Last summer was my first time owning a pool. That time I had someone professionally open and close it, mostly because that same person installed a brand new vinyl liner. This year I decided to open and close myself.
When I took off my cover Sunday (three days ago) the water was practically black. Just before I'd had the water tested and these were the results:
FC: 0
TC: 0
CH: 140
CYA: 0
TA: 110
pH: 7.8
Since then, I've added 16oz of algeacide (split between two different 8oz doses on different days) and also 4 lbs of cal hypo powder (split between 2 2lb doses on different days.) As of yesterday the water was a nice turquoise color instead of black, though still very cloudy. I have about 2.5 ft visibility in it. I had been running the pump 24 hours that entire time (had to backwash once) until last night. So the pump ran 24hrs for almost three days. I've also brushed down the sides and bottom three times in the last three days.
I made the assumption that the cloudiness was more algae, so last night I decided to try that HTC Green to Clear product. This called for me to turn the pump off. It worked in raising the dead algae to the top and then sinking in, but of course now I can't see the algae because it's all dead at the bottom and water is still cloudy.
That's when I started doing more research and found out about Combined Chlorine, and I'm guessing that's what my cloudiness is coming from. At this point, here are my readings that have changed:
FC: 1-2
TC: 5
CC: 4-3
(I can't get the exact FC and CC count because I really have a hard time telling from my DPD test kit the color difference in the first two levels)
From researching the forum here, I can see that I probably should have used bleach instead of cal hypo to start up the pool. I still haven't added any CYA because my pool store instructions say to remove algae first.
Here's my plan moving forward: I plan to vacuum out the dead algae as best I can, turn the pump back on to filter, and begin adding bleach on the SLAM procedure.
Questions
1: Should I actually begin adding CYA now instead of waiting?
2. Through several comments from JasonLions on this forum, I was finally directed to this thread:
Please Explain Breakpoint and of Sodium Hypoclorate
This seems to debunk the 10x rule for CC. Using my numbers, what should be my target shock level? I'm still a bit confused on that. And I really want to get this right because I just installed my liner last season and am mortified at the idea of burning it up.
3. Is the rest of my plan sound? Should I try to vacuum the algae off the bottom first or just wait til the water clears up first?
Any help is very much appreciated.
When I took off my cover Sunday (three days ago) the water was practically black. Just before I'd had the water tested and these were the results:
FC: 0
TC: 0
CH: 140
CYA: 0
TA: 110
pH: 7.8
Since then, I've added 16oz of algeacide (split between two different 8oz doses on different days) and also 4 lbs of cal hypo powder (split between 2 2lb doses on different days.) As of yesterday the water was a nice turquoise color instead of black, though still very cloudy. I have about 2.5 ft visibility in it. I had been running the pump 24 hours that entire time (had to backwash once) until last night. So the pump ran 24hrs for almost three days. I've also brushed down the sides and bottom three times in the last three days.
I made the assumption that the cloudiness was more algae, so last night I decided to try that HTC Green to Clear product. This called for me to turn the pump off. It worked in raising the dead algae to the top and then sinking in, but of course now I can't see the algae because it's all dead at the bottom and water is still cloudy.
That's when I started doing more research and found out about Combined Chlorine, and I'm guessing that's what my cloudiness is coming from. At this point, here are my readings that have changed:
FC: 1-2
TC: 5
CC: 4-3
(I can't get the exact FC and CC count because I really have a hard time telling from my DPD test kit the color difference in the first two levels)
From researching the forum here, I can see that I probably should have used bleach instead of cal hypo to start up the pool. I still haven't added any CYA because my pool store instructions say to remove algae first.
Here's my plan moving forward: I plan to vacuum out the dead algae as best I can, turn the pump back on to filter, and begin adding bleach on the SLAM procedure.
Questions
1: Should I actually begin adding CYA now instead of waiting?
2. Through several comments from JasonLions on this forum, I was finally directed to this thread:
Please Explain Breakpoint and of Sodium Hypoclorate
This seems to debunk the 10x rule for CC. Using my numbers, what should be my target shock level? I'm still a bit confused on that. And I really want to get this right because I just installed my liner last season and am mortified at the idea of burning it up.
3. Is the rest of my plan sound? Should I try to vacuum the algae off the bottom first or just wait til the water clears up first?
Any help is very much appreciated.