First post new user pool opening clarification help please

[candent99]

Hi and thanks for all who post here and will hopefully generously help me. Opened our kidney shaped vinyl liner pool Sunday and added 9x5L jugs of household bleach (assuming this is around 5%), added 1L muriatic acid, am running sand filter 24/7, added the Trol and CYA I had at home. Have a Taylor K-1004 test kit and am using that in conjunction with pool store testing data until I order on amazon to be able to get a better kit. Please recommend one as the strips I have used in the past are useless and the K-1004 is only good for FC, CC, pH and alkalinity. Results from pool store Tuesday night:
FC 1.75
TC 1.75
CC 0
pH 7.5
hardness 151
alkalinity 92
CYA 19
copper iron and phosphate all 0
Added 4 kg Trol, 7kg Cal, 500 g granular CYA yesterday (and will be adding remainder to add total 1.7g kg CYA over 24-28 hrs). There is still a sticky brown sludge on the sides and bottom of the pool that doesn't move with a brush, shallow end is much better but some light brown dust-like dirt remains there also. I added 8x5L jugs household bleach again this morning and tested 2 hours later:
FC at least 10 (test doesn't go beyond 10)
TC even higher
pH 7.6
alkalinity 130
CYA still low which is to be expected as I'm still adding. I am frustrated with the manual vacuum we have for the kidney pool. I am a shorter woman and it is hard to reach the deep end. Any recommendations on a robotic or automatic vacuum would be great. Had what I think is called a creepy crawler in the same pool growing up and it didn't get all areas and broke. Tried a robotic one from Costco a few years ago but it stopped working during the season so returned it and went back to the manual. Not sure if the kidney shape makes it more difficult or what but with the extension pole, I find the vacuuming difficult. Plus I don't know how to get rid of that brown sludge. Am I correct that it is still algae (thus hopefully my addition of chlorine this morning will help kill it)? Dead algae should be white and vacuum-able, correct?

 

[Texas Splash]

Hello and welcome! It does sound as though you have some residue from winter still in the pool, organic I'm guessing. Might take some time for the chlorine to break it all down. Here we use a process called SLAM Process to kill and remove algae. Once you get a proper test kit you can do that. Down south we use the TF-100 (link in my signature) or Taylor K-2006C. But if you are not able to obtain one of those kits or visit us across the border, you may have to go another route. Last I heard, a place that sells Taylor test kits and reagents in Canada is “Water & Ice North America Inc” in Cambridge ON. Commercial Swimming Pool Supply. They also have a branch in Nova Scotia. (902) 883-9120.
Also try: Aquatech Logistics at This Zoey eCommerce store is unavailable - Zoey Commerce 1-888-624-0919

I hope that helps get you going. Also, don't forget to update your signature with all of your pool info. See mine as an example.

 

[candent99]

Ok, I will email the Commercial link but the Taylor K-2006C is $181.99. Does that sound reasonable? I live close to the border...if they sell a good kit at a pool store in NY state I could probably get it there or is this the price I'd pay. I have tried to change my signature to have more info.

 

[candent99]

Oh, and if this is still algae, would the 8x5L 5% chlorine be enough? Do I just keep retesting the FC every couple of hours to see where this is at? Do I want the shock level to be active until all algae is white and then go to the overnight test?

 

[Texas Splash]

the Taylor K-2006C is $181.99. Does that sound reasonable?

We've seen many times that you pay much more up north than we would down here. If you can get either kit from NY, that would be ideal. As for the chlorine percentage, either will work, but obvioulsy the smaller the % the more product required. I don't know enough about the best vendors in your area. Hopefully some others will reply to help you with that one.

As for performing the actual SLAM Process process, the key is to "maintain" that elevated FC level. First you lower your pH to about 7.2, then you go to our FC/CYA Levels. On that chart you find you current CYA and the correlating SLAM/Shock FC level and maintain it as best as you can until you pass all 3 SLAM criteria.