume). Today 5/8, they told me to add yet another 1/2 gallon of muriatic acid and a concentrated algaecide. I forgot to mention that I have 10 (ten) 3" tablets (Trichlor) in my skimmers. I am at a loss as to what to do. I am tired of the trial-and-error my pool store is putting me through. Its good for them and I think I am helping keep them in business during the recession. I have two main issues: 1) My Alkalinity won't drop. Now my PH is on the very low side. Could the unstable chlorine issue be causing the alkalinity to be resistant to change? 2) Why won't the pool accept chlorine? I read on another forum that I should add 2lbs of shock per 5,000 gallons of water to get the FC over 10 ppm. This would equate to 14 bags for me. I have only added a max of seven (thus far). I have 15 bags, but did not want to add them (for nothing). I would greatly appreciate any thoughts, consultation, or recommendation on how to correct this problem. I also accept sympathy..... Thanks a million.....