First numbers from my pool - what now??

[Jnet]

OK - New pool for me. My first. The house was a foreclosure and renovation. it's still pretty cold here but I wanted to get the pool filled and running so I would know asap if there were any hidden problems. The water is a little cloudy. I've added nothing to it yet. I just did my first test:
FC: 10
CC: 0.5
pH: 7.2
TA: 160
CH: 240
CYA: 60

I'm surprised that the FC is so high. The pool was drained to the level of the return jets when we opened it up. I topped it off with well water. It was professionally closed last fall. I think they floated some kind of granular chlorine in there over the winter which might explain the CYA. pH could come up a little, right? No idea why the TA and FC are so high. Any suggestions on where I should start? The water is really cold - don't know if that makes a difference. Thanks, everyone. TFP has been incredibly helpful so far!

 

[kimkats]

I am going to share a couple of links with you:

Pool School - Recommended Levels

Pool School - Recommended Pool Chemicals

First thing is to take out all types of solid chlorine. Your CYA is high enough for your area.

From now on you will be using liquid chlorine/bleach. Have you found a good, easy source for it?

The teacher in me is going to come out. Class is in:

Look at the chart I linked to. Tell me what it says about your PH.

Now tell me what it say about your TA.

Okay you say your water is cloudy. That is interesting with your numbers. How is your equipment running? Have you cleaned the filter?

You may need to do a SLAM as seen here IF your equipment is running like it should:

Pool School - SLAM - Shock Level And Maintain

Kim

 

[mac4lyfe]

A PH of 7.2 is okay. Anything lower can cause stinging/burn your eyes. Was the pool pump on and circulating the pool water? Chlorine is known to "pool" on the bottom in cold water, so you might have taken a sample where all the chlorine settled. Was the pool covered? First get some circulation going on then recheck your numbers. the PH and TA may settle once circulated.

If it is already circulated, you can lower the TA by adding acid, which will also lower PH. Bring the PH to 7.0 then aerate the pool using fountains, waterfall, spa jets, or raising the return jet upwards to break the pool surface in order to raise the PH. Continue adding acid and then aerating to lower TA and then get your PH in the right range.

 

[mac4lyfe]

and like Kimkats said. DO NOT add any more solid chlorine to the pool. Trichlor will raise CYA and Cal Hypo will raise CH. You are in a good range for both of them and do not want to go any higher. Bleach is your friend.

Also realize that with a cya of 60, you're going to need to maintain FC of 7-9 ppm and to 24 ppm to shock. With a 40k gallon pool, you may need to stock up on beach. Eventually, you're going to want to look into a SWG. I got pretty tired going to Wally World every other week.

 

[Jnet]

Wow - thanks everyone. I've been pouring over pool school so I have a pretty good idea where to go. Some of my numbers were a little out there and I wasn't sure how temps might affect that. To clarify (no pun intended) I pulled the remains of the solid chlorine as soon as I pulled the tarp a week ago. I've got six gallons of bleach standing by. I installed a new pump and new filter cartridges this week. The pump has only run for about five hours. I think the next step will be to circulate, filter and aerate for 24 to 48 hours and see what changes. I have a spare sump pump that I can use to rig a pretty good aerator based on some posts I saw here. I guess with a week of cold, clouds and rain in the forecast, and that current FC, I can wait a day or two to let things stabilize.

Does anyone use the Pool Pal app? The math seems to mirror the Pool Math results and it's really easy to use.

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

 

[mac4lyfe]

Just remember that you have a large pool. Take a look at the pool calculator and see how much bleach you need to shock your pool at CYA 60. You need like 16 gallons of 6% of bleach or like 21 (96 oz) of bleach. My pool is pretty large as well. It takes me about 14 jugs to shock at that CYA level. You have to stay on top of a pool by maintaining your CL level.