Rebuilding the pool. Need help with start-up.

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And now with water.

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I checked the pH an hour after I felled the pool and it was 7.8. I adjusted the pH to 7.2.
 
Wait several weeks for the cement in the finish to hydrate/cure. Vacuuming too soon can lead to the finish separating from the shell. This is commonly referred to as delamination. Do not use a pressure side cleaner like a Polaris or Legend either. They can leave tire track marks and gouges if they get stuck, even for a brief time.

When I say several weeks, one of the biggest factors is water temperature. Cold water (40's to low 50's) will slow the curing process by about 15-20%. Scoop nets with soft vinyl edges may be used after a couple weeks to remove debris such as leaves. Until then, brushing them will tend to get them to come up off the surface and a second person can capture them with the scoop net while it's suspended.

Scott
 
Update.

pH raised to 7.8 yesterday evening, so I adjusted back to 7.2 again.

Tonight is going to be 72 hours since I filled the pool. Would it be the right time to add CYA and chlorine. How do I do it? I have 3 chlorine tablets (3"), or should I use the method described below?

"the sock method is to add about 1-2 pounds of granular CYA at a time, into a sock- yes tube sock or long dress sock - tie a knot at the top and set it in your skimmer, off to the side, so it doesn't block the flow of water. This allows you to continue to backwash/clean the filter as needed without losing the CYA that's slowly dissolving. Depending on the flow of water it should dissolve in a day or so."

And finally, I have a pretty old filter (see the pictures). It is time to clean it. What is the easiest way to clean filters like that. Before I would open the filter, take out the filter plates clean them, take out the earth clean inside. Do I need to do any of that or there is a much easier way?

Thanks.
 
Either approach to adding CYA is fine. Three tablets won't add very much CYA, so you will either want several more tablets or you will need to use the sock approach eventually. Just for the moment you want to target a CYA level of about 30.

If the filter hasn't been cleaned yet this year, then yes you should open it up and do a full manual clean out. If it has already been cleaned out in the last several months, then backwashing should be sufficient for now.
 
According to pool calculator and base on 16K gallons, I would nee 64oz of dry conditioner. That is 4lbs. I guess I would introduce it slowly. When do I adjust other parameters, such as, TA, Chlorine and Calcium Hardness?
 

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You can add 2ppm chlorine tonight, and again tomorrow evening....refer to the earlier post about adding chlorine and CYA slowly (as the CYA builds, you'll need to adjust the min FC level accordingly).

Add 2 lbs of CYA at a time - when it has dissolved out of the sock, add the other 2 lbs. This should put you at 30. Then each night, add 2ppm of chlorine, which should keep you above the 2ppm min.

Don't worry about the TA and CH for now.
 
The CYA now at slightly more then 30 and I started putting bleach. Right now I added enough bleach to raise Ch to 4 ppm. I checked the TA and it is 90 and Calcium is 120. The pH fluctuates. I bring it down to 7.2 and in couple of days it raises up to 7.8 and then I set it back to 7.2 and cycle repeats.

Is there a way to stabilize the pH and do I need to do anything about calcium?
 
The PH will rise fairly rapidly for the first three or four weeks after plaster is applied, and then slow down but continue rising for up to a year as the plaster continues to cure. Don't adjust the CH level during the first three or four weeks after plaster is applied.
 
If you are sure that CH is only 120, you can bring it up part of the way right now. CH will still come up a bit on it's own, so you want to aim for something lower than your long term goal for CH. I would bring it up to about 200 for now. Then in a week check it again and raise it some more if needed.
 
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