HELP - 1st time pool owner and NO IDEA where to start! (pics)

[Divin Dave]

Washing soda can be found in the laundry isle at teh grocery store. Arm and Hammer makes it, but make SURE the box says washing SODA and not washing powder... big big difference.

or you can use Borax also to raise the pH.

Consider the pH to be 6.8, because thats as the low as test will go. Add to raise it to 7.2 per pool math, and then test again 30 minutes later. If your pH is still low, repeat until you get your pH up.

And yeah, turning the pump on just stirs it up!

 

[carterje]

Hi cartege,

do the tests when your water is at the correct level and the pump has been running for 30 minutes or so. Thats the easiest and best way.
For slamming, you need your CYA level at about 30. It its a bit higher thats ok, just use the FC SLAM for whatever the CYA is. If its lower, then add enough CYA to get you to 30ppm.

To add cya, pour the granules into an old sock, tie the end closed and put the sock full of CYA in your skimmer. Squeeze the sock every now and then to help the dissolving CYA escape. Dont worry about testing for CYA after you put it in. It can take as long as a week for it to show up on your test.

After that, adjust your pH to 7.2. Use muriatic acid to lower pH, use either Borax or Washing SODA to raise pH.

After you have adjusted pH, wait 30 minutes, then add the bleach

Thank you!!! I did the tests and posted the results. The pump had been running about 45 minutes once I did them. So, if I understand correctly, my first goal is to get CYA up, then pH, then bleach ( which will impact my FC?) I guess my question is...if I won't see the impact of the CYA for up to a week, then how will I know I'm ready for the next step?

- - - Updated - - -

 

[TomBorg]

... and the pool looks worse than ever.

Yay! That makes for better "before and after" pictures!

If I put 15000 gallons into poolmath, it tells me to use 60oz of stabilizer to go from 0 to 30. And only 111oz (by volume) of borax to go from 6.8 to 7.2.

I would do pH first. Add the borax, then test 30 to 60 minutes later. If your pH was below 6.8, you'll have to add more, but you don't want to overshoot. You want to aim for right at 7.2.

While the first batch of borax is circulating, go ahead and get the stabilizer started. Put it in a sock, and hang it in front of a return.

Once you have the pH at 7.2, it is time to start the SLAM. The stabilizer will take a while to dissolve, but you can target an FC level of around 10ppm today (222oz of 8.25% chlorine), and 12 tomorrow. Or go ahead and aim for 12ppm right away.

Brush and retest FC often.

 

[carterje]

Washing soda is beside the borax in the laundry isle.


My husband thought I was nuts when I started using stuff from the grocery store. Then he seen how the water sparkles and no burning eyes in the pool and he tells everyone about my pool methods. Lol

I hope to follow in your footsteps and have my husband bragging about me!

 

[Divin Dave]

I have an idea for you.

As you know, cartridge filter are very efficent at doing their job. It will take little time for your cartridges to clog up wif algae and will be a giant pain cleaning them so aften as you will have to. Not mention nasty.

My recommendation for the 1st 3 days. Open up your filter and take the cartridges out. Then close the filter back up.
This will serve the same purpose of "recirculate" and save you a lot of frustration in filter cleaning at the start of the slam.

After the water starts to turn blue, put the filters back in. You will still have to clean the filters a bit, but not as much.

 

[April]

TFP is great! You will have your pool beautiful in no time!

He will be bragging for sure!

 

[carterje]

Yay! That makes for better "before and after" pictures!

If I put 15000 gallons into poolmath, it tells me to use 60oz of stabilizer to go from 0 to 30. And only 111oz (by volume) of borax to go from 6.8 to 7.2

I used PoolMath to recalculate the gallons. At 27ft round and 4ft. deep, it said 17,100 so I updated my signature I'll start with stabilizer!

 

[carterje]

I have an idea for you.

My recommendation for the 1st 3 days. Open up your filter and take the cartridges out. Then close the filter back up.
This will serve the same purpose of "recirculate" and save you a lot of frustration in filter cleaning at the start of the slam.

After the water starts to turn blue, put the filters back in. You will still have to clean the filters a bit, but not as much.

Great idea! I will do that!

 

[jeffchap]

This is going to be a fun one to watch. Just be sure to keep that FC at SLAM levels and you'll be amazed. Just remember, your pool didn't get this way overnight, so don't expect it to come back overnight either. Be patient and keep at it and you'll get it under control.

 

[Swampwoman]

Welcome, carterje.

Just to clarify -- once you've added the CYA, don't wait for it to show up...start the slam using the amount of CYA you added to get your Slam level in pool Calc. In other words, assume its there

 

[carterje]

Welcome, carterje.

Just to clarify -- once you've added the CYA, don't wait for it to show up...start the slam using the amount of CYA you added to get your Slam level in pool Calc. In other words, assume its there

Thank you for the clarification, I needed that!!

 

[pooldv]

I used PoolMath to recalculate the gallons. At 27ft round and 4ft. deep, it said 17,100 so I updated my signature I'll start with stabilizer!

Is your water 4' deep or is your pool 4' deep?

 

[carterje]

I have an idea for you.

As you know, cartridge filter are very efficent at doing their job. It will take little time for your cartridges to clog up wif algae and will be a giant pain cleaning them so aften as you will have to. Not mention nasty.

My recommendation for the 1st 3 days. Open up your filter and take the cartridges out. Then close the filter back up.
This will serve the same purpose of "recirculate" and save you a lot of frustration in filter cleaning at the start of the slam.

After the water starts to turn blue, put the filters back in. You will still have to clean the filters a bit, but not as much.

We attempted this and our psi went crazy and water started leaking all over so we are going to just keep cleaning the filter.

 

[carterje]

Ok, so I've added the washing soda to get pH to 7.2, my questions are:

1. Do I need to wait for the pH to be correct before adding the bleach?
2. If so, how often do I test it? Every 30-60 minutes? And just keep adding (how often?) until it reaches the appropriate level?
3. I bought hth stabilizer and conditioner. I need 68 oz, which won't fit in one sock and what does fit will take up the entire skimmer....suggestions?
4. How much is rain going to impact this process?

 

[TomBorg]

1. You do want the pH to be right around 7.2 before starting the SLAM. Adding liquid chlorine (bleach) will cause a temporary rise in pH. If there are metals in your water, a high pH will cause them to precipitate out, creating odd colors and possibly staining the pool walls. Making sure your pH is 7.2 before you start will give you lots of headroom for the pH to rise before metals start to be a problem.

2. Once you begin the SLAM, your pH test will no longer be accurate (it is not accurate for FC over 10), so don't bother testing pH again until the SLAM is complete. During the SLAM, the only tests you do are Free Chlorine and Combined Chlorine. The first few hours of the SLAM, it can be helpful to test your FC every hour or so, and add bleach to bring it up to your target level (using PoolMath to calculate the correct amount). Once the FC starts to be a little more stable (like less than 5ppm loss each time), you can switch to every two hours or more. As time goes on, you can test less and less often.

3. You can do the stabilizer in two socks. Hang them in front of the return jet, rather than in the skimmer. Or one in the skimmer, one in front of the return.

4. Moderate rain won't impact the process much, other than making you reluctant to go out to get water samples. There will be some dilution of pool water, but the rain would have to be pretty severe for that to have a noticeable effect.

 

[carterje]

Well, we are well into this process. I had to enlist the help of my husband since he's a stay at home dad and has the ability to check FC throughout the day. He's also pretty handy for cleaning the filter, etc. luckily he's letting me take the lead and just follows my instructions. We got at least 2 inches of rain water in the pool last night. We got some in the basement too, lol. We are skimming, brushing, vacuuming, and cleaning the filter everyday. We could probably be cleaning the filter more, but we are doing it at least twice a day. I KNOW this is going to take some time, but what else can I do to speed up the process and when will we actually see some sort of progress?

PS - it's hard to vacuum when you can't see the bottom of your pool.

 

[carterje]

This is going to be a fun one to watch. Just be sure to keep that FC at SLAM levels and you'll be amazed. Just remember, your pool didn't get this way overnight, so don't expect it to come back overnight either. Be patient and keep at it and you'll get it under control.

Just curious how patient I need to be It's been 3 days and we've been vacuuming and keeping the FC levels where they need to be. I don't expect a clear pool but maybe just a lighter shade of green? I feel like I'm doing something wrong...

 

[kimkats]

I bet if you took pics on the first day and took one now you WOULD see a difference! Your eyes are seeing it today without the benefit of the first pics to compare it to.

Take your pics at the same spot each day. The steps or stairs are a good place to take them as you can watch the steps appearing more and more each day.

Some pools take 1 week, some take 3 weeks. Each pool is different. I wish I could tell you how long it will be

You are doing everything right. Now you just need time and bleach.

Kim

 

[carterje]

I can't decide if this is progress or just a difference in lighting. Day 1 was rainy. Today (day 3) was sunny. We have already gone through 1,152 ounces of bleach.

 

[Richard320]

Less scum on the surface. Plus if you compare the blue liners, you can see the darker green has the brighter blue. The darker lighting image is still lighter green. Progress.