Fluctuating numbers

[PoolDoc]

Hi Sherra;

You should only expect your 'numbers' to be stable, when your pool chemistry is.

When you are in the midst of a major treatment process, for whatever reason, it's normal to see fluctuations.

Being able to independently measure 5 parameters of your pool's chemistry (chlorine, pH, total alkalinity, calcium hardness, and cyanuric acid) tends to create the mental illusion that these are 5 *independent* parameters. But, they are not. What you do to affect one thing, almost always affects another as well. This fact is one reason why I emphasize avoiding unnecessary chemicals: they complicate things beyond comprehension, and make it exceedingly difficult to understand what you need to do to your pool.

In reality, your chemistry readings appear to be quite stable to me. Your calcium is unchanging, as I'd expect unless you did something to either precipitate it (raise the pH a bunch) or add to it (use cal hypo). Your stabilizer can diminish when a biofilm is present, but that doesn't appear to happen. Your one low reading is likely either a simple reading error on a hard to read test, or else a sampling error, such as taking a sample from the zone where you were refilling the pool after backwashing. Alkalinity is HIGHLY affected by small changes in pH . . . and your pH did change some. Plus, it can be affected by large quantities of bleach . . . and it appears that you added large quanties (as you should have done).

But, the reality is that over-testing can provoke over-treatment! I wish I could come up with simple -- but accurate --rules to say just when, and how much to test, but I haven't been able to do so.

What I'd encourage you to do is kill and clean up the algae completely, before worrying too much about the other stuff!

Ben "PoolDoc"

[Sherra]

Thank you! I guess a little reassurance that I was doing the right thing is all I really needed. I've not added anything to the pool but bleach and just started adding the DE to the filter last night. I'm hoping to come home to a crystal clear pool tonight. If not, I'll just keep slugging away with the bleach...thank goodness it's only $2.28 for the 6% 1.4 gallon jugs at our local Wally World (I've got 3 in a decent driving distance from me)! I can't even imagine what I'd be paying to keep the pool up if I relied on the pool store. We did that with our AG pool in Kansas several years ago, and we spent several hundred dollars a year in chemicals for a 15' round pool, and the water was never clear. I found this site a couple of months before we moved from there...wish I would have found it MUCH sooner. Knowing how much money we could have saved makes me nauseous. I'm sure we could have easily maintained the pool for about $75 a season.