Newbie from New Jersey-

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amye1223

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Jun 1, 2014
9
Red Bank, NJ
Hello! I've been reading along here for the past year but I am a fairly new poster. So thanks for all of the great advice that I've read so far!

Here is my info-
12,000 gallon above ground pool
cartridge filter
vinyl liner
New Jersey

Just want to see if I am on the right track here-- started using TFP methods last summer after our pool turned into a swamp over the winter. Had a successful season but slacked a bit in August b/c it wasn't really a hot summer and no one was using the pool. By the time we closed it the water was cloudy and we just stuck the cover on and then had a horrible winter here in NJ.

Anyway we took the cover off today and its definitely not a swamp but its not crystal clear and pretty either. My husband usually does all of the cleaning and vacuuming of the pool and I do all of the chemistry but he informed me today that he's been adding a gallon of bleach every day and running the pump with the cover on for the past week.

I have the TF-100 and my first set of results were-
FC 5.5
CC .5
CH- 175
TA- 50
PH- 7.2, but I have a really hard time reading that test
CYA 60

Needed to start a SLAM to get to SLAM FC of 24. Husband was in the pool raking leaves and I didn't want to bleach him so I checked pool math and instructed him to add 188 oz of the 12.5% liquid chlorine and left the house for a few hours. Also told him to add 3lbs of Alkalinity increaser from the pool store leftover from last summer. Sounds good so far right?

Came home and tested the water and was a little shocked that the FC was up to 35! Husband announced that he put 2 gallons of chlorine in the pool which is 256 oz! :grrrr::grrrr: Anyway I tried to test the TA and the liquid turned yellow instead of red. I am assuming that that's bc of the ridiculous amount of chlorine in the pool. But it changed at 110 so can take that number as the TA or its totally skewed?

Do I need to raise the CH? We have a vinyl liner so I am thinking I don't need to worry about it right this minute.

One last question- I thought I was ok with the 60 CYA but am already getting annoyed with the shock FC of 24. Should I drain some water? If so how much?

Thanks so much in advance!

I think I am attaching a pic correctly-- the dark area is just a shadow from the trees. 11303948_10153238653875801_778067102_o.jpg
 
The TA test is still valid, even if the colors bleached out.

You don't need Calcium for a vinyl pool. If by chance you have any Cal-hypo "shock" left over from your pool store days, you can use it to chlorinate for a while. You have lots of room for CH.

60 CYA is a bit high.

If the yard slopes off away from the pool, you could try vacuuming with a siphon and suck the leaves up and spit them out on the lawn. As long as the end of the hose outside the pool is lower than the floor of the pool, it will work. It won't draw as well as the pump, but you can get rid of a bunch of leaves without clogging the filter and lower the CYA in one shot.
 
I don't know why FC would increase unless you miscalculated yesterday by mistake.

I just wanted to say you're on your way and you know what you're doing. This should not take long for you.
 
Day 5 of SLAM and pool still isn't looking how I'd like to- I am surprised bc it wasn't awful to begin with. We've been keeping FC up to SLAM level (testing 3x a day and only losing 2-3ppm each time). Tested last night at 8pm and lost nothing overnight. FC is at 24 and CC is at 1 so there must be something in there! We've brushed, vacuumed, etc. The pool has a strong bleach smell today too. Could the air temps have any effect? Its only been in the 60s this week and pool temp is 65. Any ideas? All I can think of is that I made an error in testing TA, ph etc on the first day and something is off. But now FC is so high that I can't retest.

Here's the lastest pic-
11287647_10153248894015801_131098634_o.jpg11287647_10153248894015801_131098634_o.jpg
 
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