Opened for 2013 Season

[stslimited84]

Hey all,

Took the cover off today in prep for full opening tomorrow. Added water and began cleaning of the pool.

Initial test results:

PH: 8.0+ - The PH reading was a BRIGHT Red/Pink color which i considered to be above what the kit can read
TA: 100 ppm
CH: 220 ppm
CYA: approx. 15 - With the small tube filled to the top the black dot finally disappeared so I estimated it to be around 15

Didn't bother to test chlorine as the water was a bit cloudy and its obviously not present lol. Going to begin shocking in the morning.

Suggestions on my levels? Ive read the material and am aware of the suggested optimums. That being said the PH was a battle last year with constant addition of muriatic acid. The plaster became rough over the course of the 2011/12 off season due to the high PH and I'm afraid I'll find it didn't get any better this off season. I need to get a handle on this and I need your help!

Thanks!

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

First raise the CYA to 30. Then retest PH. The CYA addition may lower it further. Then adjust PH with Muratic Acid. With your ALK down to 100 and monitoring the PH it should stabilize this year. Then begin shocking.

 

[BoDarville]

stslimited84:

It appears that you need to shock, given the cloudy water. But, before doing that, I would first raise CYA to around 30 ppm and then adjust pH to around 7.2. After that, I would give the pool an initial dose of between 4-5 ppm FC (ideally at night this first time) and then test the next morning and see how your water looks. If you have lost more than 1 ppm FC during the night, or have CC's above 0.5 ppm, or the water still appear cloudy, then I would begin the Shock Process (see link in my sig for more info). If shocking is called for, do not test pH until you pass the criteria of "Done" for the Shock Process (see link in my sig) and your FC drops below 10 ppm. Also see Chlorine/CYA Chart link in my sig to determine your FC maintenance and shock targets.

 

[stslimited84]

First raise the CYA to 30. Then retest PH. The CYA addition may lower it further. Then adjust PH with Muratic Acid. With your ALK down to 100 and monitoring the PH it should stabilize this year. Then begin shocking.

stslimited84:

It appears that you need to shock, given the cloudy water. But, before doing that, I would first raise CYA to around 30 ppm and then adjust pH to around 7.2. After that, I would give the pool an initial dose of between 4-5 ppm FC (ideally at night this first time) and then test the next morning and see how your water looks. If you have lost more than 1 ppm FC during the night, or have CC's above 0.5 ppm, or the water still appear cloudy, then I would begin the Shock Process (see link in my sig for more info). If shocking is called for, do not test pH until you pass the criteria of "Done" for the Shock Process (see link in my sig) and your FC drops below 10 ppm. Also see Chlorine/CYA Chart link in my sig to determine your FC maintenance and shock targets.

To be clear, the pump and filter have not been turned on yet and I plan on doing that first thing tomorrow morning. I'll bump the cya to 30 (pool calc says to add 3 lbs 2 oz of stabilizer) as recommended. Typically I'd add this via the sock method in the skimmer. Although since this is opening and there is an algae bloom starting I want to start the shocking process ASAP. Is there a faster method I can employ since the sock method takes a while?

 

[Vette]

You could always buy liquid stabilizer if you don't have the hard stabilizer already on hand. If your CYA is truly 15 and not 0, then you can dose chlorine to 6. chlorine-cya-chart-t2346.html However, you need to get that pH down first, so have a little POP and work on that before shocking

 

[stslimited84]

Heading out to the pump now

Is my Calcium hardness a bit low or is it alright where it stands?

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

200-250 is ok, you can worry about that later.
The CYA - put it it an knee high and tie it in front of return. After is been submerged from an hour, start squeezing it. Helps it dissolve faster...

 

[stslimited84]

Cya is in the pool as I type. Question about Muriatic acid. I put in the suggested dosage per the pool calc and let the water circulate for approx. 45 minutes. Tested the water and no change was indicated. Let the water circulate for some additional time and retested, same result of no change. I then added additional acid, let it circulate and retested. The test indicated an improvement and I could see it matched the 8.0 color.

I bought a 5 gal. carboy of acid from the local pool supply store. My question is does acid lose strength or was my PH that HIGH to require that much acid?

 

[Richard320]

Cya is in the pool as I type. Question about Muriatic acid. I put in the suggested dosage per the pool calc and let the water circulate for approx. 45 minutes. Tested the water and no change was indicated. Let the water circulate for some additional time and retested, same result of no change. I then added additional acid, let it circulate and retested. The test indicated an improvement and I could see it matched the 8.0 color.

I bought a 5 gal. carboy of acid from the local pool supply store. My question is does acid lose strength or was my PH that HIGH to require that much acid?

Your pH was above the highest color. And remember, pH is logarithmic. The jump between 8 and 9 is ten times larger than 7 to 8. The amount of acid needed to lower pH should start decreasing.

Acid will keep for years.

 

[stslimited84]

The pool passed the OCLT and the PH is at 7.4

Now, whats the next move? (aside from jumping in the pool since its freakin' hot out)

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

Jump in.