New home - first pool opening

[RobbieH]

Works for me, a 1ppm variance is acceptable.

 

[jeffblue]

awesome, thanks guys, i really appreciate the input. the water is surprisingly warm, i can't wait until i can actually swim in it. i'm glad i started this a week ahead of when i was planning

 

[pooldv]

Can't believe I missed this thread. Your pool and property are amazing! I wanted a geometric pool in the woods too. My PB and wife talked me into a freeform natural pool in the woods, pics in sig. Which is great but when I see your pool I get a little pang of regret.

The pool is looking much better. Keep SLAMing and it will clear up, it is just part of the deal. Cleaning the filter will help.
CYA can be tested 24 hours after it is dissolved from the sock.
Your TA at 50 is OK, at the bottom of what I consider OK. It can definitely wait until after the SLAM.
CH at 75 is fine and it is not important in a vinyl liner pool as long as it isn't above 500 or more.

 

[jeffblue]

Can't believe I missed this thread. Your pool and property are amazing! I wanted a geometric pool in the woods too. My PB and wife talked me into a freeform natural pool in the woods, pics in sig. Which is great but when I see your pool I get a little pang of regret.

The pool is looking much better. Keep SLAMing and it will clear up, it is just part of the deal. Cleaning the filter will help.
CYA can be tested 24 hours after it is dissolved from the sock.
Your TA at 50 is OK, at the bottom of what I consider OK. It can definitely wait until after the SLAM.
CH at 75 is fine and it is not important in a vinyl liner pool as long as it isn't above 500 or more.

Thanks I appreciate it! The previous owners did a lot of work to thr property and had a really good eye. We really lucked out finding this house. I had already given up on finding a house last summer and then decided "ok one last open house." LOL. We didn't close on the house until Nov so this is the first I'm getting to enjoy the back yard.

Your setup is awesome I really like what you did. How is the sun exposure with your pool where it is? The prev owner did a dark liner bc there's some trees around as u can see in the pic. He told me they hardly used the heater ever but I figured "yea sure and the pool is probably cold." But even in mild temperatures like 60-70 yesterday the water was warm (I felt it while squeezing the cya socks lol). I was pleasantly surprised. I'll probably get a solar blanket too still.

So interesting update with regards to the water chemistry from this AM

05/20 9:30pm

FC 10ml method: 17
Cya:38
CC: 0

I somehow only lost 1ppm of chlorine all day? How is that possible? I first did a 5ml test and got 18ppm but figured I might as well do a full 10ml sample so I could do the cc more accurately and do OCLT. The water is getting pretty clear but not as clear as I would expect given the evidence for my lack of algae. There were no spots of algae anywhere tonight. The water still has a slight cloudiness to it in the deep end though. I'm not sure if I'm just being picky. I don't see anything floating but it just isn't that clear. I'm not sure how I could only lose 1ppm of chlorine at such a high fc level during the day with only 30-40 range cya. Pic of deep end with pool light on at night. I feel like it helps show what I'm talking about better than a daylight pic

 

[pooldv]

Your water is definitely cloudy. This is the time for POP, pool owner patience, in a SLAM.

Thanks, we got lucky on our place too. Our pool only gets full sun for about an hour, the rest of the time there is some shade, up to full shade. Which is great in August, not in May. Our solar panels also have shade part of the day and only full sun about 4 hours. We added a solar cover for the first time this year and it is really helping a lot. Pool was up to 85 with highs in the upper 70s low 80s and lows in the 60s even with rain. Then rain, cloudy and cold this week, highs in low 60s and the cover held the heat pretty well. Pool was still 80 this afternoon. Rain can really cool a pool, but we are holding temp better than ever before with the cover and a colder than usual May. 86 and sunny tomorrow and we're planning to be in the pool all day!

 

[jeffblue]

Your water is definitely cloudy. This is the time for POP, pool owner patience, in a SLAM.

Thanks, we got lucky on our place too. Our pool only gets full sun for about an hour, the rest of the time there is some shade, up to full shade. Which is great in August, not in May. Our solar panels also have shade part of the day and only full sun about 4 hours. We added a solar cover for the first time this year and it is really helping a lot. Pool was up to 85 with highs in the upper 70s low 80s and lows in the 60s even with rain. Then rain, cloudy and cold this week, highs in low 60s and the cover held the heat pretty well. Pool was still 80 this afternoon. Rain can really cool a pool, but we are holding temp better than ever before with the cover and a colder than usual May. 86 and sunny tomorrow and we're planning to be in the pool all day!

oh you have solar heaters? i'm jealous. if i were installing a new pool i would definitely go that route. i love the idea of "free" heat.

Alright, i'm ready to be patient. So should i just keep the chlorine at shock levels and just wait? should i try cleaning out the filter again? i cleaned it on wednesday and any vacuuming i've done has been through a panty hose. could the cloudiness be caused by the fact that my chlorine levels are like 1.8x shock level for my CYA? if i pass the OCLT and cc<.5 but my water is clear, can i introduce the rest of the chemicals i need or no?

Thanks!

 

[pooldv]

Yes, free heat is handy! No need to have FC above shock level, it just burns off at a faster rate. With CYA at 40 keep FC at 16 ppm. No need to clean the filter until the pressure rises 25% above clean pressure. You don't need any more chemicals right now. Water is good.

 

[jeffblue]

So, i passed OCLT again, and CC is basically 0. Is my water clear? keep in mind i have a dark liner. i can see the screws on the top of the deep water return and all of the "texture" on the liner in the deep end.

if so, do i have to keep the pump running 24/7 still? should i let the chlorine drift back down to normal levels before i add any of the chemicals i need? baking soda, etc.

Thanks! pics below

 

[Texas Splash]

Well then Jeff, it sounds to me like you passed your SLAM!


Let the FC drop naturally and adjust all levels as required ... then

 

[jeffblue]

Well then Jeff, it sounds to me like you passed your SLAM!


Let the FC drop naturally and adjust all levels as required ... then

wait you're supposed to swim in these? i thought this was just supposed to be a chemistry experiment! do i need to run the pump 24/7 until FC drops or can i taper down?

 

[Texas Splash]

No, you can begin to adjust your pumps' schedule as needed.

 

[jeffblue]

so yesterday was the first day i reduced the pump usage to hrs. 6hr from 10-4 and then 2 hours from 10-12 (i put the pool robot in and turn on the booster pump switch, let it do its thing overnight and remove it in the morning and turn off the booster pump.

I found out my pool is only 30k gallons. After getting repeatedly skewed results after adding chemicals that led me to believe i had less water than i thought, i called the manufacturer of the pool and found out the design is only 30k gallon design.

I'm starting to add other chemicals to my pool as i let the FC drift down to normal levels.
My numbers as of this morning:
FC: 9.5
CC: 0
pH: 6.8 (added baking soda to raise TA and will test pH tomorrow)
TA: 50 (just added 7.5lb of baking soda will test tomorrow)
CH: 90
Salt: 4400
CYA: 40

My salt number is really throwing me off. Before added salt i got a reading of 1800 PPM. i added 400lbs of salt thinking i was leaving myself some room for a 35k gallon pool (as mentioned above i found out its only 30k). I tested 24, 48 hours after adding the 10 bags and wound up with 4400ppm! via drop test. I tested with a strip and got like 3400 and my SWG says 2700ppm. I have about 2-3 inches to raise the water, i intentionally haven't raised it beyond what was needed for the skimmer in case i made a mistake of adding too much of some chemical. What should i do about this reading? why is the drop test reading so much higher than the others? can i rely on this? should i bother draining and refilling or should i just add water to the pool and let the salt level fall over time/rainfall/evaporation/refilling? i want to know whether i'm going to need to do a partial drain/refill before i add any borates to the pool since i dont want to waste money on chemicals.

Should i bring my CYA up to 60-70 since i have a SWG or should i leave it be and monitor my chlorine loss or lackthereof when the SWG is running?


Thanks!

 

[RobbieH]

Raise the CYA, yes.
Don't worry too much about your TA, you'll want it to be around 60-70 with a SWG. Don't go too high or you'll get a massive appetite for muriatic acid.

I tend to trust the drop tests for salt more than anything else. But, in the end, you must do what makes your SWG happy. If it is reporting "low salt", you may have to add more to get it to work. Is the cell clean? No calcium build up, right?

 

[jeffblue]

Raise the CYA, yes.
Don't worry too much about your TA, you'll want it to be around 60-70 with a SWG. Don't go too high or you'll get a massive appetite for muriatic acid.

I tend to trust the drop tests for salt more than anything else. But, in the end, you must do what makes your SWG happy. If it is reporting "low salt", you may have to add more to get it to work. Is the cell clean? No calcium build up, right?

the Cell is clean, i just cleaned it yesterday. it wasn't too bad. had some debris in it thats all. So my next step is just get my pH back in line, get my CYA to about 60ppm for starters, and see how everything runs for a few days in terms of chlorine production/retention? When can i proceed with adding borates? i've done the research on them and i'm probably just going to go with the borax/muriatic acid method. my plumber has a wholesale account at a local supplier and is able to get me bulk chemicals really cheap now. 50 lb baking soda for 18 dollars, 5 gallon drum of muriatic acid for 18 dollars. calcium chloride 50lb for 16 dollars, 10lb cya for 21 dollars. 4 gallons of 12.5% bleach for 11 dollars. only thing they don't have is borax/boric acid.

 

[IL_WS]

Don't forget to disable your SWG for the OCLT.



Nevermind. I stopped reading at the end of the 1st page.

 

[jeffblue]

Question: my salt test kit (drops) is reading 4200ppm, but my SWG and strips are reading 3100-3400ppm. (ideal range for my system is 2500-3500). according to the drops my salt is high. i want to add borates to my pool. should i do a partial drain and refill or just i just let the salt level be since the SWG is reading the level it should be? i dont want to add borates and THEN have to do a partial drain/refill bc thats just a waste.

Don't forget to disable your SWG for the OCLT.



Nevermind. I stopped reading at the end of the 1st page.

thanks yea, i actually just turned it on today for the first time. chlorine took until now to come down to even 5ppm, which i guess is good.