Just added salt. Shock pool or what is my next steps

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kennyz1955

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Jun 26, 2009
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Hi, I am located in central NJ. I'm unemployed and had been using the leftover chlorine tabs till they ran out and I could afford to buy salt. 3 days ago salt level was 0. Added 8 80 lb bags of salt and turned Autopilot on to 4. Here are the 3 days of readings.
1st done by Sylvan in store; others were done using Aquacheck select pool & spa test strips and the same brand salt test strips.
I thought I needed to add 1000lbs. of salt using this:http://poolcalculator.com/
6/23 6/27 6/28
TH 120 250 250
TC 0.0 0 1
FC 0.0 .5 1
PH 7.8 7.8 7.2
TA 47 80 80
Salt not tested not tested 6.2 reading 5110 ppm
Do I need to shock pool or what is my next steps. I have a container of Anthony/Sylvan Super Pool Treat. It says its 97% Sodium Dichloro-s-triazinetrione with 64% Available Chlorine.
Thanks and this forum has some incredible information that has made for some great reading.
Kenny
 
HI and welcome.

First, to protect your investment, you need a better way to test. Please read this article that compares the two kits we recommend.

Do not use the Dichlor until you can confirm accurately if you have any CYA in your pool now. It will raise the CYA level very quickly. IF you need to shock, you should use liquid chlorine or bleach. Since you were using tabs, you should have CYA.

What does your water look like?
 
Welcome to TFP!

Fortunately, the Autopilot units are fine with high salt levels. As a general rule, you need to test the salt level before adding salt. The salt level never starts at zero. If you assume salt starts at zero you will end up adding too much salt. At this point, you might as well just leave the salt level where it is. It will drift down slowly over time.

As frustratedpoolmom said, finding out your CYA level is crucial before you proceed.
 
Hi Kenny, how many gallons is your pool? (Add that to your sig.)

How much Dichlor is in the tub?

Is the water still clear? What is your current FC level?

If you plug in the Gallons to the pool size section of the Pool Calculator...
and then in the "now" column, enter whatever your current FC level is.
Then in the "target" column, enter 10. (This will be your temporary target, since your CYA is 0 - refer to the CYA chart).

Then hit calculate. This will tell you how much Dichlor to add, to reach a FC of 10.

Then at the bottom of the page, the effects of adding chemicals section, if you input that amount into the box and select Dichlor from the drop down menu, it will tell you how much that amount of Dichlor raised your CYA.

Depending on how much Dichlor you have you may be able to use it up to get the CYA into range.

Hope this helps.
 
My pool is 20 X 40 with an average depth of 5.5 so according to the calculator 32,900 gallons. I think I need to add 63 oz. of dichlor according to the calculator. My FC is between .5 and 2 depending on my bad testing techniques. Salt reads 4060 ppm ph is 7.8. It says to add in the evening so I'lll do it tonight.
Thanks,
Kenny

Anything else??
 
kennyz1955 said:
My pool is 20 X 40 with an average depth of 5.5 so according to the calculator 32,900 gallons. I think I need to add 63 oz. of dichlor according to the calculator. My FC is between .5 and 2 depending on my bad testing techniques. Salt reads 4060 ppm ph is 7.8. It says to add in the evening so I'lll do it tonight.
Thanks,
Kenny

Anything else??
Click to expand...

What do you mean, bad testing techniques. Maybe we can help.

Using Dichlor to shock your pool will only raise the CYA by 7. How much Dichlor is in the tub?

Is the water still clear? Go ahead and add the 63 oz., predissolve it in a bucket of pool water and pour it in front of the return flow, brushing if any undissolved bits fall to the bottom.
 

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Pool water is clear. Ran out of tabs about amonth ago. It has been raining 17 of the last 21 days here. Haven't added dichlor yet. Will add tonight. Just got testing kit so am a newbie tester.
Thanks,
Kenny
 
This morning, test the FC and use the Pool Calc to determine how much Dichlor to add to reach a FC of 12.

EAch night, follow the instructions for the Overnight FC Loss test. Repeat the above process. Wait about 30-60 minutes and test the FC again. Record the results. In the morning, test the FC again, and then compare the results. If you lose more than 1ppm, you need to keep shocking.

Every time you calculate how much Dichlor to add, go to the section towards the bottom called "Effects of adding Chemicals". Enter the recommended Dichlor amount. It will tell you how much the CYA will go up by each Dichlor addition. Keep track of the CYA additions, so you have an idea of how much CYA you have in the pool. As the CYA level goes up, so does your shock level.

You can keep using the Dichlor daily to maintain FC levels, while building CYA.

Keep in mind the PH/TA may drop while using it, so monitor those closely.

If your FC is holding overnight, you can use the dichlor in smaller amounts to maintain your target/min levels, you don't need to keep shocking if the FC is holding overnight.

This is not the best method for increasing CYA - we normally recommend you just buy CYA separately and add it via the sock method to the recommended ppm. Since you have the Dichlor on hand you can use it up, it's up to you but it will probably take longer to reach your range.
 
Since my CYA test showed no CYA, I rab a water sample to 3 pool stores. I got readings of 0, 8 and 10. Will adding dichlor increase this or Do I need to add liquid or solid CYA.
Thanks and sorry if these questions are basic.
Kenny
 
Overtime your CYA will rise with each Dichlor addition (that's why I suggested you keep track of EXACTLY how much Dichlor you add.)

If you want your CYA level up faster, you should buy CYA separately. I can instruct you how to add it.

It's up to you, since you already have the Dichlor on hand, which route you want to take.

Even if we use up all the Dichlor your CYA may still be too low for the recommended range for an SWG, so you'll still need to buy probably another 5 lbs of CYA.

So use up the Dichlor and purchase/add additional CYA... or buy more CYA and save the Dichlor for possible future use.
 

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