Hello TFP,
First time poster and pool owner here. Just bought a house with a pool and ended up finding out that there was quite a bit of delamination going on under the surface so we opted to have it refinished. Definitely was not something we wanted to do right away but now that it's done we are very happy with the results. The finish we chose was Stonescapes Mini Pebble Aqua Blue. My builder does not handle any part of the start up and we are now on day 3 since it's been filled and I have been trying to follow these instructions ( National Plasters Council | NPC | Pool Finishes | NPTpool.com ) but am starting to doubt myself. We think the pool is somewhere between 15k-20k gallons. Here are my current numbers from the pool store this morning:
FC: 0.13
TC: 0.13
pH: 7.6
TA: 158
CH: 136
CYA: 5
Iron: 0.1
Copper: 0.3
Phosphates: 684
TDS: 200
Now the very first thing I did on day one when the equipment was first started up was add a sequestering agent recommended by the employee at the pool store. This was the product ( Leslie's Scale & Stain Remover, 1/2 Gallon ). I added the entire bottle pouring it slowly around the entire pool as I was directed.
I also started with a TA of 188. Since then, I have been gradually adding muriatic acid to try and get the total alkalinity down to 80ppm as stated in the start up procedure. I have added 4 gallons of acid over the past several days while keeping an eye on the pH making sure it did not get too low and stayed at or above 7.2. I'm coming up on day 4 tomorrow and am only down to 158 as stated in the numbers above. As of early this afternoon I had already added 1 gallon of acid but my Taylor K-2006 kit still has the TA reading around 160 as of an hour ago.
The pump has been running 24 hours a day since filling and I have not added any other chemicals yet since I'm not past step 2 on the start up procedure (getting the TA down to 80ppm). However this is not happening as quickly or easily as it seems on the directions so I'm questioning what I should do next. Should I continue on this same path or am I not understanding and doing something completely wrong? Any help or direction would be greatly appreciated as I am a total newbie when it comes to anything pool related but do know that the start up for the new finish is critical and am starting to feel quite overwhelmed and uneasy about it. Thanks in advance.
First time poster and pool owner here. Just bought a house with a pool and ended up finding out that there was quite a bit of delamination going on under the surface so we opted to have it refinished. Definitely was not something we wanted to do right away but now that it's done we are very happy with the results. The finish we chose was Stonescapes Mini Pebble Aqua Blue. My builder does not handle any part of the start up and we are now on day 3 since it's been filled and I have been trying to follow these instructions ( National Plasters Council | NPC | Pool Finishes | NPTpool.com ) but am starting to doubt myself. We think the pool is somewhere between 15k-20k gallons. Here are my current numbers from the pool store this morning:
FC: 0.13
TC: 0.13
pH: 7.6
TA: 158
CH: 136
CYA: 5
Iron: 0.1
Copper: 0.3
Phosphates: 684
TDS: 200
Now the very first thing I did on day one when the equipment was first started up was add a sequestering agent recommended by the employee at the pool store. This was the product ( Leslie's Scale & Stain Remover, 1/2 Gallon ). I added the entire bottle pouring it slowly around the entire pool as I was directed.
I also started with a TA of 188. Since then, I have been gradually adding muriatic acid to try and get the total alkalinity down to 80ppm as stated in the start up procedure. I have added 4 gallons of acid over the past several days while keeping an eye on the pH making sure it did not get too low and stayed at or above 7.2. I'm coming up on day 4 tomorrow and am only down to 158 as stated in the numbers above. As of early this afternoon I had already added 1 gallon of acid but my Taylor K-2006 kit still has the TA reading around 160 as of an hour ago.
The pump has been running 24 hours a day since filling and I have not added any other chemicals yet since I'm not past step 2 on the start up procedure (getting the TA down to 80ppm). However this is not happening as quickly or easily as it seems on the directions so I'm questioning what I should do next. Should I continue on this same path or am I not understanding and doing something completely wrong? Any help or direction would be greatly appreciated as I am a total newbie when it comes to anything pool related but do know that the start up for the new finish is critical and am starting to feel quite overwhelmed and uneasy about it. Thanks in advance.