First Pool Opening - First Time Trying TFP Method - There is all of the algae.

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CSteen said:
I got things up and running with half DE (about 1.8lb of the recommended 3.7lb). I think I may have mixed it too thin. I added the powder to about 2/3 of a big Home Depot utility bucket. Will this affect how it coats my grids?

Here's my starting pressure of about 15psi.

Half-DE-Start.jpg


Going to let it run for a bit and then do my CYA test. Then I'll make a run to ACE to see what their bleach situation looks like.
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You should add full amount after a teardown and 80& after a backwash. Otherwise there will be bare patches that won't filter.

It the DE that filters, not the grids. Picture a layer of kitchen sponge supported on a bed of chicken wire. Water has to pass through the holes in the sponges. Now shrink it to microscopic size. That's a DE filter grid. Without a layer of sponge, the water will just pour through the chicken wire.
 
CSteen said:
Gotcha. Added the other half to less water. The lady from the pool company I was working with last year told me it should be the consistency of cake batter. Still was pretty watery this time around. Does that really matter?

I'll check pressure again in a few minutes.
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The consistency makes no difference. As long as you're not just dumping straight DE powder in the skimmer, it will be fine. In fact, too thick is worse than thin because a thick load of DE can cause the float diverter valve on the skimmer (if you have one, not all pools do) to shut. I always add about 2 lbs of DE to 2-3 gallons of pool water in a bucket and then slowly pour that into the skimmer. Never had any problems.
 
So at this point I'm taking a look at the calculator and the chlorine/cya chart. It looks I need my chlorine level to be about 10 and I'd need to put in 160oz of 10% bleach. Looks like I also need stabilizer. 33oz/35oz solid or 87oz liquid to take me from 20-40 cya. Any suggestions on what kind of stabilizer to look for? Is that one I need to get from the pool store? Do I add that and the bleach all at once?
 
Get the stabilizer wherever its cheapest. Granular is gonna be cheaper. Put it in an old sock and hang it in front of a return. Squeeze it whenever you think about it to help it dissolve faster. You can add them both at the same time. It'll take about a week for the cya to register on the test, so don't test again before then.
 
CSteen said:
So at this point I'm taking a look at the calculator and the chlorine/cya chart. It looks I need my chlorine level to be about 10 and I'd need to put in 160oz of 10% bleach. Looks like I also need stabilizer. 33oz/35oz solid or 87oz liquid to take me from 20-40 cya. Any suggestions on what kind of stabilizer to look for? Is that one I need to get from the pool store? Do I add that and the bleach all at once?
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Get the stabilizer at Walmart or Lowes or some other big box store with a pool section. Brand doesn't matter, as long as it says 99% Cyanuric Acid or higher on the ingredients. Doesn't matter if it says "For Salt Pools" or not -- that's marketing hype.

Target only 30 CYA for the SLAM. I get 17 ounces by weight or volume. You can raise it later on easily enough by adding more. And once it's in there, your new FC target is 12 to SLAM.
 
CSteen said:
Thanks, Richard. I'm about to go make my trip to the store and I'll pick up what you suggested.

I just did the ballpark daily test for chlorine and ph. No surprise that chlorine is zero. Ph looks to be below a little under 6.8. Should I be concerned with that right now?
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Not really. You have no plaster to etch and no heater to dissolve. You'll probably be replacing a bunch of water backwashing so it'll all change by the time you're done with the SLAM. Remember that the pH test is going to read wrong when FC is above 10, so don't make any adjustments to pH if FC is high.

Kill the algae first. That takes the longest. Balancing the rest can be done in a matter of hours even allowing generous mixing times between additions.
 
Added a couple of 121oz jugs of HDX bleach 8.25% after backwashing, adding more de, and vacuuming to waste a bit.

I had a battle with the backwash hose that kept popping off. I finally got it on pretty good and wrapped it tightly with some duct tape. Not sure how long it will hold, but it seems ok for now. Side note: I now have pretty bad blisters on my thumbs from trying to get the backwash hose on the pvc pipe. Pretty sure there's a better way to do that.

It got cloudy and rainy out so I may wait until tomorrow to put out my cya sock. Not quite sure how to measure that stuff.
 

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I'm seeing definite progress after having the filter run for a day.

Opening17-24hrFilter.jpg


I tried to do a chlorine drop test, but after adding the R-0870 the water was just barely pink. I think I burned probably 34 drops of R-0871 before I decided for sure that something was wrong. I was trying to get all of the particles to dissolve as opposed to seeing a color change. After watching the demo video on YouTube I realized that it should be way more pink and that I was looking for a color change. Live and learn.

I guess that my low cya and high amount of algae used up most of the chlorine I added last night. I'll probably try brushing the pool and adding the same amount back that I used yesterday once the weather clears up a little.

Also, I set up my cya sock.

CYASock.jpg
 
I did some more vacuuming. After about five minutes I realized I accidentally set my multi-port to backwash instead of waste. The dirt blowing out of the returns was a pretty clear sign I did something wrong. Once I noticed it happening I let it run on filter for a minute or so before switching to waste. I got a lot of the visible crud off of the floor and then did my backwash cycle again adding 80% of the recommended de, as was suggested. After doing that my pressure seemed low at about 10psi so I flipped things off and cleaned out my pump filter which was pretty full of leaves, needles, and a little de that I think just got stuck to the junk. Once I did that and turned the pump back on I was closer to about 13psi. I'm guessing I'm a little lighter on de this time since some got caught in the pump basket.

I poured my two remaining jugs of bleach into the pool and left it at that. The weather hasn't been cooperating today. Hoping tomorrow looks better.
 
I went out for a few hours and tested my chlorine again when I got home. The test showed less than one ppm so I added two more containers of bleach. I'll test again in the morning. Hoping I'm adding the correct amount. I still haven't seen a chlorine test reflecting the appropriate level. Should I be testing sooner after adding the bleach to make sure it's getting up to where it should be?
 
You need to be more on top of FC, like test every 30min-1hr to get to hold for slam levels. If not this is going to take a lot more time and money than it should.

Keep at it.

Felipe
 
Unfortunately I have to work Monday to Friday so there's going to be an 8 hour gap between my tests for the next five days.

I'm making progress on getting the algae out, but I can definitely see where checking every 30 minutes would make a difference in maintaining shock level. I don't think I'm killing as much as I'm physically removing.

Would it make sense to add extra bleach while it's being consumed so quickly knowing that I'll have to wait 8 hours to add more?
 
Adding extra FC during a slam won't make much difference. What helps with a work schedule is to dose the pool 1st thing in the morning, before you change for work, then dose again and brush the pool right after work. Wait an hour, test and dose again if needed. Repeat hourly until bedtime.
 
Here's about 60 hours of progress since I turned the pump on.

Opening17-60hrs.jpg


Tonight my chlorine test actually required more than one drop of R-0871. I was at about 8ppm fc, and .5 cc.

I bought a total of ten more jugs of bleach today. Two went in this morning and one tonight.

After back-washing tonight my filter pressure is at about half of what it has been after adding de. Any theories as to why that might be?
 

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