new house, new to me pool

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MarianParoo said:
Well, now at least you know exactly what to do. Does your fill water have much TA?
Click to expand...

Yeah, my fill water is high TA. And if I fill out of my non softened water line, it's hard water too. I haven't started draining anything yet, but I'm succumbing to the thought that I'm going to have to. Other than it being slow, I guess I'll recoup the costs of the water and then some by returning that mineral pack for the frog and all the other chemicals.
 
So I need to drain about half way and refill? And what risk am I running if I didn't do this? Assuming I didn't add any more CYA over the summer, I assume I'd just end up using more chlorine than absolutely necessary?

I guess I'm concerned about the time it's going to take to drain and refill. Is the existing untreated water going to turn to swamp? It smells like dead worms right now :)

My pool does not have a main drain, and my only external pump device is a small submersible. It's slow, so draining half the pool may take as long as filling it from my garden hose.
 
IF you leave the CYA where it is you will need LOTS of chlorine over the summer to get and keep your pool clear.

How much rain do you get in your area? You can rig up a way to direct the rain off of your roof into the pool to help exchange water.

You can also do small drains over time. It is takes longer and you have to make sure you keep the FC up so you do not get an algae bloom.

It is up to you how you do it. We just want you to know what is what so your pool will be clear and Trouble Free!

We will help you how every you decide to do it.

Kim:cat:
 
I very much appreciate the help all. Everyone, including my dad, agrees that my CYA level is high, and it would be better to lower it. He seems to think he wouldn't worry too much with a 140ppm level, but it may just be because water costs them so much more in the San Antonio area.

I don't want to use any more chlorine than necessary, so I think I'm going to start draining it tonight and let my submersible pump run over night, and aim for draining half of it, even if it takes me a week. Then refill from the garden hose.

So, considering water temps is about 63 degrees, and it may take me a bit to get back up to skimmer level to get the pump running, am I risking a big outbreak? Should I throw anything in the water in the meantime to prevent that?
 
I wouldn't worry too much about adding anything to the water at this point. Save your $$ and chemicals. Once you do refill and find that your CYA is in a better place, then we can help you adjust and/or perform a SLAM properly. No worries.
 
Sounds good. I've got the pool drained below the skimmer, and now my submersible pump is running. If things are still looking far from finished by the time I get up tomorrow, I may go rent a utility pump to suck it all out quicker. I'd like to get back to filling ASAP. My wife comes home on Thursday and I'd love to be done by then. But we shall see.
 
Honestly, my submersible pump did an admirable job and got me drained to my satisfaction by noon today. I put the water hose in the pool shortly after that, and I'm not far from the fake coping design along the top already. If I'm not full by bedtime tonight, I will be tomorrow afternoon.

The submersible pump I am using is the one linked below. I have to admit I'm quite liking this little thing. Not as fast as a big gas utility pump, but quiet and fast enough.

Superior Pump 1/4 HP Submersible Thermoplastic Utility Pump-91250 - The Home Depot
 

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As of 9pm tonight, my water level was mid skimmer so I got the pump and filter back running. I'm going to let it run overnight, and test the water tomorrow morning and decide then what needs to be done. It took me about 17 hours to drain, and 9 to refill. Not nearly as painful as I thought. Now hopefully the water bill won't be too bad also.

I also have to run out to the pool company to return all these chemicals tomorrow morning. It's an hour drive, and the sooner I can get it done, the sooner I can get back to work. I may or may not get my water tested before I run to the pool store. But I'm very curious to see what my CYA level is now, so I'll probably do it. I'll let you all know soon!
 
well I guess I'm in a bit of a situation here. I woke up and it's November all of a sudden. Grey day, and it's supposed to rain some.

I'm not sure I can get an accurate CYA reading. Any suggestions? Should I wait for the sun to come out?
 
Ok. My concern is that I've got nothing in the water to keep it from going green on me, and until I can do a CYA test, I can't start adding chlorine or anything else. Tempted to do a CYA test under cloudy conditions for a rough estimate, but I'm guessing patience is a better strategy.

Rain is forecast for today and tomorrow. So it might be Wednesday before I can figure out what's going on.
 
Well, I saw the sun long enough to attempt a test, and I'm down to a CYA of 60 now. Much better! Perhaps not perfect, but I can work with that for a season until I winterize again and drain for that reason.

So, the updated numbers are:

CYA of 60
TA of 180ppm (our tap water sucks)
Ph is 7.2

I didn't test for calcium hardness, but knowing what I know about our water here, it is full of it. So I'm not sure if that's why my TA is so high, and perhaps I should just get some of the calcium out?
 
Alright! So that means your SLAM FC level would be 24. SO if you're getting ready to SLAM, increase FC to 24 and your pH is already perfect. You can roll with that. Make sense?

As for CH, I don't see your pool info. Refresh my memory ... plaster or vinyl pool?
 
SLAM it is then. Should I test the chlorine level, or go on the assumption that it as at zero since none has been added and the fill water source tested no trace of any type of chlorine?

On another note, I went to the pool store this morning to return all the stuff. It was absolutely zero problem, and the guy didn't fight me at all when I said I had no desire to put the mineral in my water. I thought it was interesting that he seemed to say that he sold a lot of Frog systems because customers simply like the convenience of the pacs. If that's his reason for pushing them, then I know I don't want it. I did find out that my pool is 20k gallons.

So, with that in mind, I went to the PoolMath calculator and to go from zero FC to 24, I'm going to need 4.8 gallons to get me there from zero. Should 10 gallons be enough to have on hand? My plan would be to put it in this evening, then in the morning test the chlorine levels and add more as necessary. Surely I won't need another 5 gallons for the morning, will I? Either way, if I get 10 now, that should be safe. Even if I didn't use it all for SLAMMING, I'll soon use it for regular use.

this has been exciting so far. I am already thinking about how to automatically feed liquid chlorine. But that'll be another thread :)
 

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