Opening of Pool - Chemical Balancing

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JEM31

Well-known member
Jul 13, 2020
58
NJ
Hello everyone. We just opened our pool yesterday. It was a little green upon opening, which we believe happened because our cover had a rip in it over the winter and lots of leaves got into the pool. There is some dirt on the bottom which we know has to be vacuumed up. The liner has like a bathtub ring around it but the water is fairly clear....maybe a tad bit cloudy. We put in 2 gallons of liquid shock. Last year we had such a major problem clearing up our pool. It took us over a month and the help of people on here. Even at the end of the season we were not able to keep the chlorine level consistently high, which I believe the recommended level was 12. (Could be wrong on that....bad memory). We scrubbed the liner and the ladder and someone on here said that there had to be algae somewhere. We could not see one bit of algae........that is until we removed the ladder for the season. It seems that the water that was stuck inside the ladder was all green so I'm guessing that's where our problem was. We would never have thought of inside the ladder because the outside was crystal clean.

Anyway, I would like to start off and keep the pool clear this year without adding gallons upon gallons of liquid shock, especially since it seems chlorine products are hard to come by this year. Here are my numbers after adding in 2 gallons of liquid shock and having the filter running for over 15 hours so far.

Chlorine: 1 From daily test kit
Bromine: 2 From daily test kit
PH 7.2
FC - 2
CC - 2
TC - 4
For the CYA, I filled it all the way to the top and was still able to see the black dot.

I just bought the kit last July so I don't think any of the chemicals have expired yet. Maybe that powder that you put in to test for the chlorine as it has hardened over the winter.

Thanks for any help you can offer us.

JEM
 
Hey JEM !! You are way too late to the party. If the pool sits closed this long it will be green every year and by the time you undo all the doing, you’ve lost half of July and your short NE swim season is half over.

I get why you didn’t open. Too much other stuff going on and can’t spend the effort on the pool if it’s not being used yet.

But.

This season we will learn you your sea legs. Next year you will open early enough to dodge the befinning swamp, and you will almost effortlessly maintain it until you’re ready to swim. On day 1, whenever that may be.

So welcome back and let’s get you that Trouble Free pool. :)
 
Newdude said:
Hey JEM !! You are way too late to the party. If the pool sits closed this long it will be green every year and by the time you undo all the doing, you’ve lost half of July and your short NE swim season is half over.

I get why you didn’t open. Too much other stuff going on and can’t spend the effort on the pool if it’s not being used yet.

But.

This season we will learn you your sea legs. Next year you will open early enough to dodge the befinning swamp, and you will almost effortlessly maintain it until you’re ready to swim. On day 1, whenever that may be.

So welcome back and let’s get you that Trouble Free pool. :)
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Thank you for your thoughts. Fortunately I'm the only one who uses the pool and it hasn't been consistently hot here yet so it's okay. Today is mid 90's and Thursday it's supposed to be in the 70s. Hopefully it will be all set to go soon and maybe next year we'll open it early to try to avoid the green monster. At least this year it's so much better than last when we actually opened it earlier. I would say it is about the same as when we closed it in September so at least we're not that far behind. :)
 
JEM31 said:
Fortunately I'm the only one who uses the pool and it hasn't been consistently hot here yet so it's okay. Today is mid 90's and Thursday it's supposed to be in the 70s
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Algae wakes up with water temps around 60. It’s ok. What’s done is done. By the end of this season you’ll be your own pro and will be able to keep it clean next year like second nature.

Besides, the pools are SO much prettier to look at open, even if they sit. Once we make the maintaining part easy, it’s a no brainer.

We had a full blown view of ours from the dinner table. I opened early every year just to not look at the ‘green trampoline’. Unbeknownst to me at the time, the aesthetics alone were saving me a ton of work.
 
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mknauss said:
yes.
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So I had my water tested at a local pool store just to double check my numbers. I'm attaching the results below. They said not to add stabilizer because that will only make the chlorine lock worse. So do I put the stabilizer in at the same time I do the SLAM or do I wait for the stabilizer to dissolve and then do the SLAM. As always thank you for your help.
 

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JEM31 said:
They said not to add stabilizer because that will only make the chlorine
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So they make up a thing that doesn't exist, and then they don't even understand their made up thing ? You need lots of CYA to have 'chlorine lock', per pool store legend. You have none so..............

Add stabilizer / CYA / cyanuric acid to get to 30 from 0 per the pool math app (available at home depot ot Walmart, make sure it says 100% cyanuric acid)

Proceed to SLAM Process using the target based on a 30 CYA listed in the FC/CYA Levels

Test and add liquid chlorine per pool math. Verify you hir the target 20 mins later. 2 hour testing / adding really speeds the process along at first. Within a day or two it's usually holding the FC and you can go 6 or 8 hours between tests. I'm sure you have a life to tend to as well. Do the best you can.

Brush and vac are often as time allows. At least once a day.

Clean the filter anytime the PSI goes up 25 %

Check in as often as need be. We got you. If it's 3AM, our Aussie friends might be taking over. They talk kinda funny but man oh man do they know their stuff. :)
 
Newdude said:
So they make up a thing that doesn't exist, and then they don't even understand their made up thing ? You need lots of CYA to have 'chlorine lock', per pool store legend. You have none so..............

Add stabilizer / CYA / cyanuric acid to get to 30 from 0 per the pool math app (available at home depot ot Walmart, make sure it says 100% cyanuric acid)

Proceed to SLAM Process using the target based on a 30 CYA listed in the FC/CYA Levels

Test and add liquid chlorine per pool math. Verify you hir the target 20 mins later. 2 hour testing / adding really speeds the process along at first. Within a day or two it's usually holding the FC and you can go 6 or 8 hours between tests. I'm sure you have a life to tend to as well. Do the best you can.

Brush and vac are often as time allows. At least once a day.

Clean the filter anytime the PSI goes up 25 %

Check in as often as need be. We got you. If it's 3AM, our Aussie friends might be taking over. They talk kinda funny but man oh man do they know their stuff. :)
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Thank you. I really appreciate the help. I'm sure you'll be heading from me again lol.
 
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JEM31 said:
Thanks Marty. Would that be around 2.5 lbs of stabilizer to raise it to 20 ppm?
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So I have a question about the CYA test. I tested it yesterday and it was 0. Took it to the pool store to test it and it was 5. Put 2.5 lbs of stabilizer per pool math. Filter running for 24 hrs now. It wouldn't "melt" so I have to kind of grind it to help it along. Took it to a different pool store today and it tested at 65. When using the test from the test kit, I feel like I'm doing something wrong. I followed the directions but does the black dot at the bottom have to disappear completely? It gets cloudy but I can still see it and believe I don't have exceptional eyesight lol. Is there another test that would be less subjective?
 
JEM31 said:
Is there another test that would be less subjective?
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Sadly no, and what we have is difficult for all of us. But you are in luck. Knowing your volume, and the 0 start point you can trust pool math to be where you wanted to be. Don't put any faith in the pool store tests for CYA. For anything really, but especially for CYA. They have been off by 100 more times than we can count.

What did the 2.5 lbs supposedly bring you to ? Once it's had a day or two to fully mix in, test again and use what you see as your answer going forward.

Also, for future reference, hang the CYA in a sock in front of the return. Once it's good and soaked it will ooze out easily by squeezing.
 
That's what I did. It soaked overnight and this morning I was out there making it ooze lol. The 2.5lbs should have brought me to about 20ish. So the for is supposed to disappear completely? The pool water is pretty good. I have the vac in there now but there's not a lot of dirt. Will start SLAM once the sun has dropped a little. Too sunny right now. Also I need to clean the tubes that run on the sides of our ladder because it seems that's where all the algae that I couldn't get rid of last year was hanging out. Can I just fill them with bleach water? They're too long to get a brush down to scrub. I don't want those little monsters multiplying again once they're in the pool. Thanks for your help.
 
Newdude said:
Yes. If they come out it will be easier to fill/soak them and the hose will get the rest.
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Do you know where I can get that powder that is used for the chlorine test? I need more and I don't think it will get here in time. I'm not sure what kind of powder it is..has a number on it. It's from the 100 test kit. Thank you.
 
Yes. Amazon is delayed til next week to ship. Do you think a pool store would carry it?

My FC is holding around 6 to 8 each time I test. It's not dropping really low. I out in any 5 cups shock every 2 hours. Last night it only do about 2.5 overnight. I did test my CYA and that seems to have dropped to about 10ish. I guess maybe from all the rain we had yesterday. Should I add some more stabilizer?

Also the brown ring is not disappearing. I think it's a stain from the brownish water in the pool over the winter because it stops around where the water was lowered to when we put the cover on. I tried scrubbing it but still no luck. Is there anything I can clean it with?
Thanks.
 
Local stores will have the K-2005 equivalent, but not the K-2006 which contains the FAS-DPD (powder & drops) part of the kit. We can't rely rely on a CYA test below 30, so if it's low you do want to increase it to 30 minimum. Maybe add about 20 ppm worth and re-test in a day or two. For the brown ring, you can "gently" try a Magic Eraser. Do a small test area first though to ensure you don't accidently rub-off the pattern.
 

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