AGP Cover Cable Busted - New Soup Ingredients 😞

[discgolfdc]

Hi, all.

Thanks to TFP, opening up my AGP, adjusting and maintaining its chemistry, and closing up shop have been a BREEZE. I'm ridiculously grateful for having found this place.

I was looking forward to opening my pool up later this month, but noticed yesterday that my cover cable busted (first time it's ever happened), and now all of the delicious goodness that's been sitting on top of it for however long has now gotten into my prized water below. I guess my cover pump will be staying put this year.

Anyway, no crystal blue opening this season.

I've mobilized to get the pool open in time for this weekend in order to begin correcting this mess.

About this, I have a couple of questions about the chemistry aspect of it and would also welcome any additional helpful feedback/suggestions outside of the answers to those.

Q#1:
Normally, when I open, I have to make some very minor adjustments to the chemistry to get all the parameters in line, the effects of which seem to keep things nicely balanced well through the season. Is trying to balance all the different aspects of this new cocktail's chemistry a good idea right now, or should I concentrate primarily on just sanitizing the heck out of it, then tweak the other particulars?

Q#2:
I understand that SLAM enjoys greater advantage when the water temperature is still relatively low (why I'm not sitting on this until later). I guess this question may depend on what I see in response to Q#1, but because I'm sure that, at some point early on, I'll need to beef up the stabilizer level after the winter break, assuming I'm holding off on balancing all that until I see some forward progress (i.e., "just sanitize the heck out of it" from Q#1), would it be better for me to add my liquid chlorine to the pool after sundown so as to minimize burnoff from the sun and allow the main consumption of the sanitizer to come about from the battle it's intended to carry out? I don't necessarily want to have my chlorine bound up, but I also don't want to lose any more than I have to due to that burnoff.

I should note that I'm aware that I'll eventually have to modify any after-sundown chlorine addition protocol to eventually start seriously evaluating OCLTs.

Of course, if any assumptions I've made are out of line with reality, possibly leading me to be asking the wrong questions to begin with, definitely let me know.

Thank you all, and looking forward to another season.

 

[kimkats]

First off here is a big and a pat on the back that this happened.

Next I would run a full set of tests to see what is what.

-If you have 0 CYA you will need to put in enough to get it to 30 to help protect your FC from the sun.
-pH needs to be in the lower 7s. Once you start the SLAM your pH reading will not be correct as it reads different with the FC over 10.
-TA is friends with pH but not really a big deal.
-CH no real worries.

Next thing is to get as much of the soup ingredients out as you can. Once you have scooped as much as you can out then start the SLAM as seen here:
SLAM Process

GOOD LUCK and let us know how it is going!

Kim

 

[Newdude]

Q#1:

You can't do anything without circulation becasue you can't trust the test results yet.

1) fire up the pool and mix for a day
2) while mixing add 10 FC and test to see if it holds for 30 mins
3) if no, repeat 30 min tests/doses until it holds 8+ FC
3A) if yes, get CYA to 30 (day 2)
4) get PH to 7.2
5) SLAM Process

would it be better for me to add my liquid chlorine to the pool after sundown so as to minimize burnoff from the sun and allow the main consumption of the sanitizer to come about from the battle it's intended to carry out?

You may lose more ground during the day if you wait. The 30 CYA will mostly protect from the sun, and the sooner you start SLAM, the better.

However. You are absolutely right about only fighting algae once the sun is mostly down/ down. Hit it often right up until bedtime for the duration. If you have evening activities, buy yourself the next couple hours away by dosing early.

 

[Newdude]

Also, you likely have a good draining path and cheap fill water. Just like in life, the easiest way to win a fight is to avoid it in the first place. You need to leave 12 to 18 inches of water or the liner may shift, but a 3/4 drain leaves 1/4 of the battle after refilling.

Food for thought.

 

[discgolfdc]

Also, you likely have a good draining path and cheap fill water. Just like in life, the easiest way to win a fight is to avoid it in the first place. You need to leave 12 to 18 inches of water or the liner may shift, but a 3/4 drain leaves 1/4 of the battle after refilling.

Food for thought.

To speed that process up, what would your thoughts be on getting a long 1.5" hose (like a vacuum hose) attached to my pump's intake, dropping that into the center of the pool (possibly weighting it down if necessary), and routing the output to the discharge port, again, through some kind of hose? I don't have a drain, per se.

A sump pump-type thing would probably take ages.

 

[discgolfdc]

I thought I remembered the two slates of advice given to me earlier in the thread. I am clearly getting older and would best be served by not relying on what I thought to be a steel trap of a memory. I kinda got a conflated picture of the two responses.

After 24 hours of having the pump run to mix everything up (as one response suggested), initial test showed no chlorine and no CYA. As those are most important at the moment, I hadn't tested other aspects. I haven't yet added chlorine, as the other reply mentioned getting CYA to 30.

I'm currently dissolving about 4 lbs. of dry conditioner into the pool to get CYA to right around 30 (that's the recommended addition from zero in a 24' AG round pool @ 4' depth, according to Pool Math).

In the morning, I'll retest CYA and start with periodic chlorination with 12.5% liquid, with heavier dose after sundown.

Hopefully my memory lapse won't set me back too badly. At least after firing up the pump for 24 hours, it's not really green, though it's definitely opaque. I'll take that as a start.

 

[discgolfdc]

Here are the most recent test results:

------------------------------------------
Test Results 05-07-2024 @ 01:00 PM
------------------------------------------
Free Chlorine: 0.0
Combined Chlorine: 0.0
pH: 7.2
Total Alkalinity: 60
Calcium Hardness: 100
CYA: 30
Temperature: 72°F

Chlorine 12.5% incoming!!!!

 

[discgolfdc]

Hit it a little harder than "SLAM ideal." Added 2 gallons of 12.5% Sanitizer at around 1:45pm.

4:30pm Cl drop test results showed 16.5ppm FC and possibly 0.5ppm CC (I may have been hallucinating a tinge of red after the 5 drops of R-003).

In any event, if the overall effect of adding 2 gallons of 12.5% to my pool raises my FC by ≈ 18ppm and it's at 16.5ppm after almost 3 hours, I guess it's just now a matter of maintaining Pool Math's target of 12ppm once it comes down, which, by the looks of it, will definitely happen with what I'm sure it'll need to consume to right the ship.

Any other suggestions? Feedback?

Thank you all.

 

[Newdude]

Any other suggestions? Feedback?

The more time it spends at SLAM level, the faster it goes. FC will hold better as the process plays out. When it mostly holds at 2 hours, test/dose at 3 hours. Then 4, and so on. We all have a life too, so do the best you can. Go right until bedtime.

You can dose early at any time to buy you the next block of time away, say, a kids soccer game. Dose it early before, do what you gotta do, and pick right back up when you get home.

Vac and brush at least once a day.

Go on an algae scrubbing treasure hunt, specifically looking for anywhere hiding in plain sight. Stairs/ railings, all up in the skimmer, etc.

Clean the filter at 25% psi increases.

No need for CC tests until you have clear (and I mean stoopid clear) water with no visible traces of algae / poofing when brushing. Then do Overnight Chlorine Loss Test including CCs.

You got this !!!!