Pool unopened for 3+ years, need some help!!!

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silver02gt

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LifeTime Supporter
Jun 19, 2010
49
Rural Southern Illinois
I bought my house 2 years ago, and gutted and remodeled the inside. So now I am ready for the pool. I just found this site after I started. Wish I would have found it sooner after I read the "Turn you green swamp into a sparkling oasis," but alas I didn't. So I probably hurt myself somewhat. So here goes what I did. Specs in signature. Also, I only have a 4 way test kit from in the swim, but I did order the tf100 xl last night.

Readings from 730 this morning
(actually these are from some test strips I have, because the kit doesn't test for cya)
FC-0
pH-7.0
TA-120
CYA-0

I raked the bottom of the pool for hours getting all the leaves, pine cones, etc out of the pool. After I was pretty sure I had it all out I added 10.5 gallons of clorox bleach. The pool went from very green to slightly green and cloudy.(What I put in I remember clearly, but the actualy reaction of the pool water is a little sketchy, I will better monitor this as needed for your help) I raked some more stuff off the bottom and added another 9 gallons of bleach a day or two later and the water seemed to turn even more green. I then added 1 qt or so of 3x concentrated hth clarifier and 5 lbs hth super shock it. It got lighter green and cloudy again(i think). Then a day or two later I added another 5 lbs of super shock it and 1 gallon hth algae control. Water still seemed lighter green and quite cloudy. I got some super flock from the pool store at their suggestion, and used that. It didnt' seem to do much. But the next morning I still vacuumed to waste. I added ~3 lbs of borax on Thursday evening. Also, just added 4 lbs of hth stabilizer/conditioner this morning.

I have tested the pool almost daily and the fc and cya have been 0 for a few days. The pH was 6.8 or so, and TA 140.

This morning the pool would probably be best described as a light greenish blue tint and pretty cloudy.

Please advise me on my best course of action. I read the posts by JasonLion(?) about green swamp to sparkling oasis and another one about the bbb method. I have also read part of the pool school series, and will hopefully finish reading this evening and reread tomorrow probably.
 
You need to continue reading in Pool School. YOu should come away with an understanding of the function of chlorine in clearing your pool.

YOu will need lots and lots of chlorine over and over and over until your pool clears up. You are pretty much wasting your time and confusing yourself by throwing in pool store additives which (usually) don't help very much if at all.

Sooner rather than later, you will need a test kit capable of testing high levels of chlorine. I sell one of those kits so I'll let others advise you since I have an agenda.

So.....

1. Read and reread Pool School........YOu need chlorine in your pool and lot's more of it ON A CONTINUAL BASIS than before.

2. Reread Jason's post on How to clear a green swamp. You will find you are not bringing your FC up HIGH ENOUGH AND LONG ENOUGH to get your pool clear.

Sorry to be boorish, but chlorine is what will clear your pool.......stop throwing all the other ingredients at the pool. Test for chlorine and use it and your pool will clear.

PS - After leaving the pool unattended for that long, do not expect a 24 hour fix. This will be a process of several days that will take your focus and understanding but you will end up with a crystal clear pool.
 
Well I only added the stabilzer because my cya was 0, and from the way I understood what I read I needed to get that up so i wasnt just wasting all the chlorine. I have 16 gallons of 10% liquid shock, and plan on picking up some more, or some bleach, so I have enough on hand to get water to shock level every 30 mins as suggested in green swamp post.

Does it matter if i switch between the 10% liquid shock and 6% clorox?

Also, I already did order your tf100 xl kit, maybe you can make it get to me fater please! :)

So if I follow the steps of bring fc to shock levels as outlined the pool will be clear? Or will it still have to filter the water for a while?

Thanks again for all your help! I am confident that with all your knowledge, this site will help me greatly reduce my pool stress level!
 
silver02gt said:
Well I only added the stabilzer because my cya was 0, and from the way I understood what I read I needed to get that up so i wasnt just wasting all the chlorine. I have 16 gallons of 10% liquid shock, and plan on picking up some more, or some bleach, so I have enough on hand to get water to shock level every 30 mins as suggested in green swamp post.

Does it matter if i switch between the 10% liquid shock and 6% clorox?

Also, I already did order your tf100 xl kit, maybe you can make it get to me fater please! :)

So if I follow the steps of bring fc to shock levels as outlined the pool will be clear? Or will it still have to filter the water for a while?

Thanks again for all your help! I am confident that with all your knowledge, this site will help me greatly reduce my pool stress level!
Click to expand...

It's okay to switch between the 2, 16 gallons should go very far, wait before you buy more.
yes, follow the steps but also run the filter 24/7 until it's clear.

You're doing fine :goodjob:
 
silver02gt said:
Well I only added the stabilzer because my cya was 0, and from the way I understood what I read I needed to get that up so i wasnt just wasting all the chlorine. I have 16 gallons of 10% liquid shock, and plan on picking up some more, or some bleach, so I have enough on hand to get water to shock level every 30 mins as suggested in green swamp post.

Does it matter if i switch between the 10% liquid shock and 6% clorox?

Also, I already did order your tf100 xl kit, maybe you can make it get to me fater please! :)

So if I follow the steps of bring fc to shock levels as outlined the pool will be clear? Or will it still have to filter the water for a while?

Thanks again for all your help! I am confident that with all your knowledge, this site will help me greatly reduce my pool stress level!
Click to expand...
You found the right article, you have the test kit on its way, sounds like you're good to go. Your water color will probably fade a bit and look cloudy before it gets clear. Brush, vacuum, and filter. Backflush as needed. Some morning you'll walk out and Behold! You can see the bottom. Clearly. Don't rest just then. Keep testing, brushing, and vacuuming. Then you'll get that clear sparkling water that will be the envy of all nyour friends and neighbors.
 
A bit of an update. I've decided not to do much to the pool til I get my tf100xl test kit. I've added 6 gals of 10% bleach over the past couple of days including 2 last night and when I tested the fc is was a nice shade of orange. Since it is all but impossible to properly follow the directions in swamp to oasis, I figured I would save myself some bleach. The pool is green, amazing what brushing the sides again will do! lol My testing last night showed the following: using strip-fc .5 ph 7.4?(hard to tell) ta 120 cya 10? goes from 0 then 30-50 and according to my lil blue test kit fc .4 cc .6 (not real sure on either) ph 7.0 These were of course before I added bleach, afterwards was when the blue test kit showed orange. This morning, well after the sun came out it showed a bright yellow, looked to be 2-2.5 for both fc and cc. And my test kit says it departed Charlotte, NC at 3:34 this morning!!! So hopefully it'll be here tomorrow, so maybe I can get a real start on this tommorow night after my daughters softball game!!!

Does it make any difference if I start around 9 at night or 9 in the morning?
 
Doesn't make a difference when you start. Toward the end you'll probably want to just test and add at night so you aren't losing all your chlorine to the sun, but to begin with you want to test and shock as often as every hour.
 

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Just got my TF100XL in the mail and here are my first results:
FC 1
CC 3
TC 4
pH 7.2
TA 140-150
CH 170
CYA <20

First a few questions about the test.
1. On the TA test, the color changes to pink not red. Is that right? Also, it was light pink at 140, and dark pink at 150. Which would be the right one? (I added another 10 drops to try to get it to turn red, and it never did, so I am assuming pink is correct)
2. Also, on the CH test, I added the 2- drops of R-0010, then when I added the first drop of R-0011L it turned blue for a second when that first drop was dissipating into the water, but was red after the full 5 drops were in. Is there a problem here?
3. Then on the CYA test, the black dot never fully disappeared. It became very hard to see just past the 20 line, and almost impossible by the time it was full. But it never did fully go away. Based on the spacing between the 30 and 20 lines and the rate that the dot was disappearing when it reached the top, I would guess that it would be totally out of sight by 10. What is your opinion?

Now, based on entering my readings into poolcalculator.com it says shock level is 10, and that I need to add 1.5 gallons of 10% bleach to reach that. I was just wanting to see if someone with more experience with the calculator could double check and make sure that was right.

Thanks again to everyone for all of your help!!!

David
 
1. Pink is fine. Your TA is 150. You drop till the last drop doesn't change the color anymore and don't count the last drop.
2. Perfectly normal.
3. If it never dissapears we consider it zero. it's not precise enough to measure less than 10 anyway and the error is plus or minus 10.

I get 1½ gallons too.
You also need to add 4 lbs of stabilizer too.

Remember to test and shock as often as every hour to begin with.
 
I added the 1.5 gallons of 10% bleach, retested about 15 minutes later and the readings were FC 14 CC 1.5. I don't need to continue doing all the other tests during this do I? Just the FC and CC. Also, I added 4 lbs of stabilizer on the morning of Saturday the 19th. So should I still go ahead and add more stabilizer. I didn't read how to add stabilizer before I did it, so I ended up just dumping it in, probably half around the pool, including middle, and the other half slowly poured in front of the return jet. I just don't want my CYA to get to high once, or if, the other cya I added takes effect. I see that poolcalculator says 64 oz of stabilizer will raise cya by 28, so I guess if all 8 lbs took effect, it would be a total of 56, which wouldn't be horrible. I'll use the sock in front of the return method. I figure since I have to clean my filter twice a day I can't add through skimmer. Thanks again!!!
 
Don't add any more CYA yet since you haven't been long adding it.

No need to run all the test. Really don't even need to test CC until you're closer to being done shocking. It doesn't hurt anything to run it. It's just that you don't really care what the CC is until you get the FC holding better.

I'd start upping the shock level to match a CYA of 30 next time you add. The CYA you added the other day should be in there but it takes a week for it to show on the test. Shoot for a FC of 13ppm.

Looks like either the chlorine you have is stronger than 10% or the pool is smaller or some combination of both.
 
I retested, fc-12.5 cc-1.5. This was at 3:48, last test was 2:20, and bleach added at 2:00. I also remeasured the pool, it's 27' round, but it's a little low on water, 3' 8 1/2" or 3.71'. That changes my gallons to 15900, but still not enough to explain why the bleach raised it that high. I'm didn't actually measure out the 1/2 gallon, I guess I should next time. But I'm sure I didn't go more than 1 3/4 gallons, and I even doubt I added that much. And even with my low water level, that would have only raised it 11 ppm. Weird. Maybe I messed up that first test. I will start shooting for 13 ppm. I sure wouldn't mind that liquid shock being higher than 10%, but it would sure be nice to know exactly what it is!

Now since my FC is currently at 12.5, should I really add the 9.9 oz that it says to add or should I wait til it drops a little lower?

Also, I have to leave to go to my daughter's softball game at 5:30, and I'll be gone for around 2, maybe 3 hours. Should I raise it a little higher than 13 before I leave, test, then retest and back to normal when I get home?

Thanks again!!! David
 
You guys are awesome, if only I had found this site 2 months ago, my family would probably already be swimming by now!!! But seriously, thanks for everything!!! I also just "became a TFP supporter." I figure that it's the least that I can do for all the help that you all have given me so far, and will surely continue giving me well into the future until I have hopefully half the knowledge that you guys have about pools!!! Truly wonderful site!!!

David
 
What is the lowest that I should allow my FC level drop to during this procedure? So far the lowest has been 9, with my target being 13. Mostly stays at or above 10 before I get to add more bleach. I am mainly concerned about this because I have to go to work tomorrow afternoon at 2 pm, and will hopefully get some overtime and be working til 3-7 am. Also, should I shock it extra hard before I leave for work? Thanks again everyone!!!
 
It sounds to me like you have it just about right. Dosing the pool up to around 13 or so before you go to work would seem to work pretty nicely. Be sure to check it and bring it back to 13-15 after you get home.

It's important to understand that there is no magic number which will clear your pool but rather a consistent high chlorine level....even if it varies somewhat. So keeping it 8-15 is probably better than 20 then zero, 20 then zero.
 

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