First Time Pool Owner
Hi everyone.
Purchased a house in October of 2015 (Buffalo, NY area) that had a 24' pool (details in signature). A couple weekends ago, I decided to review all the manuals and take a crack at opening it on my own. Went to the local pool store and got an "opening kit" - 2 gals of Shock, 1 gal of algicide, 1 gal of clarifier. Long story (more below) short, I dumped most, if not all of the winter cover (leaves, sticks, and whatever other junk) into the pool when trying to take it off my myself. That was preceded however by using a submersible pump to pump off the water on the cover - unfortunately, I also managed to pump about 5" of water out of the pool (it sucked it through the cover).
So, black pool, and a fall/winter's worth of leaves at the bottom. I blindly scoop with no end in sight. Get to the pool store, talk to a couple people, get the opening kit and get to work with the filter (after learning it's ok to start the filter even if all the leaves aren't out). Get the shock in, and we go from black to green (matched my grass quite nicely). Back to the pool store (after a couple others in between), and was prescribed 4 (more) gallons of Shock and then hydrofloc once we got from green to blue. It worked. Quite well, actually. I could finally see the bottom of my pool and I was starting to get excited. Another weeks worth of vacuuming, leaf raking, etc. and I am now left with a crystal clear pool with numbers (from Leslie - my TF100 XL is coming this week) that look good.
I'm here not because the pool stores failed me - as a matter of fact, I actually found them really helpful and their solutions worked perfectly to get me up and running. That said, after reading through everything hear, I find this approach simpler, and it sounds like it will give me more insight management into my water chemistry that I'd like to have.
Here's where I'm at:
Clear water
Shocked w\ 6-7 gallons over 2 wks
1/2 gallon of clarifier was added (before TFP)
1/2 gallon of algicide was added (before TFP)
As of 5/21
FC 2 (added a gallon on 8.25 bleach and probably around 2 still - only had test strips to check with today)
TC 2
CC (presumed since FC + CC = TC)
pH 7.5
TA 100
CH 100 (assuming this needs to increase)
CYA 50
TDS 55
Pho 100
My plan going forward (after reading through things here) is to monitor chemistries and adjust chlorine daily. I was curious to see if there were any thoughts, suggestions, things to consider, etc.
Questions
Hi everyone.
Purchased a house in October of 2015 (Buffalo, NY area) that had a 24' pool (details in signature). A couple weekends ago, I decided to review all the manuals and take a crack at opening it on my own. Went to the local pool store and got an "opening kit" - 2 gals of Shock, 1 gal of algicide, 1 gal of clarifier. Long story (more below) short, I dumped most, if not all of the winter cover (leaves, sticks, and whatever other junk) into the pool when trying to take it off my myself. That was preceded however by using a submersible pump to pump off the water on the cover - unfortunately, I also managed to pump about 5" of water out of the pool (it sucked it through the cover).
So, black pool, and a fall/winter's worth of leaves at the bottom. I blindly scoop with no end in sight. Get to the pool store, talk to a couple people, get the opening kit and get to work with the filter (after learning it's ok to start the filter even if all the leaves aren't out). Get the shock in, and we go from black to green (matched my grass quite nicely). Back to the pool store (after a couple others in between), and was prescribed 4 (more) gallons of Shock and then hydrofloc once we got from green to blue. It worked. Quite well, actually. I could finally see the bottom of my pool and I was starting to get excited. Another weeks worth of vacuuming, leaf raking, etc. and I am now left with a crystal clear pool with numbers (from Leslie - my TF100 XL is coming this week) that look good.
I'm here not because the pool stores failed me - as a matter of fact, I actually found them really helpful and their solutions worked perfectly to get me up and running. That said, after reading through everything hear, I find this approach simpler, and it sounds like it will give me more insight management into my water chemistry that I'd like to have.
Here's where I'm at:
Clear water
Shocked w\ 6-7 gallons over 2 wks
1/2 gallon of clarifier was added (before TFP)
1/2 gallon of algicide was added (before TFP)
As of 5/21
FC 2 (added a gallon on 8.25 bleach and probably around 2 still - only had test strips to check with today)
TC 2
CC (presumed since FC + CC = TC)
pH 7.5
TA 100
CH 100 (assuming this needs to increase)
CYA 50
TDS 55
Pho 100
My plan going forward (after reading through things here) is to monitor chemistries and adjust chlorine daily. I was curious to see if there were any thoughts, suggestions, things to consider, etc.
Questions
- Looking around the Internet, pool stores, test strip packages, etc. the near-unanimous recommendation for FC is 1-3ppm. In TFP world, it seems like that is barely hitting the minimums. What's the reason behind such a "higher" recommended FC level?
- Any tips, suggestions, thoughts, etc?
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