Converting the pool this year, quite nervous about it.

Ok I'm confused now, with my CYA currently pretty close to 0 (definitely less than 20) I thought I should add some so as not to lose too much chlorine to sunlight and prevent the algae getting ahead of me - am I wrong?

Update
I added enough bleach to bring it up to 15ppm earlier (about 10:30pm) and I just went and tested the water's FC again and it is at 10ppm so I'll go add some more to bring it back up to 15ppm even though it is almost 1:00am here :mrgreen: Sometimes it is handy being a bit of a night owl.
 
In normal pool situations, you are not wrong, you would want CYA. But with conversions it just slows the process down, so you wait until the end of the conversion to add it, after you change the filter media. You're almost there, but not quite.

POP! :wink: :mrgreen:
 
Update

Things are starting to look up - thankfully. The water is no longer green; more a light milky blue (if that made sense).

When I went to clean the cartrdge, it was a brownish orange color and after rinsing it off, the Mrs gave it a spray down with a cartridge cleaner and we let that soak in before I gave it another rinse - much better; lol.

Been keeping the water at 15ppm (sometimes a tad over) as instructed and keeping the faith :mrgreen:

Regards,
D
 
Well today was cloudy and chilly (57°F). Got the cartridge cleaned off again and added more bleach. Below is a picture of what the water look like as of 3:00pm today - not clear but it's getting there. I ringed off an area in the picture where you can see there's some gunk that needs vacuuming, now that I can see it :wink: , which I'll take care of tomorrow.

Today's water



Thanks for reading.
 
Update:

Well after many sessions of adding bleach, water testing, vacuuming and brushing, buying more bleach and a couple of new pieces of equipment, our pool looks like this at 5:30pm EST. Pictures are thumbnailed btw.

<-------------------->

Definitely much better and clearer :whoot: but I'm containing my excitement for the moment as I'm not 100% sure I'm done :mrgreen:

FC is still not holding overnight at 15ppm yet but that could be down to when I am going to the pool to test it. At 2:30am this morning it was at 14.5ppm and I didn't get to test it again until 5:30pm this afternoon (result was FC @ 1ppm).

So I'm going to go clean off the cartridge with the cleaner and then hose it off really good, then add enough bleach to bring the FC up to 15ppm and retest the water 12 hours later - I hope that is a sufficient amount of time. :?:

Edit: 3 gallons & 1 quart (15ppm worth) added at 9:00pm
 
It is best to test the FC level 30 minutes to an hour after adding the bleach and then again in the morning. Bleach isn't always the strength labeled on the bottle, so you don't always get as much FC as you might expect.
 

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Thank you for the advice Jason. I didn't see your reply till late so I went back out before heading to bed (around 2:am) and tested the water and it was still at 15ppm.

I would have tested the water again at around 9:00am but it was pelting down with rain but I did get it tested at 11:30am and it was 10ppm, so I think it held at 15ppm overnight.

I just went and did another set of tests with the following results (3:30pm):

FC - 4
CC - 0.5
OTO - 3
pH - 7.2

With CC dead on at 0.5 should I bring the FC back up to 15ppm?

Thanks
 
You still want to bring FC back up to 15, but I would wait till after sunset and just do that just once this evening.

You are nearing the end. I would really like to see a clearer test result showing that FC held overnight, but the low CC level means you are essentially there. I suggest you try once more tonight to see if FC will hold at 15 overnight.

The final steps, after FC holds overnight, are to replace the filter media, and add CYA. Then you will be done.
 
Ok, I believe this is good news

Water was tested before adding bleach last night at 8:30pm and result was 1.5ppm so 3 gallons of bleach was added according to the Pool Calculator.

This morning at 7:00am I tested the water again:

FC - 14ppm
CC - 0.5ppm

Can I start celebrating :bounce: ?

If so, when adding the stabilizer, can I put it in a nylon stocking and hang it near the return?
 
Sorry it's been a while since posting but things are good.

Haven't added the stabilizer yet as I didn't have any pool socks handy (been washing and reusing the current one) but I got some earlier today and will be adding the CYA tomorrow and putting in the new cartridge too. I'm going to put the CYA in the strainer basket that is after the skimmer but before the pump as we get a bunch of bugs in the skimmer each day. We have been hosing down the current cartridge and last night I shocked the pool to 15ppm and it was at 5.5ppm earlier today so that's good. I'll keep it at 3ppm each day with FC checks in the morning and after the sun goes down once the CYA and new cartridge is in.

I actually got in it today as I had been working in the yard and it was a hot day. It felt soooo good. :whip:

Thanks to the help on here I can now enjoy the pool again. :whoot: Oh and the conversion only took 42 jugs of Bleach from Walmart :mrgreen:

Regards,
D
 
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