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poolmedic244

Well-known member
Aug 17, 2021
73
Long Island, NY
Pool Size
26500
Surface
Vinyl
Chlorine
Salt Water Generator
SWG Type
Autopilot Total Control PPC3
Brand new pool. Reading here for a long time, but it's a different game when it comes time to actually needing to action.
Pool size: 26,500 gallons. Variable speed pump with cartridge filter. Finished filling on Sat, already green! Pool company initialized everything yesterday (Monday), added salt, algicide and some shock and took a water sample. They called me today with these values, and suggested that I purchase these chemicals:

FC-0 (I think it's 1.0 right now, since the SWG has now had 24 hours to generate)
ph-6.4
TA-33
CH-20
CYA-0
Borate 1
Sat Index -2.4

They want me to buy:
25 lbs of alkalinity
50 lbs of calcium up
3 buckets of salt support (Borate/CYA)
6 lbs of shock (cal hypo power 73)

Question 1: Is this right?
Question 2: should I be buying this stuff from them (for $462+tax!!!), or should I be buying the chemical versions of this stuff (ie, Baking Soda at Home Depot is $9 instead of $50 at Leslies!)
Question 3: Was is the procedure for adding these chemicals?
 
Welcome to TFP! :wave: No, it's not right and you'll be flushing money down the toilet. Since salt has already been added, it's safe to say this is a vinyl pool. In that case, you need no calcium. Your CYA, FC, TA, and pH are all low, so that needs to be addressed. We'll show you how - easy! one of that shock junk. I have to ask ..... no chance you have iron in your water supply? No well? Seems odd to get algae so quickly unless your water temp is warm.

Order forwards:
1 - Add stabilizer for a CYA target of 30 for now until we confirm if the green is algae or iron.
2 - Increase the FC with liquid chlorine for now to 3 ppm for now, then after you get the CYA added, balance the FC to the CYA as noted on the FC/CYA Levels.
3 - Add baking soda to increase the TA to about 70-80. That should help to increase the TA and also the pH.
4 - No pucks or tabs. If you have any in there, remove them now (acidic)
5 - If you have any way to aerate the water, that will help to increase the pH. You need to get the pH up to about 7.2.
6 - Update your signature with all of your pool and equipment info. We'll watch for your reply on the algae versus iron issue and go from there.

Most importantly, be sure to test your own water with w TF-100 or Taylor K-2006C. Do NOT trust other's testing. It's often wrong.

The link below is good to keep handy.

www.troublefreepool.com

Pool Care Basics Archives

Your one-stop shop for all things TFP to include: ABCs of Water Chemistry, Recommended Chemicals/Levels, Test Kits, Troubleshooting, and much more!
www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com
 
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Wow. Thanks for the quick replies. Yes, brand spanking new. Details added to the sig, but to answer you directly, no, it's a vinyl liner.

No tabs or anything else in there. Just the chems they added to start it up (520lbs of salt), some liquid shock, and algicide. As to the first questions: We started filling it last week when it was *really* hot and gross outside. (To give you a clue, water comes out of our hoses pretty cold, and yet the water temp is at close to 80 degrees unheated!). Filled the deep end, had to wait for them to come back to finish the liner stuff and then finished filling the pool Sat. night.

Our area has very heavy water/iron in our taps...

So what to do? I'd like to action this today so that we can use the Dang thing...short season for us!
 
Ooooh. Okay, I suspect there may be some metal reaction coupled with algae. By any chance you don't happen to have the container from the algaecide they dumped in there do you? Curious to know if there was any copper in that container.

Even if there is metals in the water, we always treat for algae first. Killing algae requires an elevated FC level based on the FC/CYA Levels which is why I mentioned earlier to only increase the CYA to 30 for now (lower FC level). So here’s what I would recommend:

1 – Start preparing for a SLAM Process process now. Add stabilizer for a CYA goal of 30 and increase the FC to 12. Follow the instructions on the SLAM Process page carefully.
2 – Any iron in the water may react to the elevated FC level. During this period, place some polyfill in your skimmer and/or run pool water through a polyfill filter separately. See the link below as an example. The more iron you eliminate now the better. If we find out later you have copper, that's a different story. Hopefully not, but we'll see.

If you follow the SLAM page carefully you should get a handle on the algae portion. The iron issue depends on the amount of iron in the water. But you can still swim in the pool during the SLAM process, even with the elevated FC level once you get the stabilizer (CYA of 30) in there. Be sure to use out PoolMath APP for dosage amounts.

Maintain the elevated SLAM FC level until you pass all 3 criteria. That’s important so that the algae doesn’t return.

From brown to 😍😍. Thank you polyfil!

We filled our pool from our well. We knew the risks and knew we would have a battle when the water was 12" deep as it looked green from the metals. Our fears were confirmed when we added chlorine and the water turned brown almost immediately. Enter 5 gallon polyfil filter. It worked...
www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com
 
Also, during a SLAM, we recommend leaving the SWG off and just using liquid chlorine as SWGs are not designed to maintain such a high FC level.

Adding CYA:
To increase CYA via granular stabilizer, place the required amount as calculated by the Poolmath calculator into a white sock and place in the poolside skimmer basket. For those concerned about suction flow to the pump, suspending the sock near a return jet or from a floating device will also suffice. Best never to allow undissolved granules to rest directly against the pool surface. Squeeze the sock periodically to help it dissipate. Once dissolved, consider your CYA adjusted to that programmed (target) level. CYA test readings should show a rise in 24-48 hours, however some pools may experience a longer delay to fully register. Best to confirm final CYA in about 5-7 days before adding any more stabilizer/conditioner.
Click to expand...
 
Okay...three questions:
1. Do I need to buy these chemicals at the pool store, or...is this home depot/walmart/etc...
2. Don't take this the wrong way - why is the pool company (this is the builder) giving me the initial advise?
3. Yes, I have a heater. It is not on, and is bypassed until I can get the chemistry under control.
4. What's polyfill?
 

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1. Baking soda from your local grocery store. Check your local Walmart and Home Depot for stabilizer and liquid chlorine. Use pool store as a last resort due to cost.
2. Builders often mess-up chemicals. They don't take into account fundamental principles that could impact water chemistry. In most cases, it's "dump & run" without any testing.
3. By-passed - Great! That low pH makes the water very aggressive right now, so we don't want the heater element to get damaged (eroded).
 
To question #2 again ... vinyl needs to calcium so why are they recommending selling you calcium and cal-hypo? I'm sure their Alkalinity-Up product is 2 - 3Xs the cost of regular baking soda (same thing). Trust me, we've seen it all. I'm still concerned about the algaecide they added - copper? Once copper is in the water, it never leaves and can stain. Hopefully the product they used was non-copper based.
 
When they give you their computer print out, just nod politely, say thank you, and leave. I can tell you new water has no stabilizer (CYA), so you are the first to add CYA if the builders did not. You can add about 1/2 to 3/4 gallon of liquid chlorine each day until the kit arrives. They "should" get fairly close on the pH and TA test, but let's wait to see what you post when you get back.
 
Okay! Here are the new numbers:

FC - 4.26
TC - 6.02
PH - 7
TA - 34
Calcium Hardness - 21
CYA - 5
Iron - 0.2
Copper - 0.2
Phosphates - 41
Salt - 2787

Only because of my time - it's the middle of my workday - I did purchase 4 gal of liquid shock ($19.49+tax, so not TERRIBLE), and then proceeded to home depot to get 24lb of baking soda for $18.

So, thanks to all y'all we've already saved some bucks, albeit yes, I spent a bit on the shock.

I dumped in the 24lb of alkalinity, will wait a few hours and then by my calculations, I'll toss in 3 gallons of the shock. Hopefully that clears things up and then we can re-test and take care of the calcium and stabilizer (CYA) stuff.

Course correct me if I've got something wrong with my plan of action here!

Thank you again!
 

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