First test, new pool

[brianspool]

I finally got a day off Wednesday and had the last 10k gallons of water delivered and got the pump going. The 22k gallons already in the pool was quite green. I dumped in 4 gallons of wal-mart ultra while they were filling (all I had). I did a quick chlorine test yesterday and it still read 0 so I dumped in 6 more gallons. This morning I hung 3 pounds of stabilizer in a knee-high in front of the skimmer. I was already late for work (stayed up too late watching ncaa's) so I also did some tests this morning.

TA - 60
Ph 8
FC 11
CC 0.5
CYA 0 (sample never turned 'cloudy')

I'm going to try to find some muriatic acid on the way home. I am just circulating now, I'll load the filter tomorrow morning and get it going. With any luck I'll be able to see the bottom in a week or so.

Thanks for the forum and help. :-D

 

[duraleigh]

Hey, Brian,

Try HD/Lowe's for muriatic....in the Paint Department. You need it....sooner rather than later.

Use Jasonlion's calculator to find out how much clorox and CYA you need but, I'll tell you in advance, you need more than your currently doing.

I'd get maybe 10-12 of the BIG jugs of Clorox on hand (don't dump iot all in at once) and somewhere around 10 lbs of stabilizer and get that started in the pool.

So, to clear that pool quickly:

1. Get your pH down around 7.2- 7.6

2. Get a bunch of Chlorine in there enough to bring it up to around 15ppm or so. Put it in in the evening and replenish it at least each evening to really knock out the algae.

3. Kick in that filter as soon as you can to filter out the dead algae.

In short, you can be quite a bit more aggressive and your pool will clear pretty dramatically. Just dabbling, you could fight the green pool for weeks.

 

[brianspool]

Thanks Duraliegh for the fast advice. :-D
I guess I am kinda playing with it and not attacking. I will crank it up this afternoon with 5 more pounds of CYA, some acid and bleach.

 

[brianspool]

After 5 days of monitoring and adding chemicals the pool is going from dark to light green. After brushing and vacuuming I can't see the bottom of the deep end anymore, but the shallow end looks much better.

This morning's test :

FC 16
CC 0.1 (barely turned pink)
TA 50
Ph 7.2
CYA 30 - 35

One question. FC held fairly steady over the last 2 days at 15, so I did not add any. It had finally dropped to 14 last night so I added a jug. Is this a 'threshold', or did adding the CYA afftect it ?

Thanks for the help. :-D

 

[JasonLion]

Adding CYA will greatly reduce the amount of chlorine lost to sunlight. Also, I that you finally are starting to beat the algae, so are no longer losing large amounts of chlorine to algae. Between the two chlorine usage would be down dramatically.

 

[brianspool]

First things first - Many thanks to Duraleigh for the quick delivery of my test kit refills. I was able to stay on top of the numbers at a critical time, and the price was right too. :-D :-D

The pool is ever ... so ... slowly clearing. I would describe the color as green-gray-blue. The shallow end actually looks clear. I can just barely see the vacuum head on the bottom of the deep end now. :-D I attached a long piece of flex pvc to the waste line and dropped it in the deep end and filtered to waste a couple of times to help circulation down there. (No main drain). Last nights numbers:

FC 13
CC 0
Ph 7.2
TA 50
CYA 30-35

All numbers have held steady for the past 48 hours except FC, which has dropped from 17 to 13. I have been at shock level for 11 days. Should I stay at shock level a few more days ? The pump is running 24/7, and I brush and vacuum on alternating days.

Thanks for the help.

 

[JasonLion]

The best way to know when you are done shocking is to measure the FC level in the evening, after sunset, and again early in the morning. If the FC level has held stead overnight then you are done shocking. It may still take the filter several days to clear things up from there, but shock levels of chlorine are no longer required.