New Pool owner

[rpenterics]

Hello all,
My wife and I purchase our first home last September, it came with a pool that had been "professionally" closed at least 3 years ago.
Photo of covered pool from last summer sometime:


Fast forward to last Friday (I ordered my TF-100 Test Kit on Thursday) - I come home to find my pool has been uncovered, the level lowered, and my pump/filter is running
Found an invoice in the mailbox from a local pool company - my address on the paper but not my name (previous renter maybe?) Anyway I have not been able to contact the pool company due to the holiday weekend so I have no idea what they did or didn't add to the pool. So far I have just been vacuuming and back flushing the filter and adding water of course. I also patched a few cuts/holes in the vinyl liner that were above the water line. I'll post back tonight with my initial results from the TF-100 and hopefully I can get pointed in the right direction.
Friday (5/23/14) photos:



Pool is approx. 30x15x5 (I'll get better measurements too)

Thanks,
Ryan

 

[JasonLion]

If you have a leaf rake, check around and make sure there isn't any debris on the bottom. Since it had a cover it should be fine, but good to double check.

When you get water test results we can get going with the real process of cleaning up the water.

 

[karmabiker]

Welcome to TFP!

Looking forward to the first set of results. All in all it looks better than a lot that we see.

 

[timerguy]

I'm looking forward to what the pool company had to say about them opening your pool for you without you knowing about it!

 

[rpenterics]

Pool is 32'x16'x3'-2" so about 12,754 gallons

FC 0
CC 0.5
CH 125
TA 80
CYA 0
pH 7.2

 

[karmabiker]

Any ideas on what the pool company threw in? I ask because it can take up to a week for CYA to show up.
Ph is good.
FC is what I would expect
time to SLAM.

If they didn't throw in anything that would add CYA (I suspect they didn't as its almost a week now) you can start with getting your CYA to 40 (do this in 2 steps - target 20 see where you land then stair step to 40)
While you have the CYA in a sock in the skimmer or in front of the skimmer start the SLAM process, use a CYA number of 20 even though it wont show up in the test yet (its in there and working)

See SLAMming your pool

You are going to need a fair amount of bleach...

If you aren't sure of what volume of which chemical to put in post up here with what you think is correct (based on the pool math link above and in my sig) and we will help you thru it.

... and get as much crud off of the bottom as possible.

 

[Divin Dave]

Ok,
PH is good
TA is good
CH is good

recommend to use Pool Math and find out how much CYA you need to add to get to 30ppm. Then add it.
Use 30 as your CYA level for determining your FC. *dont worry about testing again for CYA, may take several days to register, just figure you have 30

Then find your FC level for SLAM and get some chlorine in there... then test FC an hour later to see if its dropped. If it has, bring it back to SLAM
if it has, take it to SLAM level overnight then test again in the a.m. and post results

 

[rpenterics]

I'm looking forward to what the pool company had to say about them opening your pool for you without you knowing about it!

Pool company basically said "oops, didn't update the customers address in our system - but hey you got a free pool opening" - All he could tell me was they added some "chlorine shock" whatever that means - invoice stated "1 - Case Chlorine" and I found two white pucks in the strainer basket, which I removed that day.

Headed to pick up some bleach and CYA tonight after work, will post addition plans after I see what I have available

 

[rpenterics]

I ended up with 5 gallons of 10% sodium hypochlorite and 7 gallons of 8.25% clorox bleach (cleaned out the store, will have to go out again tonight or in the morning so I can keep up I'm sure)

So based on a CYA of 30 (after adding 51 oz. of stabilizer) I'm shooting for a shock level of 12 so I plan to add 1.5 gallons of the 10% and go from there. Sound right? Any reason not to start at night? Will rain affect anything?

 

[karmabiker]

Night is good. No uv to burn the cl. I don't have pool math handy so I can't confirm your dose ... But it does pass the smell test. Remember that you don't want to drop Too far below your shock level 1 once an hour no less than 2x daily). If you are going to be gone for a long time overshoot by a little. It is most effective with multiple doses a day.

Note that you will drift below ... Don't sweat it when you do, just get back in range.

No need to worry about the rain.

Edited to be in line with slam instructions...

 

[smforte]

Nothing of importance to add...just love these green, soon to be clean stories. Good luck! Trust these people!

 

[rpenterics]

CYA is still slowly dissolving

Added 1.5 gallons of 10% at 12:30
FC was 14 at 1:30

made no further additions, I'll check, add, and post again in the morning

as a side note the pump/filter has been running constantly since it was opened Friday (not counting back flushing, vacuuming, etc) Is this okay? There appears to be a timer in the circuit but I haven't looked at it closely to see if it is set or not.

 

[rpenterics]

6:45 AM
FC 11.5
really expected to lose more than that.
Calculator says I need 7.9 oz to get back to 12, I'll add as close to that as I can measure and check in an hour or so.

 

[karmabiker]

Good job!
Motor running 24x7 is appropriate for the slam. When you finish the slam you will want to dial it back to between 4 and 8 hours a day.

 

[rpenterics]

9:20
FC 9.5
sunlight seems to be having an affect now
Calc says I need 40 oz. - going to add 64+ because I may be away for awhile

 

[mfederwi]

now that you have some Chlorine in there you may want to test for CC to see where you are at and track the progress.

 

[rpenterics]

2:45
FC 4
CC 0
Adding 1 gallon of 10%
going to scrub and vac as well

 

[karmabiker]

 

[rpenterics]

3:50
FC 10.5
Adding 24 oz of 10%

 

[rpenterics]

5:30
FC 9.5
Adding 40 oz of 10%