I was going to switch from Biguanide (over 20 years) to Pristine Blue and became aware of your site. Ordered TF 100 test kit this morning. Brand new vinyl liner. Installing new filter sand today after replacing a couple of laterals and will finish filling pool. No test results yet. Will balance the water while waiting on test kit but need to get something in the water to prevent algae. Where do i start? Could buy a temporary test kit until TF100 comes in hopefully Saturday. Can test for PH, TA and CH roughly with old test kit and and have test strips from Walmart for chlorine but that is it. I would like to get the pool set up and swim before winter and i have to cover it up.
New to TFP with new liner and fresh well water
- Thread starter carlie7400
- Start date
Welcome to TFP 
You'll want to adjust PH to around 7.4-7.6 and add enough CYA to get to 30ppm (you can us www.poolcalculator.com for dosage). If the test kit is scheduled to be there on Sat, I would wait till then to fine tune, but to start you could add 1/2-1 gal of 6% bleach every evening, until the kit comes in, to maintain a chlorine residual.
You'll want to adjust PH to around 7.4-7.6 and add enough CYA to get to 30ppm (you can us www.poolcalculator.com for dosage). If the test kit is scheduled to be there on Sat, I would wait till then to fine tune, but to start you could add 1/2-1 gal of 6% bleach every evening, until the kit comes in, to maintain a chlorine residual.
Adding to what Dman said, once your pump is running, you can pour enough bleach in it to raise the FC 2 ppm each evening (use the Pool Calc to figure how much) until your test kit gets there. That'll keep it from going green, and make it swimmable.
Ok I'm slow. Tuesday I started adding 24 pounds of baking soda. Wednesday evening after receiving your replies, I added 3/4 gallon bleach. Thursday morning the pool was looking great and I finished adding the 24 pounds of baking soda. (Added the baking soda about 6 lbs at a time) Thursday evening I added another 3/4 gallons of bleach. The PH was still checking low so Thursday night after reading some more on your site I bought some soda ash. (Had my hands on the 20 mule team but did not buy it). I added about 1 1/2 lbs of soda ash that night. This morning I got up and the water in the pool is green. From our experience it is not algae but some kind of chemical reaction. I have double checked everything and as far as I can tell all the added ingredients are what you have recommended. One other thing, I have not added the CYA yet. My thinking is I should wait until I got the water balanced and I am not there yet. In retrospect, I should have maybe added borax instead of baking soda. We have always added baking soda. I am learning and continue reading everything on the site. Hopefully the test kit will come in today but probably tomorrow. Thank you for your help and I am sure that I am not the first one to start out wrong but it can sure make you feel silly.
The PH is still low so I am going to buy the 20 mule team I had my hands on last night.
The PH is still low so I am going to buy the 20 mule team I had my hands on last night.
Cloudy green, or clear green? Cloudy green is pretty much always algae, clear green is copper. None of what you've described adding will produce any chemical reaction that makes it green.
24lb of baking soda will have increased your TA by 70 ppm - which is a lot. In the long run that will cause you problems with high pH until gradual additions of acid bring it back down.
It's also best to get some CYA (like 20-30 ppm) in soon to protect the chlorine from the sun. With 0, your FC will drop to 0 very quickly and it can be tough to keep it sanitized. Waiting until everything else is in line will make it harder to GET everything else in line.
24lb of baking soda will have increased your TA by 70 ppm - which is a lot. In the long run that will cause you problems with high pH until gradual additions of acid bring it back down.
It's also best to get some CYA (like 20-30 ppm) in soon to protect the chlorine from the sun. With 0, your FC will drop to 0 very quickly and it can be tough to keep it sanitized. Waiting until everything else is in line will make it harder to GET everything else in line.
Clear green and I failed to add the soda ash to a bucket of water. I added straight to the pool at the deep end return. will add the CYA NOW. Thank you
Clear green indicates metals and you're most likely going to need to add sequestrant to it to get the green to go away. Post a set of results when you get the test kit.
Thanks - Will do. I went ahead and added the CYA and in the mean time the green seems to be going away very slowly. My wife and I agreed. I hope it is not our imagination.
Just as an FYI, baking soda is best used to raise TA, not PH. We tend to prefer using Borax to raise PH as it does not affect TA as much as soda ash would.
OK the tests are not as scary to do as I first thought. We have had the pool 29 years and had never seen the clear green water before. Searched and searched on the internet until I found someone with the exact same problem. The weaker the chlorine got the lighter green the water was. They were told by a supposedly subject matter expert that they had some residual buguanide left in piping, filter, etc. and to add some non chlorine bleach. Suggested Oxy Brite. Had my water tested at Leslies (what a joke) and they said I did not have any metals. They did not have Oxy Brite but did have Fresh and Clear. I put 3 pounds in and the next morning it was much clearer. This morning it is absolute beautiful.
My test results this morning. FC 3.5, CC .5, (TC 4). PH 7.8, CH 10, TA 140 and CYA 20. The high TA was because I was over zealous with the baking soda. The small test set said my TC was 3 so it was close. From what I see I need some CYA, calcium hardness increaser and I need to bring my TA down but I am waiting to hear from you folks to hear what and how to do it.
I am liking the system, definitely am impressed with the test kit and methods and will most probably become a supporter in the near future.
Thanks again.
My test results this morning. FC 3.5, CC .5, (TC 4). PH 7.8, CH 10, TA 140 and CYA 20. The high TA was because I was over zealous with the baking soda. The small test set said my TC was 3 so it was close. From what I see I need some CYA, calcium hardness increaser and I need to bring my TA down but I am waiting to hear from you folks to hear what and how to do it.
I am liking the system, definitely am impressed with the test kit and methods and will most probably become a supporter in the near future.
Thanks again.
Working on it. FC 3.5, CC .5, TC 4, pH 7.6 TA 110 Cya 40 Temp about 78. Did not do anything to CH so I didn't check it.
Looking good so far.
A lot of times the pool stores metals tests won't show any, but don't take that as there absolutely aren't any.
A lot of times the pool stores metals tests won't show any, but don't take that as there absolutely aren't any.
What should I take my CH up to? Added some hardness increaser last night but have not checked it yet.
In a vinyl liner pool you don't need to worry about CH unless it's too high.
The only other reason to worry about it is if you have a heater, etc. which specifically says the CH must be "X" amount to preserve the warranty.
The only other reason to worry about it is if you have a heater, etc. which specifically says the CH must be "X" amount to preserve the warranty.