Minmex's pool water restoration & log thereof

[minmex]

Hi all-
I must confess...I got kinda lazy and uninterested in my pool, went to the dark side and used pucks last summer and over the winter. Now it's time to put things proper!

Just got my TF100 refill and here's what I just got:

FC 7
CC - didn't test
pH looks like 6.8, maybe even lower
T/A didn't seem to work
CH also weird
CYA far over 100. Only took about 5/8" of the mixed solution to hide the black dot.

So..step 1 today
Drained about a foot out of the pool
Threw in 3-4 lbs of baking soda
Refilling the foot back from the hose

Will report back tomorrow with hopefully some better #s :O

 

[jblizzle]

A foot is not enough. You need to replace at least 50% of the water. I would focus on that before adding other chemicals. If you can't drain more than 1 foot at a time, then do it at least 2 more times, then circulate and retest the CYA.

Note, that tablets are very acidic, and thus lower the pH and the TA (which might be close to 0 if your test did not work).

 

[minmex]

Dumped a lot of the water and refilled last night. Added about 3/4 gallon of 10% bleach.
Now I'm at
FC 10
CC 0
pH 6.8 or lower
CYA 100-120

Now what? Another big dump/refill?

I see that CYA should be in the 40-60 range, but what happens if it is at 100, assuming the other numbers are ok? I see I'll need a higher FC level, and also that it would be difficult if I needed to SLAM it, but what other issues would arise? Thanks!

 

[jblizzle]

I think you get it. At a higher CYA level, you just need to maintain a higher FC level, and the real problem begins if you need to SLAM.
The only other real issue is that the pH test does not work when the FC > 10ppm. So if your minimum FC is near or above 10ppm, then the pH test becomes trickier.

I think I would do another 2 foot water replacement.

 

[minmex]

Yea I suppose...what's a few more $$ on the water bill ... Do I need to wait a minimum time for the CYA of the old water to mix together with the new water? I've left the pump on this whole time just to help the mixing just in case. It finished filling about 10pm last night and I just tested today at 5pm, so it's been mixing for 18+hours.

 

[jblizzle]

It should be mixed well enough in an hour or so.

 

[minmex]

Happy times, dumped more water and refilled with help from rain:
FC 10.5
CC 0.0
TC 10.5
PH 6.8
TA 50
CYA 70-80

Now to throw in some Baking soda to boost the TA and help get pH back to normal values and I should be good to go. I'll be hooking up a stenner type bleach pump with an automated control so I can always maintain good FC levels so I don't get into a SLAM situation.

I'm thinking of leaving the CYA at the higher end of the range, as my pool has no shade until 6-7pm.

Thanks TFP for getting me back out of puckdom.