New Plaster

[Mr. Muriaticacid]

I just got back from Wally World with some 10% liquid chlorine date code 22048 and I poured 1 gallon in the pool. I’ll check it in about 30 minutes. For good measure I bought a box of HTH 6-way test strips to verify no chlorine and there is no chlorine in the pool, or very little. Man, I wouldn’t want to rely on those test strips to manage my pool after seeing what the color chart shows compared to the drop testing.

I was in a hurry today when I went to Leslie’s and didn’t take the time to check the date code, lesson learned. Monday will be 4 days since fill and I’ll start the CYA in a sock then. I’ll post my CL results when I get them shortly and hopefully it shows some chlorine!

 

[Mr. Muriaticacid]

Now I’m really stumped. After almost 4 gallons of very old liquid chlorine and 1 full gallon of very fresh chlorine I still have zero chlorine in my pool. What could be going on? Test strips showed 0, Taylor K1000 shows 0, and tf100 test kit all show 0 chlorine. Could it be algae from sitting for 2 days with no sanitizer? The wind was really blowing here after they finished plastering and there was some organic matter in there during and after fill. The water is cloudy still in the deep end with the pump on for about 36 hours straight since startup. I hate to keep pouring more chlorine in there because I dont want to damage the plaster but I need to do something because I can’t reach anybody at the pool company. HELP!

 

[ajw22]

With 0 CYA your FC can go quickly in the sun. You are past day 4 according to your PM log. Are you getting 30 CYA into the water?

Cloudy water is not a good sign. That is the first time you mentioned that.

Trust your TF100 and stop playing with test strips.

Keep adding LC and testing to your pool while the CYA goes up. If you do have some algae adding the LC will keep the algae in check.

You are doing as well as your pool company would. They are not going to come in with some miracle solution. They will probably just nuke your pool with chlorine. Be patient and stay with the program.

 

[Mr. Muriaticacid]

Thank you ajw for sticking with me on this. I haven’t added stabilizer because the pool didn’t finish filling until Thursday morning and I thought you said 4 days after that which would be Monday. Do I disregard that in this case since the pool has to have stabilizer at this point?

The cloudiness I didn’t recognize until I turned the pool light on last night. It was never crystal clear but it seemed to have gotten worse since all the chlorine was added. Also, the wind has been gusting 30 mph here pretty much non stop since they plastered.

I don’t mind adding more liquid chlorine but I feel like adding 1 gallon at a time is just spinning my wheels. How much can I safely add considering the new plaster? Thanks again for hanging with me but in the previous 12 years we’ve had the pool it’s never had algae and the new plaster is really making things complicated for me.

What if I do this, start the stabilizer and shoot for around 10 chlorine and go from there? Also, continue monitoring ph, ta, and ch.

 

[ajw22]

Add the stabilizer tomorrow then.

You don’t want more then 3 ppm of FC during your startup.

If you have algae you will deal with it after a few weeks and you startup is over. The algae will not affect your startup process. Doing the SLAM Process will.

Dont worry about how many gallons it takes to get the 3ppm of FC. Do what it takes.

 

[Mr. Muriaticacid]

Add the stabilizer tomorrow then.

You don’t want more then 3 ppm of FC during your startup.

If you have algae you will deal with it after a few weeks and you startup is over. The algae will not affect your startup process. Doing the SLAM Process will.

Dont worry about how many gallons it takes to get the 3ppm of FC. Do what it takes.

Thank you, much appreciated! This really is a wonderful site with lots of great people willing to help others and I’m grateful for the help I’ve gotten recently as well as in the past. I’ll post again if anything changes.

 

[Mr. Muriaticacid]

Alright, here is what I have learned from the pool guy who came by today for the 2nd and final cleaning/adjustments. The Orenda System is somewhat different from what we do at TFP. The reason I couldn’t get a chlorine reading even after adding almost 5 gallons of liquid chlorine is because of the ingredient called SC-1000 that they added to the pool during startup. The paragraph below is from the Orenda website.

“SC-1000 conflicts with chlorine until it has chelated a metal or mineral.Chlorine tries to oxidize SC-1000 but fails. This means a purge of SC-1000 will wipe out free chlorine levels for a few days if you do not give SC-1000 time to do its job (find metals/minerals and chelate them). One way around this is to divide the purge dose into three or four smaller doses over several days or weeks, which allows for less chlorine loss, while still addressing the metals/minerals gradually.”

The pool guy added enough cal-hypo today to bring my FC to 7ppm but by evening it was down to 3ppm due to just now starting to add stabilizer with the sock method. I hope the chlorine loss is due to no CYA and not from any residual SC-1000 that might still be in the pool. Anyhow, I’m brushing 2X a day and making sure the CSI is between 0.0 and 3.0. I’ll feel better when I get some CYA in there and see if things settle down a little bit. The only thing that worries me now is the slight cloudiness of the water that could be plaster dust because I thought the Orenda Method solves the dust issue but maybe all the chlorine I put in there has something to do with that.

 

[Mr. Muriaticacid]

making sure the CSI is between 0.0 and 3.0

Sorry, meant to say 0.0 and 0.3

 

[ajw22]

Chlorine will oxidize the SC-1000 sequetrant until the SC-1000 is gone. The more you add chlorine the quicker you will oxidize it and be able to maintain a FC level. To chlorine the SC-1000 is the same as algae.

We do not have a high regard for these type of magic potions and a basic metal sequestrant would have been just as good.

To manage your pool chemistry you need to understand everything put into your pool water and not put anything in that you don't understand what its effects will be.

 

[Mr. Muriaticacid]

To manage your pool chemistry you need to understand everything put into your pool water and not put anything in that you don't understand what its effects will be.

I agree wholeheartedly but I wasn’t aware of what “they” put in in my pool. Being it was the weekend and being unreachable because they like their time off too, I felt like I needed chlorine in there since the last thing I wanted was algae with new plaster. As of now things appear to be normal but I’m sure time will tell how the plaster holds up. All I know is that when the water hits 80 is when I hit the water! Happy Swimming