add bleach while SW system comes online?

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tmtklt

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Jul 29, 2009
21
Mobile, AL
Howdie, from Mobile, AL. I'm hoping y'all can give me a bit of guidance. We've recently built a new pool. My husband and I have no prior pool experience, so I'm diving in quick as I am determined to learn as much about this as I can. I've read the pool school guides and they are very helpful. Pool school with the builder is scheduled for this evening. We are going to put salt in the pool tonight as well. Should we add some bleach to bump up the chlorine while the SW system is coming online? The reason for no chlorine until now is becuase the builder said we could not put any chemicals in the pool for 10 days due to the plaster being new. Now the 10 days has passed. And the pool water is being turned over to us as of this evening.

I'm planning to order one of the recommended test kits as soon as payday gets here, but here are numbers as of yesterday from Leslie's:

FC: 0
pH: 7.8 (builder recommends 7.2 - 7.6 or my warranty will be voided)
TA: 90
CH: 140 (builder recommends 250 for gunite pools)
CYA: 50
Phosphates: 100 (not sure of the significance of this)

I think I need to add a bit of muriatic acid to bump the pH down a bit, add calcium increaser to bump the CH up to 250, but should I do anything the the TA or CYA?

Thanks for any help.

Pool info:
12,600 gallon free form gunite pool with spill over spa (it would be more but the tanning ledge is huge)
1.5 hp two speed Super II pump
Goldline P4 controller with salt system
450 swim clear filter
250 btu Hayward heater
3/4 hp booster pump
Hayward Viio cleaner
aqual blue quartz finish
pump run time: 4 hours on high in the morning with 2 hours of cleaner time here too, and 6 hours on low in the afternoon
 
I don't think you are supposed to make any significant adjustments to the CH level in the first few weeks - discuss this with the PB.

Yes, lower the PH to 7.2 with Muratic Acid. The PH will rise frequently while the new plaster cures, it will do this for the first year. It's essential to have your own kit because of this....hope payday comes soon. :wink:
 
Your CYA is on the low end of the scale for a SWG pool. You might want to add 6-8oz and see where you are in a week.

Your ideal level will depend on how much direct sunlight your pool gets. poolcalculator.com recommends 70-80ppm CYA but I run 55-60ppm and my FC stays pretty constant throughout the day with 8 hours of direct sunlight.
 
frustratedpoolmom said:
I don't think you are supposed to make any significant adjustments to the CH level in the first few weeks - discuss this with the PB.

Yes, lower the PH to 7.2 with Muratic Acid. The PH will rise frequently while the new plaster cures, it will do this for the first year. It's essential to have your own kit because of this....hope payday comes soon. :wink:
Click to expand...


Thanks. They did add about 3/4 gallon of acid last night. And told us to plan on about a gallon of acid a week for the next several months. I intend to get the test kit asap. Is the big one from Leslie's okay? My builder is giving me a test kit, but I dont think it will do what I need for it to do.
 
DaveInPhx said:
Your CYA is on the low end of the scale for a SWG pool. You might want to add 6-8oz and see where you are in a week.

Your ideal level will depend on how much direct sunlight your pool gets. poolcalculator.com recommends 70-80ppm CYA but I run 55-60ppm and my FC stays pretty constant throughout the day with 8 hours of direct sunlight.
Click to expand...


I think I need to raise it up a bit too because it will get full sun all day long.
 
tmtklt said:
Thanks. They did add about 3/4 gallon of acid last night. And told us to plan on about a gallon of acid a week for the next several months. I intend to get the test kit asap. Is the big one from Leslie's okay? My builder is giving me a test kit, but I dont think it will do what I need for it to do.
Click to expand...
1 gal of acid a week sounds about right. I had mine re-plastered in May and this is about what I'm adding. I try to spread the gallon over two or three adds a week to keep the Ph and TA from getting too high.

I have the Leslie's DPD Deluxe test kit (~$35) and managed to keep the pool looking great. There are two problems with this test kit, however. First and by far the most irritating is that I ran out of the Ph indicator solution and Leslie's doesn't carry the refills (it's not the normal R-0004 Ph indicator in this kit). Another problem with this kit is the highest chlorine level it will read is 5ppm which is just on the low end of the recommended FC level for SWG pools using the recommended level of CYA.

There's some school of thought that higher CYA translates to more stable Ph in the recommended range because you're cutting the overall the SWG output back, but then you need to run higher FC level to compensate for the added CYA. I'm going to be giving this a shot (as well as adding Borax) in the next couple of weeks so I need a kit that can read >5ppm FC. Also, trying to read anything less than 2ppm of CC on this kit is futile. The difference in the shades is just not enough to definitively determine what the levels are. In the end, this test is geared more toward non-SWG pools but even then, it doesn't adequately cover all the bases.

I got the TF100 and I can say I wish I had got this thing before bothering with any other kit. There is just no substitute for accurately being able to determine high levels of chlorine to within to 0.5 ppm and this kit does that for you. The only thing it lacks is a test for borate (or is it borite) and I'm surprised, actually, that this test isn't even offered as a stand-alone item from the TF guys.

Anyway, you're in a good position with having a new pool and starting with fresh water. Get yourself a good test kit and will have everything dialed in in no time.
 
You won't regret the TF100. If you get the Leslie's kit, make sure it's this one and NOT the Complete DPD kit which looks very similar. They rarely stock the correct kit in their stores, which means ordering online, so if you are going to order online, just get the TF100 from tftestkits.net. :wink: There is an article in Pool School that explains why the TF100 is a better deal for the money.
 
DaveInPhx said:
I have the Leslie's DPD Deluxe test kit (~$35) and managed to keep the pool looking great. There are two problems with this test kit, however. First and by far the most irritating is that I ran out of the Ph indicator solution and Leslie's doesn't carry the refills (it's not the normal R-0004 Ph indicator in this kit). Another problem with this kit is the highest chlorine level it will read is 5ppm which is just on the low end of the recommended FC level for SWG pools using the recommended level of CYA.
Click to expand...
I think I have an old DPD Deluxe, the pH indicator is R-0014 (for the small tube) not the R-0004 (for the big tube). My local Leslie's had it. R-0014 is the same stuff used in the K-1000 that comes in the TF100.

The DPD test (red drops, R-0001/2/3) can bleach out at high FC levels and read incorrectly low. You can dilute your sample to extend the range, but the result gets even more approximate.
--paulr
 

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PaulR said:
DaveInPhx said:
I have the Leslie's DPD Deluxe test kit (~$35) and managed to keep the pool looking great. There are two problems with this test kit, however. First and by far the most irritating is that I ran out of the Ph indicator solution and Leslie's doesn't carry the refills (it's not the normal R-0004 Ph indicator in this kit). Another problem with this kit is the highest chlorine level it will read is 5ppm which is just on the low end of the recommended FC level for SWG pools using the recommended level of CYA.
Click to expand...
I think I have an old DPD Deluxe, the pH indicator is R-0014 (for the small tube) not the R-0004 (for the big tube). My local Leslie's had it. R-0014 is the same stuff used in the K-1000 that comes in the TF100.

The DPD test (red drops, R-0001/2/3) can bleach out at high FC levels and read incorrectly low. You can dilute your sample to extend the range, but the result gets even more approximate.
--paulr
Click to expand...
I checked 2 different Leslie's and neither had the R-0014. They didn't even have a place for them on the shelf so it wasn't like they happened to be out. I looked in the other test kits they had there and the only one I saw that had the R-0014 was the DPD Deluxe so I figured they didn't carry the R0014 it because there wasn't enough of a demand for refills. Weird. I guess I should have called around some.

BTW, I just looked and tftestkits.net *does* have the LaMotte borate test strips. For some reason I was under the impression they didn't have them when I looked a few months ago, but anyway, I wanted to correct my previous statement where I said they didn't have them. Sorry.... :oops:
 
SeeGars said:
cobra46 said:
The standard recommendation is to not add salt or turn on the SWG until the plaster has cured for 30 days.
Click to expand...

Ouch, our lunkhead waited 2 weeks and then dumped in 2x as much as salt as he should have..... :grrrr:
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The guy that did our plaster said the issue with adding salt too early is with staining and brushing every 30 min or so until the salt dissolved would help prevent the stains.

I added salt on day 2 after a replaster and didn't get any stains, but as always, YMMV
 
There is another ulterior motive. During the first few weeks of curing, if there are staining, mottleing, or discoloration issues, they want to make sure that it's as a result of the plaster and that other "additives", such as salt, had not contributed to the problem.

I've started many pools with the same results as Dave has described...no problems if you get the salt added and dissolved quickly.
 
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