Where did the large above ground pool startup go?

[wetchem]

I was following the steps in for starting up a large above ground pool.
(pictures and a new thread soon)
I had purchased the Dichlor as suggested so that the pool Cl would shock and add the CY at the same time.
Now I cannot relocate that thread... I've tried just about every search term I could dream of and no joy.

Would someone please post the link back here for me

thnx!
WC

 

[jblizzle]

There never was one for the large AG pools. There was one for small temporary seasonal pools ... still is in Pool School (How To section). But we no longer recommend Dichlor to start up as people new to pools were having problems following the process. So it is simpler now.

 

[wetchem]

ale:ARRRRGGGHHHHH
Never easy... I'll post the entire saga in a little bit. I've pictures this year
As the profile name suggests, (wetchem), I am a Chemist by trade and training... the method was very straight forward for me to follow and I didn't need to
purchase anymore CYA than I already have on hand so it was a win-win. Except now it's a lose-lose, I've already purchased the chemicals and I can't return them as it's a "seasonal item" so I'm out a the money (and the stuff isn't cheap in 1lb bags), and I'll have to go purchase more CYA which is sold in $40 containers locally and it's over 80 miles to the nearest major city from where I live in Nebraska; thus, not any cheaper to drive to purchase in smaller quantities.

:bowdown: SO, would someone pretty-please-with-a-cherry-on-top PM me the method for the large above ground startup?
I promise not to share it with anyone :angel:

IN anycase, the kids want to swim tomorrow (of course) so tonight I've added enough acid and 12% to get things balanced and up to a 6FC overnight and then tomorrow, time to kill the buggies, just hope it doesn't turn into rust soup like it did the first year... did really well last year until I think the sand filter quit working quite right. I think the down flow was OK across the top of the sand; however, I think the water was then forcing past the upright back to the return instead of going thru the sand. I added an O-Ring that just fits on the upright lateral return and when I pushed the 6-way back down the O-Ring pushes against the bottom plate of the valve and everything started to clear up, then fall hit before I could finish getting the water clear.... but I digress

 

[jblizzle]

You can use whatever chemicals you want. Use PoolMath to calculate how much Dichlor to add to maintain the correct FC level and track how much CYA it adds. Remember it will also drive your pH and TA down, so you may need to raise them as well. All these side effects are why we do not recommend the method anymore. But if you understand them, then use it with the tools available to you.

 

[wetchem]

Jason, ah... you want me to think?!

That was Plan-B :study: , the water out of the tap is 8.6pH and the hardness is quite high so I'm not too overly worried about the whole scheme, just trying to get things to balance out without droping out the iron... the water was clear out of the tap and when I dropped the pH it's turned a little green. Hate that dissolved iron! In town where people's in-ground sprinklers hit the sides of their house and on the sidewalks, the iron forms an ugly brown layer in the brick/cement - just awful.

 

[CeeElGee]

ale:ARRRRGGGHHHHH
Never easy... I'll post the entire saga in a little bit. I've pictures this year
As the profile name suggests, (wetchem), I am a Chemist by trade and training... the method was very straight forward for me to follow and I didn't need to
purchase anymore CYA than I already have on hand so it was a win-win. Except now it's a lose-lose, I've already purchased the chemicals and I can't return them as it's a "seasonal item" so I'm out a the money (and the stuff isn't cheap in 1lb bags), and I'll have to go purchase more CYA which is sold in $40 containers locally and it's over 80 miles to the nearest major city from where I live in Nebraska; thus, not any cheaper to drive to purchase in smaller quantities.

:bowdown: SO, would someone pretty-please-with-a-cherry-on-top PM me the method for the large above ground startup?
I promise not to share it with anyone :angel:

IN anycase, the kids want to swim tomorrow (of course) so tonight I've added enough acid and 12% to get things balanced and up to a 6FC overnight and then tomorrow, time to kill the buggies, just hope it doesn't turn into rust soup like it did the first year... did really well last year until I think the sand filter quit working quite right. I think the down flow was OK across the top of the sand; however, I think the water was then forcing past the upright back to the return instead of going thru the sand. I added an O-Ring that just fits on the upright lateral return and when I pushed the 6-way back down the O-Ring pushes against the bottom plate of the valve and everything started to clear up, then fall hit before I could finish getting the water clear.... but I digress

Take a breath. No reason you can't use an unstabilized pool for now. You'll just lose more FC than need be. Sounds like you have enough experience to figure out the dichlor by yourself. Just use the Pool Calculator to determine how much dichlor is needed to add your daily amount of chlorine. Then at the bottom of the calculator is a spot where you can enter the amount of dichlor you just added and it will tell you how much CYA you just added. For example: 2.9 oz. of dichlor would raise your FC by 3 ppm and your CYA by 2.7. Simple enough? Go slowly, and when you think you're near your CYA target, switch to liquid chlorine, test the CYA and adjust as needed.

 

[wetchem]

Take a breath. No reason you can't use an unstabilized pool for now. You'll just lose more FC than need be. Sounds like you have enough experience to figure out the dichlor by yourself. Just use the Pool Calculator to determine how much dichlor is needed to add your daily amount of chlorine. Then at the bottom of the calculator is a spot where you can enter the amount of dichlor you just added and it will tell you how much CYA you just added. For example: 2.9 oz. of dichlor would raise your FC by 3 ppm and your CYA by 2.7. Simple enough? Go slowly, and when you think you're near your CYA target, switch to liquid chlorine, test the CYA and adjust as needed.

just a very long day and trail of setting this up this year.

 

[wjr75]

I used 2 lbs of CYA and then added 10 pucks to the auto chlorinator which I had left over to get my CYA up to 40 this year.There is also a dichlor method in the spa section which is used to get the iinitial CYA dose and then uses just liquid chlorine. Similar process. At the bottom of pool math it will calculate the CYA for the amount of Dichlor added for you water volume. At first the sun will burn up your chlorine real quick until the CYA gets up to your target.

 

[wetchem]

:calm:all right... it was great to see the kids in the pool this weekend.. just used the 12% to get about 3ppm FC in there and let them play.
Of course, the FC was 0 and 8.0pH when they were done. SO I started adding the dichlor Sunday evening...
Says in the package, dissolves easily in all pool water... not.
Anyway, started with 16FC 0.5CC last night (and assuming CYA is about a 12)
This morning 15FC 0CC so I added about 2oz dichlor... and then had to go to work.
This afternoon about, 12 hours later, I just did a quick OTO which gave a 4.0FC and 7.5pH... didn't bother with the full test at this point.
Added the about 10oz of dichlor from the open 1lb from this morning and depending on the FC test in the morning I'll most likely add the remaining few oz to get levels back up while I'm at work which should put the CYA around 26.

I'll most likely use the 12% the next addition so as to drive the pH back up at the same time I drive the FC. Would be nice to have a small bottle of the sodium hydroxide from the lab, it would take only a few drops to drive the pH up -

SO at this point, and why I wanted the old method, should I be targeting 30 for the CYA? I'll be using 12% liquid chlorine the rest of the summer - if we keep the cover on when not using the pool during the day.
I've 16 x 4L @ 12% liquid chlorine... the price was down to $3.50 and a buy-one-get memorial week sale or some such non-sense... just couldn't pass that price up and if I'd had it in the budget I would have most likely purchase twice that!!! $1.5/4L@12% felt like I'd just robbed the bank

Next, using the dicholr, should I wait until this weekend to test for the level of CYA... I've noticed that using the solid CYA, I had to wait a few days to see the increase in the test?

anyway, I've had a few very late nights so I'm off for a nap for the next few hours while the kids are down for theirs... maybe the nightmares will stay stabled while I'm down.

 

[jblizzle]

I would go for 30-40 ppm of CYA. I would not have added it nearly add fast add you are though. I would have just targeted a FC of 5ppm with each dose so as to not put the liner at risk from high unstabilized FC.

 

[wetchem]

I would go for 30-40 ppm of CYA. I would not have added it nearly add fast add you are though. I would have just targeted a FC of 5ppm with each dose so as to not put the liner at risk from high unstabilized FC.

:EEK: Didn't think of that... another reason I was after the method, I think it had me adding it slower too now that you mention it.... I was targeting the shock level at the bottom of the poolmath.
I did however dissolve the dichlor in water first before adding it to the pool so that at least the granules didn't sit on the liner.

Hopefully nothing too horrible has happened - between the quick burn off today and hopefully at 26ishCYA now

I'll do the OLT tomorrow, suspect all will be good and I'll be on the maintenance side of this.

Water was already up to 75°F from 58 Sunday evening... I'll be running a chiller next to the pool soon or adding ice!