New pool woes...

[bmoreswim]

Sorry mates, but a quick question, why all the hate on Bunnings? In the US our equivalent Lowe's and Home Depot are my favorite stores. I was working in Riverstone, NSW earlier this year and during our lunch outing, I made my hosts take me for a walkaround through Bunnings. If it's the loss of the small family hardware store I understand though. I worked at one growing up and it was a great community place. They still exist here but generally not near larger metropolitan areas.

BTW - Are you able to get a concentrated form of bleach there or is it in the 6% range? Obviously the higher % means less volume of product to transport.

Best of luck getting your testing kits and managing your pools! The resources here are fantastic.

 

[AdelaidePooler]

Yeah pretty much the demise of local stores creates a negativity around them (I'm a native Brit, and a former US green card holder... I love Home Depot (US) and B&Q (UK) )

The liquid chlorine at Bunning's is 12.5%. "Bleach", as in sold for domestic loo cleaning however, is not as cheap here as it is in the US.

 

[rooni79]

ok guys, a quick update:
The pool cleared up nicely and after repeated cleaning of the filter all was good. I was slack for a week (EDIT** make that two!) after some minor surgery (snip snip ) and a lack of a test kit.

The test kit (K-2006) showed up yesterday and I tested it today.
FC 0
pH 7.6
TA 88
CH 780!!
And no reading for CYA

So I am pretty sure the SWG isn't working or is at a reduced capacity....

Where to now? I can get to town tomorrow to pick up everything I need.

Thanks in advance,
Mark

 

[jblizzle]

Have you read the extended test instructions sticky in the testing forum? Make sure the CH is correct. If so, you really should relieve a good portion of your water yup get it down.

Have you used cal-hypo chlorine?

After that you need to get some CYA in the water to protect the FC from the sun. The SWG will not be able to keep up with no CYA in the water.

 

[rooni79]

Ok, will do the tests again in the morning.

The next issue may be what to do with the water that needs draining. The pool is in the middle of no where, no drains to flush it down, just a nearby creek bed. Ideas?

 

[jblizzle]

Water your plants? Local laws determine if you are allowed to drain into creek bed.

 

[rooni79]

Ok I was imagining massive salt scalds and death and destruction from the salt water

 

[rooni79]

Ok, so ran tests again.
FC 3.6
Combined 0.6 (I added chlorine)
Ran CH twice. Once with the fading end point. Normal 825. FE method was 750
Ph and TA was the same
CYA was absent.

So I need to drain water. Roughly how much do you think I should get rid of?
Once drained and water added, how much CYA to add?

Also, how do I clean the SWG?

 

[jblizzle]

What is the CH of your fill water?

If the water is clean, you will want to add about 50ppm of CYA, check it in a week and then raise to 70-80ppm for the SWG.

Is there visible scale in the cell?

 

[rooni79]

The fill water has CH of 200

 

[jblizzle]

So if your replaced all the water, you would be at 200, or 50% would put you at 500ppm. I would shoot fit replacing about 75% of the water to get the CH in range. But if your ground water is high, you may only want to do a third at a time. If you do that, do it 3 times.

 

[rooni79]

Ok, pretty new to the block but I am pretty sure the bore next door is down at 15m and the pool is about 5 higher up the hill than that. I will play it safe and drain 50% and do it twice.

 

[rooni79]

Pool drained about 60-70% (my best guesstimation). My fill water is from a spring fed creek. It is slowly filling, another 8hrs or so to go!
Should I shock it straight up? Or get the water to the right salt level then shock?

 

[duraleigh]

Your next task will be to post test results once your pool is full and then we can advise what, if any needs adjusting.

 

[davelinde]

Ok I was imagining massive salt scalds and death and destruction from the salt water

We've pumped down our salt pool a few times and just let it drain across/into our yard. The Bahia grass is fine, no salt burnout.

 

[rooni79]

Pool is full now, and the test is:
FC 0
pH 7.5
TA 175
CH 300 woohoo!
Will have to take the sample in tomorrow for salinity test.

 

[linen]

Get some chlorine in there soon! Also, start getting some cya in to protect the chlorine (I would shoot for 30 ppm cya to start).

You will need to keep an eye on your ph, since it will tend to go up fairly fast with the TA as high as it is. Lowering ph when it goes up to 7.6-7.8 will slowly lower TA as well.

 

[rooni79]

Plugged the info into the PoolMath calculator, and added 880ml of 12.5% chlorine (goal of 3), and 1.5Kg of stabilizer (goal of 40).
How long should I wait till I next check the levels? Will run the filter all day as the water is a bit brownish from the creek, it's looking clearer already!

 

[Smykowski]

Dry stabilizer will take almost a week to show up, so dont bother testing, just assume it's there.

You can retest for FC after an hour.

 

[rooni79]

FC is 3.6 after an hour.