Hello everyone .... now the fun beguins

[grizgoalie]

Good day all ... I am in Chesapeake VA and have purchased a home with a pool. So the fun starts. :-D

First I want to say I am going to be a pool owner who didn't think they were going to like being a pool owner. I have spent money on it already and have not been in it, so thus I am a true pool owner. At least thats what I think.

Ok now the question. As you can see by my signature line I have yet found out how much water my pool holds. I have asked the previous owner but he says 15,000l. The company that put the pool in 12 years ago says 28k and the pool place (before I found this great resource) said it was about 18,000. I know the math is length (30) times width (16) times average depth (4.7) times 7.5 = (16920). One factor not considered is the solar heating panels that were placed on the garage three years after the pool. Of course the pool, filter and solar panels are at different parts of the yard. (Big yard).

So I am working with 28k; is this a bad thing of over estimating? Help?

Also I will recieve my T-100 kit tommorow, so no numbers on the pool chemestry. I will check the pump size and model when I get home tonight.

Thanks and hello

 

[duraleigh]

Welcome to the forum. :lol:

You want to be fairly accurate. Did you put that (l) for liters in there by mistake, I hope?

Your formula is good so if those are your dimensions us the results of that formula and you're good to go around 17k....don't use 28k

Post your first set of numbers up when you can and we'll get your started. How does your water look now?

 

[grizgoalie]

Hello Dave,

Yes the "l" was a typo.

I have the original work order that shows the size but no where does it show gallons. Would the solar panels add to the total? If so then how much.

I will post tomorrow when I get my new kit from you. lol

The water is now a milky white when I left for work this morning. It was a pretty HULK green on Wednesday before I had added 14 lbs of shock ... ok its better to nuke the green right? I was using the installers numbers and it did generate a nice foamy surface for about 2 hours. That was 2 days ago. Cycled the filter for 24 hours turn off for the stuff to settle. Today is a vacuum to waste day.

 

[jblizzle]

Welcome

And congratulations on being my 1000th post

Each solar panel contains 3-4 gallons ... pretty negligible in the grand scheme of things ... stick with using about 17,000 gallons when calculating your dosages.

Also, it does not sound like you are following the recommended shocking procedure. Please review Turning Your Green Swamp Back into a Sparkling Oasis and Shocking Your Pool

Once your kit comes in (good choice ) post up a full set of numbers and we will help you one your way to a clear pool.

 

[Samantha_in_AL]

Hi grizgoalie, welcome to the site! I would suggest that you not add any more store bought "shock" to the pool. Not having your good test kit yet, you have no idea how much CYA was already in your pool. You don't want to let it get too high, otherwise you may have to do a partial drain and refill to get it to a manageable level.

 

[grizgoalie]

Congrats on your 1000 posts jblizzle and good to know about how much each panel holds is not as much as I thought.
When the kit arrives and I do some testing I will get back the numbers.


No more store "shock" Samantha_in_AL .... hope my numbers are ok to start ... water is expensive.

 

[grizgoalie]

Hey again,
Its been cold and gloomy outside but here are the numbers:

FC 0
CC 0
TC 0
Alkalinity 130
Calcium 170
Basic kit results:
Chlorine .5 or less
PH 7.8

Water is a milky blue and is slowly getting clear. I can see the fourth step ... didn't know I had four steps.

 

[duraleigh]

Don't mean to be abrupt but why is your chlorine at zero?

 

[grizgoalie]

Pump was off. I am circulating now and will retest.

 

[jblizzle]

You should review the shocking method in pool school.

You should be running 24/7 and maintaining your FC shock level at all times. Otherwise it is going to take long time to clear your water. Algae has started to regrow now that your FC is too low.

Posted with Tapatalk ... sorry if I sound short ... hate typing on phone

 

[duraleigh]

gg, Yeah, you need to get back up in pool school and follow the shock process. Your FC should never be at zero and, while you are shocking, your pump should never be off.

Inadequate chlorine started your algae issues so inadequate chlorine now is the opposite of what you should be trying to do.

This will get easier in time but. for now, you must keep that FC up at shock value and you must run your pump 24/7

 

[Richard320]

You gotta know the CYA level so you can figure out the shock level. And then hit it hard and keep hitting it with chlorine. Hourly, maybe. What you're trying to do is kill the algae faster than it can reproduce, you need to get ahead of it.

As far as volume, you can get close with some basic math, but pay close attention to your test numbers. If "Effects of adding chemicals" on Pool Calculator says that the 2 cups of acid you added should lower pH .3 and TA by 10, and it didn't, then you need to up your volume by 500 gallons or so and try it some more. Or reduce the volume by a few hundred gallons if you overshot. You will get it narrowed down within a couple weeks to within 200 gallons, which is close enough; the volume of water changes constantly with splashout and evaporation and additions.

 

[grizgoalie]

Thank you all for the inputs. I have looked at the wealth of reading material but it is alot for me digest. It all started with just trying to figure out how much water is in the pool.

Thanks Richard320, your idea of using the pool calculator to help determine pool size. But I think that will have to wait till the chemestry comes back. Right?

Good news is looks like I have avoided the partial pool drain.

Partial background on the pool. It was built 12 years ago as a SWG pool. The cell died 2 years ago and the owner just used tablets and "in the swim" products. I have a new cell. Its one that the pool company that installed the pool originally said was needed. They put in a T-15 cell which is rated at 26 to 40K of water.

The DE filter I have, the previous owner said he cleaned 1 month before the end of the summer last year. But since its a DE I need to add a powder to make the thing work like its suppost to. But again that comes back to pool size, I think. I have to look up the article on DE filters again.

I am very new to this and really do appreciate the help. Really!