Omg, fired pool guy, thought I had it figured out, then found this site

[Mdragger88]

Everybody has got u covered! May i just say that the slight whiff I get from opening a jug of 10-12% liquid chlorine has nothing on the eyewatering, nose burning, breathtaking effects from opening a container of trichlor pucks!
Also I rinse my empty jug in the pool (to be sure i get every last drop of that liquid gold) then i place it in my recycling bin or if its a refillable 2.5 gal jug from my local mom& pop I store it under my deck until time to swap it out. I store all my liquid chlorine under my deck in the shade as i have an above ground pool but in a shed is fine too- just not near other forms of chlorine or acids.

 

[JoeSelf]

See if pool stores near you sell 12.5% in refillable jugs. Best way IMHO.

ACE Hardware has 10% jugs. Walmart, Lowes, & Home Depot too.

 

[Katygreys]

Got a few 2.5 gal jugs of 12.5%(ish) from pinch a penny. Pool math told me to go to 10 FC at 85 CYA. Water smells a bit bleachy for sure. We’ll see what happens…

Thanks all for the great replies so far.

 

[ajw22]

With a FC of 2 and a CYA of 90 you probably got some algae in your water.

The water smelling bleachy is the chlorine doing it’s job as you have a good level of chlorine in for the first time. What you smell are the CCs that the algae killing causes.

Do a Overnight Chlorine Loss Test and you probably need to follow the SLAM Process to get your water algae free. This is where the CYA 90 level will bite you. For a SLAM at CYA 90 you need to maintain a FC of 36 ppm. That takes a lot of chlorine and is difficult to maintain.

 

[Katygreys]

Ugg, I think I'll start draining tomorrow. Life was soooo much easier before TFP entered my life...AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH....I was blissfully on my way to CYA 500 followed by likely addition of flocculants and Alkalinity Down followed immediately by Alkalinity Up (seriously, they should have way better names...zero originality), phosphate reducers and other magical pool store faux-elixirs.

So...I'll try to get CYA down to 60ish for now to make things more manageable. To make things more interesting, we are going out of town Friday morning for 7 days. I'll update on the pool drain soon, and I am positive I will have some last minute vacation prep drama to add. I've been reading the vacation prep stuff...so maybe I'll drain, SLAM, then then leave for vacation at SLAM levels...or whatever. Or maybe I'll buy a bunch of Plecostomii at the fish store and throw em in to eat any algae that pops up while we're gone.

Cheers!

 

[kul]

Life was soooo much easier before TFP entered my life

Don’t worry, dude! It will be easy soon enough. The beginning is the toughest part.

 

[Mdragger88]

A good sense of humor definitely helps with a case of the “Aaaahhhhs!” We’ll be here waiting to assist when u get back. No worries, you’ll have it marvelous in no time

 

[Newdude]

A good sense of humor definitely helps with a case of the “Aaaahhhhs!”

+1. Know what really REALLY helps ???? Not empying your purse on this stuff.

I was blissfully on my way to CYA 500 followed by likely addition of flocculants and Alkalinity Down followed immediately by Alkalinity Up

We got you TG. Enjoy the trip.

 

[kimkats]

Get your CYA down to 50 or so and you can use pucks while you are gone!!! Top off the FC with liquid chlorine 10 mins before you get dressed to leave (knowing you WILL get some of it on your good clothes if you do it after dressed). You can even take it to Mustard Algae level as it will be a one time thing.

When you come back you can start looking at SWG so you don't have the travel worries any more.

Kim

 

[Katygreys]

So, I think I've drained 25-30%. May not be ideal, but the whole notion of the pool launching out of the ground is enough for me to call it good for now. I had 2 of these bad boys going for about 5 hours:

Wayne 0.16 hp. WaterBUG Submersible Utility Pump with Multi-Flo Technology WWB - The Home Depot

Water bugging you, The Wayne WWB WaterBUG Submersible Water Removal Pump with Multi-Flow Technology is the tool for you. Our Patented Multi-Flo Technology is key and allows the user, easy selection of

www.homedepot.com

Filling up now.... More to come!

 

[kul]

pool launching out of the ground is enough for me to call it good for now

For sure! Better to just do a little at a time. I was totally paranoid about this happening so did RO. Also wanted to conserve water.

 

[ajw22]

Did anyone show you the No Drain Water Exchange Process to lower CYA?

 

[Katygreys]

Did anyone show you the No Drain Water Exchange Process to lower CYA?

Yep. I saw that. However, just wanted to do a partial drain quicker. We haven’t had much rain here in Katy (save a bit last night) recently. But yea, now that I’ve hopefully knocked CYA down significantly, I’ll do the no drain/exchange to fine tune at a more leisurely pace. Thanks!!

 

[johngault007]

I too thought this was going to be a bit overwhelming when I discovered this site. But luckily I had 3 months to prepare as my pool was being built. Once the pool was up and running and the PB cleared it for me to take over (I actually started balancing before that), it has been nothing but a simple task every day, then eventually every few days to a week as I learned what my pool needed throughout the season.

I do have the advantage of using a SWG, so it makes the chlorine task a little more manageable as I just have to adjust the SWG depending on the season. Even after a near miss from a hurricane that dropped enough water to almost flood the pool, rebalancing only took a day or two to compensate for the dramatic increase in rain water.

In the end, this site and the amazing members here have indirectly saved me more money than I can total up, valuable time, and a trouble free pool! Just stick with it and you will be one of us fellow kool-aid drinkers.

 

[Katygreys]

Ok, filled 'er up and did full triage. CYA down from 90 to 60, TA 120 to 100, and CH 400 to 300. Just dumped in 37 oz of 12.5% to get FC to 7. Will check again in couple hours. Pool Math is mad at me and wants me to bring TA down to 70, and it's passive aggressively hinting I need to bring CH up to 450. How important are these last 2 items?

P.S. - I am currently working with the Taylor 2005 so limited to DPD...2006C coming tomorrow via amazon.

==========================================
Pool
------------------------------------------
Build Type: Plaster
Volume: 18000 gallons
------------------------------------------
Latest Test Result Summary:
FC: 5.0 (45 minutes ago)
CC: 0.0 (45 minutes ago)
pH: 7.4 (45 minutes ago)
TA: 100 (45 minutes ago)
CH: 300 (45 minutes ago)
CYA: 60 (45 minutes ago)
TEMPERATURE: 65° (45 minutes ago)
CSI: -0.31 (45 minutes ago)
==========================================

 

[wireform]

Ignore them for now at least. TA is good the way it is but will come down with PH management. Wait some on the CH and just watch the CSI.

 

[Mdragger88]

How long have u been circulating? I would give it 24hrs & retest the cya to be sure.
Dose to the high fc target - there is no harm just more insurance.

 

[Katygreys]

How long have u been circulating? I would give it 24hrs & retest the cya to be sure.
Dose to the high fc target - there is no harm just more insurance.

Circulated for a couple hours. Will measure CYA again tomorrow. Any thoughts on the TA and CH..?? Thx!

 

[Newdude]

Any thoughts on the TA and CH..?? Thx!

Ignore them for now at least. TA is good the way it is but will come down with PH management. Wait some on the CH and just watch the CSI.

+1

FC is the only thing that matters with more draining coming soon.

Pool Math is mad at me and wants me to bring TA down to 70

She gets testy at times. Any 'in range' is equally fine if the CSI agrees. Don't go chasing something more ok than ok. Thats how the pool store gets ya.

 

[Bengi010]

My 2 cents. I’ve been using the TFP method for 3 years since I bought this goat and it works flawlessly. I keep the cya low, 30-40 ish and test a couple times a week. I added 24 gallons of bleach last year total, from opening in May to closing in September is basically a little over a gallon a week. I see no reason you need to hoard bleach and as every day. Also I buy it in 5 gal containers 2 at a time from the pool store. Never had a algae bloom or any other trouble whatsoever.