First time opening - need lots of guidance!

[SarahMili]

Hi! I’ve been browsing the forums for the past few weeks, have read the ABCs article, and am sold on working towards becoming a TFP expert! But- so much to learn... and definitely wish I’d done my homework & found this page back before we put in our pool last summer (we are now stuck with frog mineral system...). I spent that first season taking our water to get tested at a pool store every week and just blindly following whatever they told us to do. Even worse, we already purchased a lot of chemicals from them for the upcoming summer during a big sale back in January, so I will need to use those up before ultimately switching over to more precisely follow the TFP suggestions. This means I’ll still be using the frog system and will be shocking with zappit (calcium hypochlorite) until it’s used up.

That said, I bought my TF-100 test kit, downloaded pool math, and have a new Warrior SI robot thanks to what I’ve already learned on here. With you as “my people,” I’m hoping to still able to do some of this myself this year and ultimately use less chemical, even if I’m still using up our frog chlorine “bac pacs.” I’m ready to jump in! (Pun intended)

My husband had a company come open the pool for us today since it’s really our first time after being winterized. They dumped in a lot of chlorine along with the Frog algaebam (I know ??‍), algaecide, & sunguard “stain, rust, and scale control plus.” There are still a good bit of leaves and debris in the bottom of the pool that I‘m about to start scooping out, & he said that I shouldn’t put in the robot yet because of the high chlorine level right now. Can someone tell me how long I should wait before running the robot? How about before I test the water myself?

I set up a signature, but not sure if I did it right since I don’t see it when posting on my phone. I have a 19,500 gal fiberglass pool.

Thanks in advance!!!

 

[Texas Splash]

Welcome to another swimming season. Let the water mix well for a couple hours. If it gets dark there soon, test everything tomorrow and post back. You know our feelings on the Frog, minerals + chlorine equals staining. I would avoid using it myself. Just remove the mineral pack and stick to chlorine before the copper level gets out of hand. But that's your call. All the recommended chemicals, levels, and more are below in my signature. As for the robot, you can run it up to SLAM FC level based on your current CYA. See FC/CYA Levels. But once done, I'd give it a good rinsing with fresh water just to be safe. Let us know if you ave any other questions.

 

[wireform]

Sarah, Hi and welcome. As Texas put there's no need to use the frog and just remove the contents and go full out TFP method. It'll very easy going once you get the hang of it. It'll all come together if you follow here and just ask all the questions you have. Read read and read some more.....you may want to consider a SWCG later on down the road which will take the pool to the next level.

 

[duraleigh]

Now that you have a good kit, you should test the water and post your complete results.....like this

FC
CC
pH
TA
CYA

 

[SarahMili]

Ok I'm back! Gave my kit a test spin and I felt like I was back in Chemistry class! Too fun! I just entered everything in my app. The only test I wasn't sure about was the alkalinity. It turned yellow because my chlorine is so high, but I wasn't clear on whether it should eventually turn red also, or whether you just stop adding drops once it turns yellow. I went by once it turned yellow.

FC- 26
CC - 2
pH - 8.2
TA - 50-60 (I was thrown off by the yellow issue, so not as precise)
CYA - I'm going to go with 45. This definitely is a subjective test. I was like, "Well I can sort of see the dot so I guess I'll keep going..??"

I expect my FC to come down fast with the crud that's still in the pool. I spent several hours out there this afternoon and got all the leaves out, gave it a decent first vacuum and brushed most surfaces. I guess I should wait for FC to come down a bit before putting in the robot, right? Also, how do I know when to begin lowing the pH? I understand the test isn't reliable during SLAMing, so do I just wait until I'm done SLAMing to mess with pH? For that matter, do I need to test anything other than chlorine again during the SLAM process? Finally, if I understand correctly, my SLAM level is 18 FC based on the CYA, so would I let my FC come down to that and then try to maintain 18 until my CC gets down to .5 and I pass the overnight test? Sorry for so many questions!

 

[mknauss]

On your CYA testing --
When you do the CYA test, try this next time.

Once you have your solution ready, back to the sun, etc. Fill the vial to a line, say 80, lower the vial to your waist level and glance for the dot, you see it, add solution to the 70 line, glance, see it, repeat until you no longer see it with a glance. Then use the CYA value one step above the line you read. So if you stopped at 50, use 60 ppm CYA.

The vial is in logarithmic scale. So it is not viable to interpolate between the lines. Just use the whole numbers, such as 50, 40, 30, ....

For now, use 50 ppm for CYA, so FC of 20 ppm for SLAM.

The TA read Total Alkalinity - Trouble Free Pool

 

[SarahMili]

On your CYA testing --
When you do the CYA test, try this next time.

Once you have your solution ready, back to the sun, etc. Fill the vial to a line, say 80, lower the vial to your waist level and glance for the dot, you see it, add solution to the 70 line, glance, see it, repeat until you no longer see it with a glance. Then use the CYA value one step above the line you read. So if you stopped at 50, use 60 ppm CYA.

The vial is in logarithmic scale. So it is not viable to interpolate between the lines. Just use the whole numbers, such as 50, 40, 30, ....

For now, use 50 ppm for CYA, so FC of 20 ppm for SLAM.

The TA read Total Alkalinity - Trouble Free Pool

That's super helpful, thanks!