First Opening!

[Steverino]

Opened today! Numbers are:
FC: 0
pH: 7.2
TA: 70
CH: 200
CYA: under 30
Temp: 50

We have a loop loc winter cover. Lots of worms in the bottom, plus a very large amount of white "powder" settled out on the bottom. Anyone know what it might be?

Anyway, vacuumed most of the worms & powder to waste. Even though I tried to be careful, a fair amount of the white stuff got stirred up. Ran the filter all day and it has already gained almost 10 psi (meaning time for a backwash). I can't hardly believe it - I only needed to backwash once ALL LAST SEASON. I guess the water is just really dirty?

Ran the Aquabot for a few hours after I vacuumed. Had to rinse the bag out once.

Went ahead and (following the Pool Calc) added Trichlor (had it left over from last year). Will be getting some borax and stabilizer in the next couple of days.

Certainly open to feedback here - it's our first opening.

Thanks,

Steve

 

[JasonLion]

Finding lots of dust when opening a mesh covered pool is common, though the dust often isn't white.

 

[Steverino]

Thanks Jason - I'm still learning what to expect...

Small update - started the pump this morning and the filter pressure is 7 psi lower! Now how can this be? If it was getting clogged yesterday, how can it not be today? Some quirk in DE filters?? Wow, I feel clueless...

 

[Johnny B]

Frequent backwashing is needed at opening, more junk to filter.
7 psi lower I assume because of your backwashing? Watch the pressure & report back & these guys will help you. Sometimes gauges need replacement- easy fix.
FWIW, when I had a DE filter I'd remove that baby & hose it off rather than backwash, especially early in the season. More work but got me to the goal line sooner. If you do this, add the DE at the skimmer because its gone once you hose it off.

Some decent threads on how to care for a DE filter.

 

[duraleigh]

I think it's fairly common for DE filters to drop psi after shutting the pump off. Others more familiar with DE can give better advice.

I would leave your pH alone. (I assume that's why you getting the borax). 7.2 is adequate and there is a natural tendency for pH to slowly rise in most pools.

MOST IMPORTANTLY - get some chlorine in your pool sooner rather than later. The tri-chlor pucks introduce chlorine so slowly I believe I would supplemant it with enough clorox to bring it to 15ppm or so. You have a lot of contaminants in the water and I don't think the pucks alone are enough to really get it cleaned up.

If you put in enough to get to 15ppm this evening, re-check your FC (and CC's) tomorrow morning to see how much you've lost. There's a good chance it will be significant.

 

[JasonLion]

Sometimes the DE will fall off the grids when the pump turns off, sometimes it will stay in place. It is better if the DE stays in place, but if the DE does fall off when the pump is turned off it is the same as bumping the filter, which lowers the pressure for at least a while.

 

[Steverino]

Yesterday FC was 2.6, CC was .4, CYA was 27 (so it did come back up after getting the pool running and stirred up).

Added bleach & stabilizer per the Pool Calc. and (per the stabilizer information) am running the filter for 24 hrs. Pool looks much clearer this morning. Filter pressure is back up, close to backwash levels again. Need to get some DE & then will backwash in the next day or two.

We're getting there! Thanks for the help - so far the opening has been relatively easy.

 

[Steverino]

Just a quick update:
Pump pressure has dropped down to about the "beginning" level when clean.

One question about CC: it has maintained .2 over the past three days. My log looks like:
4/5: FC 3.4
4/6: FC 2.2 (added 168 oz bleach per Pool Calc, shooting for a 5; put on pool solar cover)
4/7: FC 4.4
Temp is around 66.
Each day I'm testing around 6 pm.
I've added CYA (on 4/4, per the Calc), but I believe I have to wait to test a while yet.

Anyway, shouldn't my CC be dropping to zero, or what am I doing wrong?

Thanks!

 

[duraleigh]

Anyway, shouldn't my CC be dropping to zero?

No. .5ppm or less CC's is treated as zero for our purposes. It may drift to zero or it may not (mine rarely ever does) but as long as your at .5 or less, that's the number you are shooting for.

 

[Steverino]

Oh, good. Maybe I missed it somewhere... Thanks Dave! Now I'll be interested to see how long it holds the FC level with the cover on (assuming I have enough CYA now).