Starting up new SWG with no to low FC and have high CC

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10acguy

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May 30, 2009
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Just got an Aquarite 40K SWG from craigslist and have a 24K, vinyl pool. In testing, we have 0 FC, high CC greater than 3, PH 7.4, TA 50, Calcium 170, and 0 sanitizer. Bought the house and pool had been neglected. Question is do we shock first and get pool specs to recommended levels before installing SWG? OR install SWG first and then shock pool?

Also, will shocking with bleach get us back to recommended levels for FC? We added 5 96oz. jugs of 6% and only got up to just over 1 FC and high CC's.
 
Hi 10acguy,

I recommend that you first raise your TA to 60 using baking soda and then shock. You can read "How to Shock..." in Pool School. Link at top of each page.

What is your CYA level? If you do not know or know that it is zero, then shock to 10 for now. See the CYA/Chlorine Chart in my sig.

You will need to purchase/have on hand enough CYA to raise it to about 80 for the SWG; but, I suggest you only add enough to get to about 20 or 30 until you are done shocking.

Leave the SWG off until you are done shocking.

Also, how are you testing? What is your salt level?

Welcome to the forum :wave:
 
My Bro in law brought his TF 100 test kit. Does kit test for salt level? We've plumbed in the SWG, but have yet to turn it on. Have poured in 10 96 oz. bottles of clorox. The test levels are now 5 FC and 4 CC. Haven't added Baking Soda yet since TA was already at 50. Should we add BS at this point. My brother in law was shooting for TA of 70.
 
10acguy said:
Just got an Aquarite 40K SWG from craigslist and have a 24K, vinyl pool. In testing, we have 0 FC, high CC greater than 3, PH 7.4, TA 50, Calcium 170, and 0 sanitizer. Bought the house and pool had been neglected. Question is do we shock first and get pool specs to recommended levels before installing SWG? OR install SWG first and then shock pool?

Also, will shocking with bleach get us back to recommended levels for FC? We added 5 96oz. jugs of 6% and only got up to just over 1 FC and high CC's.
Click to expand...

Do you mean 0 Stabilizer (CYA)? If your CYA is 0 you need to buy some and add enough to bring you to 50ppm for now, then you can increase it to 70 when you are ready to fire up the SWG.

10acguy said:
My Bro in law brought his TF 100 test kit. Does kit test for salt level? We've plumbed in the SWG, but have yet to turn it on. Have poured in 10 96 oz. bottles of clorox. The test levels are now 5 FC and 4 CC. Haven't added Baking Soda yet since TA was already at 50. Should we add BS at this point. My brother in law was shooting for TA of 70.
Click to expand...

I suspect you may have an ammonia issue, since the pool was neglected. It's going to take a lot more bleach and alot more POP - pool owner patience, to get the FC to hold. I would go ahead and add the Baking Soda.

I would wait to install and operate the SWG until your other numbers are balanced and the water is clear. Have you even added any salt?

You need to keep your FC up to 15 and hold it there - shocking your pool as Butterfly advised - until the FC holds overnight and the CC is .5 or less.

Read Pool School - invest in your own TF100 - because you will need it, and stock up on some bleach. :wink:

No, the TF100 doesn't test for salt, you need to purchase the AquaChek Salt test strips, but I believe TFTestkits.net sells them too.
 
Just a comment to clarify the "salt" testing: Test for salt BEFORE you add any salt. This will insure that you do not overshoot your goal, which, sadly, the only way to correct is to drain/refill. We definitely want you to avoid that.

I also suspect that you have ammonia and therefore would require multiple shocking episodes,(ie longer-than-normal-duration of shocking) to clear the cc's. This is why I suggested the CYA level of 20 to 30. Your shock level is based on your CYA level and it takes more liquid chlorine/bleach (read $$$$) at the higher CYA level.

I'm just thinking about your wallet here, as that is always important to me. just my .02 :wink:

btw, it is very, very nice of your BIL to test your water with his TF100 :goodjob:
 
Thanks for all your responses. I am a true newbie as the pool came with the house we bought. I like the SWG because it will be less maintenance for the wife and me, but the prep of the pool before we turn it on is proving to be a challenge. To summarize, I have added 10 bottles of Clorox and 6 lbs. of Baking Soda. I plan to add 5 more bottles of Clorox tonight and test again in the morning for the FC and CC counts. In the meantime, I will be busy reading up on the basics of pool maintenance because I still don't get the big picture. All I know is that I have handled more chemicals today than all my high school and college science labs combined. Looking forward to a clear pool sometime in the near future. And yes, it was very nice of my BIL, SamL on this site, to share his testing kit. I'll be ordering mine tomorrow. He left the chlorine tests behind for me to get the CC number up to 10, but I don't have anything for the CYA or salt. We plumbed the SWG but will not turn it on until the pool is ready. Thanks again for the help.
 
Also, one last thing, I haven't added any CYA (stabilizer) as of yet. The suggestion was 13 lbs. added 3 lbs. at a time per the guy at Home Depot. The plan is to get to CC 10 and test for salt before I introduce the SWG.
 
Joyce is right target 20-30 on the CYA, not 50. She's the bomb! :wink:

You need to get a little in there or all your FC will be lost to sunlight. So use the Pool Calculator - NOT Home Depot's advice to calculate how much to add. 6 lbs would be a better choice for now, (13 lbs in the end for getting the SWG going).

It's tough being a pool noob and being thrown in the deepend like this, but you've got aways to go, reading Pool School will be helpful. Read it a couple of times and it will click and begin to sink in.

I hate to scare you but we've seen a few ammonia cases this spring and the amount of chlorine needed was mind-blowing. So prepare yourself, it could potentially be a lot more than 15 jugs.

I think you are confused on the terminology - CC of 10 is BAD. :wink: FC of 10 is GOOD. CC=BAD, FC=Good :mrgreen:
 
The FC is now at 10 and I think I still have high CC since it turned pink on the first drop. Added the first 2 pounds of stabilizer and am now headed to church. We should be back this afternoon... is there an optimal time interval between adding stabilizer. I plan to add up to 6 pounds but now have no test kit to work with. Ordering my kit this morning - salt kit as well.
 

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OK, it's been a week. I have my test kit now. I tested with the Aquachek for salt content and the strip never turned black and the reading comes to about 1. My FC is 2,CC 1, TC 3, pH 7.2, T/A 50, CH 180, CYA 58, TEMP 69. The pool also has a soapy, bubbly appearance on the surface.

Have a SWG and my pool is 23,000K. Waiting to turn on the SWG until I get an idea from someone here where I stand.

Like I said, I am a newbie at this and would appreciate any advice.

Thanks,
Jeff
 
Hi again,

I'm not sure I'm following. Did you add any salt, or was this the "pre-adding salt - salt test?" :mrgreen: Salt is usually in numbers of 1,000...3,000...etc. and I don't use salt strips so I'm not sure what "1" means?

You need to keep shocking your pool until your CC is .5 or less, and you need to maintain the FC above the min level for your CYA at all times. This is before you can get the SWG up and running.

Until the SWG is operational, consider your pool "non-swg" and use the CYA chart numbers that way. You look at your CYA level, then in the numbers to the right, those are your minimum, target and shock levels. Hope that makes sense.

If your FC is not holding overnight, you need to continue shocking. There are instructions for how to shock your pool and how to perform the overnight FC test in Pool School.

You want to continue to shock until:

Your FC holds overnight or you lose less than 1ppm;
Your CC is .5 or less;
Your water is clear.
 
Thanks for the quick response Frustrated - I wish I had gotten to that name first. And yes, this is the pre-salt salt test. I read the bottle again and figured that my salt reading is around 400. The strip never turned black, though, so I am not sure how accurate the reading is. I used the pool calculator to come up with what and when I should introduce more chems. Those are optimum and not shock levels, however, and I want to get the pool balanced before I introduce the SWG.
 
Perhaps this photo will better explain my condition....

I can also 'see' the water coming out of the jets as it makes the gurgling, spitting sound where I usually cannot see anything. For clarification, last night I added 3 bottles of Clorox, a box of Baking Soda, and stabilizer.
 

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read and do paragraph 3 in the pool school article. while it doesn't have a solution listed in the article, I read on ehow.com to use pvc glue around the pipe connection (assuming this is your issue) and it worked for me.
 

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