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phyllis

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May 28, 2009
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AR
I am ready to get started on my pool!!! We have not taken the cover off yet due to lacking a part for the filter but plan to have that in hand sometime this week. The water does look clear with a little bit of something on the bottom... looks like dirt that sifted through the cover maybe. It is definitely not the green murky mess we started with last year thanks to this website!!!!!!

I have been trying to read in the Pool School and I think I know where to start but just wanted some reassurance from the experts!!

I have tested my water and here are my results:

FC - 0
CC - 0
pH - 7.0
TA - 60
CH - 50 (seems really low compared to last year)
CYA - 0

If I understand correctly, it looks like I should spend the first few days using dichlor to add chlorine while it raises my CYA level. Water is still cold... around 72 degrees so I don't think we will be jumping in any time soon! Once my CYA reaches 30 ... is that when I start adjusting the pH???


Northeast Arkansas
 
Hi Phyllis-
Unless you have Dichlor on hand already, that is not our first choice for raising CYA.

The water has to be circulating for a day or so before you test the water.... your results could change significantly. So get the filter up and running, retest after the pump has been running for at least 12 hours....

Then you would adjust PH and TA if necessary. If you still need to add CYA you can go ahead and do that the same time that you add bleach. Add enough FC to reach 4ppm, in the evening, and then retest it the next morning. If you lose more than 1ppm you should shock the pool.

Hope this makes sense, post back if these instructions aren't clear...
 
I have tested my water again and here are my results:

FC - 0
CC - 0
pH - 7.8
TA - 100
CH - 130
CYA - 0

We have uncovered the pool and the water was fairly clear but does have some green on the bottom and have been vacuuming for a couple of days now but it is still clear... just a dirty bottom. Still too cold to get in to do much scrubbing but running the filter constantly and running the automatic cleaner.

What do I need to use to get the CYA up??? I think you said that you preferred something other than these products to stabilize with... I do not have any stabilizer left from last year so I will need to go purchase something.
 
Hi phyllis,

Many folks say that the Walmart CYA (cyanuric acid) is better because it is more powdery and dissolves faster. Also good price.

When buying your CYA, read the ingredients to make sure it is 100% cyaniric acid, or close to 100%. There are some on the market that are only 50% CYA.

You could use a little MA to nudge the pH down to around 7.4ish.

Sounds like you are going to have an easy open this year (as compared to last year) :-D

Welcome back :wave:
 
You got that right!!!!!! Wahoo!!!! 2-3 days compared to about 3-4 weeks last year!!!!! I have been referring everybody to this sight!!!! Was at the pool place Friday to pick up a part... NOT chemicals!!!!! I felt so sorry for those folks that were paying BIG money to get their pools ready!!!

Thanks so much for all the advice and encouragement not to give up last year!!!! It's gonna be a crystal clear year again this year!!!!!! :)
 
You're welcome, we're glad we could help :-D

btw, I forgot to mention to get some chlorine in your pool! Add it in the evenings and try to get 2 or 3 ppm for now.

An hour after you add, retest your FC & CC. If you need to shock, it is easier & cheaper to do it with low CYA. :wink:
 
I have tested my water again and here are my results:

FC - 0.5
CC - 0.5
pH - 7.5
TA - 100
CH - 120
CYA - 15???

I shocked my pool last night (to 10) due to the algae that seemed to grow overnight on the walls. I scrubbed the walls first and then added the shock and the stabilizer. Just got back from a run to wally world to get more bleach. This time it said to shock it to 11 so I haved added 2.4 jugs (182 oz) bleach and also added another 2 lbs of stabilizer to try to get it to 30.

My problem: I have misplaced the container to measure the CYA with..I have the tube but not the mixing bottle. I mixed half and half and filled the tube all the way to the top and I could still barely see the black dot on the bottom. Is this correct??? Is it half pool water and half R-0013???

I will keep after it tomorrow checking it every hour or so to see if it drops. How high should I go with the CYA at this point???
 
I have tested my water again and here are my results:

FC - 8.5
CC - 0.0 (it might have just a little but not up to 0.5)
pH - 7.4
CYA - 50


How do you know when it is time to quit shocking??? I had shocked it night before last to 13 and it went down to 7.5 so I raised it back to 13 yesterday morning. I checked it one hour later and it was still at 12.5. I brushed the whole pool again. THEN it started raining! So I did not get to check it again until this am. The results are above. The water is clear ... not crystal... but clear. I finally got the CYA up to 50. Are we to just maintaining yet???
 

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You are done shocking when you meet this three criteria: :)

A. CC is 0.5 or lower;

B. An overnight FC loss test shows a loss of 1.0 ppm or less;

C. And, if you don't have a FAS-DPD test kit, the water is clear.
 
I am trying to help a friend get started with the BBB system.... since I have gotten so good at it!!! lol
We are steadily shocking and her pool has gone from green to now bluish cloudy. We did add 4 lbs of stabilizer earlier in the week because she had none.... Her pool is around 15,300 gal. with a sand filter. But she has had to backwash sooooooo much ... several times per day.... and is in the process of adding more water.... that now all of her stabilizer is gone. Her CYA is back to 0.
My question is: Do we keep adding stabilizer even though we are still backwashing ALOT??? In my mind... yes... because of the sunlight eating up the chlorine... but yet... are we just wasting the stabilizer at this point???? This is the first time for them to take care of this pool and I think that THEY think it should not be taking this long to get it clear.... just go get something from the pool store to clear it up! But after my experience from last year I KNOW how long it might possibly take to get it clear! The pH is hanging around 7.5 but we are controlling it with muriatic acid. Are we on the right track????

The last test results:
FC = 8
CC = 2.5
pH = 7.5

So we are shocking to 10. Will test again later this evening and see where we are and shock some more.

Tested again 2 hrs later:
The last test results:
FC = 2
CC = .5

Shocking to 10 again by adding 2 gal of bleach.
Also went ahead and added about 2 lbs of stabilizer.

help!!!
 
When you need to backwash constantly you need to add CYA by putting it in a sock and hanging the sock in front of a return jet. Otherwise the CYA will get into the filter and then get backwashed out before it dissolves very much.

Everything else you mention sounds great.
 
That is what we did. We put all 4 lbs in the sock to let it dissolve in front of the return jet. This is an INTEX AGP 24x32x4 and the stabilizer did not dissolve even 24 hrs later so we helped it along by sqeezing the sock. It is also a rectangle so I don't think it gets distributed evenly like a round pool does. My concern was do we keep adding stabilizer as long as we are backwashing 3-4 times per day and refilling with water? They spent most of the day yesterday scrubbing floors and walls. I just didn't want to tell them to keep buying if it was wrong.
 
If you added it via the sock method then there's still some in there. How are you testing for it? And keep in mind that it takes a week for it to register on the test. As Jason said, it's easier to add than to remove.
 

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