Just opened up my pool

[SumoSimo]

Hi there,

A pool company just opened up my pool, so I have pictures of what the water looks like along with the readings:

FC: 1.5
CC: 0.5
PH: Unable to determine (more info below; see pic of attempted PH measurement)
TA: 50
CH: 200 (using 25mL sample) --- 250 (using 10mL sample)
CYA: 0 (I think; more on this below as well)

Chlorine
I'm sure the pool company added chlorine because the water is a little clearer than it was before, but clearly it wasn't enough. It looks like all the chlorine has been eaten up. They also added tablets to the skimmer, but I'm not sure if those tablets are acid or calcium based. I plan to use liquid chlorine. Speaking of which, does anyone have recommendations on which liquid chlorine product to purchase and where? I'm guessing I'll need quite a bit to go through the SLAM process.

I will also be going on vacation for about a week, so I'd also like to know what to do about the chlorine during this time.

PH
Please see the picture of my attempt to achieve a proper reading. The water color doesn't match any of the PH colors. What does this mean?

TA
I guess it needs to be raised?

CH
I used a 25mL sample and a 10mL sample. I presume the 25mL sample is more accurate, in which case my CH needs to be raised?

CYA
Turns out I didn't have enough R-0013 to fill the bottle up to the 14mL mark. I'd say I was able to fill it up to the 12mL mark. I imagine this to mean that the solution is not as cloudy as it would have been if I had been able to fill it up to the 14mL mark, and because of that, I should underestimate the reading at the point the dot disappears.

Needless to say, I emptied the entire bottle, and the dot was still clearly visible. I guess this just means my CYA is 0? Or is it strictly required that the bottle be filled up to the 14mL mark?

------

I also confirmed with a brush that the black dots at the bottom of the pool are just dirt.

I'm a little lost, so much help is greatly appreciated!

 

[Texas Splash]

No doubt you have algae, so the SLAM Process will be required. But some other things to note:
- You will need more CYA reagent (R-0013). That is extremely important so we can balance the FC properly.
- Tabs never go in the skimmer. They won't do much right now anyways. Might as well remove them.
- Are you sure you used the proper reagent for the pH test? Did the pool techs dump any acid in the water? If so, how much?

We'll come back to the CH and TA. Not the most critical at the moment.

 

[SumoSimo]

No doubt you have algae, so the SLAM Process will be required. But some other things to note:
- You will need more CYA reagent (R-0013). That is extremely important so we can balance the FC properly.
- Tabs never go in the skimmer. They won't do much right now anyways. Might as well remove them.
- Are you sure you used the proper reagent for the pH test? Did the pool techs dump any acid in the water? If so, how much?

We'll come back to the CH and TA. Not the most critical at the moment.

- CYA reagent will arrive in a few days
- Where do tabs normally go?
- Yes, I used the proper reagent for the pH test. Now that you mention it, the pool guy said that the pH was 8, so he used acid to lower it. However, I don't know how much acid he used.

 

[Texas Splash]

Where do tabs normally go?

Tabs either go in an inline feeder (if installed) or a simple floater. But tabs have a lot of side effects, one of them being they are very acidic and can lower pH and TA too far. I would remove them completely.

Since your pH is questionable and your TA appears to be on the low end, I would add enough baking soda to increase the TA to about 70-80. If you can do that today, re-test the pH this evening to see if it changes. If it doesn't get back to the orange area of 7.2, we'll get more aggressive with the pH. Since we have no idea how much acid the pool guy added, we want to be careful and not overreact either. But you do have a heater and I don't want the pH low for too long (corrosion). So let's watch the pH carefully. That's more important right now than the algae.

 

[SumoSimo]

Tabs either go in an inline feeder (if installed) or a simple floater. But tabs have a lot of side effects, one of them being they are very acidic and can lower pH and TA too far. I would remove them completely.

Since your pH is questionable and your TA appears to be on the low end, I would add enough baking soda to increase the TA to about 70-80. If you can do that today, re-test the pH this evening to see if it changes. If it doesn't get back to the orange area of 7.2, we'll get more aggressive with the pH. Since we have no idea how much acid the pool guy added, we want to be careful and not overreact either. But you do have a heater and I don't want the pH low for too long (corrosion). So let's watch the pH carefully. That's more important right now than the algae.

Understood, I didn't have much baking soda actually, so I got more. It'll be arriving tomorrow (Wednesday).

Do I just scatter the baking soda in from of a return?

 

[Texas Splash]

Do I just scatter the baking soda in from of a return?

You can just scatter in the deep end. If any of it clumps-up, just brush it.

 

[SumoSimo]

I added more baking soda today and re-tested the TA twice after about an hour or so.

TA measurement #1: 70
TA measurement #2: 60

Is there anything I should be aware of if the measurements were 1 drop apart, or can we just average the two and say TA is 65?

I also measured the pH. For the reading, please see the attached photo (taken indoors since the sun went down moments before).

 

[Texas Splash]

The TA test is usually more reliable since the Barbie pink tends to get very bright at the end. An additional drop does nothing to confirm you've reached teh end of the test.

The pH still looks quite a bit low. Do you have any Borax? Borax raises the PH and also raises the TA level just a little. Borax is available as 20 Mule Team® Borax Natural Laundry Booster. It is sold in the laundry detergent section of most larger grocery stores and some big box stores. Borax is best added by pre-dissolving it in a bucket of water and then pouring that slowly in front of a return.

If you do have some Borax, try adding 3 lbs which in your pool should only increase the pH by about 0.2 ppm. We don't want to go too high, but we do need the pH in the 7 range - at least orange color (about 7.2).

 

[SumoSimo]

Borax is arriving tomorrow, so I'll give that a go then.

The TA test is usually more reliable since the Barbie pink tends to get very bright at the end. An additional drop does nothing to confirm you've reached teh end of the test.

Are you saying that the test ends once it goes from Barbie pink to very bright?

 

[Texas Splash]

Are you saying that the test ends once it goes from Barbie pink to very bright?

Correct. For the TA test, count each from until to goes bright Barbie pink. Some people will add one additional drop just to ensure it doesn't change to confirm they made it all the way.

 

[SumoSimo]

I was out of town for Memorial weekend, but my attention is back on the pool.

pH is at 7.5 now. I may have added more than 3 lbs. I hope that's okay. TA is at 70.

I also added enough CYA to bring it up to 40. I read that I need to wait a few days before re-testing the CYA, so I'll probably re-test tomorrow or Thursday.

Is the next step to start the SLAM process?

 

[PoolStored]

Start your SLAM. 7.5 is fine. Use SLAM level for CYA of 40. FC/CYA Levels That would be 16FC.

If you can test every hour or two, particularly in the beginning, your slam will go faster. Might stock up on liquid chlorine. My 30K pool took 45 gallons. Given the look of your water, I'd have 15-20 gallons available. You can always return it.