Hey everyone Im a newbie pool owner who is way over her head :/

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No worries. We're all here to help - as much as it takes. As for the stabilizer, let's make it easy for tomorrow .... if you test CYA and it's 30, then your FC needs to be 12. If you find the CYA to be closer to 40, then your FC needs to be 16. See - easy. :) It's on the Chlorine/CYA Chart (link below).

Now your filter .... it should be a cartridge filter correct? If you have never cleaned it, or if you feel totally lost with what to do with it, let us know and we'll guide you through that as well. But basically I will tell you that the filter has a pressure gauge on top that you will need to watch to see if the pressure is growing. If you've never cleaned the filter before, you won't know what your starting (clean) pressure will be. A clean filter means a lower psi reading on the gauge. Make sense? As it gets dirty the needle (psi) goes up. So eventually we'll have to help you through that so you know what your "clean" starting psi reading is. Then you will know by the needle rising when to change it.

For now, I want to make sure you understand the CYA and FC relationship. We'll make sure you are comfortable with testing and dosing the water with bleach, then we'll move-on to the filter itself so you are prepared to rinse-off the filters. Sound like a plan?
 
Thank you pat I really REALLY appreciate it. OK I will definitely check my CYA (will the black dot completely disappear or just get hazy?) My husband is home on the weekends and he takes the cartridges out and sprays them to clean them. So he cleaned them yesterday and the reading today is a 3. So I guess tonight I will sleep and test in the a.m. Thano you again
 
OK my CYA is not up yet :/ it's at maybe a 10? The 20 is starting to look foggy but that's about it. I did youtube some ideas and figured out a way to clean the impeller and I got my psi up to 10 this a.m. so that should help get the stabilizer through the pool better.
 
Between Sunday and today I have put in 128 oz of stabilizer so pool math said it should bring me up from 0 to 30 possibly 40. So now just wait a day or two and when cya hits atleast 30 I can SLAM? Or should I wait to get a 40 reading and then slam because I know the cya and chlorine go hand in hand on the chart? Also when is it safe to swim the pool is clear and today my kids stuck their feet in it and that's about all I'm comfortable with?
 
Hey SL! You should be SLAMming already. :) FC at 12. We will assume the CYA is at 30 (for now). Check again tomorrow afternoon or Thursday to see if it creeped-up to 40. If it did, then increase FC to 16, but don't wait. SLAM now! It is safe to swim as long as you have not exceeded your SLAM FC level based on your CYA (i.e. FC 12 for CYA of 30), and you can see through the water to the bottom. Give the kids some brushes and make it a SLAM pool party. :)
 
So I'm in tears.... my cya is now at 100 and I'm sure it will continue to climb so my pool measurement is wrong or i dont understand pool math. I just dumped and refilled the pool last weekend so I can't afford to dump 60% of the water again. I'm currently slamming it and so my FC is 20? My pH is 7.8 this is going soooooooo bad
 
Between Sunday and today I have put in 128 oz of stabilizer
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You're correct. Something is not making sense. From your recent post, the Poolmath calculator states that for a 20,200 pool, 128 ounces of stabilizer will increase CYA to about 48. That's TWO full (4lb) containers. Do you still have those containers? Can you confirm the weight of each container you used? Because to get to a CYA of 100, it would take 270 ounces (17 pounds) or stabilizer - basically over FOUR containers. I don't think you did that did you?

Maybe it's just a testing error. Did you test outside under the sunlight before it set? Any chance you inadvertently mixed the R-0013 and pool water incorrectly before viewing? Even if I reduced your pool volume to 15K, 128 ounces would only take your CYA to 64.
 

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That's okay. The good thing about stabilizer is that what is says on the bottle is all you can add. :) You by adding TWO 4-lb containers, your CYA has to be somewhere between 50-64 depending upon your actual pool size. Ideally, if your pool is about 20K, your CYA should be just under 50. If your pool is smaller at about 15K, the CYA would be about 64.

Both are manageable! Now this is assuming you have added NO other products that may contain stabilizer (i.e. tablets, pucks, bags of shock, etc). Nothing else from the pool store after you filled the pool with fresh water. So tomorrow, take your time with the measuring and viewing outside. If you have a questions, we'll help you.
 
Pat my husband said there is a chlorinator and it probably had pucks in it from last year maybe since the pump seemed to work better yesterday it spiked the cya? Also if I keep proceding to slam do I just make a note that it was 20FC and tomorrow around noon check it again?
 
If your chlorinator had tabs in it, then it was adding CYA the whole time. You should check to ensure it empty. From this point forward, you don't want to use tabs/pucks or bags of shock from the pool store without knowing in advance what those items will do to your other levels. Yes, I would increase to at least 20 for now with regular bleach. Later today, if we can get our schedules on-line together, I'll try to show you how to confirm that gallon size of your pool.
 
Hi pat me again. Yeah looks like outside my cya is 90 possibly 80. 90 the dot isn't very visible I can slightly see it then by 80 no one can see it. Either way soooo high :( I tracked down the chlorinated which I didn't even know we had :/ and found an off switch so hope that worked. I tested my water and it's FC is 17. Pool math the 17 to a 20 and add that?

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I can be here whenever u need me on
 
Okay then, let's make sure where we're at here. First the CYA. Looks like 80 is the number now. It's high yes, but can be done. If you don't want to do the partial drain again (I doubt you do), then an FC of "31" is your magic number. That's high I know, but with than much CYA it's still safe. Your water requires that much FC to balance-out the high CYA. Now if you decide to do another partial drain, let me know, otherwise I'll assume 31 is the number. You will stay at 31 as much as you can, testing often to ensure it stays up there.

Because 31 is such a high number, and would require close to 60 R-0871 drops every time you test FC, I would suggest for now (temporality), using a "5ml" water sample. Eyeball it as best as you can, then each drop counts as 1 (no dividing in half). That will save you some reagents for now. Once we get you towards the end of the process and need better accuracy, we'll have you go back to the 10ml sample okay?

So let's re-cap ... Two choices ... partial drain to lower CYA or stick with it and SLAM with FC of 31. Use the 5ml sample for your FC and remember each drop counts as "1". Maintain that 31. Final note .... "if" you find in a couple days the CYA is at 90 or more, then you'll definitely have to drain some. I think whatever unknown products (tabs) you had in the system hurt you. So please make sure that chlorinator is completely empty. They do more harm than good at this point (CYA). Use ONLY regular bleach from now on.

Any questions or comments for me?
 
Pat if the water isn't green why slam? Just wondering because could we have a big Ole pool party splash a good amount of water out then do a little draining and then SLAM...Idk it's not logical maybe just wishful thinking. Now that I know I have a chlorinator I can't get the top off so I turned it off and have to wait till Friday night for my husband
 
I'm sorry. We've been going at this so long I can't remember which way is up anymore. :brickwall: If your water shows no green and is not cloudy at all, then a SLAM may not be required. Then you can simply maintain your target FC level - staying around 6 or so. Never let it drop below 4. Now if you have ANY reservations about algae, because we can't always see it, then simply do an overnight (OCLT) test as noted on the Pool School - Perform the Overnight FC Loss Test (OCLT). Make sense?

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You might try an OCLT tonight, then tomorrow post a full set of new test results so we can get you all ready for the weekend.
 
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