1-Balance 2-Sanitize 3-Shock 4-Algae Prevention

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rjordan390

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Aug 20, 2012
17
The above commandments of pool keeping are for pools that already have been in service; is that correct?

The problem is: my nephew did not shock his pool after filling it with water. He has been just adding chlorine tablets and nothing else and testing for it. Yesterday, there were many children using the pool and today it is cloudy. So while he and his family go on vacation. I told him I would get the pool in shape and ready to use, when they come back. I already have the necessary chemicals to do this.

So my question is: Do I follow the subject commandments as recommended or should I shock first and then do #1 #2 and #4 afterwards?
This is a vinyl above ground pool of 2400 gallons capacity.
 
You should test the water first using a GOOD kit and follow instructions in pool school to balance it. You may have absolutely no need to do the shock process. If you balance it following our recommendations, #4 is pretty much already covered.
 
That isn't a good list to be working from. For example proper sanitation eliminates the need for a separate algae prevention step. Also, the only time you need to shock is when something goes wrong. When you have a chance, you should do some reading in Pool School (there is a link near the top right of every page of this site).

If you post your levels, as Butterfly suggested, we can give you more specific advice.
 
Here are the results:

All test reagents bottles were held vertically to insure accurate drops. Samples were taken at mid level of pool.
FC = 0.0 ppm.
CC = 0.2 ppm.
pH = 7.4
TA = 100 ppm.
CH = 80 ppm
CYA = less then 30 ppm. Kit does not measure below 30 ppm.
 
PH, TA, and CH all look fairly good, given that you have a vinyl liner pool.

Both FC and CYA are very low. When CYA is low, you will lose all of your chlorine to sunlight very quickly, which is no doubt why FC is low.

You should raise the CYA level to around 50, and continue to add chlorine regularly.
 
Ok,
I am now using 1/2 the manufacturers recommended dose of CYA. I have 9 ounces added to a 5 gallon pail of pool water to see where it gets me after it dissolves. There is a small 350 gph pump in the bucket to help the dissolving process. I checked the pool school and the chart for CYA & FC levels indicate for 50 CYA, My minimum for FC is 4 ppm & the target is 6 ppm.
 

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<CYA will never dissolve in a bucket.>

That I found out. I do not have a skimmer to add the cya; so I think I came up with the next best thing. I have a un-used aquarium canister filter rated at 350 gph and hooked that up to the pool. I placed the remaining cya granules into a filter sock and added it to the media compartment. Now I have 2400 gallons exposed to the cya instead of a few gallons in a bucket. I will test the cya level in the morning.
 
I forgot to add that I'll be dosing 30 ounces of 6% household bleach after the sun goes down. I used the pool calculator to determine the dose. Then afterwards, more testing will determine how much FC is used up during the day and I'll also be keeping an eye on the cya level.
 
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