New liner and looking for balance

[firestick]

It has been a while since I posted anything on here. I just installed my own liner last weekend. The pool and equipment sat idle for a few months over the winter. I had a big rip in the shallow end of the old liner, so a complete replacement was needed. The old liner was pretty brittle also. I suspect an M80 firwaork had something to do with the rip.

The new liner is in, the water is pretty and clear. It's still relatively cool here (in the 70's most days). I'm trying to get the chlorine level up to the 5 ppm range using shock and tablets so far. I notice that I lose all chlorine over night, which tells my I have something in the system (probably old algae in the pipes and filter) using up the chlorine as fast as I put it in.

The pH is about 6.8, TA about 10. I know these need to come up, but would the correct approach be to focus on chlorine first? From past expexperience I know bad things can happen when you try to adjust too many things at the same time. I bleached my old liner out doing all the wrong things, and my wife will kill me if I do it again.

I'll have more questions, but for now, this is the burning one.

Thanks for all the great information here. I'm looking through the older posts to figure out my question above, but I figure it doesn't hurt to ask in the meantime.

Just noticed my signature is wrong. I have a 24k gallon pool. I'm in Spanish Fort, AL. Rainbow 320 chlorinator and sand filter. 16.5 x 35.5 grecian style pool with vinyl liner.

 

[Texas Splash]

First thing to do ... refer to the Recommended Levels chart in my sig below. I would stop the pucks and bags of shock. If not already, add granular stabilizer ASAP for a target of at least 30 ppm to protect that FC. Then use regular bleach to try and maintain your FC target. Start modest at about 3 ppm the first day or two, then increase to about 5 ppm once that stabilizer is dissolved. About the same time, work on raising the pH (about 7.5) and TA (about 60).

That should get you going. If throughout tomorrow, after adding stabilizer, you find that FC is still going too fat, you will need to perform an OCLT to see if you have an algae bloom starting. Hope that helps.

 

[duraleigh]

but would the correct approach be to focus on chlorine first?

Yes, but you need to get about 30 ppm CYA (stabilizer) in your pool at the same time so your chlorine won't be burned off by the sun.

Can you tell us what your CYA is?

 

[firestick]

Thanks for the replies. I understand the need for CYA.

CYA is virtually zero. My plan is to let the level come up with the 3"tablets in the chlorinator. If I'm planning to use the "pucks" long term for maintenance chlorine levels, wouldn't this give me more time before maximum cya is reached? The chlorinator is more of a convenience item. I travel, and historically maintenance with bleach isn't done in my absence. I'm working to change that. Until then I'm working to find a balance that fits my schedule. So if I add 30 ppm CYA now, I'll be needing to replace water sooner than later because I'm a "puck" user. Are tablets available without stabilizer?

I do understand what you guys are advising, and I appreciate it. I wonder if Home Depot or Lowe's carries stabilizer. I'm traveling again Monday.