Helping neighbor with pool

[jilted]

Right before (maybe an hour) they put 3 boxes of borax in.
Also, they did a little waste vacuuming this evening to get dirt out and that stirred things up so now we're green and just a little cloudy.

ok here's the 1/2 pool water and 1/2 distilled water tests:

pH: very close to 7 so let's just say 7. I am assuming this is a good thing? Finally getting close? :-)
Base demand: 5 drops to get to 7.4, 7 drops to get to 7.6
CYA: reading was 70, multiply by 2=140
I tested ALK with the 1/2 and 1/2 water and it tested 40 ppm just like earlier with only pool water.
Also tested FC with the 1/2 and 1/2 and it tested at 22ppm

Will test again in the morning. They wiped out the store of Borax again. I think they have 4 more boxes in inventory and 4 more jugs (6 gallons) of bleach.

thanks
-stephen

[PoolDoc]

Sounds like you are on the right track.

A few more boxes of borax, and you'll have the pH in range. You might want to do side-by-side OTO and FAS-DPD chlorine tests, so you can get a feel for what OTO at 22 or so on looks like. You can actually use OTO up to around 50 ppm!

Be sure and keep the chlorine up -- it will probably drop over night, with all that algae.

[jilted]

So the water is pretty much clear again this morning... 90% clear I would say... mostly blue

Did the 1/2 and 1/2 pH test again... it came back a little darker than 7 (barely). I added 3 more boxes of borax.

FC is still off the charts... around 20ppm.

So it seems like we are finally making progress and getting the pH under control. Also, I turned their chlorinator down to MIN to keep from adding more and more stabilizer to the pool. What are the next steps going to be once pH is where we want it? Remember I came to this forum as a salt guy because I had given up because of lack of education on standard chlorinated pool so I have never properly cared for a non salt chlorinated pool! The CYA is still going to be high. ALK is still at 40.

Thanks again for all the help,
-stephen

[Watermom]

Glad the pH is almost there. Keep at it.

Regarding next steps -----

The best thing would be to have your neighbor register here at Pool Forum and let him/her learn to take care of their pool themselves. Otherwise, the job will be yours forever! Seriously, if they are going to be pool owners, they really need to know how to take care of their own pool. Hopefully by now, they see that what you have learned at PF has been working for their pool and should be convinced that our methods will work. Send them on over!

(In all honesty, we typically don't help via a third party most of the time, feeling that is usually best for the pool owner themselves to get educated about pool maintenance. We have kinda bent our own rule in this thread. So, please don't be offended. We all should have as nice a neighbor as you!)

[jilted]

Thanks. I didn't realize the third party rule. :-)

Besides being a nice neighbor, I just wanted some more real world experience in dealing with a troubled pool. I like to learn stuff. :-)

[jilted]

OK! Water totally cleared up overnight and this morning and after adding 3 more boxes of borax pH is pushing 7.5 this afternoon. FC is still high.

[Watermom]

7.5! Perfect! When you can go from sundown one evening to within two hours of sunup the next morning without losing more than 1ppm of chlorine, you might want to hold the chlorine high one more day for added insurance and then let it drift down. Take a look at the Best Guess Chlorine Chart in my signature below for what chlorine levels will be needed for maintenance. No more stabilized forms of chlorine for this pool meaning no more trichlor pucks or dichlor granules. With a CYA of 140, high chlorine levels will be needed all the time or they'll be right back with a green pool again in no time!