New to BBB First Test after acid wash and refill

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kme3113

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May 24, 2010
11
Frisco, TX
Finished refilling my pool today and the water is light green. Below are my test results (tested with pump off, but have not added any chemicals is this okay?)

tested with Leslie's tester that has everything except FAS/DPD test (friend brought over his)
Ordering the TF 100 Tomorrow

FC = 0
CC = 2.5
Ph = 7.8
TA = 130
CYA = 0 (test tube filled up water never changed from perfectly clear)
Salt level 0

From reading pool school I think I need to fix the levels in this order: salt, CYA, FC at 3-5, TA, PH and then CH

I bought salt before reading this and only bought 80lbs, pool calculator says I need 378lbs total. I plan on adding the 80lbs tonight and testing to see if it goes up the amount stated at the amount at the bottom of the pool calculator screen. This should help me find out if my gallon estimation is close. How long after adding salt can I re-test?

I have Bleach and Acid. I am a little confused as to the chlorine level and this SWG unit. Once I add the correct amount of salt tomorrow, will that put the FC at target levels. Is it okay to use the acid now to lower the ph and ta, or do I wait until the salt is at the correct level? With a CC of 2.5 I assume based on pool school I need to shock, do I do this using the bleach or the SWG? The pool calculator says my shock level is 10 but I assume this is based on a CYA level of 0. Does this mean I need to raise the CYA before shocking?

I know this is a long post but I am new to doing my own chemicals and want to do it correctly. I figured after the acid wash and refill now is the best time to start clean.
 
Give the salt 24 hours to dissolve and mix in throughly.
Add CYA up to somewhere between 30 and 50.
Lower the PH to between 7.2 and 7.4.
Shock the pool (see How To Shock You Pool

You can work on all of those things more or less at the same time, just be sure to finish lowering the PH and start adding CYA before starting to shock.
 
Before testing, you should have the pump running for at least an hour.

It is best to shock with liquid chlorine/bleach and let your SWG help maintain the shock level.
Using a SWG to shock will also shorten the life of the cell.


Welcome to the forum :wave:
 
thanks for all the quick responses. I just added the 80 lbs of salt will add the rest tomorrow. I already added the Acid tonight as well. I will run my water fall to try and aerate the water a bit to lower my TA. So Wednesday evening I can go ahead and add the bleach since I will not get a chance to do the rest of the salt until tomorrow night. If this is wrong please let me know. I have a friend that uses this site and has been telling me to stop allowing someone else to do the chemicals since I have no idea what they are adding. After seeing his pool it was an easy decision but a lot to learn for sure.
 
kme3113 said:
thanks for all the quick responses. I just added the 80 lbs of salt will add the rest tomorrow. I already added the Acid tonight as well.
Okay, you lowered your pH to between 7.2 and 7.4 using Muratic Acid, or you added CYA, Cyanuric Acid? Or both?
You need to add both, but first you need to lower the pH.

I will run my water fall to try and aerate the water a bit to lower my TA.
Aerating the water does not lower TA, it raises pH. Acid lowers both pH and TA.
If your goal is to lower your TA (good idea with SWG) I suggest you wait until you are done shocking.

So Wednesday evening I can go ahead and add the bleach since I will not get a chance to do the rest of the salt until tomorrow night.
Why are you waiting til Wednesday? You can shock now. Since your CYA is zero, your shock level is 10. See CYA/Chlorine chart in my sig and in Pool School.
Just to be clear, you do not have to wait on the salt or the SWG to care for your pool.
If you have questions, just let us know. Someone will be around to help. :) If this is wrong please let me know. I have a friend that uses this site and has been telling me to stop allowing someone else to do the chemicals since I have no idea what they are adding. After seeing his pool it was an easy decision but a lot to learn for sure.Bet his BBB pool is beautiful :)
Click to expand...
 
think I am going to need to do some more studying of the pool school section!

I added the muratic acid tonight, I do not have any CYA at the moment but will pick it up tomorrow on the way home from work. I just reread the TA section. I see that in order to lower the ph I add acid but if I want to increase the ph I would either aerate or add baking soda which I do not need to do at this point since I am trying to lower it. I hope that is right...

based on the pool calculator it says to add stabilizer to increase cya

in order to determine how much bleach to use I just change the goal to 10 correct? It says the goal is 3 but I understand that is the goal once all the other levels would be on track. So after changing it to 10 the calculator recommends 272 ounces. Lets hope I am finally catching on lol.

Yes, his pool looks ridiculously clear!
 
Yep, Pool School is the place we all have to go :study:

Actually, to raise pH we recommend borax. We recommend baking soda to raise TA.
Your pool does not need either one! :)

Yes, CYA a/k/a stabilizer or conditioner. Try to find 90+% cyanuric acid. Wallyworld, HD, Lowes, Pool Store, etc.
Do you know yet how much you will need to get to 30 or 50?

You are correct on the bleach! 270 ozs. The Pool Calculator will be you new best friend, next to all of us, of course.

You are learning and doing great! I predict a BBB TroubleFreePool for you :mrgreen:
 
I put 45 in the CYA calculator and it suggested either 79oz dry or 204 liquid. Now since I need to go ahead and get these levels up asap would you suggest the liquid? I have read that the tabs in a sock over the skimmer can take a while. Slowly but surely I will figure this out with help from all of you. Of course the pool calculator will help me get exacts but at least having someone to answer the questions makes it easier to not mess everything up.
 

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Usually we say to put the CYA granules into an old sock and hang it in front of a return, because it dissolves relatively slowly. Sometimes it takes up to a week for the CYA to really register so we say don't bother testing for it right away. But, for purposes of figuring your shock level, assume the CYA is at your target level after 1 day.
--paulr
 
Okay so I set the CYA level in the pool calculator as if it was in the target zone to determine my shock level. It is 16 so it looks like I need to add 435oz of bleach.

I see on the pool calcultor the suggested CYA for SWG is 70-80 but the previous replies stated I should shoot for 30-50. Is this due to the region being Texas?
 
kme3113 said:
I see on the pool calcultor the suggested CYA for SWG is 70-80 but the previous replies stated I should shoot for 30-50. Is this due to the region being Texas?
Click to expand...
No, that's because it's easier to shock at lower CYA levels. After the pool is cleaned up and balanced, you can bring CYA up to the SWG target level.
--paulr
 
kme3113 said:
aha... thanks for the quick replies. I was sure I was going to get shut down asking a zillion questions in a row... thanks for all the help :cheers:
Click to expand...

Remember that there are always lurkers who have the very same questions but have not yet asked. And lots of people will first search for a solution before starting a topic. So, by asking you help them as well as yourself.

I actually read every page in every forum that was available when I first started out. And I still have questions.
 
well thanks for all the help. Finally got my salt level to about 3250, cya is about 45, ph is 7.2 due to miss measuring some acid so in a few days it should go back up. Now I have been keeping my shock level at 16 and trying to measure fc in the morning until I only lose 1pp overnight. I feel like I am constantly shocking the pool to keep the level up at this point (should this take 6 days to get correct?). My CC is at 0 and now I have noticed some staining trying to come back. It looks like I have dirt in the bottom of the pool in spots but it does not come up when brushed. I thought maybe it was iron and tried holding a vitamin c tablet on it to see if it changed. There was no noticeable change so should my next test be for rust or possibly mustard algae?
 
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