Pre-Opening for Pool in Pennsylvania

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Jul 28, 2008
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Sinking Spring, PA
First time pool owner. Our pool was new last June. The pool builder closed and will open this year. I plan on having the pool opened towards the end of April/Early May.

We have all pentair equipment with intelliflow and DE along with a SWG. We also have a smart mesh cover.

Yesterday I took the cover off one corner of the pool. The water was clear and looked fine. There were some leaves on the bottom of the pool but nothing major. I added 1.42 gallons of bleach (that was the size of the bottle I bought). Four hours later I tested the water. I use the TF-100 Trouble Free Test Kit. Here are my results: FC 0.5 CC 0.0 T/A 80 pH 8.0 CH 260 Salt 2600. Did not test CYA because I am out of those testing chemicals, but last year at was at 50.

I added Pool Magic Spring & Fall from Natural Chemistry (My PB gave me this when he closed the pool in the fall and told me to add it when the freezing weather was over) http://naturalchemistry.com/pool-and-sp ... ts/show/15

So far everything seems fine. Here are my questions.

(1) Should I be adding chlorine from now until the pool is open and if so how much and what kind?

(2) Should I add muriatic acid to lower the pH? I typically add some weekly to keep pH at 7.6-7.8?

Thanks for the help!
 
Normally you don't want to be adding stuff to the pool unless you have some way to circulate the water. Given that you're not opening for another month, if you want to be adding chems then you want a submersible or some other auxiliary circulation going.

If you're going to add stuff, then bleach works well. I don't know how much you lowered the water level when you closed but one jug like you did before is probably worth FC 2-ish. (You saw only 0.5 because either there was something for the chlorine to do, or it wasn't circulated well.) Given your other numbers, I would say not to worry too much about pH; it will drop a bit as the water warms up, then after you open you can be actively managing it again.

Incidentally, forum rules are to keep your sig to no more than 5 lines.
--paulr
 
i LOVE natural chemistrys products!

I sell most my customers Pool magic+ phos free at the closings. All the pools that used to open green now open beauty-ful :)

Being you have a salt pool, check Out saltwater magic instead. i think thats what its called.
 
Heckpools said:
i LOVE natural chemistrys products!

I sell most my customers Pool magic+ phos free at the closings. All the pools that used to open green now open beauty-ful :)

Being you have a salt pool, check Out saltwater magic instead. i think thats what its called.
Click to expand...

I'm not really sure that "salt water magic" is what keeps the pools clear on open. That has to do with the FC residual left over from the close. All that salt water magic contains is a bit of borate salts and EDTA, a metal chelator. The liquid is a phospate remover, which isnt really needed. The borates MIGHT have an effect of reducing algea, but the cold water and residual FC are the primary reason. Also, the amount of borates that stuff adds to a typical size pool would most likely be not enough to have any algecide activity. One would be far better off adding 50 ppm borates on their own, if so desired, and skip the phosphate remover all together. Its an added expense that really not needed, IMO.

For the OP, dont mess with it :wink: Your pool has been clsoed all winter. I imagine you are going to open in April sometime after the last hard freeze. It will be fine until then. I know it tempting, but really, just wait till you actually open and get everything running. Spring and pool fever hit about now in the cold parts of the USA where we close the pools down. Its a about 4 weeks away. Sit tight! :wink:
 
well IMO it works great.. 100's of pools now open clear and nothings changed except the addition of pool magic + phos free. When youve got old mesh covers and nothing seems to work, ive never been let down by that product. check the reviews at in the swim... I dont sell products i dont believe in.
 
Heckpools said:
100's of pools now open clear and nothings changed except the addition of pool magic + phos free. .
Click to expand...
This sounded like that's what you were saying. All I'm saying is those products are not needed. All one needs to keep a pool nice and clear is the proper amount of chlorine in relation to the CYA levels for the pool (of course the proper pH, CH, and TA is needed as well). A tenent of "BBB" is not to added anything nor incur an expense thats not needed.
 
Greetings from another Pennsylvanian! We're north of you along Route 248.

We have an AGP which just thawed last week. I don't cover it during the off-season. There were a few leaves, some fine tree debris and a few dead nightcrawlers. The water is clear, clean, and very cold, far too cold to support algae growth yet. I haven't tested yet, nor have I added any bleach.

Yesterday's rain added enough water to where it's now in the skimmer and above the returns. We connected the plumbing on the weekend and I'm going to turn the pump on this afternoon or tomorrow to check for leaks and make sure everything is working. Then I'll likely dump in a couple quarts of liquid chlorine (~10%).

At this point I really don't care yet what the chems are except pH and that's likely to be a little high. I'll work on it with MA.

I don't know anything about concrete pools and can't help with your pH question. The other stuff, Pool Magic? If you're doing BBB you won't need it, but heck, it's in already, so that's moot. Until the water gets to around 50 F you don't need to add bleach. I test once a week during early spring but other than managing the pH and putting in stabilizer to get to 30 ppm I don't do much chemistry this time of year.

BBB is all about simplicity, about not being "pool stored"–and that can happen at a pool store or online.
 
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