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Help Us Make It Clear Please!


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Hi everyone. We bought a house that came with an AG 15,000 gallon pool almost 3 years ago. When we got it, we finished up the season knowing nothing but were given simple instructions and we managed fine and we closed it up fine. Last year, we opened it fine, chemicals were good for a month-ish and the pool looked inviting. Last year was a terrible year for our family, my husband lost his sister as well as he was diagnosed with cancer. The pool took a back burner. Between our normal jobs and appointments and you name it...it developed algae due to us #1)not knowing what we were doing #2)trusting the pool companies #3)not having time to commit to it. We unfortunately relied on the pool companies and all they did was have us spend a ton of money on things that didn't 100% work. We ended up closing the pool early (yes it was still a mess). When it came time to open it this year, we paid a company a come out and install a new sand filter (we previously had an old cartridge filter) and open the pool and get the chemicals off on the right foot for us. I can't say we were completely pleased, when he opened the pool, he dumped everything that was on the cover of the pool into the pool! That was nasty sitting water/leaves/etc that had been accumulating for over 6 months! By the time he was "done", the water was almost clear, it was a pretty blue, and you could see piles of debris sitting in the bottom, which he told us to use our Polaris to get out or scoop it out.
As soon as we started this project, everything got stirred up. We've vacuumed the pool, used the Polaris, scooped out as much as we can...and we have this cloudy aquamarine/teal color and you can't see the bottom.
I tested the pool about an hour ago and here were the results, we use a Taylor K2006 kit to do it ourselves since we found we got different results when we took the same pool sample to 3 different pool companies.
FC: 2.8ppm
CC: 1.2ppm
Ph: 7.2
TA: 70ppm
CH: 170ppm
CYA: 60ppm

We just received this test kit at the beginning of the month and we've been able to successfully raise and lower results as needed thanks to the treatment guide provided with the kit.
This result was the highest the CC has been since we started testing. TA, CH, and CYA have been very stable since we originally got them corrected. The only things we're closely monitoring and adding are chlorine and soda ash as needed.
The big question is how to be get our pool sparkling blue?

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Not a surprise that pool companies or pool stores get different testing results. This is why we say you should always use your own good test kit, preferably the Taylor K-2006 as you are using.

The higher CC isn't good. Are you using Trichlor pucks as your source of chlorine? For every 10 ppm Free Chlorine (FC) added by Trichlor, it also increases Cyanuric Acid (CYA) by 6 ppm. Your FC is too low for your CYA level. The FC should be at least 7.5% of the CYA level in a manually dosed pool (i.e. not a saltwater chlorine generator pool). See the Chlorine / CYA Chart that shows you should have a minimum of 5 ppm FC if you want to prevent green and black algae growth regardless of algae nutrient (phosphate and nitrate) level.

You need to SLAM your pool using chlorinating liquid or bleach. See SLAM - Shock Level and Maintain. That will kill off nascent algae growth and likely get rid of the CC as well. You need to keep your pool uncovered and exposed to sunlight since the UV in sunlight will help in several ways. Then after you are done with the SLAM, you need to maintain the proper FC/CYA levels and if you continue to use Trichlor then your CYA level will continue to climb so you should consider using chlorinating liquid or bleach as your primary source of chlorine. Unfortunately, that means buying and hauling the heavier chlorine (since it's mostly water) and adding it every day or two to the pool unless you have a pool cover in which case you may be able to add chlorine twice a week instead. See the Pool School for more info on how to properly manage your pool.

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