New remodeled Pool Startup

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diverminh

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Feb 25, 2015
100
Davis, CA
Hello All,

I just had my 18K gallon pool remodeled with a Pebble Tec finish. The pool was done filling up on Sunday June 7th. The startup guy came out on Wednesday, June 10th to start the chemical. I was home when he started the pool. As soon as he came out, he did some test - I assume it was for pH, chlorine and total alkalinity. Then he referred to some charts (I assumed it was to figure out how much chemical to add). From what I can tell, he added about 1 gallon of muriatic acid, one gallon of chlorine bleach (don't know the concentration), a quart of sequestrant, and some white powder stuff (which I assume is CYA). In addition, he added some "pucks" into a floating thing. I didn't see him test the water again, but recorded the following values:

FC 2.0
pH 7.6
TA 90 (his chart said ALK which I assume is TA)
No recording of CYA.

On Sunday, June 14th (5 days after the startup), I tested the water and got the following value:

FC 1.0
pH 8.2
TA 220 (the tap water has a TA of 350).
CH 75
CYA 25
Salt 0 (haven't added salt for the SWCG yet)

It seems weird to me that the TA has raised from 90 to 220 based on just top off water. BTW - my tap water has a TA of 350. It also concerns me that his test results are not accurate because he tested the water, then added the chemical, but didn't retest the water. I had a talk with the sales guy and offered to do the chemical startup if they provide me with the chemicals and give me instructions. The sales guy told me I should let the pool maintenance guy do it for warranty purposes.

I have a few questions:

1. Is ALK (his sheet) and TA the same things? If it is, why did it go from 90 to 220? If anything, shouldn't it gone done because of the acid?

2. How often should the maintenance guy be coming out to test the pool and balancing the water chemistry?

3. The startup guy didn't even tell me to brush my pool daily. The sales guy had to tell me that.

4. The startup guy told me that I can continue adding sequestrant since my city water is really hard and not the best water. However, he didn't tell me how much or how frequent I should be adding sequestrant. Any recommendation?

4. Is there anything else I should be doing?

Thanks
Minh
 
1. Yes this is the same thing. High TA fill water will give you the high pH you're seeing now, and lowering the TA takes a lot of acid additions over time. It sounds like they are addressing this poorly, but have they told you what kind of startup they are doing?

2. Impossible to say what they consider adequate. If it were mine every day would be sufficient. But in reality I think it should be a minimum of 2-3 x per week. I doubt they do.

3. Yes, up front at least twice per day would be good. At least daily from here out minimum. After a few weeks, brush at least a couple of times per week.

4. Sequestration has nothing to do with hardness, but is put in for metals. Usually as insurance even if they haven't tested for them to be sure. If you have metals you need to know this, because if you require sequestration for them, it will be ongoing. I'm leaning to you not having them, but you should find out.

5. I hate saying this but you are at their mercy with warranty issues, I would document the chemistry you find for good measure however. Once they are done, we can help you line it out properly.
 
Thanks Patrick. The pool remodel included 30 days of chemicals. It just surprise me that they haven't come back out to do further testing or have given me any schedule of how frequently they will come out. My guess is that they will come out maybe once a week. I wish they would just let me do my own startup. With the knowledge I have learned from TFP, I think I can do my own startup.

Regarding sequestration - he mentioned that my city water does have some higher metal content. I should get the water tested. What is the best way to test for metal content in my water? I assume all city water will contain some metal, but what is the acceptable level for each metal? I looked at my city's 2014 water quality report. It shows that my magnesium is 42ppm (average). So is 42ppm for Mg high enough to be concern?

One last question, why would be TA increase from 90 to 220? I doubt the little top off water would have been enough to have raised it that high in 4 days. I am leaning towards the idea that the startup guy was guessing at the number since he didn't really retested the water after adding any chemical.
 
OK. The startup guy came back on 6/17. Luckily I happened to be home when he stopped by. He looked at my test results from 6/14 and his tests closely matched my tests. He added some acid, CYA and chlorine. My current levels are listed below:

FC 4.5
CC 0.5
pH 7.2
TA 170 (previously 220)
CH 75 (unchanged)
CYA 50 (previously 25)

I asked him to leave some acid and chlorine with me so that I can add them as needed. He also said that he will be ordering the salt for me so we may be adding salt in the near future. After a lot of reading, I think I am also going to add some borate to the pool (after the startup guy is done).

Question: Should I ask the startup guy to bring up the calcium hardness level by adding some calcium chloride? Or will the CH level go up naturally since this is a new finished Pebble Tec pool?

Minh
 
It is best to raise your low CH level as soon as possible. Just make sure that when adding calcium chloride that the pH is below 8.0. Otherwise, the calcium portion will just precipitate out and cloud the water.
For many years, it has been assumed that calcium levels NATURALLY increase in new plaster pools during the first month, and that it will happen no matter what and can't be prevented. Not so.
Raising the CH now (and making the CSI slightly positive) will help prevent any calcium from releasing (dissolving) from the plaster and into the pool water. That will help the plaster surface remain dense and durable for the long-term.
 
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