Hurricane - Chemistry following Harvey Flooding

[Jeffc2112]

Hi All, we are getting back to pool maintenance, post-Harvey, and had a few questions to run past the forum. We got 30" of rain, but I loaded the pool up on bleach before the storm. We then evacuated for a week. No home damage, fortunately, so now I can focus on the pool. I drained partially before the storm, but since the yard flooded with dirty water (potentially including sewer water), the pool got flooded as well. It was pretty dirty so a couple days ago I started a slight SLAM, while focusing more on other clean up. Ran the filter 24x7, added a bunch of bleach (I thought), brushed a bit, and cleaned the filters a few times.

I just tested for the first time today, to assess where I'm at, and it's cleared up but the numbers are way off. (pics attached).

FC 2 (will boost this big time right now)
CC 0
pH 7.5
CH 125 (will work on this over time)
TA 50 (need to research raising TA)
CYA 0 (need to increase, question below)

Few questions, I'm sure many of us have:

- Is there a way to add CYA quicker than pucks, or should I just do a few rounds of pucks?
- With CYA near 0, can I still SLAM or should I get it at least to 20-30?
- If I SLAM with just bleach, is that safe, given we likely got some sewer water mixed in with flood water? Is there any other advice?

Thanks for any input,
Jeff

 

[Mr Bruce]

1. The absolute quickest way is liquid CYA. It is twice as expensive as the granular kind that's sold at Wal-Mart and other stores as "Stabilizer" (look for 99%+ Cyanuric acid, no "Blue" in the brand). The granular kind, in a sock suspended in front of a return is the preferred TFP method. Squeezing the sock makes it dissolve faster.

2. You need some CYA otherwise all your chlorine will be lost to the sun (UV). They can be added at the same time.

3. Bleach is king. If you can find a higher % of chlorine better, but 8.25% Wal-Mart brand is just fine.

edit: Your instincts are good, worry about CH and TA later. FC, ph and clean clear water are the top priority.

 

[Jeffc2112]

Thanks Mr Bruce.

Any thoughts on the potential of sewage in the water? Will Bleach clear it up?

Got the FC up to 12+ and am going to get some CYA now, have to figure out from Pool Math how much I'll need. Appreciate the update.