New Owner, Questions about Getting Started

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N

NYR56

Bronze Supporter
May 7, 2024
2
Long Island, NY
I recently moved to a house which has a 45-50K pool. I have never owned a pool so did a lot of reading on this site. Pool co opened it on Wednesday and 'shocked' it. Based on my testing w/ the TF-100 Salt my FC is 0, CYA is ~5 per a pool store test (no change on TF kit), pH is 9, Salt is ~800ppm. My filter seems to be saturated as the pressure gets very high with minimal water return despite it working after they opened the pool and added DE to it. I'd like to make sure my order of operations and choices are correct. For now, I have the pool on recirculate since the filter seems to need to be cleaned.

1. Lower pH to ~7.8 w/ Muriatic acid
2. Add ~5 gal of 10% liquid chlorine for a SLAM goal of 10ppm
3. Add CYA for a goal of 75 - I think it's better to wait on this step until the FC stops being used up?
4. Backwash filter and replace DE - allow FC to level off first?
5. Once water is clear, have pool co do a power vac and waste at least some of the water (overfilled currently for this reason)
6. Add ~1000lbs of salt to bring salt up to ~3500ppm

One other note is there is an old heater that is no longer functional. I saw in another thread that should be bypassed so avoid copper build up in the water. That would require me to replumb it, which isn't a big deal but hoping I can put that off for a bit just due to time constraints. Appreciate the help!
 
Welcome to TFP! :wave: Nice to see you've been doing some homework. :goodjob: Just a few adjustments to your plan above:
- STEP 3, don't add the CYA just yet, and when you do, only go to 30 for the moment.
--- Once you add that 10-ppm worth of liquid chlorine, test the water in 10 minutes just to ensure it's holding fairly well (between 6-10 ppm). If not, then add more chlorine and test again in 10-min. Repeat until you see the FC is starting to hold. Best to ensure the FC isn't crashing.

Once you get past that part, then you can add the stabilizer for a goal of 30. From there, do an Overnight Chlorine Loss Test. Read that page carefully and let us know if you have any questions. It's best to ensure you do not have a heavy organic demand in the water (algae). If you pass the OCLT, then yes, increase the CYA to about 70. Program for 60 if you want just to be safe and ensure you don't over-shoot too high. You can always add more.

If you fail the OCLT (or already suspect algae), then go right into the SLAM Process with a CYA of 30 and FC of 12. Do that until you pass all 3 criteria. Rely solely on liquid chlorine to maintain the FC level. Leave the SWG off and don't bother adding salt just yet since you may end-up doing several backwashes. No sense wasting the salt.

So, once you pass the OCLT and/or complete the SLAM, now it's time to add the salt, increase the CYA, and rebalance any other levels (i.e. pH) as needed. That should do it. Let us know if you have any questions.
 
How does the water look?

Get 30 ppm of stabilizer dissolving in the pool and 5 ppm of liquid chlorine and lower your pH into the 7s.

Have your pool company do the power vac and cleanup the pool.

Then do a Overnight Chlorine Loss Test
 
Thanks for the replies! The water didn't look good, and I definitely couldn't see the bottom of the deep end. Now it is looking clearer, hard to tell if water is still somewhat dirty or if the bottom is just that filthy. The FC held for the evening (I assume it wasn't fully circulated but it was reading closer to 20 after I added the calculated amount for 10ppm). In the AM, it read 8ppm. By evening, it was reading .5ppm FC w/ .5 of CC. pH fell to 7.2 despite adding a bit less than the suggested muriatic acid. I'm thinking the lack of CYA let to the chlorine being broken down by the sun. The CYA comes today, so I'll add for 30ppm. Once dissolved, I'll add more chlorine to do an overnight chlorine test to see if it needs another SLAM. I'll also give the pool company a call for the power vac.
 
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