First Pool Opening. First Time Starting Up Pool. Feedback on opening process

[MJWills191]

Hi All.

First ever pool opening. I'd like to see if my thinking is moving in the right direction on the opening process. I might be overthinking it so want the folks here to take a look if possible and provide their expertise.

Pool installed April 1st. Will have electric hooked by up end of April. Therefore no water circulation at this point. I've run the robot a couple of times to clear out some of the debris from the install including worms that have crawled into the pool.

Pool Opening Process

1. Start up system and follow start up instructions for equipment - pump and filter. Keep SWG and Heat Pump off for time being. Let water circulate and get familiar with equipment.
2. SLAM pool. Water has been sitting for over 20 days without any chemicals. The water is by no means green but is looking a bit cloudy.
   
   1. Increase TA to 80-120
   2. Lower pH to 7.2 to 7.5 range
   3. Increase CYA to 30
   4. Increase FC to 12
   5. Run the following tests per SLAM article
      
      1. CC <= 0.5
      2. Pass OCLT
      3. Water is clear
   6. Additional Notes:
      
      1. Pump runs 24/7 during process
      2. Continue process until SLAM tests are passed.
3. After SLAM process
   
   1. Increase CYA from 30 to 70-90 range
   2. Add SALT to achieve 3000 ppm
   3. Turn on SWG and set to 60% per instructions.
   4. Additional Notes:
      
      1. Start with Pump Run Time of ~5 hours (loosely following TFP time of 4 hours)
4. Test TA, pH, CYA, FC daily and adjust appropriately (daily testing until I get a hold of the process). Adjust SWG chlorination level depending on test outputs.

Another question I have is the levels I've found from reading the SWG manual, TFP and various websites show mostly the same acceptable levels of chemical ranges except for CYA and FC. Curious on why it is a bit different at TFP. See table below of the various information I've gathered on chemical levels. As of 4/2022

Chemical	Acceptable Range
Total Alkalinity	80 - 120 ppm (Latham website) 50 - 90 ppm (TFP website) 60 - 120 ppm (Riverpools website) 80 - 120 ppm (Jandy SWG manual)
pH	7.2 - 7.8 (Latham website) 7.2 - 8.0 (TFP website) 7.2 - 7.6 (Riverpools website) 7.4 - 7.6 (Jandy SWG Manual)
Free Chlorine	1.0 - 2.0 (Latham website) *see SWG FC/CYA Table (TFP Website) 1.0 - 3.0 ppm (Riverpools website) 1.0 to 3.0 ppm (Jandy SWG manual)
Salt	3200 - 3400 ppm (Riverepools website) 3000 ppm (Jandy SWG manual)
CYA	30 - 50 ppm (Latham website) 70 to 90 ppm (TFP wbsite - w/ SWG) 30 - 50 ppm (Riverpools website) 30 - 50 ppm (Jandy SWG manual
Calcium Hardness	180 -220 ppm (Latham website) 250 - 650 ppm (TFP website) 200 - 400 ppm (Jandy SWG manual)

Reference Links
Opening your pool- An easy to follow guide
SLAM - Shock Level and Maintain
Chlorine / CYA Chart
New fiberglass pool start up

Thank you in advance for any thoughts and advice!
Mike

 

[Texas Splash]

Welcome to TFP! Everything looks good except for your note about increasing the TA to 80 - 120. As long as the TA is anywhere between 60 - 90 you are fine. Even slightly above or below is okay. If it's lower than 50 definitely increase a little, but I wouldn't force it above 90.

Also no need to test CYA daily. Once you pass the SLAM, you know the CYA was already 30, so only add enough CYA to get the CYA to about 60 - 70. That gives you a little wiggle room in case you over-shot the 70 target. You can always add more but not remove. Once the stabilizer is in, consider your goal achieved. Test every 2 - 4 weeks if you wish.

TFP recommended ranges are different because we have years of scientific evidence to back it up and we do not push "generic" ranges on all pool owners. The pool industry cannot take into account all aspects of pool types or scenarios like we do, plus it doesn't fit their narrative of selling certain products like chlorine tabs that are very acidic and cause problems later.

Congrats on the new pool.

 

[MJWills191]

Welcome to TFP! Everything looks good except for your note about increasing the TA to 80 - 120. As long as the TA is anywhere between 60 - 90 you are fine. Even slightly above or below is okay. If it's lower than 50 definitely increase a little, but I wouldn't force it above 90.

Also no need to test CYA daily. Once you pass the SLAM, you know the CYA was already 30, so only add enough CYA to get the CYA to about 60 - 70. That gives you a little wiggle room in case you over-shot the 70 target. You can always add more but not remove. Once the stabilizer is in, consider your goal achieved. Test every 2 - 4 weeks if you wish.

TFP recommended ranges are different because we have years of scientific evidence to back it up and we do not push "generic" ranges on all pool owners. The pool industry cannot take into account all aspects of pool types or scenarios like we do, plus it doesn't fit their narrative of selling certain products like chlorine tabs that are very acidic and cause problems later.

Congrats on the new pool.

Thank you very much for the quick reply and feedback! Thank you for letting me know about the TA levels and the testing guidance. I appreciate the help!