Refilling the pool and converting to SWG

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K

kermit7012

0
May 4, 2015
31
Knoxville TN
Pool Size
35000
Surface
Plaster
SWG Type
CircuPool SJ-40
I'm not sure where the best place to post this question is, but I'll try this forum.
I was having serious issues with my pool, and without writing a book and referring to previous posts to include all previous postings, cutting to the chase, green water caused by algae turned to green water caused by metals. TA and Ph were way off. Then CH went to >600.
I have totally drained, pressure washed, sprayed with bleach, patched bad places in the gunite and have now started refilling the pool. At the same time, I have ordered a SWG that is supposed to arrive no later than Friday, so I should have it installed by Sunday at latest.
My questions: I assume I need to add bleach to the water as it refills, correct? If so, how much should I add? I also assume I will have to test and adjust as needed. If, again, I am assuming correctly, should I be testing for Ph, FC, CC, TA, CH and CYA as I go, or can I just test after the refill is complete? Further, will adding the SWG this coming weekend have any effect on the refilling/testing procedure?
One last question: Should I turn the pump back on shortly after the main drain is covered with water, or should I wait for a longer period?
Thanks in advance
 
Hello Kermit! :wave: You've been busy! SWG experts will give specifics on that, but yes, you can add bleach initially. Typically it is advised to do so until levels stabilize as to not put too much stress on your SWG. Typically we encourage incorporating some chlorine and CYA during fill-up to keep the water sanitary, and you just did some plaster work, so TA might be an issue others advise you on. The amounts added can be calculated by using the Poolmath calculator (link below).

One popular question - what test kit are you using to test your water? Yes - The items you mentioned are what you will want to test for primarily.
 
Pump on after the water is at least 1/3 the way up your skimmer plate.

You need a good test kit. Look at my siggy for the ones we use and love on TFP. The Tf-100 is the best bang for the buck.

When you get your test kit and test your fill water as well as your pool water. By testing your fill water you will know what is going into the pool each time you add water.

I would add some bleach as it fills. You do not want your new water to start to turn green already! Use pool math to see how much to add for you size pool to get it to at least 4ppm. See this link:

http://www.troublefreepool.com/calc.html

Let us know when your test kits comes in.

Kim
 
Hi Kermit,
I remember your other threads and all the troubles you had. Hopefully, all of that is over now.

Here is how to proceed.
First, go ahead and test your tap water with your recommended test kit and you can see from that what your CH, TA, pH is going to be, and have whatever chemicals on hand before the pool fills. Also have some bleach and some CYA at the ready.

Unless it will take DAYS to fill, I would not worry too much about adding chlorine, there will be no CYA in the fill water to protect it from being burned off by UV. If you want to add a little, then no harm in that, but dont add more than a couple of cups full when the pool gets 1/3 full.

Also, no matter how hard you try, its nearly impossible to kill all the algae from the plaster. It hides in pores and pits, in your filter and pipes and nooks and crannies and everywhere it can and surprisingly is very vigilent. So whatever algae might be left will also help eat up any chlorine you add while filling. so you'll likely need to SLAM as soon as you can anyhow. The good news is, it won't take long to complete it though. However having said this, you might get lucky and be algae free.

Once the pool is full, first add enough chlorine to get you to 3ppm. (Test 4 hours later to see what your FC and CC is Add more chlorine to get you to SLAM for CYA of 30)
After adding 3ppm of chlorine, go ahead and immediately add CYA to get to 30ppm.
After that, adjust your pH to 7.2
After that, adjust your CH
After that, adjust your TA, but only if it is REALLY low, and needs to come up. If it is 40 or higher, dont do anything to it.

If you dont need to SLAM, add salt to get you to the recommended level of the SWG manufacturar, probably about 3400ppm
If you do need to SLAM, wait till its over to add salt. Otherwise you just backwash the salt you added right back out of the pool.

DO NOT TURN ON THE SWG until slam is over and until the salt has mixed for a full 24 hours. You can damage the salt cell if you dont wait till the salt is fully mixed.

After you are sure you are algae free and the salt has mixed for 24hrs, then turn on the SWG.
Then after that, add more CYA to get you to the recommended level of around 70. Better to add in a couple of small steps so you dont overshoot and get too high.

After that, enjoy the pool.

Hope this helps,
 
Wow, Tex, Kim and Dave. THANKS. I have a TF100 test kit and will test tap water in the morning. I suspect it will take at least two full days to fill to the top, but I'm in uncharted territory here and don't really know. I have three hoses from three different spigots running at full bore, so hopefully it will be less.
I appreciate the virtually step-by-step instructions, Dave. I'll follow them and keep ya'll informed of progress. I got an email from the company I ordered the SWG from this evening and they're now saying it will arrive Wednesday, so I'm glad you warned me off turning the SWG on til after I have slammed.
 
Good deal Kermit.

Yeah, the SWG is great for producing enough chlorine to prevent an algae bloom. Not so great a killing a bunch that already exists. They just dont produce enough chlorine fast enough to keep the algae from multiplying.

I didnt notice (my bad), that you have a 35K gallon pool. That will take at least a couple of days to fill up even with 3 hoses I would imagine.
2 cups bleach per 10,000 gallons of water should keep any algae that you might have left over at bay so it wont get any worse while filing... but dont add any more than that and you should be fine.

Pour it in and then take a water hose and squirt all over where you poured it in at, so you can mix it up as well as you can with the rest of the water.
Maybe swish it around a bit with a broom.

If you have any questions or need anything, just hollar at us and well do what we can to help out.
 
Hi Kermit! For straight out of the tap, the FC seems extremely high for tap water. I would expect it to he <.5 Might want to try that again just to be sure.


pH will need to be raised upon filing
CH needs to be raised to 250 after you add CYA
TA good for now. Over time, you will want to lower it to control pH rise. But its not critical.
CYA as expected as it doen't naturally occur in water. Add 30ppm immediately after adding FC after filling.

One tip on testing CC's. Immediately after testing FC, add the 5 drops of R0003. If you let the FC test solution sit for more than maybe 10 or 15 seconds, the solution will begin to turn back to pink, and result in a False High CC test.

kermit7012 said:
Thanks Pooldv and Dave. Here's my chemistry:
Ph: 6.5
FC: 3
CC: .25
TA: 60
CH: 120
CYA: 0
Straight from the tap
Click to expand...
 

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Dave, I too was shocked at the chlorine level. So I checked it twice. 6 drops x .5 = 3FC. I just went back and measured again. This time, maybe 4 hours later, FC now measures 7. Yes, 7. (14 drops til clear). CC still measures what would probably be a little less than .5. (5 drops R0003 turned it from clear to just slightly pink. Then one additional drop of 0871 cleared it up immediately).
What do you think? I'll measure it again in a couple hours.
Straight from the tap.
 
Hi Kim---Knoxville hasn't had nearly as much rain as parts of Tennessee to our west, but that doesn't mean they haven't boosted the chlorine level. To you and toofast, I just got off the phone with the utility company and they are "dispatching a crew" to investigate.
I'll let you know the outcome
 
Disquieting news, actually. Utility company just left. While my FC reading this morning had gone down to 3.5, his reading was 2.1. We both rechecked using the TF100 kit and both got readings again of 3.5. He has pretty sophisticated testing equipment so I'm assuming his reading with his tester is correct. I know my chemicals are less than two years old...and really think I re-ordered last year but I have been known to forget one or two things in my life. I ordered some R0010 and a couple other replacement chemicals on-line last night. Guess I need to order more chlorine testing chemicals, too. Bad timing to find out now that my readings are incorrect. This will make slamming before installing the new SWG (that just arrived) a bit more difficult.
 
My CH is at 120. Am I reading PoolMath correctly and I need to add about 50# calcium chloride?. If so, should I "sneak up on it" by adding maybe 10# over a 5 day period or just go ahead and add 50?

- - - Updated - - -

Dave,et al: I have added one and a half gallons of 8.2% bleach, about one and a half pounds of 20 Mule Team, 7 and a half #s of stabilizer.
Is there any way to determine whether or not I have any algae or should I just go ahead and SLAM before installing the SWG?
Thanks
 

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