Backwashing and shocking

[aylad]

Hi, Judi,
Welcome to the forum!!

For right now, backwashing your filter frequently is much better for it than letting the pressure get too high and overloading your pump. It shouldn't hurt the filter; however, if you're having to backwash that often, there are obviously problems with the water that you need to address.

Does your filter have a vacuum to waste mode? That would allow you to still vacuum but to bypass the filter so the frequent backwashings wouldn't be necessary.


By "occasionally using a shock product and a clarifier product and not testing any water levels", you may have created a pool that's going to take some time and patience to fix, but I'm sure we can help you with it.

If you'll have the water tested with a drop-based kit (no strips!) and post numbers for at least two of the three: Free Chlorine, Total Chlorine, Combined Chlorine in addition to pH, Total Alkalinity, CYA (stabilizer), and Hardness, I'm sure we can help you get the algae problem fixed so that you don't have to spend nearly as much time vacuuming.

We also need the ingredients of the chems you've been using in the pool (specific ingredients, not just "shock").

Also, you really need to get a good, drop-based kit so you can do your testing at home and make sure that your readings are accurate. In order to clear up an algae problem, this is going to be key. We recommend the Taylor 2006K, which can be found online. Leslie's also has a relabeled version of that kit on their online site.

In the meantime, read through the "stickies" at the top of the forums--most of the general water chemistry basics and methods are in those stickies. You can also check out our sister site PoolSolutions.com and there's LOTS of information there that will help you understand what's going on with your pool. And, of course, we're here to help!! It will be helpful if you'll just keep all the information regarding this situation in this one thread, so that all the people trying to assist you have all the info in one place.

Janet

[jmcrae]

OK Janet, got a test kit from Leslie Pools today... here goes:

FC = 2
TC = 3
CC = 1
PH = 7.5
TA = 150
CYA = 70

The pool looked great yesterday. I wasn't able to vacuum this morning and took the readings this afternoon when I got home. Pool's green on the sides and around the base. Now it's raining like mad... we're getting rain bands from the hurricane...

I don't have the filter sock or DE yet.

Thanks again for your time.

Judi

[Watermom]

Hi Judi,
Not Janet here, but hope I'll do!

With a cya of 70, your chlorine levels are not near high enough to keep algae from forming much less to fight it!

Stabilizer . . . . . . Min. FC . . . . Max FC . . . 'Shock' FC
=> 0 ppm . . . . . . . 1 ppm . . . . . 3 ppm . . . . 10 ppm
=> 10 - 20 ppm . . . . 2 ppm . . . . . 5 ppm . . . . 12 ppm
=> 30 - 50 ppm . . . . 3 ppm . . . . . 6 ppm . . . . 15 ppm
=> 60 - 90 ppm . . . . 5 ppm . . . . . 10 ppm . . .. 20 ppm
=> 100 - 200 ppm . . . 8 ppm . . . . . 15 ppm . . .. 25 ppm

As you can see in the chart above, you need to keep your cl between 5-10 ALL the time and when you need to shock, you'll need to take it up to 20ppm. Since you are reporting a CC reading of 1, and you have low FC level and you are seeing algae, all these things tell you that you need to shock the pool and try and hold the cl at 20. The more times per day that you can test and add bleach to get your cl back up to 20 the better. The very minimum is twice per day: early morning and in the evening when the sun is off the pool. But, if you can test 3 or 4 times per day it will clear up faster. The key is to sustain the high cl reading and not let the FC yo-yo up and down. When you get to the point where you are not losing more than 1ppm of cl from sundown to sunup and when you have a CC reading of 0 and no more algae, then you can let your cl drift back down to between 5-10. Never below 5 however or you will fight algae again. Also run your pump 24/7 while you are trying to clear this up. Also, brush the sides and bottom of your pool daily.

What exactly have you added to this pool -- meaning ingredients, not just "shock"? Your cya is already high at 70 so you really shouldn't use any trichlor pucks or dichlor powder in your pool. Best to stick with bleach or liquid chlorine.

What is the volume of your pool?

[jmcrae]

Thanks Watermom!
Our pool holds 8000 gals. We have always exclusively used a product called Shock PLUS (by aqua chem). They are 1 pound packets that treat 12,000 gals. I don't know why we started using an entire packet per treatment, but we did. Like I said before, our problems started three months ago with our new pool. The active ingredient is sodium dichloro-s-triazinetrione (58.2 %). The remaining 41.8% is "other ingredients". The package instructs to use once a week to create sparkling water, reduce chlorine odor and eye irritation, and does not increase pH.

I can work on the pool in the morning and evening, but for the rest of the day, this being Texas, the sun is unmerciful. Could it be the sun? We lost a shade tree and one of our pool umbrellas so we have many more hours of direct sun on the pool this year. In any event, I will start the bleach regime and let you know.
Judi

[Watermom]

In your pool, each quart of 6% bleach will raise your cl level by just about 2ppm. Also, with a cya level of 70, you shouldn't use any more dichlor (shock plus packets) as they are stabilized (which means they have cya in them) and you don't want your cya any higher.

Keep us posted!

[jmcrae]

You bet Watermom! Thanks ever so!

[jmcrae]

Watermom - I'm really, REALLY, new to this testing stuff, so please bear with me (after you finish laughing).

I started this morning at 7 am; I vacuumed then backwashed; I added 1 quart of bleach which resulted in the following levels: FC - 5; TC - 5; CC - 0; and pH 7.8.

At 2:30 I added another quart of bleach and got the same levels.

The little measuring container has two ports; one labeled Cl Br, and the other labeled pH.

The Cl - Br side looks like this:

Cl Br
5 10
3 6
2 4
1 2
.5 1

The pH side:

pH
8.2
7.8
7.5
7.2
6.8

My question is: How do I measure 10pmm and 20pmm if it's not marked on my container? The kit I got from Leslie Pools cost $47. Is there another kind of measuring container with higher levels on it? Am I making any sense?

Thanks for your patience...perhaps we should move my posts to kiddy/remedial?

Judi