First drain and refill - check my steps?

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watson524

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Nov 13, 2014
182
Lake Ariel, PA
Hi all,

Some of you know, I've had to hold off my water change (we're at the 6 month mark) due to some issues with my mom and just not having the time. We were in last nite and noticed the water is more "fizzy" and tho clear, when I tested this morning, the CC is 1.0 so rather than shock it, we're going to make the time to change the water out.

Since we have MPS (not straight MPS, it's Leisure Time Replenish) on hand I'm going to use that with the Nature2 stick to start so I don't have product sitting around to use it up. But now, thanks to all the smart people here, I know a lot more about CYA levels and keeping things in check.

Here's what I plan to do below, can someone gut check me and make sure I don't miss something and there's some questions mixed in below.
1.) Put appropriate amount of Ahh-some in the tub and let it do it's thing
2.) Drain tub (refill and ahh-some again if need be)
QUESTION - I plan to drain using the drain fitting and then to get the final amount out of the tub itself, I was going to hook up my bilge pump to a hose to push the rest out. Does this drain out the lines and such too appropriately and do I need to shut off any valves so I keep water in the pumps and don't have a dry situation on start up? Or is putting the hose down both of the filter holes enough as the manual seems to suggest?
3.) Wipe down tub with appropriate non abrasive cleaner
4.) Refill tub
5.) Our water calcium has been running 110 but when the pool store tested the tap water they said 200 so I'll do what I have to do there, if anything. pH of tap is 7.6 so that should be ok. TA from tap is 70 so there's nothing really to do there but I'll test and adjust as needed. Our metals are almost non existent so nothing to do there.
6.) Put in the Nature2 stick and add some dichlor to start the process of getting CYA up
7.) Add the necessary Borax and MA to get the Borates to 50ppm for a 500 gallon tub
QUESTION - Should we add the Borates at this stage while using MPS/Nature2 or wait until we switch over to bleach?
8.) Let it heat up and enjoy

Am I missing anything?

thanks in advance!
 
I'd wait to add the Borates until when you switch to bleach. The reason is that the Dichlor is net acidic when accounting for chlorine usage/consumption so will help keep the pH down and will lower the TA somewhat. The same is true for the MPS which is even more acidic. It's not a big deal if you added the borates earlier -- it would just tend to lock in the pH earlier so possibly make it harder to lower your TA if you need to do that. Usually you target 50 ppm for TA when using bleach. If you don't have a problem with pH rising when using bleach, then the higher TA is fine, but most people need to have it lower for their spas (depends on how much aeration their is).
 
Ok thanks for the info. We ahh-somed (not too bad but a lot of green slime floating and then as it drained, yellowish brown on the sides), cleaned the tub out, filled it with clean filters, ran it for 2 cycles and now we're going to drain again, clean and fill for the final time.

Our tap water tested as follows:
pH: 7.4
TA: 80
CH: 100

So I'm thinking we don't need to do anything other than let it warm up, test again, add in the Nature2 stick and Dichlor to get some sanitizer in the water to start, then jump in and use the MPS for now.
 
Yeah it really wasn't as dramatic as I'd hoped, didn't even get a thick layer of foam but it got stuff out that didn't need to be there so I'm pleased. I'm going to try it in my jetted tub in the master bath. THAT should be interesting. 13 years since we built, limited use and when we do run it, black **** comes flying out.
 
And wow, I just looked at the stores initial start up instructions and they want 2oz of Dichlor in it. In 500 gallons that'll raise the FC to 17ppm and the CYA to 15ppm. No idea why we'd need to shock perfectly new water like this. The bottle of dichlor says 1/2oz per 500 gallons of water for initial and make sure FC is 2 - 3ppm before getting in. 1/2oz will take FC up by 4.1 so ok, maybe I'll go a bit more than that and test tomorrow morning and see what's what but cripes, 17ppm FC to start seems crazy. Is it typical to shock new water?
 
Well, we all know how we feel about pool store recommendations. Probably the same for spa stores. Maybe they recommend that in case there is stuff in there from the manufacturing process. Go with what you know.

Hmmm, that bathtub could be interesting.
 
Yep, I added 1oz (1.5tblsp) of dichlor which should have raised the FC to 8.7. Tested after a pump cycle and I read 9.0. I use a 10ml sample so it's 0.5ppm / drop and it was still slightly pink at 8.5 (17 drops) and the 18th drop made it clear so it probably was right at the target of 8.7 but I can't read that little of a change so 9.0 it is. But good to know that the 500 gallon input to pool math worked ok at least for dichlor.

Closed it up for the nite and it can heat up from the 53 degree well water :)
 

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Yep, well is 250' deep and we get nice clear, cold water from there. Fear not, it's up to 100F now tho :)

So I just tested 15 hours after last nite's test since we have stuff going on today and I may not get to tonite.
pH: 7.2 (as expected, dropped a bit from tap of 7.4 tho I don't think I should do anything to bring it up at this point unless adding in some baking soda would be a good idea?)
FC: 7.4 (so lost 1.6ppm in 15 hours, odd, I wouldn't think it'd use that "much" up given it's fresh water but I guess there could be things in the well it needs to clean up, right?)
CC: 0.0
TA: 90 (came up from tap water of 80 - is this because of dichlor being added?)
CH: 100 (same as the tap, last fill it had been reading 110 but I'm assuming 100 and 110 are close enough - once I get the same read a few weeks in a row, I don't plan to do this one all the time.

And with the add of 9.0ppm Dichlor last nite, can I assume that CYA is 8.1 given that 10ppm dichlor = 9ppm CYA? I wasn't sure if it was a linear relationship.

So for now I'll let the FC drift down into the 2-3 range and maintain there by using the MPS and dichlor as needed until CYA gets to a level where I want to switch to bleach and add borates
 
7.2 PH is fine
TA and CH are within the margin of error
Yes, your CYA assumption is correct.

There could be stuff in the well water or from the tub using FC.
 
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