Just starting up after new plaster

[GreatBigTuna]

Hi everyone. We just had our pool resurfaced with Diamond Brite plaster. The contractor finished up last Monday and turned on our pumps. The contractor did good work, however they are not very good at communicating so don't really know what they put in the water, and they left me no startup instruction, but I do know that I have 6 empty gallon jugs of Muriatic Acid in my trash can.

Since they left me with no instructions, I went to the Diamond Brite website and got their instructions for starting up after new plaster and have been following the brushing regiment that they prescribe and trying to balance the pool to get it ready to swim, but I'm running into a few issues.

Let me also say that right now I only have test strips (InstaTest 6+ from LaMotte), but I'm going to order the K-2006 kit, but it will take about a week before it gets here, so I'm working with what I've got for the time being.

First Issue is PH. It's off the charts high, which I've read that is common with new plaster, but haven't been able to find what to do about it. I've added 5 lbs of Clorox PH Down over the last 2 days and my test strip is still glowing hot pink (over9) on my test strip.

The other issue is that I can't keep chlorine in the pool (I waited the 3 days Diamond Brite required before adding chlorine). My CL-220 chlorinator's lid has a leak, so I'm just using one of the floating dispensers for now until my new lid seals arrive on Wednesday for the CL-220.

I'm assuming that I need to get the PH under control before I need panic about the chlorine and am going to buy some Muriatic Acid this afternoon as I used up all of my PH Down that I had on hand.

With that long backstory, my questions are this:

1. Understanding that it's normal to have elevated PH with new plaster, am I supposed to just live with it until the plaster fully cures (doesn't seem right to me), or do I need to keep at it to achieve and maintain PH regardless.
2. Am I correct to assume that until I get the PH under control, I'm just chasing my tail with the chlorine.

Here are the test strip results I just took:

FCl - 0
TCl - 1
Alk - 120
pH - Over 9 (off the charts)
TH - 100
CyA - 100

Thank you for your help!

Jason

 

[Texas Splash]

Welcome to TFP! Muriatic acid is what you use to lower the pH.

That CYA doesn't make sense though. It should be close to zero as I don't expect the builder added any on day 1. Can you confirm? If you cannot, you'll need to wait until the K-2006 arrives. Your CYA will have a big impact on what to do next.

 

[GreatBigTuna]

Thank you for the quick reply!

I just did another test strip with the same results. The CyA is consistent with what I've been seeing all week. For comparison, I also took a test of my fill water and it contained 0 CyA, so they must have added something when they came last Monday.

Am I spinning my wheels with these test trips while I'm waiting for the K-2006, or should I keep at the pH in the interim?

Jason

 

[Texas Splash]

so they must have added something when they came last Monday.

Test strips are horrible, no doubt about it. If your CYA truly is 100, someone really screwed up. But before we panic, I would reach out to them to confirm exactly what (and how much) of each product they added. If they left it in your trash, go dumpster diving to see what they used. It would've had to be a bottle of liquid conditioner. I doubt they dumped granular stabilizer, but you never know.

Since new water has no CYA, we really need to confirm how much was added.

 

[GreatBigTuna]

Thank you again. I will reach out to the contractor to see what they added, though my test kit will probably be here before the respond I’m sure.

 

[GreatBigTuna]

Still waiting on their reply, but I did some dumpster diving and the only thing in my trash can other than muriatic acid is StainDrop All Purpose XpH. It found a Taylor kit locally here, so I’m on my way to go pick it up and will report back when I get the test done.

 

[GreatBigTuna]

Ok. I got a proper test kit, though it's the K-2005C not the 2006. I also heard back from my contractor and he said they did not add any stabilizer or conditioners to the water and now that I've done a test with the Taylor kit, he's right!

Here are the results of my first test this afternoon:



The pH was still off the charts. It was a glowing hot pink color. The acid demand test took 7 drops to get me to 7.6. I'm going to add some muriatic acid and test pH and TA again in a few hours.

 

[ngsm13]

You need to add FC. Keep monitoring your pH daily. Then work on CYA.

 

[GreatBigTuna]

You need to add FC. Keep monitoring your pH daily. Then work on CYA.

Thank you. I just added a half gallon of acid based on the treatment tables for the acid demand test. I need to purchase some CyA, is it preferable to use granular or liquid?

 

[ngsm13]

Thank you. I just added a half gallon of acid based on the treatment tables for the acid demand test. I need to purchase some CyA, is it preferable to use granular or liquid?

Granular is cheaper, but takes some time to dissolve. I hang mine in a white tube sock in the skimmer for a day then onces it's saturated I squeeze it in front of a return jet.

Liquid is more expensive, but it's pour and go.

 

[ngsm13]

While you're at it. Update your signature! So we know your pool & equipment.

Also, what are you using for Chlorine now?

 

[GreatBigTuna]

Thanks for the info. I just ordered some granular from Lowes!

I can see my pool equipment in my signature. I wonder why it's not showing for you. I'll look to see if I have some privacy setting set. In the meanwhile, it should say "10K gal concrete pool, Diamond Brite Finish, Intelliflo VS pump, Pentair Triton II Sand Filter, Hayward HeatPro Heat Pump (non-functional), Hayward CL-220 Chlorinator"

I've got 25lbs of Clorox UltraBlue 3" Pucks that I just paid $164 for before finding this site, so I plan to use those, but may move to liquid chlorine once it's gone. I need to read more about it though.

 

[Oly]

Try to resell the trichlor + "trade secret 002 3-8%" tablets and reconsider using them in your pool. Best to use liquid chlorine or operate a SWCG.

 

[GreatBigTuna]

So yesterday I added a half gallon of muriatic acid and went to the store to get some CyA and Liquid Chlorine.

For the CyA, I added 4 lbs. I didn't have an old sock (without holes) and I didn't want to take days to add the granules directly to the skimmer a little at a time, so I ended up dissolving 1 lbs into 3 gallons of near boiling water and mixing into a slurry, then pouring the slurry into a skimmer. It actually worked pretty well, but having to do it 4 times and heating the water on a propane burner each time took forever.

Finally I added 1/4 gallon of 10% bleach. I'm concerned about adding it too fast as the new plaster startup guide here for Acid Wash startups (which I found out is what our builder did) says to raise the CL slowly. If I'm going too slow, please let me know.

At any rate, here's my test results from this afternoon. I didn't re-test CH, but I'll tackle that when I get the rest of the water balanced.



The dashboard doesn't show it, but CC was Zero. I added another quarter gallon of bleach after the test and will retest for FC & CC in about an hour or so.

 

[GreatBigTuna]

Try to resell the trichlor + "trade secret 002 3-8%" tablets and reconsider using them in your pool. Best to use liquid chlorine or operate a SWCG.

I'm going to give the liquid a go, but can't do a SWCG since we're renting this place while we build our new house. The new house will have an SWG for sure when we install the pool.

 

[ngsm13]

FC is king. Period. You always want to keep it above the minimum.

 

[GreatBigTuna]

FC is king. Period. You always want to keep it above the minimum.

Roger that. I just retested and it’s up to 3 now, though the color was in between 3.0 and 5.0 on the comparator, so I’m assuming 4ish. I only have the DPD test, so I can’t get more granular than that. I’ll check it again tomorrow and add more based on that test. It’s blowing pretty good now this afternoon so I don’t want to add any more chemicals today with the wind. I’ve got whitecaps in the pool, haha.

Thank you for all your help so far!!!! I’m really glad I found this site and PoolMath

 

[GreatBigTuna]

So this morning my FC was down to 1 so I added another half gallon of bleach and waited 45 minutes to retest and I think we're finally there!



Now I'll start adding some calcium chloride to bring up the CH, but it looks like I've successfully opened the pool for my first time! Woohoo! Thank you everyone for your help!!!

Jason

 

[Oly]

Nice, now work your way up to your CH target slowly with step wise additions and testing to confirm. No rush now and avoid over shooting your target. Monitor your FC and keep in the target range with daily additions in peak season. Enjoy your Trouble Free Pool.

 

[GreatBigTuna]

Okay so when I tested this morning my FC was down to 2. Losing 5.5 FC seems like a lot to me given the outside temps in the upper 60's. We had a little rain last night, but I hope this isn't how it's going to be all summer. I'll need to buy stock in a bleach company, haha. My PoolMath logs are shared to my profile.

The water is absolutely crystal clear and I don't suspect any algae. Is this type of loss normal? Below is a pic to show the water clarity

Thanks for your help!

Jason