New to this. High Salt

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poolNewbie1

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May 28, 2014
15
McKinney, Tx
Hi,

I just closed on a house yesterday and tested the water with the taylor 2006. Here's what I got:
FC - 1.0 - 1.2 ?
CC - 1.4 !?
pH - 7.6
TA - 60 - 70
CH - 260 - 270
CYA - < 30 !? Black dot did not disappear
Salt: 5400 !!!

1. Okay I need to drain the pool. Can anyone recommend a pool professional around McKinney, TX to show me the ropes? and who is somewhat compatible with the method in this forum.(Hope I'm not breaking any forum rules)

2. SWG is not running because of the red high salt light. I just added 2 trichlor pucks last night(also to raise CYA). One in a floater and one in the skimmer. Is this OK? Should I shock the pool?

3. I am having issues with the FC and CC titration. I added a couple of drops for FC and the water went clear(0.2 ppm per drop). As I was reading the instructions, a minute later I noticed that the water started turning back to pink(more pink over time) while the taylor speed stir was doing its thing. Similar thing happened with the CC titration. What's going on here? I just realized now that the chlorine may be high(I'll try the test in the booklet). The Taylor Basic test was pretty yellow. I had a hard time matching the yellows- maybe it was 3 or 5 or higher? Any ideas about my issue? Maybe the seller shocked the pool before leaving?
Thanks.
 
Welcome to TFP!

1) Partially drain, you only need to replace roughly 1/4.

2) If the water looks good there is no reason to shock.

3) If you wait around the solution will always turn pink. The test needs to be done fairly quickly, and just ignore what happens when you leave it alone.
 
Thanks for the help!

I redid the chlorine FAS-DPD the way you recommended and here are my results-
0.2 FC
1.0 - 1.2 CC

I went ahead and threw some shock in last night and currently running the pump. I also drained the pool 1/4 to 1/3 and filled it up again. I will take a salt reading later today.

If my CC is not below 0.5 after the shock, I will SLAM the pool today with bleach.
My CYA is < 30 so I will not need as much bleach.
After the SLAM I will then add liquid CYA to get the level up to 70.
I will also make sure TA and other water balance levels are adjusted if need be.
1. Is this sequence OK for a salt water pool?
2. Is there a specific sequence for water balance. TA first then PH then add CYA or can I add everything at the same time?
 
If you put a tablet in your skimmer (which I don't recommend) make sure you are running the pump 24/7 until it's gone.

You should bring your CYA up to 30 during the SLAM process, otherwise the sun is going to keep taking your FC down below shock level quicker than you can add bleach. Once the SLAM is complete, you should bring CYA up into the neighborhood of 70 since you have a SWG.

During SLAM, you ignore pH and TA. Those need to be in range before you begin though, and of course brought back into range once the SLAM is complete and FC is below shock level.
 
Thanks.
Finally got to the pool. The salt is now 3200 ppm!

The puck is no longer in the skimmer - I'm only using the floater.
FC is only 0.2.

I added 1 gallon of liquid CYA. Half into skimmers and half into the pool and brushed it.

1. How long do I need to wait before testing CYA again? Pump is running of course. Does the minimum CYA for slamming need to be 30? I probably need to buy another gallon and add a portion of that to get to 30.
2. Should the bottom drain(main valve?) be open when running the pump? It is currently closed and has always been closed.
3. Can the slam be done during the day?

Thanks
 
Not only can the SLAM be done during the day, it is going to be done during the day, night, day, night, day, night... and so on until you can pass the three criteria that signals you can stop - CC .5 or lower, pass the OCLT, and clear water. The pool has to be kept at shock level throughout the process. I suggest starting one day after work, or even better on a weekend, because the large FC loss is going to be over the first few hours (or day). This is when you'll have to babysit it and keep the levels up with repeated bleach additions.

It has been a while since I worked with liquid CYA, but I seem to remember it should show on the test after a day. I would estimate the level with PoolMath (at the top of the page) and use that number for now, though.

I run both my skimmer and main drain. The main drain has some advantages if you have one, although lots of pools are being built without them now. I like it because I have a place to sweep the dust to for filtering.
 
Should I run the SWG during the slam?

My Kreepy krawler stopped working after opening the main drain. It's still not working after I closed off the main drain. Any ideas to resolve this issue? Do I need the main drain closed if I have a kreepy krawler?
Thanks
 

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Here are my readings before the Slam(yesterday afternoon):
Salt: 3200
FC: 0.2
Cc: 0.4
Ph: 7.7
TA: 80-90
CH: 220
CYA: 30 - 35

After/during slam:
FC 13.5
CC: 1.0 - 1.5

1. My CC was below 0.5 before the slam so maybe I didn't need to slam?
2. My TA is a little high. Should I add acid and aerate? I have a waterfall feature. Does that provide aeration? If so what are the implications of constant aeration when running my pump in the future?
3. I should increase CH as it is a bit low - correct?
 
CC went up, so you clearly needed to SLAM. You need to continue until CC comes down again.
Don't bother with TA until everything else is in balance and you are done SLAMing.
Yes, CH needs to go up. Again, this can be put off until the SLAM is complete.
 
poolNewbie1 said:
Thanks. During SLAM does the FC need to be at shock level constantly? It can't dip below shock level until all 3 conditions are met?
That could potentially be a lot of bottles of bleach!
Click to expand...
Keep it at shock level as consistently as you can and it goes faster. Letting it drop is two steps forward and one step back.

The simplest rule to follow is keep it up until it looks clear. That's usually the most difficult of the three tests to pass.
If clear, then look at CC. If .5 or below, go to the next step.
If it loses less than 1 FC overnight, you're done. That's it. walk away and let the FC lower by itself and balance the rest when FC dips below 10.

If you stop too soon, there may be four hardy algae spores left. And tomorrow there will be eight. Then 16, and so on and so on until it starts looking dull or cloudy again.

Post 55, page 3
 
Thanks.
I don't live on the property yet. Will be moving-in in 2 weeks. It's 30 minutes away from where I live and work.
I just got to the pool and here are the results:
FC: 0.5
CC: 0.5 - 1.0
With a 30 CYA I thought there would be more FC.

1. It's been raining on and off today. Should I slam when it's raining? Or should I do this when I move-in in 2 weeks? I was hoping to sort this out this weekend, raise CYA to 70 and let the SWG take over for the next 2 weeks. What should I do?

BTW the water looks clear to me. Actually it has always looked clear to me.
 
Unless it's torrential rain where your pool level rises inches in hours and overflows, it shouldn't interfere with the SLAM. It will just make you wet and miserable out there brushing. Note that you can bring a water sample inside to do your testing sitting down and dry.

If you can spend the time this weekend, SLAM it hard, every hour if need be, to keep FC up to 12. If you're very very lucky, you'll pass the CC and overnight loss tests tomorrow morning and can then raise CYA level and the SWG will be able to keep up.
 
OK I added a little bit over 2 bottles of 8.25 bleach. How soon after should I check FC and CC? And Should I check once an hour? Do I add the same amount every hour or just enough to get back FC over shock?
And when you mention brushing do you mean the curved brush with a very long handle? So I need to brush slightly greenish areas in the plaster while slamming? I guess brushing needs to be done every day as a preventative measure in the future.
 
poolNewbie1 said:
OK I added a little bit over 2 bottles of 8.25 bleach. How soon after should I check FC and CC? And Should I check once an hour? Do I add the same amount every hour or just enough to get back FC over shock?
And when you mention brushing do you mean the curved brush with a very long handle? So I need to brush slightly greenish areas in the plaster while slamming? I guess brushing needs to be done every day as a preventative measure in the future.
Click to expand...
No more frequent than every hour, according to the SLAM instructions. And you take it up to shock level for your CYA each time. Just plug the FC reading into poolmath and make 12 your target (for 30 CYA) and add whatever amount it says. If there's any question about the CYA level, maybe shoot for 14. You've got limited time, here. And yes, brush the whole surface. Algae develops a sort of scab to protect it from the bleach - that's the slimy feeling. Brushing scrapes it off and lets the bleach get to the core and kill it.

Just follow the directions.
 
I did the overnight test and it failed. The FC last night was 17 - 17.5. This morning it was 6.5 and CC was 1.0 - 1.5. BTW the CYA yesterday afternoon seemed to be around 40. I think the trichlor pucks I had in there caused that increase. I removed those pucks.
I have some things to do today and I get the feeling that just 1 more day of slamming is not going to make a difference. Should I raise CYA to 70 and let the SWG run for the 2 weeks just to maintain? And then try again in 2 weeks. Can I use shock next time because I will need a lot more bleach bottles next time? Is back washing a filter the same thing as draining the pool? How often do you have to backwash the filter for slamming?
Thanks
 
poolNewbie1 said:
I did the overnight test and it failed. The FC last night was 17 - 17.5. This morning it was 6.5 and CC was 1.0 - 1.5. BTW the CYA yesterday afternoon seemed to be around 40. I think the trichlor pucks I had in there caused that increase. I removed those pucks.
I have some things to do today and I get the feeling that just 1 more day of slamming is not going to make a difference. Should I raise CYA to 70 and let the SWG run for the 2 weeks just to maintain? And then try again in 2 weeks. Can I use shock next time because I will need a lot more bleach bottles next time? Is back washing a filter the same thing as draining the pool? How often do you have to backwash the filter for slamming?
Thanks
Click to expand...
It's your life. If you can't tend to the pool, you can't. But a day can make a big difference in a SLAM, especially if the water is already clear. Don't raise CYA to 70 until the water is clear and the SLAM is over! If you do that, when you get back to things, you'll need to raise FC all the way up to 28!!

Your SWG will not be able to clear the mess alone, not if you're losing 12 ppm overnight without the sun affecting things. You'll just burn out the cell. The pool will end up green in two weeks' time. "SHock" powders add extra things to your water that you may not want to add. Cal-hypo adds Calcium. Dichlor and Trichlor raise CYA and also lower pH dramatically.

Backwashing is not draining. It's just blowing backwards through the filter to remove everything the filter strained out of the water. You will lose some water, but only a couple inches each time. How often depends on how much stuff is inside. A sludge pond may need backwashing every hour during a SLAM. Some people can go a whole season between backwashes. It just depends on what the filter says. When pressure rises 25%, you backwash and it comes back down.
 

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