Need help before adding SO MUCH chemical

Jump to latest Follow Reply
W

wwtennant

0
Gold Supporter
Mar 21, 2015
41
Bellaire/TX
Many thanks to all who post on here as I have read so much that has been useful over the years. I just fired the person who had been cleaning my pool for the last year after checking a few things and realizing my pool is WAY out of balance. It is a saltwater pool. My Taylor kit says:
FC: 0 (I keep SLAMing it up to 10+ and it lasts 3 days, then I repeat. Tomorrow, I start to adding other chems to get back on track)
OCLT: 3+ ppm
CC: 1
PH: 7.0 (maybe 7.2)
TA: 40
CH: 250
CYA: 0 (confirmed at store as well)
Salt: 2000 (should be ~3000 ppm)

The water has no algae and is very clear at this point- likely due to the chlorine that I keep diligently adding. The calculator is telling me to add LOTS of chemicals which I clearly need. My fear has been in adding so many chemicals all at once.

My current plan is:
Clean the filters and SWG tomorrow first thing
Add about half the salt, 120 lbs v. 200 lbs required
SLAM the pool again to ~10 ppm
Add CYA in a sock to both skimmers... Question is how much to start with since it calls for 14 lbs total... again, maybe half to start?

Going to let all that settle out with retests multiple times per day and ultimately get CYA to ~70 ppms with appropriate salt level of ~3000 ppm. Once that appears correct and stable w/ FC more stable, I plan to adjust TA and PH as needed as I expect them to fluctuate through this process.

Before I embark on this endeavor to correct my pool mess... any corrections to this approach from the many experts out there?? Thank you so much!!
 
Hi,
Welcome to TFP!

It sounds as if you have some understanding of the levels you need to be at and the order to to them! Man that's awesome.

I will just re-emphasize what you already know.

What you wanna do is add chemical, wait a good 30 minutes or so before adding the next one.
This goes for everythng except CYA.

The first thing you need to do is get some chlorine in the pool.
Next add the CYA (dont bother waiting the 30 mins) add what pool math says to get it to 30. You want about 30 for the SLAM.

If you truly have CC of 1 and OCLT of +3, that tell us that even though the water is clear, you may be on the verge of an algae outbreak.
You should SLAM the pool until you pass all three of the SLAM tests.

After the slam is over go ahead and get your CYA up to about 70 as you mentioned. It takes a few days for it to register, so ease into it in a couple of doses. You dont want to overshoot it, as you already know.

Then work on the salt level
then work on the PH and TA levels.

you got it man, good job!

wwtennant said:
Many thanks to all who post on here as I have read so much that has been useful over the years. I just fired the person who had been cleaning my pool for the last year after checking a few things and realizing my pool is WAY out of balance. It is a saltwater pool. My Taylor kit says:
FC: 0 (I keep SLAMing it up to 10+ and it lasts 3 days, then I repeat. Tomorrow, I start to adding other chems to get back on track)
OCLT: 3+ ppm
CC: 1
PH: 7.0 (maybe 7.2)
TA: 40
CH: 250
CYA: 0 (confirmed at store as well)
Salt: 2000 (should be ~3000 ppm)

The water has no algae and is very clear at this point- likely due to the chlorine that I keep diligently adding. The calculator is telling me to add LOTS of chemicals which I clearly need. My fear has been in adding so many chemicals all at once.

My current plan is:
Clean the filters and SWG tomorrow first thing
Add about half the salt, 120 lbs v. 200 lbs required
SLAM the pool again to ~10 ppm
Add CYA in a sock to both skimmers... Question is how much to start with since it calls for 14 lbs total... again, maybe half to start?

Going to let all that settle out with retests multiple times per day and ultimately get CYA to ~70 ppms with appropriate salt level of ~3000 ppm. Once that appears correct and stable w/ FC more stable, I plan to adjust TA and PH as needed as I expect them to fluctuate through this process.

Before I embark on this endeavor to correct my pool mess... any corrections to this approach from the many experts out there?? Thank you so much!!
Click to expand...
 
Welcome to TFP!

If CYA was really zero you would lose all of your chlorine during the course of a single day (assuming outdoors). Your CYA might be low enough that the test reads zero, but it can't be zero.

SLAMing requires that you add chlorine at least twice a day. It is also nearly impossible to get anywhere with CYA anywhere near zero.

Raise CYA to the 30-40 range and leave it there until you have everything else cleaned up, in balance, and working well. Only then should you raise CYA further.

Never assume that your starting salt level is zero. It could be zero, it could be quite high. Get a salt reading from somewhere (test kit, SWG, pool store) and then adjust from there.
 
Many thanks. 24 hours of a true SLAM w several tests and adding FC many times through day helped. OCLT was 0.5 ppm last night, FC is 10.5 still (From 11.0).

My new question is on CYA, which is now at 20 ppm. I have it in both skimmers in a sock but it seems like a very slow process for it to dissolve in the socks. Given how low it is, should I add some directly to skimmer or just keep in socks? Given SWG, I need to get to 70 eventually.

Many thanks again!!
 
:wave: Welcome to TFP!!!

Keep it in the socks and just squeeze them a few times whenever you are nearby. You can get it all out of the sock and dissolved in a day with enough massaging.

Remember to not bother with testing the CYA for a week after it is all dissolved. Just assume you are at your target level until then.
 
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