New to Trouble Free Pool with Questions

[southalabamapool]

I am new to Trouble Free Pool, but this will my 3rd summer with my pool. I have a few questions that I am a little stumped on and need some help. First of all my first summer was perfect, I only had to add salt to my pool and shock it once (we were out of town one week and had a lot of rain and I had a small algae problem that was easily fixed the first week in July). The second summer the pool was great until late August/early September and things went downhill fast! I could not keep any chlorine in the pool for more than a day or 2 and I was constantly taking samples to my local pool store but they were always telling me different things to buy from shock to acid and adding drop out then vacuuming to waste. I finally gave up for the winter. I found this site about a month ago and started reading about how to open my pool and hopefully get everything back in order! I have a few questions still and any help would be greatly appreciated!

First of all I have a 21,600 gallon in ground pool, SWG and use a sand filter.

When I started trying to get it ready for the summer (pool had leaves and was green) I removed all of the leaves. I brushed down all of the sides and bottom and then shocked the pool and used drop out and vacuumed a couple of times to get all of the debris out. I do not have a good test kit (just strips) so I took a sample to the pool store for a test. This was their results on 03/05/2015:

FC 3.6
TC 3.6
CC 0
pH 7.9
Hardness 230ppm
Alkalinity 130ppm
CYA 25ppm
Salt 2600

They recommended I buy Muriatic Acid (I did buy 1 gallon), salt (I try to keep it around 3200), and tricolor (2 bags). I did buy these things but I have not used the tricolor because after reading more on this site I believed my CYA was way to low and 2 bags would not bring my CYA up to where it needed to be (70-80 I think). I went to Lowe's and purchased a container of CYA and added it to the pool by the directions on the bottle. I took a sample this morning to be tested again(I have ordered a good test kit ) These were my test results today 03/13/2015:

FC 6
TC 6
CC 0
pH 7.3
Hardness 180ppm
Alkalinity 130ppm
CYA 55ppm
Salt 3200

They seem to think everything is just perfect, I don't think so yet. This is where I need your suggestions! My pool is really clear but there are little blobs of what I think are algae floating on the bottom of the deep end, do I just vacuum these out? Or do I need to SLAM? If I need to SLAM what levels do I need to get right first and how do I get them right??? I have read the directions for SLAMing and I think I would need to adjust my CYA first, since my salt is good. But I am confused about how much to add to get it to the right level. I have looked at the POOLMATH page and I just need some guidance. Thanks for any help!

Also how do I add the signature line with my pool information?

 

[jblizzle]

Welcome to TFP!!!

I would not recommend you do anything until you get your test kit. Which one did you order?

IF those numbers were correct, then there is nothing that needs to be adjusted before starting the SLAM process (which you can not do without the test kit). BTW, remember that the SLAM is typically done with the SWG off.

Once the SLAM is done by passing the 3 criteria, then you would likely want to raise the CYA up a bit and dial in the SWG to take over.

For a CYA of 55ppm, PoolMath says the shock level is a FC of 22ppm. So after you enter your pool size at the top, you would put 6 in the FC NOW column and 22 in the target which would tell you would require 521oz of 8.25% bleach.

But again, wait until you have your test kit and use REAL numbers

- - - Updated - - -

Oh: HERE is how to add your pool details to your signature ... it will certainly help us help you.

 

[kris77]

You had a CYA level of 25 on 3/5 and a level of 55 on 3/13? When did you actually add the stabilizer? What day? It usually takes up to a week after it dissolves to show up in a test.

How much did you add? One 4lb bottle?

 

[southalabamapool]

You had a CYA level of 25 on 3/5 and a level of 55 on 3/13? When did you actually add the stabilizer? What day? It usually takes up to a week after it dissolves to show up in a test.

How much did you add? One 4lb bottle?

I added it on 03/05 so today would have been a week and yes it was a 4lb bottle.

 

[jblizzle]

4 pounds would add 22ppm of CYA to your pool. So their delta is almost correct, but no idea if the absolute is right.