Just another help thread

[Sarpeezy]

Good morning everyone, bought this house and the previous owners really didn't care for a pool so it needs a good amount of work. I have been using Leslie's for some time but decided it was time to take over.

I was out of the country for the past week, so I came back to a pretty pond in my backyard and ordered the TF-100 kit.

My results are as follows.
FC - 0
pH - 8.2
TA - 110
CH - 300
CYA - 0 ( Tested for this twice, the mixture was clear as water both times, so I am assuming its 0)

First question, assuming CYA can go down to 0, what is my SLAM target FC, PoolSchool only goes down to 20 CYA
Second question, it is telling me to add 249 ounces of 6% bleach, do I need to just start off with that? or figure out my CYA issue first before worrying about chlorine?
Third and last (hopefully) question, when adding the bleach, do i do this in parts? or dump the whole thing in there slowly by the jets?

Thank you all in advance!

 

[Texas Splash]

Welcome to TFP! Here your prescription to better water:
1 - Lower the pH to 7.2 with muriatic acid.
2 - Get stabilizer soaking in a sock for a CYA goal of 30.
3 - Use liquid chlorine to hit and maintain a SLAM FC level of 12.

From that point, follow the SLAM Process and you should do well. If you have any other questions let us know.

 

[Texas Splash]

This may help you ..................

Adding CYA:
To increase CYA via granular stabilizer, place the required amount as calculated by the Poolmath calculator into a white sock and place in the poolside skimmer basket. For those concerned about suction flow to the pump, suspending the sock near a return jet or from a floating device will also suffice. Best never to allow undissolved granules to rest directly against the pool surface. After soaking for about 20-30 minutes, squeeze the sock often to help it dissipate. Once dissolved, consider your CYA adjusted to that programmed (target) level. CYA test readings should show a rise in 24-48 hours, however some pools may experience a longer delay to fully register. Best to confirm final CYA in about 5-7 days before adding any more stabilizer/conditioner.

 

[Donldson]

Welcome to TFP!

I have one suggestion before following Pat's advice (which is the right advice!) is to add 10 ppm worth of liquid chlorine (the 249 ounces of 6% bleach if that's what you are using) and let that circulate for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes retest FC and CC. If you have more than 5 ppm FC and don't have a big CC reading then proceed with the pH and CYA addition. If you have a lot of CC and your FC has dropped then bring the FC back up to 10 and repeat the process until your FC remains above 5 ppm.

The 0 FC, 0 CYA, and high pH sometimes indicates there was a bacterial ammonia conversion and if you add more CYA before killing the bacteria it will just eat that too. Once that's either fixed or ruled out then following the process Pat laid out is the next step towards getting things fixed.

 

[ajw22]

The 0 FC, 0 CYA, and high pH sometimes indicates there was a bacterial ammonia conversion and if you add more CYA before killing the bacteria it will just eat that too.

FYI, ammonia creates low pH, not high.

0 FC, 0 CYA and low pH are together signs to do the ammonia test.

Ammonia - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[wireform]

Wait not so fast with CYA. Get liquid chlorine in there and make sure it will hold 10ppm for 10 minutes to be sure you don't have an ammonia problem. If it holds then continue as above but if the FC keeps dropping low you need to keep going till it holds 10 ppm to eradicate the ammonia.
Edit: as per @ajw22

 

[Sarpeezy]

Wait not so fast with CYA. Get liquid chlorine in there and make sure it will hold 10ppm for 10 minutes to be sure you don't have an ammonia problem. If it holds then continue as above but if the FC keeps dropping low you need to keep going till it holds 10 ppm to eradicate the ammonia.
Edit: as per @ajw22

Just want to recheck, unless I misunderstand what @ajw22 is saying, I should not have to worry about Ammonia as I do not have a low pH..the link he referenced to says a sign of Ammonia is low pH not high.

Welcome to TFP! Here your prescription to better water:
1 - Lower the pH to 7.2 with muriatic acid.
2 - Get stabilizer soaking in a sock for a CYA goal of 30.
3 - Use liquid chlorine to hit and maintain a SLAM FC level of 12.

From that point, follow the SLAM Process and you should do well. If you have any other questions let us know.

Sorry for the million questions here…
Add muriatic acid and I can wait 30 minutes to move onto next step? (Assuming i retest before i move onto the next step to make sure the pH levels are within accepted ranges)

Also with the stabilizer, whats the timeline on this process before I can move to liquid chlorine?

Thanks!!

 

[mknauss]

Even with high pH, a quick test for ammonia does no harm. Do this before anything else

Lower the pH as described before starting the SLAM. You can have the CYA/stabilizer soaking in the sock during this.

Once you have the pH near 7.2, start the SLAM by adding liquid chlorine. The CYA can still be soaking, just assume the CYA level is 30 ppm and proceed.

 

[Texas Splash]

Add muriatic acid and I can wait 30 minutes to move onto next step?

Once you add the acid, give it about 20 min or so and re-test. Try to feel confident you have the pH lowered to about 7.2. After that, JD (above) suggested increasing the FC to "10" first, just to ensure there's nothing odd going on in the water since all your levels are currently zero. So add liquid chlorine for an FC goal of 10, then re-test in about 10 minutes. If the FC held between 5-10, then go ahead and add the stabilizer via the sock method and increase the FC to 12.

If you find that after 10 minutes the FC crashed below 5, boost it back to 10 and re-test again in another 10 min. Do that drill until you see the FC holding before you add the stabilizer. Hope that helps.

 

[Sarpeezy]

Quick update.

I added 39 oz of Muriatic Acid and waited 15 minutes, and my pH dropped down to 7.2
I then added 153 oz of Bleach (different amount than original post, i was able to find 10% bleach) and after 10 minutes, my FC stayed exactly at 10.

Stabilizer came in a 4lb pack and i needed 3 lb to get to CYA of 30, but 4lb would get me to 40 so I just put the whole 4lbs in 2 socks...I added more chlorine to get the FC to go to 16 and now we just wait.

It was kind of fun putting the chemicals in and seeing the difference it makes in my little science kit! Thanks everyone!

 

[Texas Splash]

You did great. Now just follow the SLAM Process page and you should do well. Let us know how it goes.