Pool start up March 2015 - just for posterity's sake.

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Vince-1961

Well-known member
Jul 1, 2014
242
St. Simons Island, GA
Last weekend, I patched some leaks in the pool and added about 2 feet of water. Tossed in 1 little bag of granular "shock" (either di- or tri- chlor) and floated 1/2 of a 3" hockey puck and just let that sit for a couple of days to see if pool still leaked. It did not. So, I finished filling the pool. On Tuesday after work I got most of the leaves and crud off the bottom. I added salt (six 40 lb bags), CYA (oh, some random amount leftover from an old container and about 1/3 or so of a new bottle) and 1 gallon of 10% bleach. Sunk a submersible pump and let that spin the water in circles overnight to dissolve the salt and CYA.

Wednesday morning, lots of pollen was on the surface and the crud on the bottom had become noticeably visible, so I turned off the submersible pump and ran the pump/filter/SWG/skimmer for 6 hours. The SWG didn't complain abut salt levels being too low or too high, so if it's happy, I'm happy.

This morning, Thursday, I found lots of leaves and pollen on the surface and there's still a fair bit of crud on the bottom as I have yet to vacuum scrub it. The crud is probably sunken pollen. I tested to see how close my off-the-cuff-didn't-measure-diddly-squat additions came to meeting goals.

CYA: 40
FC: 11.5
CC: 0
pH: 7.2
TA: 120
CH: 130.

Hmm, not too bad. Today, I'll run the pump/filter/SWG for 6 hours and I rigged the submersible pump to aerate the water in order to bring pH up and then start the process to lower TA and eventually get ready to add borates. Put some more CYA in, trying not to overshoot the mark of 75.

This year, I will try a solar blanket. They come in 21' or 24' sizes and my pool is 22', so I ordered the 21' clear one. I'm hoping it'll be a good heater, b/c the water is 68 degrees now.
 
Glad this worked for you, but I am sure you know we would not recommend blindly adding chemicals ... especially CYA.

I would not worry about the TA at all until everything else if running smoothly.
 
Note to self: Don't uncover the winter pool until AFTER the live oak trees have pollinated and dropped all their leaves. As of April 6, the new leaves have sprouted, but still pollinating and dropping the spent pollen pellet thingies.

I put solar blanket on a few weeks back. Since then, I have removed it twice as it was covered in leaves, pollen and Spanish moss and scooped out a bunch of leaves from the bottom. Everything is covered in pollen. Water on top of solar blanket is yellow. Filter washes out yellow. After removal of leaves and spent pollen pellets, the water was clear but didn't have that sparkly shine to it, probably because of dissolved pollen. Did I mention the pollen yet? It's even covering the tables inside since we had our windows open.

Otherwise, no testing or anything else done to maintain pool in the last 4 weeks, after adding CYA, other than running pump/filter/SWG on a normal schedule (6 hours pump, 5 hours SWG per day). Water temperature yesterday was 72. It got chilly again, so I'm pleased that water temp was 72. Testing before sunrise today shows:

FC: 6
pH: 7.0
TA: 95 ish
CYA: 75 ish
CC: 0

I added a full box of Borax (I want the borates) and now adjusting pH back down. Reduced SWG to 4 hours. Water temp at 70 as of 8 AM
 
jblizzle said:
Glad this worked for you, but I am sure you know we would not recommend blindly adding chemicals ... especially CYA.
Click to expand...

I didn't "blindly add chemicals." I just "guestimated" the amounts from memory without measuring, just like I guestimate amounts of ingredients when cooking or baking. The test results posted above show I was pretty darn close.

Given the amount of pollen, which I assume is organic and is being broken down by the FC, I am surprised that FC was as high as 6 and CC still at zero. I should do some testing, but now it's time to go to work.
 
Added a stick built gate for stairs to keep grandbaby out now that she's so mobile. Otherwise have not touched pool since last post.

at 8:15 AM:

FC: 7 - will dial SWG back to 3 hours, even though I tested while it was running.
pH: 7.4
TA: 80 (that's odd. measuring mistake today or 3 days ago?)
Temp yesterday evening was 76, this morning 74. Getting warmer!
 
Might have been wrong about that. Saturday, we vacuumed pool and without all the pollen on the floor, the bottom was no longer greenish in color (b/c the lining is blue and white checkerboard). The filter washed out yellow. As you can tell from yesterday's post, it's still "pollening" here. Got home today and noticed the water on top of the solar blanket was a nasty yellowish-brown and that the water underneath was a solid light green, almost the same color green you get by mixing yellow pollen with blue/white checkerboard liner, but a little greener. Plumbing was clogged enough that the SWCG was complaining about low water flow, so I unclogged it and washed out filter. Whoo Boy! That filter was solid dark green, not yellow like recently. It's raining now so testing will just have to wait. I might just have my very first algae bloom!

I'm surprised it could happen so quickly.
 

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At 7;10 AM:
FC: 2.5
pH: 7.4
TA: 100

Added just under 4 gallons bleach. At 8:00 AM, FC at shock level (about 30-35 - spilled some while swirling, so inaccurate test)

EVENING EDIT: Got home from work. Pool is clear blue again. Filter washed out mostly yellow, but with a slight green tint. Restarted pump and filter for an 8 hour run without SWG. FC at sundown was 51 drops (25.5).
 
Overnight chlorine loss = zero. FC test got 52 drops (26). Anyone have experience with a shocked pool clearing up in less than 24 hours? I am wondering whether it was an algae bloom or just an overload of pollen. Will begin to level FC level by keeping SWG off today as I run the pump/filter for a standard 8 hours.
 
Wow, last post was only 10 days ago. Seems much longer. Last weekend, took solar blanket off in order to vacuum up pollen. Turns out it wasn't just pollen but another algae bloom. Water was solid green. Have been raising FC level back up to 31 at daybreak and sunset. starting Monday (Today is Friday). Tuesday water very slightly a lighter green than Monday. Wednesday it was very cloudy, but more blue than green. Thursday cloudy, but solidly blue. This morning, FC still dropped 6 points overnight and water still cloudy.

The pollen is mostly finished. We've had a cold snap in the 60's and water temp is down to low 70's.
 
TA test turned YELLOW after 11 drops. What does that mean?

Water still cloudy, so keeping FC at 31. pH was high (8.0 or higher). CYA was low (40-50 range) and I don't know why, since it was at 80 and there's been no splash out. Have gone through 27 gallons of 3% bleach, 4 gallons of 10% bleach and 2 gallons of 8.25%. Methinks I might use the bags of di- or tri-chlor next next the CYA is low.
 
Leave the cya lower while slamming and reduce your FC shock level.

There are some cases where cya converts to ammonia. I don't know much about that and I have no idea why your TA test turned yellow.
 

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