New pool owner, fighting algae after a winter uncovered

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Ok - just went to look at the monster and I think I am going to wait a little longer (unless someone tells me its a bad idea) before vacuuming.

We live on the side of a typical Tennessee hill, so the pool is just now getting partial sun on it. with the aid of the sun and some serious squinting, I can still see some faint 'snow' floating in the clear water. Might as well give it some more time, or at least that is my thought....
 
If the algae is indeed all dead and you've held steady for a number of days, I'd think you'd be fine now just letting it drop to the normal target maintenance ranges for your level of stabilizer. When I dropped, I stayed on the high side for an extra few days (around 10 ppm at 50 cya instead of the maint level of min 4 to 6 range) out of an abundance of caution.
 
TonyM said:
If I understand correctly from all the reading I have been doing, I can expect the sun to eat about 3 or 4 ppm each day? If that is the case, should I expect it to take about 6 days to get to my target of 5?
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Typical loss per day is a percent loss, not a fixed amount. Anywhere from 40% to 60% (very rough range) is typical with much of that going to the sun if you are low on organics (not fighting algae). So if your pool is typical (50%), then 35 to 18 to 9 to 5...So most likely you will be swimming quicker than you think. If you have a lot of shade, low temp, very low normal organic load, no swimmers, high cya levels, etc., then your usage could be slower.

You should have a feel for this now, since you have had to add chlorine everyday to keep it up at 35. How much do you use per day, and what drop would that suggest if you did not use that amount?
 
linen said:
You should have a feel for this now, since you have had to add chlorine everyday to keep it up at 35. How much do you use per day, and what drop would that suggest if you did not use that amount?
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I am definitely hooked on BBB - hence my reluctance to add the floc. I am glad to learn that the FC loss is a percentage - which, now that i think about it, makes complete sense. I am no where near an expert, but now (over the past week anyway) I find myself being able to sense what the need of the pool is (chlorine wise) by looking at the water. Even though it has been cloudy, I can usually guess within a few points of the actual test result.

To maintain the FC at this high level, I have been using ~one large jug of wallyworld bleach daily.

I estimate my pool gets direct sunlight from 9:15 am until 7: pm.
 
Got 75% of it sucked up and the water got too low to go further. Going to let it settle again tonight while the hose runs. I hope that i can get the rest in the morning.... need to run the pump tomorrow, for sure. FC tonight = 26; CC=0...

the 75% is crystal clear... :)
 
Putting in some 'store-bought' water this morning (ie, chlorinated municipal water) - the spring alone is just not fast enough to keep up with my vacuuming to waste :).

I only have this 25% left to vacuum up.... would it hurt anything for me to bypass the skimmer attachment and hook the vacuum hose directly to the pump (after I vacuum it below the skimmer again)? The adaptor works when the water is below, but it sucks too much air for my comfort.
 
OK - I have sucked 99% to waste, and I now have my aquabug running while I top the pool off. As it runs, I notice that there still are a few small spots of settling clumped algae. Will it hurt to just filter these last few spots (as opposed to stopping, vacuuming to waste and then starting again)? Again, it is not many, anf they are small little spots, especially around the seams of the liner.

The water is clear, but i can still see some sediment in the water. I assume this will not hurt anything and will filter out over time. I checked my Chlorine- fc22;CC0 - going to let it come on down.... :)
 

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TonyM said:
Will it hurt to just filter these last few spots (as opposed to stopping, vacuuming to waste and then starting again)?
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Just vacuum to filter if it not much and keep an eye on your pressure.

TonyM said:
I notice that there still are a few small spots of settling clumped algae.
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Do you think this is dead or live algae? What does this look like...is it live algae (green or yellow or maybe brown) or is it dead algae...probably gray or white? If you suspect it's live algae, do not stop the shocking process...but I am assuming it is dead.
 
OK - I have made the mad dash, and have to catch an airplane in a few hours. I will have sparkley water to dream about as I sleep across the country. BIG thanks to everyone that has helped so far (I'm not going anywhere - just feel like I am now through the tough part and it is time for :cheers: celebration :cheers: )

I will be coaching the wife via email/google talk for a week, and hope to see them swimming when I return :party:

I wanted to run the full test one last time before heading out:

FC = 18 (dropping from shock level - no bleach added for past 2 days)
CC = 0
TC = 18
TA = 110
CH = 230
pH = 7.2
CYA= 40

So, looking at these numbers (and the calculator), I see that my pH is dropping as I come down from shock level. two questions;

1. Is the pH the first thing to adjust in this list (other than the obvious dropping of FC to ~5-6)?
2. Should I add some Borax tonight, or wait until the wife gets a FC test that is nearer the target range (probably tomorrow; Monday at the latest)?
 
I would let ph come up on it's own since your TA is just slightly high (I would not worry about it) and that will cause ph rise. Every time you lower ph it will also lower your TA a little. If you ph drops any lower then raise it to 7.5.

Keep the FC from dropping below 3 ppm at all times (from poolcalculator and cya of 40 ppm).

The rest of your test values look fine to me. At some point if you get a lot of sun on the pool and if you are having trouble keeping FC up during the day you could bump up cya to 50 ppm. I wouldn't until you have some run time on the pool.

Make sure they enjoy the pool while your gone :cheers:
 
Got it.

So, here's my line of thinking (tell me if I am thinking correctly):

If I can keep the CYA at around 40 - if we then go on a trip (lets say a week), I can use the pucks to maintain the pool while gone. Probably will come home to a mid-50's CYA, but I can get that back in check pretty easily.

Sound right?
 
TonyM said:
Got it.

So, here's my line of thinking (tell me if I am thinking correctly):

If I can keep the CYA at around 40 - if we then go on a trip (lets say a week), I can use the pucks to maintain the pool while gone. Probably will come home to a mid-50's CYA, but I can get that back in check pretty easily.

Sound right?
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Sounds right on the money.
 
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