New pool, no experience - next steps?

[TroubleFreePat]

So after wanting a pool forever, we finally did it! We're jumping in the deep end, as they say. Pool company is sending their guy out to do the orientation this morning, but he said he only needs me for 15 minutes, so I'm expecting no real value there. Never cared for a pool before, so I'm a newb.

I purchased a test kit (ColorQ 7) and it just arrived yesterday. Ran my first test last night (Results below). I want to verify my next steps are accurate in what I'm thinking after reading through some other posts.

First, I'm running my pump for 6 hours in the morning. Looks like I need to move this to later in the day as the sun is on the pool all afternoon; as such, I assume this is chewing up our chlorine. I used test strips (The few they gave me) early on and was seeing OK chlorine levels after our pump and SWG ran. By evening, I'm seeing no chlorine. So, I'm going to move the pump timer to 11am-5pm to start. It's a variable speed pump and I'm estimating I'm running it at 40GPM based on a calculator I found online that takes my pump RPM and wattage and gives me a close GPM.

Next I need to get CYA up. My issue here is I'm not sure how much water is in the pool. My pool people told me just under 10k gallons. But I'm finding third-party brochures and other posters with the Riviera 30 saying 14,300 gallons (This is also what Leisure Pools has on their website for specs)? Here's what I do know - the tanker that half filled my pool says I paid for 5500 gallons (Plus or minus, right?) I then filled the pool up after construction with the hose. I checked the water meter before and after the fill and I used approximately 2840 gallons (And that's high I'm sure due to any baths, toilets, etc.) So the best I'm seeing is 8-9k gallons. The water level is about 3/4 of the way to the top of the skimmer.

So my thought is to estimate low on CYA - using the pool calculator website, I entered 8k gallons of water, and using a goal of 40 CYA. Looks like I need to add 3 quarts of liquid stabilizer. Right?

Anyway, here's my test results from last night. Only thing good so far is pH (Well, TA & CH are close.)

FC: 0
TC: .05
pH: 7.6
TA: 72
CH: 143
CYA: 4

Thanks for the help!

 

[TroubleFreePat]

And one item I forgot to mention - the pool installers seemed to have put too much salt in. Not sure how much they put in, but my salt level on my SWG is reading 4700ppm! Manual says 2700 to 3400, but it's not giving a high salt alert, so. . . Really hate to have to dump water out if I can help it.

 

[BoDarville]

Welcome to TFP

pH, TA, and CH are fine. You need to get some chlorine in the pool, though. How much depends on your CYA, which leads into...

CYA: 4

This result is suspect. Not sure how the ColorQ 7 tests for CYA. The kits we recommend use a tube with a black dot on the bottom. If you fill the tube up all the way with the mix of water sample and reagent and the dot is still visible, then the CYA is less than 20. Not sure how a level of 4 is interpolated. In any event, it sounds low. This could be part of the reason your FC is low. Sunlight will consume FC at a high rate when CYA is that low. With a SWG, you should target a CYA of between 60 - 80 ppm.

My issue here is I'm not sure how much water is in the pool.

There is a section at the bottom of the Pool Calculator (see link in my signature) for estimating water volume.

Looks like I need to add 3 quarts of liquid stabilizer.

You can use liquid stabilizer, but it is more expensive and you will need more of it compared to granular stabilizer (3 quarts liquid vs. 38 oz by weight of granular).

 

[TroubleFreePat]

Thanks for the info. I have to think the CYA is just about zero, right, because this is a fresh fill and there have been no chemicals in it (At least this is what I've read in a few places here.)

On the pool volume, yes - saw the calculator. Unfortunately, it's a very odd shaped pool with lots of steps and sitting areas, so. . . Very hard to come to a number.

Thanks for the info on the granulated stabilizer. I'll look into that today!