Brand new pool, pool builder won’t come put chemicals in it, help!

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J

JenfromNC

Gold Supporter
Jul 14, 2019
56
Hickory, NC
Pool Size
21000
Surface
Fiberglass
Chlorine
Salt Water Generator
SWG Type
Hayward Turbo Cell (T-CELL-5)
Hi! In ground fiberglass pool installed, filled, and then left to grow algae and mosquitos and be a really expensive pit of despair for ages.
PB finally came out on a Sunday and hooked up our pump and filter some sort of funky way as the electrician hasn’t been out yet either. We have ran the vacuum some, but have to be careful as there’s still rocks in it. :rolleyes:

anyway. PB just dumps calcium hypochlorite in it when we beg, but otherwise have put nothing in it. I add liquid chlorine in the evening when the chlorine is at zero, it still has some in the morning until the sun burns it off. That’s keeping the water blue, no more mosquitoes and not getting nastier. The pH is high, but I’m not sure exactly what currently. The little quick test in the tf100 kit shows it over the max and i haven’t done the other test.

i know i need some CYA up in this thing with a quickness. and probably muriatic acid to get the pH down. The PB was supposed to send someone today, but if they aren’t here at 5, I’m going to Lowe’s and doing this thing myself.

can someone walk me through, or link me to, how to get that much CYA into my water? Should i use tabs for a while or start dissolving in the sock? Pool math says i need 17 pounds, which sounds awful. I figured I’d let the builders get this thing running and then i would take it over.... but thats not real life I guess.
 
Have you discovered PoolMath yet? I personally like to pull up the old web version on my computer when answering questions, but others like the APP better.

For a 27,000 gallon pool you need 144 ounces of granular CYA to get you from zero to 40 ppm. You can put it into a sock and hang it over the edge of the pool. Dont let it sit on the wall but put it in front of a return so it dissolves fast. Squeeze it now and then to speed it up.

Add a full gallon of liquid chlorine daily until you run a full set of tests wit your test kit and can tell us:
FC
CC
pH
TA
CH
CYA
Salt if applicable

Then we can determine if anything else needs tweaking.

Maddie 🐞
 
So my pool builder last year seemed to have no clue how to get the pool up and running so I just did it myself. This was after the pump and all the equipment was running. They brought 4 bags of salt to dump in the pool when I needed more like 16. At that point I was so tired of dealing with them and their methods seemed to be just plain ignorant. They dumped a gallon of chlorine in the pool and said I was good. No CYA, calcium, didn't balance the pH. Just a bunch of morons. I kind of suspected that they expected the pool to turn into a green marsh when they came back in a week or two so they could charge me more money to clean it, but they were very surprised at how great it looked and clear.

If your pump is not running I would hold off until some of the experts on here chime in. I would think you would want the water circulating for most chemicals. The fastest way to get CYA in your pool is to use instant conditioner but that's also the most expensive way to do it, it would cost you about $150 I would guess. I've done both and hanging the sock method takes a lot longer.

​

 
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The fastest way to get CYA in your pool is to use instant conditioner but that's also the most expensive way to do it, it would cost you about $150 I would guess. I've done both and hanging the sock method takes a lot longer.

​

Click to expand...
Actually.... 374 ounces of Liquid would take her to 40ppm which would allow her to start since I don't believe the SWG is up and running yet? That is 3 full gallons. Liquid CYA is best used when you're using it all as you have to really rinse out the bottom sludge to get it all.

Once the SWG is up and running the CYA can go up to 70ppm using either granular or liquid CYA.

Maddie :flower:
 
Pump and sand filter are running.
SWG is in a box on my driveway

FC: adding the R0870 powder doesn't turn it pink, so 0?
CC: if FC is zero is this also zero?
pH: 9.4 with the pen meter I bought from the TF100 store. greater then 8.2 on the K1000 test, so that seems accurate?
TA: 40 (4 drops to turn red)
CH: 10 drops of r0010 and its clear, no red
CYA: none? I can always see the dot and my liquid is completely clear
Salt: none

Do I have another pH test or just the one in the 3 way kit?
 
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All that has been put in it is a ton of Calcium Hypochlorite (GLB SuperSonic, the bag says 27% of other ingredients but I don't see what they are anywhere) and 10% liquid chlorine from Lowes.

The pool guy likes to dump a ton of the calcium hypochlorite in like I should be impressed. I guess he doesn't know that I know chlorine will just burn off in hours in the sun with no CYA.

He promised pool people today. its 4pm. I don't think they are coming.
 
Right- FC is zero if entirely clear. But you can still have CCs (contaminates) and I would run that part of the test immediately after seeing the clear FC level.

Please repeat the pH test with the drop test comparitor block. 9.4 is entirely scary. And it doesn't correlate with a TA of 40ppm.

Go ahead and add any salt you have now as this will give it plenty of time to dissolve and mix in before the device goes online. You do NOT want to add salt while the device is turned on. Every time you add, turn it off for a day. Use liquid chlorine in the meantime if needed.

Maddie :flower:
 
What is a drop test comparator block? Is that the one in the blue case? Its that high. Its purple red the highest red.
The TA test was 4 drops. It sort of flashes red on the first three drops and stays red on the 4th. Thats right?

We don't currently have any salt. Should I acquire some?
 
It’s super high, right? I know a photo isn’t awesome but what I’m seeing seems to be higher then 8.2. I don’t know if the meter is calibrated correctly. Husband said he knew how to do it from work and did the buffer solution or whatever to calibrate and it seemed to work.
 

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A photographer i am not. :ROFLMAO:
 

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Yay!! :party: No CCs.

Ok, regarding the pH- do you have muriatic acid? You need to use that to lower the pH somewhat. I'd aim for 7.6. It may take a few times of adding, let it mix for an hour, retest and add again if needed.

As you can see by my use of old pool math version- It should take about 18 ounces of Muriatic Acid, and then also 190 ounces of Baking Soda to raise your TA also. Buy a big bag at Wallyworld in the baking section. Muriatic Acid available at Lowes either in pool section or paint section. Use cautiously and stand upwind of the acid... don't spill on clothing or decking. Pour in front of a moving return of water and brush after your pour just to be sure its all mixed in.
Screen Shot 2021-05-24 at 4.53.48 PM.png
 
You'll need about 800 lbs of salt so you might as well get it now. Double check my math using the poolmath app and what the recommended salt level should be for your generator.
 
omg 800 pounds of salt. :eek::ROFLMAO: that sounds so ridiculous.

Got it! Making my list for Lowes in the morning. Lowes, right? Or the pool store?
 
Wait!! Before you buy it.... say to the PB "Where's my salt? Bring it and let me go ahead and start adding it." Sound assertive.

My salt was included in the pool's purchase price. You don't want to buy it twice, right??

Maddie :flower:
 
OK. That sounds way better then having to transport all that! :ROFLMAO:

I put my numbers into the pool math app and its all angry with me.

Says to add 106 ounces of chlorine
39 ounces of 14.5% muriatic acid or 19 ounces of 29% (Which of these am I likely to find?)
12 pounds of baking soda :ROFLMAO:
115 pounds of calcium chloride :ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:
17 pounds of dry cyanuric acid

Sooooo
yeah. They gonna be discounting me for that receipt.

Still crossing fingers the PB employee shows up this evening, but its after 5 now, so who knows.
 
Its going off of your chosen desired values when you set it up, right?

-106 ounces - toss the whole gallon in! Its chlorine, those few extra ounces won't hurt a thing.
-I use 31% acid usually as that is what I find in my Lowes. Just double it ($) if you find the half strength stuff.
-190 ounces is what I came up with for baking soda.... You're right- 12 Pounds. The BIG bag at Walmart, LOL.
-Hang tight on the calcium- if he's been adding CalHypo you have some in there. I would like to see a better reading on this.
-Only take the CYA up to 30 or 40ppm until later when the SWG is up and working. Gives you room to tweak things with less chlorine at first.

Maddie :flower:
 
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