opening pool

Jump to latest Follow Reply
P

passionsrlz

0
Jun 4, 2010
241
Dayton, Ohio
I have been reading a bunch of posts about how to open my pool as well as reading pool school. I wish I had a better understanding of all of this. I was starting to get the hang of it but winter clogs my mind....
Anyway should I turn on my pool and let it run for 24 hours before I even test my water? I ended up with a hole in my cover after a big storm. I can see the bottom of the pool and it has thin layer of debris covering entire bottom. Should I allow the filter to start working before I test levels or should I test them before I turn on the pool? not sure where to begin.
Thanks for advice.
 
It can't hurt to stir the water some before testing, but if it was mine I would add a preventitive dose of liquid chlorine/bleach as soon as the cover comes up, it is cheap insurance angainst having an algae bloom in.

Ike
 
Okay, I poured in 6 96 oz bottles of 6% bleach. It ran overnight and I have murky blue water. I still have the cheap test kit but will be buying a good one this year. I am going to let pool store test my water just to get an idea of where I stand. Does a pool usually need more than just bleach when you are opening it?
 
Not being too hard on you, but since you have 70 posts I'm gonna be a little hard. The very first things you should have done was to run the pump for an hour THEN tested the water (or let the PS test it). The first thing you should have looked at was the pH. It needs handling before any shocking starts because the pH test isn't accurate at high FC levels.

Also adding 19ppm FC to your pool isn't a good thing without knowing what your CYA level is. 19 ppm might be fine but then again it might not be.

Now that I have that out of the way. :) Take a sample to the pool store and post the results here.

You said you have a cheap test kit so I'll assume you have an OTO chlorine test (yellow drops). If you do take it and test the chlorine. If it's within the 0-3 or 0-5 range test the pH and post the numbers here. We will help you get the pool in good shape.
 
I deserved that......I just read so much conflicting stuff. I will take a sample to the pool store tomorrow and post results. Pool is blue this morning just can't see the bottom. Once the results are posted I am sure you guys will tell my what I need to do the cheapest way possible. Thank you.
 
If the PH is around 7.2 and you are not using trichlor tablets, then you can leave the PH alone and it will tend to come up on it's own over time. If you are using trichlor tablets, or the PH appears to be going down from there, you should bring it up.
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
Last night after running filter for a few hours and putting in bleach I tested the water with my wal mart tester becasue its all I have as of now. so as of last night around 7pm, This is from memory so bare with me

Ph 7.2
TC 5 + (doesn't read any higher) after I added 6 bottles of bleach.......
I did the dilluted test that I learned on here last year and it was around 5ish........

I have no clue as of yet what my CYA level is. I will take water to pool store tomorrow but I know that is not accurate at all. I just have to do the best I can until I get a good test kit.
 
As long as the water is clear, the PH is between 7.2 and 7.8, and you don't have any better information to go on, just raise the TC level back up to around 5 each evening and you should be alright.

Work on getting better information, you should buy a top quality test kit and get some pool store results while waiting for it to arrive. There are very likely other things that need to be done, but you shouldn't risk doing anything else without more information.
 
okay these are pool store numbers but better than nothing tell me what you guys think

TC 0.5
FC 0.5
pH 7.1
TA 110
Calcium Hardness 225
Stabalizer 0
btw what is Langelier index? mine is .41

So I bought stabilizer/conditoner but havent used it yet. pool store said use two pounds but I wanted to talk to you guys first!!
 
first set of numbers

okay these are pool store numbers but better than nothing tell me what you guys think

TC 0.5
FC 0.5
pH 7.1
TA 110
Calcium Hardness 225
Stabalizer 0
btw what is Langelier index? mine is .41

So I bought stabilizer/conditoner but havent used it yet. pool store said use two pounds but I wanted to talk to you guys first!!
 
Re: first set of numbers

It depends on what you are going to use for chlorine. If you are planning to use bleach or a SWG then in 15,000 gallons I would add 5 lbs of stabilizer, to target a level of 40, to start with. Then give it a week, test the level, and adjust from there.

Langelier index is a method of estimating the risk to plaster pool surfaces. Not only is it not important for an above ground pool, but they appear to have calculated it wrong. In any case ignore it.
 
Yes, add all four pounds "at once" just very slowly. You can either pour it into the skimmer very very slowly, or put it in a sock or stocking and hang the sock in front of a return. If you add it to the skimmer you need to not backwash for a week.

As long as the water is clear, just at 4.5 ppm of chlorine. You can add chlorine and CYA in either order.
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply