Opening and general questions

[Cioffi]

Hi,

While I'm not a new pool owner and not totally new here I still have not taken your advice totally.

I'm ready to start.

Every year I uncover my pool and it is a mess. We have a ripped cover and I know that does not help at all. I added a leaf net for the winter this year to help catch the bigger stuff. It helped but the pool is still green and I cannot see the bottom. I'm wondering what else I might be doing wrong closing the pool.

Now be nice, I only have dip strips right now. I ordered, TAYLOR TECHNOLOGIES INC K-2006 TEST KIT COMP CHLORINE FAS-DPD and will start learning how to use it when it arrives.

As of now the chlorine level is very high, pretty much off the chart on the strip. I will need to check again to get the exact reading it has. From the strip my alkalinity is low. I have 36 pounds of baking soda ready, I know I probably do not need all of that, but I have it ready. Again based on the test strip my PH is low as well. Should I do anything or just wait? I can take a sample to the local pool store and have them give me the values, until I get the kit. I have had the pool filter running for about a week mostly on. My pump needs some attention, it is very loud. I do not have a vacuum to waste option as people have mentioned before to me. I have been running the robot to try and help grab some of the stuff, using the leaf rake to pull out what I can but it is going very slow. What else can/should I be doing to help this along? Other than the test results what other information would be useful?

Thanks everyone.
Matt.

 

[Texas Splash]

Hi Matt, and welcome back! I suspect most TFP'ers will advise you to stand-by (or simply add some regular bleach for now) until your kit arrives so we can go off of accurate numbers. No one here will base any advice off of test strips or pool store readings. At least you are ready to take matters into your own hands. Seeing as your pool is currently green (algae), you can bet the first course of action will be to SLAM. If you aren't sure about that process, see the links below in my signature to refresh your memory. Start stocking-up on regular bleach or liquid shock. You will use a lot of it when you start the "SLAM" process.

Continue to leave your pump running if possible to circulate the water. Try and brush/vacuum as much as possible as well to keep the algae agitated. Continue to remove any bulk debris as well. Even though you may think your bleach is high (based off of a test strip), we know that's not accurate, so it may not be high enough for the SLAM method, so be ready for more.

 

[Cioffi]

Ok, I have the test kit and lawnmower for a pump. At least that is what my wife tells me the current pump sounds like. I have a replacement pump, but OF COURSE THE FITINGS ARE DIFFERENT. But that is another issue. I have flexible PVC from the valves to the pump and filter and so on, but the big box stores don't carry that. So the pool store it is I guess.

OK, anyway.

Free Chlorine is now at 24
Combined Chlorine is at 1

CYA is 100.
PH is 7.3
Alkalinity is 200.

I think I'm getting the hang of the test kit.
So I have been using the bagged shock, so I have no bleach at the moment. The pool has cleared up a lot in 2 days. Brushing and other cleaning has started it looking cloudy again but that should be fine.

So I think I really need to be up around 40 for the free chlorine, but I don't want to add bagged shock anymore. Plus in Boston area we are expected to get some rain for the next few days. I'm hoping that helps with the CYA.

Am I on the right track here?

Thanks!

 

[pooldv]

Welcome to TFP and congrats on the new kit and maintaining your own pool!

Ok, step 1 is to drain about half your water and refill it to get your CYA down to 50 or so. Problem is that 100 is the highest that the CYA test reads so it could be 200 or 300 or more. We've seen it lots of times.

 

[Cioffi]

So that will b a really difficult task to accomplish. I will not be able to easily drain and refill that much water.

I'm pretty confident that it is close to 100, as the dot disappeared only when it got very close to the 100 line. I will test again tonight and see how it looks. I'm also going to grab some bleach today to pour in. If we go with the CYA being about 100, then I need to get the FC up to and staying at about 40 to clear the pool using the slamming method, right?

The pump was finally swapped out last night. The old one was wired at 115 not 230 as I thought. I finally removed the cover from the old pump and verified that was the case. Running VERY quiet now.

Thanks.

What do you folks think of things like Algaecides and Metal out products, are they needed?
What about cleaning the filter cartridges? Any preferred process or cleaning products?

 

[Cioffi]

The pool water looks great now. Stopped using the bagged shock and used bleach.

Free Chlorine was about 8.0 this morning
PH is 7.0
Combined Chlorine 1.0
Stabilizer is 80ppm
Alkalinity is 170

I'm thinking about Borax to raise the PH.

Any suggestions?

 

[pooldv]

Awesome! With TA that high I would expect PH to rise on its own. It is certainly fine to raise it to 7.5 or so with some Borax. Or if you have an easy way to aerate the water you can raise PH with aeration, waterfall, bubbler, etc.