tucson, arizona.....need help with start up

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buckeyechad

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May 6, 2008
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hello all. i live in tucson, az and getting ready to start up pool for spring.

i have an 18k gallon salt water inground pool with gunite and in floor cleaner. i have had the pool for 3 years now and had calcium levels of 800ppm and decided to drain, clean calcium off tiles and pool is currently re-filling.

i also have som light green staining on the walls that i want to remove and could not scrub off while pool was empty. i would like to find a product to use to clean off the staining, but not do an acid wash.

what should my steps be? add salt first and get up to 3200, then clean with --- product, then get levels to normal????

any advice GREATLY appreciated!

thx, chad
 
buckeyechad said:
hello all. i live in tucson, az and getting ready to start up pool for spring.

i have an 18k gallon salt water inground pool with gunite and in floor cleaner. i have had the pool for 3 years now and had calcium levels of 800ppm and decided to drain, clean calcium off tiles and pool is currently re-filling.

i also have som light green staining on the walls that i want to remove and could not scrub off while pool was empty. i would like to find a product to use to clean off the staining, but not do an acid wash.

what should my steps be? add salt first and get up to 3200, then clean with --- product, then get levels to normal????
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Hi Chad,

Recommend trying to figure out what caused the green stains before you take action. Is this white plaster? Because of the pool's history I would suspect some combination of staining and calcium scaling. If that's the case, vigorous scrubbing with an acid solution (1 part muriatic acid added to 4 parts water) may remove them. You might be interested in this thread that discusses both scale and stains.

An easy test to determine whether the problem is metal stains entails applying a Vitamin C tablet (see article). I don't think adding a product such a sequesterant will do much good after a metal stain is layed down.

If the staining is from organic matter it should respond to high levels of chlorine and brushing. Plan ahead to decide which steps to take; some treatments (like ascorbic acid dosing for metal stains) preclude others (increasing chlorine to release organics.)
 
Chad,

Since your pool is refilling, your first step should be to test your water and post the results. There is no point trying to cure the stains until you know what your water parameters are.

Post test results for...

FC
CC
CH
pH
TA
CYA
Salt

(abbreviations are in pool school if you don't know them)

That'll give everyone a good basis for advice and you'll get lot's of help getting your pool cleaned up.
 
The first thing I would suggest is putting enough chlorine in your water to give you some sanitization until you can get the SWG operational.

Without CYA, your chlorine will disappear pretty rapidly in the daytime so, if you'll test your chlorine each evening and put in enough to get your pool up to 4ppm, that'll be plenty. (It'll be around a gallon....use Jason's pool calculator)

Secondly, (and you can do this immediately) using the pool calculator, bring your CYA up to 40-50ppm to start (ultimate goal - 60-80ppm). Calculate carefully so you don't overshoot. It'll take a few days for the CYA to show up ion the test so don't even test for it for 48 hours from when you put it in.

Third, (you can start on this right away, too) get the salt in your pool. Once you get the salt in, you can begin generating chlorine with the SWG and not have to worry about adding chlorine manually. You'll need to test the chlorine level frequently until you can find a setting for your SWG that'll keep your chlorine constant...probably quite low this time of year.

Fourth, your pH and TA will likely start to creep up. Get a gallon of muriatic acid so you can reduce pH down to around 7.4 if it tests above 7.8 (and I think it will).

Read Pool School. It's hard to get started but it's a great resource and the knowledge you gain will compile quickly. Post lots of questions back up and you'll get lots of help.
 
Yes. There is a good chance the staining is organic and proper water balance and adequate chlorine will slowly make those stains disappear.

So, I'm suggesting tackle first things first and that's almost always water balance. Then, we'll help identify the stains and see what can be done to reduce or eliminate them. Additionally, there is nothing you can do about the stains anyway that can't be done after the water is balanced. (nor will balancing your water make them worse)
 
get a tri-chlor tab (puck) and hold it directly on the stain for a minute or so. If the stain lightens in that area, it's a good bet it's organic and high levels of chlorine will reduce/eliminate it over time.

Post back after you hold the puck on it and let us know the results.
 

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Impossible to say. With your CYA @70ppm, a good eleveated FC level might be around 8ppm or so. It's not a case of 7 not working and 9 being too much but rather simply keeping some excess FC in your pool until the stain is gone.

How long it takes would be even more vague. Since you couldn't scrub it off, it may take a full swim season before you can minimize it....although I would think you could see a noticeable difference in just a couple of weeks.
 
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