Getting the pool ready for the season!

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minxcal

minxcal

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Jul 6, 2013
80
South FL
Hello, all! This is my second pool following these methods and 2nd year with this particular pool. The first year, we fought a battle keeping it balanced as the TA and CH were consistently high. I got that all worked out at about this time last year and we had a perfect pool all summer. Over the 'winter' here in Florida, I maintained pH and FC, and ran full tests fairly regularly. We also had to invest in a new pump, so now that I've got a good one, I want to take full advantage.

Over the last couple of months, I've had quite a bit of emergency travel, so things slipped a bit during a rainy period that caused us to need to drain the pool down a bit several times. After all of this rain, with my newest test results, CYA and CH have taken a nosedive. I've got family from up north coming to visit in a couple of weeks so I'm working to get the pool back to the pristine state I had it all of last season. There's some staining on the bottom of the pool, and some black spots that look like they could be black algae (ugh) so I thought I'd do a SLAM and then work on the others. I've gotten the pH back down to where it should be, and the FC is holding, but I want to do some work on the CYA and CH. What I need to know from the pros here is... how would you attack this for the quickest results?
FC - 5
pH - 7.5
TA - 100
CH - 168 (14 drops * 12)
CYA - barely 20
I have a bag of stabilizer ready to go, so I was going to hang that from the ladder today. We also have one bag of cal-hypo (56%) and I stocked up on bleach yesterday. I need to bring the CH up as well, so should I get more cal-hypo and use it rather than bleach for a short time? The pool store that I visit (rarely) currently has it buy one get one free, so it's actually cheaper than Clorox at the moment.

Thank you!
 
Good morning. I would first ensure your CYA is stable at about 30. Also lower pH to about 7.2-7.4 in preparation for the SLAM. So while a sock is soaking for your CYA and stabilizer to dissolve, and after you've adjusted the pH, increase FC to 12 and maintain during the SLAM. Leave everything else until after the SLAM.

Once you pass, then you can consider increasing CH a little closer to your range, but test your fill water first. Some places with really hard water who fill with the hose often raise their CH quickly. If you don't have that problem, then yes, increase CH a bit after the SLAM. Cal-Hypo will certainly work, but may not be as predictable for your SLAM. But you can try. Most generally use regular bleach during the SLAM since it's easy to get, dispense, and measure. Best of luck!
 
minxcal said:
Hello, all! This is my second pool following these methods and 2nd year with this particular pool. The first year, we fought a battle keeping it balanced as the TA and CH were consistently high. I got that all worked out at about this time last year and we had a perfect pool all summer. Over the 'winter' here in Florida, I maintained pH and FC, and ran full tests fairly regularly. We also had to invest in a new pump, so now that I've got a good one, I want to take full advantage.

Over the last couple of months, I've had quite a bit of emergency travel, so things slipped a bit during a rainy period that caused us to need to drain the pool down a bit several times. After all of this rain, with my newest test results, CYA and CH have taken a nosedive. I've got family from up north coming to visit in a couple of weeks so I'm working to get the pool back to the pristine state I had it all of last season. There's some staining on the bottom of the pool, and some black spots that look like they could be black algae (ugh) so I thought I'd do a SLAM and then work on the others. I've gotten the pH back down to where it should be, and the FC is holding, but I want to do some work on the CYA and CH. What I need to know from the pros here is... how would you attack this for the quickest results?
FC - 5
pH - 7.5
TA - 100
CH - 168 (14 drops * 12)
CYA - barely 20
I have a bag of stabilizer ready to go, so I was going to hang that from the ladder today. We also have one bag of cal-hypo (56%) and I stocked up on bleach yesterday. I need to bring the CH up as well, so should I get more cal-hypo and use it rather than bleach for a short time? The pool store that I visit (rarely) currently has it buy one get one free, so it's actually cheaper than Clorox at the moment.

Thank you!
Click to expand...
Where did you get the factor of 12 for CH? :scratch:

If you're using a 25ml sample, each drop is 10. If you're using a 10 ml sample, each drop is 25. So you're either at 140, which is too low, or at 350, which is plenty.
 
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