It's almost time! In Louisville, KY, the temps are going to be consistently over 70F and it's time to open this baby.
If you read my other post, you'll remember I'm the guy with the un-level fiberglass pool (installed in May 2015), and my pool man has been working on the pool (on and off) mostly off, all winter. So, I went the winter with NO cover. Last week, I had a little green algae outbreak. It wasn't bad at all, just a little green algae on the pool walls that brushes right off easily.
Since this is my first time opening my own pool, I wanted to run down my parameters with you guys and gals to make sure I'm doing it correctly. I read the "pool opening" sticky and as usual, I'm following the "troublefreepool" method for my saltwater pool.
So here is what I did:
1. I put the filter back together, and put the drain plugs in the pumps, and heater.
2. I turned on the pump and opened the drain, to pump as much of the return line antifreeze out of the pool, as possible.
3. I ran the filter and brushed any algae off the sides. The filter cartridges clogged up so quickly! So I kept taking the cartridges out, power washing them, and putting them back in again (about every 4-6 hours). I also put a "sock" in the skimmer basket in effort to catch as much there as possible. But the bottom drains had no socks on them.
4. After a few rounds of this, I started looking at my water tests and here's what I did. And I did all these things slowly, over a 3 day period.
A. The salinity was about 2700, so I added salt to get the salinity up to 3200
B. The CH was around 190, so added a little hardener to get the CH up to 250
C. The PH was high around 8.3, probably the algae? So I added about 1/2 gal of muratic acid to get it down to about 7.5
D. The alkalinity was still around 60. I added just a bit of baking soda to get it up to 70.
E. The CYA was around 50, so I added whatever stabilizer I had left and got it up to about 60. I will buy more and bump it up a tad more if you think I should.
F. The Chlorine was zero. I added one bag (1 lb) of "Power powder plus" from leslies. I told the guy at the store I wanted to bump it up to 24 (as suggested on this web site). He said 1lb would do it. But the FC is only about 12-13. Should I buy more?
G. I put my sw chlorine generator in "boost" mode for the last 48 hours.
H. My borates were around 30-40, so I added one box of Mule team borax, to get it up to 40ish. (hard to tell with these borate test strips)
5. Now, my water is ALMOST clear. The pool looks great! Pictures below.
Is there anything I'm missing? I have a NEW set of cartridge filters but I don't want to use them until the pool is perfectly clear. Then I'll bust out the new ones and throw away the old.
Thanks gang!
If you read my other post, you'll remember I'm the guy with the un-level fiberglass pool (installed in May 2015), and my pool man has been working on the pool (on and off) mostly off, all winter. So, I went the winter with NO cover. Last week, I had a little green algae outbreak. It wasn't bad at all, just a little green algae on the pool walls that brushes right off easily.
Since this is my first time opening my own pool, I wanted to run down my parameters with you guys and gals to make sure I'm doing it correctly. I read the "pool opening" sticky and as usual, I'm following the "troublefreepool" method for my saltwater pool.
So here is what I did:
1. I put the filter back together, and put the drain plugs in the pumps, and heater.
2. I turned on the pump and opened the drain, to pump as much of the return line antifreeze out of the pool, as possible.
3. I ran the filter and brushed any algae off the sides. The filter cartridges clogged up so quickly! So I kept taking the cartridges out, power washing them, and putting them back in again (about every 4-6 hours). I also put a "sock" in the skimmer basket in effort to catch as much there as possible. But the bottom drains had no socks on them.
4. After a few rounds of this, I started looking at my water tests and here's what I did. And I did all these things slowly, over a 3 day period.
A. The salinity was about 2700, so I added salt to get the salinity up to 3200
B. The CH was around 190, so added a little hardener to get the CH up to 250
C. The PH was high around 8.3, probably the algae? So I added about 1/2 gal of muratic acid to get it down to about 7.5
D. The alkalinity was still around 60. I added just a bit of baking soda to get it up to 70.
E. The CYA was around 50, so I added whatever stabilizer I had left and got it up to about 60. I will buy more and bump it up a tad more if you think I should.
F. The Chlorine was zero. I added one bag (1 lb) of "Power powder plus" from leslies. I told the guy at the store I wanted to bump it up to 24 (as suggested on this web site). He said 1lb would do it. But the FC is only about 12-13. Should I buy more?
G. I put my sw chlorine generator in "boost" mode for the last 48 hours.
H. My borates were around 30-40, so I added one box of Mule team borax, to get it up to 40ish. (hard to tell with these borate test strips)
5. Now, my water is ALMOST clear. The pool looks great! Pictures below.
Is there anything I'm missing? I have a NEW set of cartridge filters but I don't want to use them until the pool is perfectly clear. Then I'll bust out the new ones and throw away the old.
Thanks gang!
As for the CH, don't get wrapped around increasing it. I can tell you from my own (ignorant) personal experience when first opening that I allowed it to increase, but also allowed pH to remain a little too high as well. What was my reward? .... scale. Scale which I have been diligently working to remove VERY slowly over time via TFP methods. 
