Total Newbie with a number of questions

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ecl

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Aug 1, 2011
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I just bought a home with a small 16,000 gallon inground concrete pool. I am having the person who did my pool inspection continue to take care of the pool until I can take it over myself. I am planning on having a salt chlorinator installed ASAP.

I like in Oklahoma and it has been really hot each day 100+ for quite a while.

1) I have a willow directly over the pool that constantly sheds leaves in the pool (I really mean constantly, I have to hand skim 5+ times a day to keep leaves out and unless I vacuum there are always leaves on the bottom of the pool).

2) I have a very light algae problem on the walls, but brushing seems to be controlling it for the time being.

3) the water is crystal clear right now

4) Using taylor test I have the following test result:

FC 5 ppm
TC 5 ppm
CC 0 ppm
PH 7.2
TA 145
CH 500
CYA 100-110

Based on these it appears that my CYA, TA, and HD are significantly high. I believe it is from the use of powdered chlorine of one type or another to kill the algae.

I have my kids who swim in the pool every day, so I want a solution that allow me the minimum down time for swimming for my kids.

Questions:

How should I fix the pool chemistry, in what order, and should I do it before or after switch to salt system.
Should I ask my pool guy to install the salt system? Which systems are best?

Thanks in advance.
 
I'm not sure about the SWG as I don't have one but I'd assume you want the pool properly balanced before installing one. As for your numbers you are correct that your CYA is too high for an FC of 5. That is why you are getting algae. I'd think about replacing water and lowing your CYA if that is an option. Your shock FC level is going to need to be astronomically high with CYA over 100.

I would read over Pool School on this site and check out the pool calculator.
 
CYA and Calcium only go away by draining and refilling. I keep my CH in check by draining a couple inches at a time and use it to water the lawns. You probably don't have that time luxury. You need to shock the pool, and that's very hard unless you lose half to two-thirds of your CYA, meaning half to two-thirds of your water.

If your Taylor kit only has the color block for Chlorine, you should order up the FAS-DPD kit from http://tftestkits.net. Then head over to Pool School and start reading, especially about shocking.

Once your pool is clear and balanced and all the algae is gone, then worry about adding Salt and a SWG. The SWG can't keep up with the demands of shocking and you may end up replacing a lot of water and losing salt if you switch before it's time.
 
The ph is good. Any TA adjustment could probably wait until you see what the ph behavior is over time.
First, you should replace some water to get the CYA down to around 70 or so.
Second, you need to get your FC up to shock level and keep it there until you can pass an overnight chlorine loss test.
Read more in Pool School.

That'll get you in good shape, and there isn't really any downtime.
 
Thanks for the quick replies. Should I use the pool main drain to lower the water or rent a pump? Also, if I am adding chlorine to get the FC up, how high can the FC level be and still let my children swim in the pool?
 
You will want to complete the shock process before installing your SWG. The SWG is great for supplying small amounts of chlorine over an extended period of time, but they are not really designed to shock the pool. In fact it takes a few days after start up for a SWG to reach maintenance levels of chlorine and keep it there, so we usually recommend daily doses of liquid chlorine until the SWG is able to keep up with demand.

Even though you will need around 70 ppm CYA to run the SWG, shocking at that level will be more expensive and time consuming. Draining about 1/2 the volume of your pool should drop the CYA to a manageable 50 ppm for completing the shock process. Read defeating algae and how to shock your pool for more information on the shock process.
 
Generally speaking, CYA levels around 50 are good for a non-SWG pool, and 70-80 for SWG. In your case, being in the Oklahoma sun, you will likely want your CYA to be around 60-70 to prevent too much loss to the sun's UV.
When you need to reduce CYA, as you do, you must drain and refill. You can often calculate the amount of water needed to affect a certain percentage of change, but here's the problem with that: CYA tests usually only read up to 100, and anything over that still looks like 100. So one may actually have a CYA level of 200, or 300, or... who knows? In these cases, replacing 25%, 30%, or even 50% of the water doesn't yield an equivalent drop in CYA, and this often confuses and frustrates folks.
Tip: If your CYA is 100 or more, run the test again with a sample of pool water diluted with tap water (a 50/50 mix) and multiply the test result by 2. If it's still ~100, try it again at 25/75 or 3:1 tap water to pool water, and multiply the result by 3. It is not that accurate, but it will give you some idea as to how high your CYA really is.
Also, don't get stuck on trying to be crazy accurate with the CYA level. The tests are +/- 10 anyway, and results vary with lighting, mixing, and number of beers. :lol:
Focus on getting to anywhere from 50-70 and shock the pool. Look up the shock level using either the Chlorine/CYA chart in Pool School or the pool calculator. Get it there and maintain it, as it will be consumed in fairly short order in killing the organics in your pool. Once the pool is nice and sanitized, the chlorine will not go away as furiously, and it will be easy to keep up with.
 
I have followed the advice. After drain and refill. My test results are:

FC 3
TC 3
CC 0
Ph 7.3-7.4
TA 90-100
CH 230-250
CYA 60-70
(since I am colorblind, these are my best estimates)

My FAS/DPD chlorine test hasn't arrived yet, so I am reluctant to significantly shock the pool since I won't know how much chlorine is in it and when it is safe for my children to swim in.

The pool was clear before the pool man came. I told him not to put any chlorine in it because I didn't want CH to increase or the CYA to go up either. Right after he left I looked at the pool and it was clean (no green) but had some white cloudiness. That was yesterday. Right now there is no sign of green, it seems clean but with some (diminished) white cloudiness.

I am getting ready to install a SWG next week. I bought liquid bleach to treat and shock so I would not be changing the CH and CYA.

Any recommendations for the next few days. I am thinking of adding enough tonight to bring it up to 8ppm until I get my fas/dpd and can shock it.
 

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Until you test kit arrives I would try and keep you pool as close to 8-10ppm as you can. If you FC is still 3 you need to add a 1.4G jug of bleach to get you there right now. I think that is the best thing to do until your kit arrives. You will not be wasting bleach and your pool with have some amount of chlorine in it.
 
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