New pool owner trying to put it all together!

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mckinley02

mckinley02

0
May 13, 2016
29
Walla Walla, WA
Had the "pool guy" open my pool because I had no idea what I was doing. Been reading on this forum and others about BBB method. Just got my Taylor K2006 test kit today. The pool was opened 8 days ago and I have been using the cheapo paper test strips to monitor my pH and FC while waiting for the Taylor kit.
Upon testing my numers today with the k2006, here is what I found:

FC .4
CC .6
pH 8
TA 150
CH 180
CYA 100

I know that .4 FC is way too low, .6 CC is not good, and pH 8 is too high. The pool has been maintained with Trichlor tabs for years, hence the high CYA. I have been adding a few gallons of 10% liquid chlorine every couple of days for the past week in an effort to keep the pool somewhat maintained while waiting for the test kit. I also poured about 24 lbs of Borax in the pool yesterday because the paper test stops showed a pH closer to 6.8. I may have made my problem worse by doing that.
I am looking for guidance from you fine folks on where to go from here. Are my numbers all trustworthy or are some of them suspect because others are so far off? Should I fix the pH first, or get the FC up? Should I worry about the CC right now? Any help I can get is much appreciated!!
 
:wave: Welcome to TFP!

All the numbers should be valid. The high cya is the biggest concern. It points to a need to replace half the water before doing much else.

Note that you can use 10 milliliters of water for the FAS-DPD chlorine test to save reagents, each drop will be 0.5 ppm.
 
I would really like to avoid draining and refilling at all costs. It's 35,000gal in-ground vinyl pool and city water here is quite expensive. The funny thing about the CYA is that when the pool guy did a professional testing a little over a week ago (test done prior to any chemicals being added to open to the pool), his sample said CYA 70. Is it possible to add 30+ ppm CYA in 8 days with Trichlor tabs?
Obviously I will need to add a lot of liquid chlorine to get my FC up. Will adding the necessary chlorine drive my pH down for me at all or should I add some acid as well?
 
Your maintenance would be much simpler if you would replace water to lower the cya. But if you don't want to do that you'll just have to maintain very high FC levels. Adding the chlorine will not lower the ph you should lower the ph first with muriatic acid.
 
I ran a complete test again today on the pool since the original test was my first and I wanted to be certain I had numbers correct. The only major difference I came up with today is that CYA appears to be closer to 65-70 when tested in open shade on a bright sunny day, vs when I tested last night in the evening of a party cloudy day. In researching this a bit, it sounds like open shade on a sunny day is more accurate and would match closer to what my pool guy's test showed. CC was also a bit higher today...

here are my updated numbers:

FC. .4ppm
CC. .8ppm
pH 8 - Taylor acid demand test was 3 drops or about 1 gal of muriatic acid
CYA 70
TA 150
CH 200

Should I still drain some water and replace? How can I get my CC down?
 
That CYA is manageable. Some water replacement would not hurt but it is not needed. You need to follow the slam process to eradicate what is in your water causing the high CC.

Remember for the fas-dpd chlorine test to use 10 milliliters of water so that each drop is 0.5 part per million and that will save your reagent.
 
mckinley02 said:
In researching this a bit, it sounds like open shade on a sunny day is more accurate and would match closer to what my pool guy's test showed. CC was also a bit higher today...
Click to expand...

Yes, the CYA test needs to be done on a sunny day to be accurate, unless maybe you are really good at it. Ideally, CYA for a non-SWG pool would be between 30 and 50, but 70 is not unworkable. A partial drain could be done using the information in Pool Math to determine how much would get you close to 50 CYA. Again, 70 is workable though, but your SLAM will take a higher FC level to complete.

Read up on the SLAM process, with the M (maintain) being the most important part. You would need to maintain a FC of 28 to kill off whatever organics are growing in there. The first addition of bleach is the most, and you are done when you pass all three criteria of the OCLT. For reference, your SLAM FC would be 20 if you were to drain off some water to lower your CYA to 50.

Also, CYA will typically drop very slowly over time, so it is possible to wait and let the CYA drop on its own, or drop it to 60 and let it drop from there.

On the plus side, catching this now may mean that your SLAM may not be as intense as some on here in the past. Some people start with water that resembles motor oil and somehow the SLAM process brings it back to where you might almost drink it. :)
 
I began the SLAM process last night. Based on my numbers and a 35,000 gal pool I should have needed about 11 gallons of 10% liquid chlorine to bring my FC to a shock level of 28. I poured the 11 gallons in last night after the sun was down and tested the water this morning prior to the sun coming up. I found that my FC was only .5 and CC was 1.0. Is this normal? Should I just repeat the process to get the water up to 28??
 

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It definitely happens. It should generally hold better than that. Check FC an hour after adding this time and see where you are. What does the water look like? Scoop out everything you can with a leaf rake. We'll see how the FC holds after an hour. If it is way low again you might have some bacteria converting your CYA to ammonia. Which is good because it will lower your CYA and bad because it uses a LOT of chlorine. If FC only drops a few PPM after an hour then retest your CYA to see where you are and adjust shock level accordingly, Chlorine CYA Chart. Either way the answer is always to test and keep your FC at shock level as often as you can.
 
mckinley02 said:
I began the SLAM process last night. Based on my numbers and a 35,000 gal pool I should have needed about 11 gallons of 10% liquid chlorine to bring my FC to a shock level of 28. I poured the 11 gallons in last night after the sun was down and tested the water this morning prior to the sun coming up. I found that my FC was only .5 and CC was 1.0. Is this normal? Should I just repeat the process to get the water up to 28??
Click to expand...
If the pool is green or really murky to where you can't see the bottom, that much chlorine usage is normal, at least at the outset. A green pool will devour bleach almost as fast as you can pour it in. Also, your bleach may not have been full-strength if it's been sitting at the store since last season. But yes, the M in SLAM means Maintain, so keep the FC level up and check it every hour or two.
 
My pool is crystal clear and has been for about a week. I am only doing the SLAM to get my CC down. I did test the water last night 1 hour after adding chlorine. I found varying levels of FC and CC and a couple locations throughout the pool depending on whether I was sampling near where I poured the chlorine in or not. In general my FC was about 3 and CC was 6. If not for the test kit I would have swam in the pool yesterday judging the water by it's looks...

- - - Updated - - -

and yes, I have had my pump running since I began
 
mckinley02 said:
My pool is crystal clear and has been for about a week. I am only doing the SLAM to get my CC down. I did test the water last night 1 hour after adding chlorine. I found varying levels of FC and CC and a couple locations throughout the pool depending on whether I was sampling near where I poured the chlorine in or not. In general my FC was about 3 and CC was 6. If not for the test kit I would have swam in the pool yesterday judging the water by it's looks...

- - - Updated - - -

and yes, I have had my pump running since I began
Click to expand...
If CC is that high, it looks like maybe an ammonia problem. That's even thirstier than algae!
 
CC has gone to 0.0 and FC continues to fall at a rapid rate between chlorine additions. Just had my FC drop from 28 down to 21 over a 2 hr span during dusk. Being the sunlight would be very minimal at this time of day, is it just organics that are chewing up all of that FC??
 
You are in for a fight but one you can win. Keep testing and dosing according to your FC/CYA levels on the SLAM chart. It looks like you have over come the ammonia. Now you need to fight the other stuff. It should not take much longer since you water started as clear. Brush, test, dose.

Kim:cat:
 

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