Am I thinking correctly?

[Philley]

Vinyl Pool 22K gallons in-ground with a SWG Circupool RJ-45+, DE filter.

So first time owning a pool, had a company come and open it and shock which was Monday 6/3. The pool was quite dirty a little green on the walls and steps near the water line but able to see to the bottom and had some staining from debris and worms, I have vacuumed/scrubbed all the debris, stains and algae and running the robot daily for 2-3 hours when I get home from work. I only had test strips at the time and they were showing a FC of 0 and CYA of 0 so I did some reading through the forums and have since bought the TF-pro Salt, but before I did any testing with that I read that some have recommended to just add a gallon of liquid chlorine a day till you can actually test with the kit which I did. Now that I received the kit I did all the tests which are below.

Temp-70F
FC-8.5
CYA-30
pH-7.2
TA-130
CH-325
Salt-4250 (TFpro)
Salt-3550 (Orapxi electronic tester)

My question is should I raise my FC to slam lvl since I still have some staining from the worms or do a OCLT which will tell me if I should keep slamming or not (which I'm probably going to do anyway just for experience). If my OCLT doesn't drop more than the recommended 1.0ppm should my next step be to raise my CYA up to 70, but with my salt so high @ 4250 should I take the water out 25-36% and refill to get that number closer to 2700-3200 range and then redo checks after? I'm kinda lost at the next step to proceed once and if my OCLT passes.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Mike

 

[mknauss]

Welcome to the forum!
Great job in getting a quality test kit!
Do an OCLT. Get your FC to 6 or so ppm for it.
I am concerned you said you had algae but have not followed through the SLAM Process to completion.

Once you pass all three criteria, then raise the CYA slowly to 70 ppm. You appear to be in the New England area so going slow will not hurt.
I suggest you read through Pool Care Basics - Trouble Free Pool and even look at a few of our videos TFP-TV - Trouble Free Pool

 

[Philley]

Hi Marty,

Yeah without the testing kit I was just going blind for numbers but the company that opened the pool "balanced" the water so I assume that's their way of slamming to an extent, I wasn't there when they opened the pool. I will complete the OCLT and if that craps the bed it's time to SLAM and if that passes work on my CYA to 70 slowly. Btw my CC was 0 ppm.

Yes in New England.

Thanks,
Mike

 

[Philley]

Completed the OCLT started with a FC of 6.5 big difference than the 8.5 I did when I got the test (couple hour difference) but that's what it was, anyway this morning the FC went up to 7.5 and my CC was 0.5 which went up from 0 earlier does that seem right? I also read a few other posts on people doing OCLT and they ran the pump all night but the OCLT instructions didn't really say to run the pump all night just make sure the pump is on 30 mins or more before you do a test, which I didn't run the pump all night but did run it 30+ mins prior.

Checked CYA level as well that still was at 30.

Should I redo my OCLT with the pump running all night to confirm numbers again? If not should I work on my CYA to slowly bring that up with the sock method?

 

[Mdragger88]

Is it possible that the cell came on when you turned the pump on?
The swcg must be off for the duration of the oclt

 

[Philley]

Nope cell has been off this whole time since opening.

 

[Philley]

Ok so just redid all tests (practice makes perfect) sun hasn't hit the pool yet as it's a little overcast and the pump has been running this whole time since this morning I did my OCLT test.

Temp-72F
FC-5.0
CC-0.5
CYA-30
pH-7.2
TA-110
CH-400
Salt-4000

First time I did the tests I did them outside, the other times I've brought the testing inside and yes pulling the water from the same spot and depth about 2' down.

So I assume I should SLAM to a FC of 12 as my FC has dropped from the 8.5 of yesterday and the 6.5 of this morning?

And pool is crystal clear just still a little staining from the debris and worms but is definitely going away.

 

[Philley]

So completed my SLAM had an OCLT FC of 0.5 difference from 13 to 12.5 this morning my CC is still 0.5 and the pool is very clear my final numbers are:

FC-12.5
pH-7.8
TA-120
CH-300
CYA-30
Salt-4200

Questions:
-I assume I have to slowly get my CYA to 70
-should I turn my SWG on now?
-the pool app shows that I'm way out for the salt range that the app recommends do I try to fix or let it ride?
-pH was a little high should I knock it down a little? and in turn bring my TA down.

Appreciate the help

 

[Texas Splash]

Good job testing and passing the OCLT! Outstanding. Don't adjust the pH just yet. It tests weird when the FC is over 10. Once the FC falls back down to 9 or less, then you can validate the pH. You can leave the SWG off for a bit today. Test the FC again later to see if it fell down to about 7-8, then turn it back on. Yes, start increasing the CYA. Start with a target of about 50-60 then go up from there as needed since you're in a cooler climate. Great work.

 

[Texas Splash]

IMO, I would leave the salt alone for now. Exchanging water would mess everything up that you have dialed-in so well.

 

[Philley]

Understood will check FC later today as the sun does it's job and start the sock method with a target of 50-60.

Thank you