Starting over

[Vickery]

Greetings! A new swim season is about to begin!

We are moving (DOT is putting a road through our property) and the new (to us) house has an even bigger and in ground pool (vinyl!)
That's the good news. The bad news is it is @32K gallons...and my Circupool is sized for 30K. I'll address that after I get the pump turned on and see how well it works.

The previous occupant told me things that the chem test proved to be a lie. Surprise, surprise. (He's a crackhead, so I didn't believe him anyway.)

FC - 0
CYA - 0
TA ->10
Ph - 6
Borates - 0

Salt isn't an issue yet.

The pool has a security cover, one corner is pulled back. Water is crystal clear, except for some leaf debris...and what looks like strings from a huge aquatic spider from the side to the bottom. Other flaky algae on the sides.

The question I have is in what order do I start adding chemicals, and since I do plan on using boric acid, what is the best mix of other chemicals to use? Also best source of them? Duda Diesel is where I bought my last BA and will likely use them again.
Water source is county utility. I would have expected at least some green algae, but none yet.

I understand the system and have had no issue with my current pool. Starting over at this scale is not cheap.

I have searched previous forum questions without a satisfactory result.

All helpful suggestions appreciated.

 

[Flying Tivo]

I would hold the boric acid until you finish a proper SLAM. Numbers dont look bad except for Ta but can wait. Follow the SLAM and circulate with your pump for now.Add CYA and aim for 30. Clean filter. You might want to increase Ph before slam.

Felipe

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Using Pool Math-

Raise the pH first. Mix and then retest pH and TA. Get these tweaked up.

Then add CYA to 30ppm only, and liquid chlorine (bleach) to 5ppm.

Test and see if things are good.

Do not add borates for a few months after all is cleared up and stable. Adding them too early will make tweaking the pH and TA more difficult.

Get a larger salt cell or commit to augmenting the smaller cell with liquid chlorine as needed.

Maddie

 

[Vickery]

Thanks. That was my expectation. Baking soda will address both TA and Ph. Since the salt cell will require too many hours per day for the pump to run, I'll supplement until I decide whether to upgrade to a vsp or a msp with a larger cell. I'll have the other chems standing by.

 

[DeanP66]

You want WASHING soda not BAKING soda. Baking soda will only affect TA and you need to raise the pH quite a bit, so use the washing soda or soda ash.

 

[cfherrman]

And test for CH!

 

[Donldson]

You want WASHING soda not BAKING soda. Baking soda will only affect TA and you need to raise the pH quite a bit, so use the washing soda or soda ash.

No, not when the TA is nearly zero. In that situation you want to correct the TA first. At this low TA adding baking soda will affect the pH and TA considerably. Once the TA is back to something reasonable (50+) the OP should get an readable pH level and be able to adjust the pH from there.

 

[Vickery]

I've been using the TFP method for almost 9 years, so I have a handle on most of it. But moving from well water with substantial TA and tolerable Ph is different from this one. Plus the quantity of start up chems is quite a bit more than I'm used to. It's a whole lot easier - and cheaper - to adjust a smaller pool. Plus it's vinyl, so CH isn't a factor.