Assistance with amount of pool chemicals

[PoolFunnSun]

Hi all, new here. gone through almost every pool service in my area and nearly impossible to find anyone who will maintain my pool properly and regularly.

Went to Leslie's pool and they advised me as they do everyone to use their tabs and dichlor. Guess what? Cya is at 150.

So here I am waiting for my test kit to arrive using test strips. (I know, I know I need a real test kit it's on its way ) Nearly drained my pool completely and it's nearly refilled now. I did a quick test to see what's needed. I see that I need to reduce pH,(7.8-8.4), fc at 0 and my cya is also zero.

I don't know my exact gallons, however using an estimating method of the average depth and length of perimeter I was able to estimate the gallons to be about 23,000. Using the pool calculator found here:

PoolMath

Discover the calculator behind the perfect pool, PoolMath. Dealing with pools has allowed TFP to become the original authors of the best calculator on the net.

www.troublefreepool.com

to bring my free chlorine up from 0 to 3 it says I need 88 oz of 10% bleach. I purchased a few gallons from home Depot and we'll add 11 cups of chlorine which is the converted amount for 88 Oz.

the color on the test strip is nearly impossible to distinguish but it's either 7.8 or 8.4 for my pH. The calculator says for my size pool I should add 36oz of Muriatic acid. I need to check the percentage on the bottle and will adjust in the calculator to confirm how much. I'm aiming for a 7.3 pH and I'm going to be conservative and assume at 7.8. if it's still high I'll add more acid.


So here's my question:
to bring my cya up from 0 to 30 the pool calculator is telling me I need to add 107 Oz of stabilizer which is about 6 and 1/2 lb. So my question is, does this seem like a lot of stabilizer? Home Depot sells 5 lb bags I can pick up to but draining the pool with the super slow pump and refilling this much water is expensive and time-consuming. So I just like to check with those who are much more experienced than I to make sure six pounds seems about right and is not excessive.

If anything I'm doing seems incorrect or if there's something else I should consider please let me know.

Sorry for the excessive length. I appreciate any assistance you can offer.

Thank you!

 

[mknauss]

Welcome to the forum!
Good decision to take control of your pool. What test kit did you order? Can you fill out your signature?
Did you drain the pool completely? Just checking to be sure this is a complete fresh fill.
If so, then 6 lbs of CYA will give you 30 ppm CYA. Good start.
Do not get aggressive with acid. You really need a TA reading and strips are no good for that. At best the pH is probably sort of close with the strip. A higher pH will not really hurt anything for a couple days until you get your test kit.
Most importantly, keep adding chlorine. 3-5 ppm FC worth each day.
I suggest you read ABC's of Pool Water Chemistry.

 

[PoolFunnSun]

Thank you for your reply. I ordered the k-2006c. yes definitely. I just updated my signature. although I don't see it appearing here. I am viewing the mobile version of this website maybe that's why.

I would say I drained close to, if not more, than 90% of the pool water.

I'll hold off with the acid to reduce pH until I can get an accurate reading on it with a good test. If it takes 5 or more days to receive the kit would it be worth just going to the pool store for them to test the water? Or is high pH for about a week safe? I won't get suckered into buying more unneeded chemicals again. I've educated myself well here in pool school. Great resource by the way. Straight to the point. Easy to understand.

For the time being I'll add the required stabilizer and monitor chlorine closely.

 

[mknauss]

If you left some water I would only add 20 ppm of CYA. That would be 4 pounds.

The pH will not hurt anything. If swimmers complain of eye irritation it is the pH.

When you get the test kit, run a full suite of tests and post them here.

 

[wireform]

I recommend when doing your CYA do it in 2-3 batches as you don't know for sure the pool capacity. Overshooting isn't a good thing so wait 24 hours between and test to see what has been achieved already.

 

[PoolFunnSun]

Great tips. I'll reduce stabilizer to 4lb and add gradually. Maybe I'll start with 2lbs first.

Is the sock in the skimmer basket and pump running 24hr the best way to add stabilizer? I've seen that you can dissolve it in warm water in a 5 gallon bucket and poured around the edges of the pool. Is this method okay too?

 

[Flying Tivo]

We recommend the pool sock hanging in front of a return and squeezing regularly.

 

[PoolFunnSun]

I started my pool pump for the first time since refilling the pool this morning. I pour it in 11 cups of 10% chlorine. The water is now turning green. But before I started the pump it was clear.

is there anything different I should be doing now that I see the color of water has changed?

Thank you again for the replies

 

[tillmac62]

Do you have iron in your water?

 

[PoolFunnSun]

Do you have iron in your water?

How can i determine that? Do i require another test kit?

I'm wondering if the water that was sitting in my pump and filter over the past week just built a bunch of algae by being stagnant and sitting in heat. I think when I started my pump it likely pushed all that Crud into my pool. Maybe I need to increase chlorine levels temporarily until the water clears?

 

[tillmac62]

The pool store can test for it. If it's a "clear green pool", it's probably iron. Have the store test your fill water as well. Have you added metal sequestrants in the past?

 

[PoolFunnSun]

The pool store can test for it. If it's a "clear green pool", it's probably iron. Have the store test your fill water as well. Have you added metal sequestrants in the past?

I might do that since my kit isn't here yet. Yeah it's pretty clear, but green.

No, never added metal sequestrants to my knowledge

 

[tillmac62]

Iron usually comes from well, rather than municipal, water. Do you have any prior pool store test results? They usually test for metals.

 

[PoolFunnSun]

Iron usually comes from well, rather than municipal, water. Do you have any prior pool store test results? They usually test for metals.

I do have an old test results sheet. I'll have to dig it up. I added the 11 cups of chlorine 10% concentration. about 2 hours ago and my levels for free chlorine are still less than 1 PPM I think I may need to add more as it's been over an hour since I've had it. Do you recommend I add more?

 

[mknauss]

Have you followed what I posted earlier?

Do your water fixtures in your home get stained orange/brown? It would be unusual in your area for the water supply to have iron in it.

 

[tillmac62]

Without a proper test kit, neither you nor I know where your FC level is.

 

[PoolFunnSun]

Have you followed what I posted earlier?

Do your water fixtures in your home get stained orange/brown? It would be unusual in your area for the water supply to have iron in it.

For chlorine yes. I'm working right now and will grab the stabilizer on my way home tonight to add to water.

Without a proper test kit, neither you nor I know where your FC level is.

So true

 

[mknauss]

Just get the CYA going this evening and add some chlorine.

 

[PoolFunnSun]

alrighty, I'm back with an update.

Yesterday I picked up the chlorine stabilizer. Dissolved 4 cups which should be equivalent to about 2 lb of stabilizer into my pool water. I initially added it at about 4:30 p.m.; it fully dissolved by about 6:30 p.m. at the same time I added another 11 cups of 10% chlorine. Also set the pump to run 24 hours. I'll run it till about 4 to 6 p.m. tonight unless you guys advise otherwise.

Woke up this morning and my pool is blue again! There might be a very slight slight hint of green but for the most part it's looking good. Checked with my test strips last night after a few hours of adding chlorine and it was right around 3ppm. This morning when I checked it was about 2PPM, so I added another three and a half cups of 10% chlorine. It's currently at about 3ppm.

Also, my cya test strip color is matching the guide for the ideal cya level 30 to 50. I think until I get my real test kit I have enough stabilizer in the pool for now and I will monitor chlorine once or twice a day with the strips. What do you think?

below are the results I'm getting on my test strip. I'm trying my best to match the colors but sometimes these things are nearly impossible:

Total hardness (whatever this actually is) 100
Total chlorine 3
Free chlorine 3
Ph seemed somewhere between 7.2 and 7.8 now
Total alkalinity somewhere between 80 and 120
Cya 30-50

also I missed answering your question about getting discoloration or rust stains near any of our interior faucets or bath faucets/shower heads. They do show any kind of staining, we do have hard water though I do see hard water spots.

 

[mknauss]

While you are waiting on your test kit, add 5 ppm FC worth of liquid chlorine / plain bleach to your pool each evening with the pump running. This will replenish the FC lost each day to the sun and also inhibit any algae in the water from growing further.