Season 2 Opening

[GeorgeChicago]

Hey everyone, I would like to say a huge thank you for helping me last season with the best pool experience since we've had a pool.

Okay we had our pool opened June 2nd from our local pool store. I had them use no chemicals except the 10lbs of shock he had. Finally had time to get all the leaves and debris from the pool this past week. Added 4 gallons of LC (from home depot) last night. Tested today here are the results
FC- 20
CC- 1
pH- 8.2
TA-150
CYA- 50
Salt- 2800

Thought we had ammonia again because after cleaning the pool I saw what I thought were little breaks on the surface like I had last year. With that amount of FC I am guessing I do not. Last year I had to slam to get it started but with those readings I think that probably isn't the way. My IC60 shows low salt light on. My thoughts are get my Salt up some and address the TA/PH levels. If that is the case what should I do next.

Still using my test kit from last year.

 

[AK-]

Add Salt and MA. Are you seeing any scaling on the SWG cell? If not you can manage pH and leave TA alone.

 

[Mdragger88]

If u have passed the Overnight Chlorine Loss Test
Have cc’s of .5 or less (you do not)
& the water is clear u can let fc come down
Otherwise keep it at SLAM Process level for your cya

 

[GeorgeChicago]

Had the salt cell cleaned when they closed the pool. Would I be able to see scaling still? Will go get the MA now. I bought 60 gallons of LC thought it was going to be like last year. Returning most of that when I get the MA. Fired up the heater and getting the water to 82. Will add the salt and MA today while keeping my pump running full time. I did have the pool slide pump on and that probably contributed to the higher PH, was on for about 6 hours(forget to turn it off). After the MA and salt addition, how long should I wait to test? Thanks for the fast reply!

 

[AK-]

Had the salt cell cleaned when they closed the pool.

If you are/were getting scaling on the SWG cell than reducing TA worth the effort (vs reducing cell life). Use aeration to push your pH up and MA to bring pH and TA down… repeat until you TA is the recommended range. See Aeration - Further Reading

After the MA and salt addition, how long should I wait to test?

MA should dilute after about 30min. I like to wait until all lingering smell is gone (about 1hour), but that is more because my OCD.

For Salt you need to wait 24hours after there is no visible salt crystals for testing and to fire up your SWG.

 

[GeorgeChicago]

Used 128 oz of MA that I had found I had from last year, it knocked my Ph down to 7.4 but TA is still 150. Checked to see if MA gets weaker over time like LC and from what I found it does not if it is stored in a dry cool place like my garage.
Here is the test from just now. The MA is been in the pool for about 3 hours with the pump running. I added 160lbs of SALT. Did not add any more LC. Did vacuum one more time and scrub the salt around after an hour. Not sure how the FC went higher. I did test twice just to make sure. My SWG is off too.
FC- 24
CC- .5
pH- 7.4
TA-150
Will report the next test tomorrow morning.

 

[Mdragger88]

For future reference the ph drop test is invalid at fc levels over 10ppm. It can read falsely higher.
Luckily your ta is higher so the ph will likely rise quickly if you over did it with the MA.
Wait to adjust ph again until fc comes down.

 

[GeorgeChicago]

Ok Morning tests are, I didn't get the water until 9am.
FC- 20
CC- .5
PH- 8.2
Still unsure how my FC went from 20 to 24 from 4pm to 9pm. Could the salt or MA have done something to raise levels, I did put my arm in as far as I could reach to get the water for testing. I'll continue the slam today and hope for the 0CLT tonight.

 

[IceShadow]

Don't bother testing pH when FC is 10 or higher as the test is invalid.

MA won't raise FC. Could have been that the FC test before was incorrect, or that the water wasn't mixed enough the first time or second time.