Balancing water - where to start?

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Razorhog

Razorhog

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Jun 20, 2013
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Northeast Arkansas
Got the pool opened, it was fairly green but all debris are out and the water is clear with a green tint. First test results:
FC = 0
CYA = 0
TA = 80
CH = forgot to test. Fiberglass pool, I will adjust if I need to
PH = 7

So should I start by adding CYA to get it to about 30ppm and then add enough bleach to begin the SLAM process? Or start with PH?
 
Razorhog said:
Got the pool opened, it was fairly green but all debris are out and the water is clear with a green tint. First test results:
FC = 0
CYA = 0
TA = 80
CH = forgot to test. Fiberglass pool, I will adjust if I need to
PH = 7

So should I start by adding CYA to get it to about 30ppm and then add enough bleach to begin the SLAM process? Or start with PH?
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pH & CYA can be done at the same time. Get a sock of CYA weigned for 30 CYA in the skimmer while you bring the pH up.

Then SLAM based on 30 CYA
 
Razorhog said:
Got the pool opened, it was fairly green but all debris are out and the water is clear with a green tint. First test results:
FC = 0
CYA = 0
TA = 80
CH = forgot to test. Fiberglass pool, I will adjust if I need to
PH = 7

So should I start by adding CYA to get it to about 30ppm and then add enough bleach to begin the SLAM process? Or start with PH?
Click to expand...
I'd say neither. You ought to know your CH level, just in case it's really high and you need to drain some off. Why treat a bunch of water and then turn around and dump it?

Next up, with no detectable CYA and a green pool, there's a chance you have Ammonia from CYA decomposition. I'd start by adding 10FC to that pool - shock level with zero CYA - and let it mix 30 minutes, ideally in the evening so you can rule out sunlight. Then test FC & CC. If CC has jumped way up and FC is all gone, you've got whatever it is that destroys CYA in there. It's going to take a whole bunch of bleach to get ahead of it.

That's when you stop and evaluate things. Is water cheap and plentiful, or are you on a well? Is there a danger of floating the pool? Did the CH test also indicate that a partial drain was called for? You can only make good decisions when you have all the facts. And we can only give good advice when we know all the facts.
 
CH = 90

One thing I should add is that the pool service put a couple tri-chlor pucks in the skimmer when they opened the pool, so I've got a bucket of them to use. Should I raise the CYA to a lower level like 20 so that after the SLAM I can continue to use the pucks for a while or when gone on vacation?
 
Razorhog said:
CH = 90

One thing I should add is that the pool service put a couple tri-chlor pucks in the skimmer when they opened the pool, so I've got a bucket of them to use. Should I raise the CYA to a lower level like 20 so that after the SLAM I can continue to use the pucks for a while or when gone on vacation?
Click to expand...
That sounds like an excellent idea. You might have as much as 20 CYA already in the water, and targeting 20 now will keep you below 40 total. I'd still go with a test dose of bleach to see what happens to the CC level. If you have Ammonia, it takes a lot of bleach. A couple hundred bucks' worth if it's really bad. Draining some water might be cheaper than that.
 

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Razorhog said:
Put in bleach to raise FC to 13. 30 minutes later FC is 3 and CC is 6. Rut-roh
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Rut-roh is right... Richard hit the mark, it would appear you do have ammonia in the water. You can go by an aquarium supply store and pick up an ammonia test kit if you want to verify it, or you can do what you will need to do anyway - start SLAM'n the pool now. Bleach/liquid chlorine, keep raising it up to shock level and retesting because ammonia consumes a lot of chlorine.
 
Razorhog said:
How to proceed?


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Click to expand...
Well... how wet is the ground around you? Meaning: are there ponds and streams full of water? Do people with basements have to have a sump pump? If the ground water is close to the surface, you run the danger of floating the pool, especially since it's fiberglass and a lot lighter than a concrete pool.

If there isn't much danger of floating the pool and you don't know what's hiding beneath the green, I'd set things up to vacuum to waste. That means the pump sucks the water up through the vacuum and spits it out the backwash port. Any sludge on the bottom gets removed quickly. It also lowers the water level, and you can then refill it with fresh and you'll have less Ammonia to deal with. You don't want to empty the whole pool anyway, vacuuming would probably only lower the water a foot or so.

You could just go with the standard SLAM process and forget about replacing any water.

You're also in the enviable position of having very low Calcium Hardness. That means you could use Cal-hypo shock powder to kill the algae and eradicate the Ammonia. Not sure if it will work out cheaper or not, but you'll get fewer strange looks buying a pail of pool chlorine than you will buying out the whole shelf of bleach at Sam's Club!

The choice is really yours. Once the Ammonia is gone, no matter what route you choose, then the algae killing is just a SLAM.
 

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