Help Getting Started - ASAP! : )

[adamick4]

Hi all. I'm new to this forum and new to really paying attention to pool chemistry. I've had a pool for 15 years, but never had any major problems until startup this year. Let's just say I ended up draining, putting in a new liner, and having water hauled to refill. I ordered the book from amazon and plan to go through all the pool math and pool school stuff. But...I'm in emergency mode, as I want to start treating the new water before anything goes astray. Here are my numbers from the pool store test today (I plan to get the recommended kit, but need to do this until I get all that figured out).
FC - 0.81 ppm
TC - 1.07 pm
CC - .26 ppm
pH - 7.7
Hardness - 257 ppm
Alkalinity - 253 ppm
Cyanuric Acid - 5ppm
Copper - 0 ppm
Iron - .5 ppm
Phosphate - 1087 ppb

The pool people recommended nothing for the iron, even though the paper states I should add iron sequestering agent.
They recommended I add stabilizer first - 4 lb through skimmer.
They recommended I then add muriatic acid - the paper says 3 gallons; they said put in 1 gallon. Said I could add it after the stabilizer.
Next up they said to add 1 gallon of shock a couple hours after the muriatic acid.

I am now in pool chemical paralysis, as I followed a different pool store's instructions when I opened and ended up with a disgusting green pool and maybe chlorine lock. I don't know, but I couldn't fix it.

What should I do first? In what order? How much? How should it be added (For example - she said add all 4 lbs of stabilizer at once - but slowly - through the skimmer). Should I? I see contradicting stuff all over the internet?

The paper says to start with dealing with the iron concentration, then alkalinity, then chlorine, then stabilizer.

PLEASE HELP!
Thanks.

 

[thetekgeek]

Bleach and CYA. That is all I would concentrate on until you are able to test the water yourself. Since this is a new fill, I would expect 0 CYA. So, add 30 ppm to the pool via the sock method. While that is dissolving, add enough bleach to get to 5 ppm FC. Follow this chart: Chlorine / CYA Chart - Trouble Free Pool

Each day between now and when you get a proper kit, add 2-3 ppm bleach to the pool. When the kit arrives, run a full set of tests and post them here. It might not be a bad idea to pick up a simple PH test kit to help you keep PH in check while you wait on the kit. IF your alkalinity is as high as they say it is, your PH might rise fairly rapidly.

 

[adamick4]

Bleach and CYA. That is all I would concentrate on until you are able to test the water yourself. Since this is a new fill, I would expect 0 CYA. So, add 30 ppm to the pool via the sock method. While that is dissolving, add enough bleach to get to 5 ppm FC. Follow this chart: Chlorine / CYA Chart - Trouble Free Pool

Each day between now and when you get a proper kit, add 2-3 ppm bleach to the pool. When the kit arrives, run a full set of tests and post them here. It might not be a bad idea to pick up a simple PH test kit to help you keep PH in check while you wait on the kit. IF your alkalinity is as high as they say it is, your PH might rise fairly rapidly.

Thanks! So let me make sure I understand this, because I've been kind of 'pool chemical dumb' for a long time. When you say add 30 ppm CYA to the pool via the sock method, do you mean add approx 3.75 lbs of the stabilizer to the pool? I need to look up the sock method, because I've never done that before.

Then, when you say add enough bleach (chlorine) to get to 5 ppm FC, can I pour in a gallon tonight?

And so disregard the muriatic acid for now?

 

[thetekgeek]

Sorry for the late response. You need to use Poolmath - PoolMath - Trouble Free Pool or PoolMath to calculate the volume of your pool in gallons.

My calculations show your pool around 15200 gallons. Now using 15200 gallons we can calculate how much weight of CYA you will need to add to the pool to get to 30 ppm. Poolmath calculated 61 oz. by weight of dry CYA to reach 30 ppm. The sock method, get an old tube sock or a woman's pantyhose sock. I bought a small pack of knee-high ladies pantyhose specifically for this. Add the dry acid to the sock and tie it so that it dangles in front of a return. Every 15 minutes or so, grab the sock and squeeze it to help the CYA dissolve. You should be able dissolve that amount in a few hours if you give it a good squeeze from time to time. It will take several hours of circulation before you can test to be sure you reached your target, so do this now and you will be able to test it when your kit arrives.

Now to the Bleach. Depending on the concentration you were able to find. Enter that concentration into PoolMath with a current FC of 0 and a goal of 5. Using your pool volume and concentration of 12.5%. It calculates 78 oz of bleach to add 5ppm FC to the pool. (2 quarts, 1 cup, 6 oz). Add this amount every day until your kit arrives.

PH. It might not be a bad idea to pick up some muriatic acid and a cheap PH test kit ($5-$10), but make sure it is the type with drops and a comparison block. I don't trust that the pool store got your TA test correct and that is a factor in controlling PH. However, IF it is correct your PH will probably rise pretty steadily. Using the cheap kit, I'd watch for the PH to rise to 7.8 - 8 and then knock it down to 7.6 which poolmath is showing about 36 oz of 34.5% muriatic acid.

Hopefully this helps.