This year was my first 'opening' after adding SWG last summer and boy was it a mess. I had some ugly stains on the pool liner by the main drain from the winter (looked like leaves, possibly some worms in various spots). I made what I believe are a few mistakes and am now trying to do this right. My first readings showed a pH of 7.5, TA of 60, no chlorine, and no CYA. After cleaning dirt and debris, rather than start with the SLAM process I jumped in and used a stain remover (Bosh Vanish citrus-based pool stain remover). It's like I completely forgot about this forum and the process... Didn't take long for the pool to turn very cloudy and that took a week to get cleared up. The stains have lessened (I'll add some before and after pics) but need more work to remove them. This forum has shared other preferred methods to remove the stains and I will tackle those after I get through the proper SLAM process and have the pool running properly.
Current readings are
pH 7.8, TA 90, CH 225, no chlorine, and no CYA
Based on what I've read I'll first be getting the pH down to 7.2, then I'll be getting the CYA up to ~40ppm, then I'll work on SLAM. After that, I'll see where my salt levels are, and hopefully, in the near future I'll turn on the SWG and we'll be ready for summer. No doubt this would've been easier had I started there but maybe others can learn from my mistakes. This picture shows the stains upon first opening. That was clear blue last year when we closed it. I'll share another picture of the stain as it stands today (post the first stain remover attempt).
Current readings are
pH 7.8, TA 90, CH 225, no chlorine, and no CYA
Based on what I've read I'll first be getting the pH down to 7.2, then I'll be getting the CYA up to ~40ppm, then I'll work on SLAM. After that, I'll see where my salt levels are, and hopefully, in the near future I'll turn on the SWG and we'll be ready for summer. No doubt this would've been easier had I started there but maybe others can learn from my mistakes. This picture shows the stains upon first opening. That was clear blue last year when we closed it. I'll share another picture of the stain as it stands today (post the first stain remover attempt).
