Startup for new Mini Pebble Installation

[dude47]

I just had my new Mini Pebble installed today. The installed asked me as they were installing if I was going to handle the start up after they acid wash it tomorrow or if I wanted to use his start up guy. His start up guy wants $900 for the first week, which seems excessive to me. I have had the pool for 7 years now and I am pretty confident I can maintain the balance. I tested my fill water from the tap myself and took a sample to Leslie's to get an accurate read on metals. I have downloaded the NPC startup guide and have read through it. I believe the hardest part will be getting my wife to brush it for me in the morning because I leave for work when it is still dark out.

So my questions.

Iron reads 0 and Copper is .1ppm on Leslie's report. Should I bother with sequestrant? The tech at Leslie's said I don't need it.

The NPC startup for day 1 says to adjust calcium hardness to 80-100ppm and my fill water is 124ppm. Is this ok? Day 2 it says to adjust it to 100-150ppm. I assume this is to prevent the pool water form leaching too much calcium out of the plaster and slightly higher calcium is safer than lower. I do have a water softener that I could fill part of the pool through, to drop it down to 80-100ppm but is that really necessary?

The tech at Leslie's worked pool routes for a while and seemed to be pretty familiar with new plaster start ups. He said with my fill water likely I would just need to keep adding acid to keep the TA and PH in range and hardness would fall into range on its own as the plaster cured.

Complete test results are as follows:
Free Chlorine .66ppm
PH 7.6
TA 124ppm
CH 124ppm
CYA 5 ppm
Iron 0ppm
copper 0.1ppm
Phosphates 115ppm
Salt 422ppm


To me the entire startup doesn't seem that complicated, it just takes time to monitor it and do the brushings. Am I missing something?

 

[ajw22]

Get a good test kit - Taylor K-2006C or TFT Test Kits

TFT is a better value.

You are not going to do a good startup with crappy Leslie tests you posted. How do you get CYA of 5 when CYA does not occur naturally in water?

You don’t need to lower your CH from the fill water. Just start with that and raise as necessary.

Plaster Start-Up Guides - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

Plaster Installation and Maintenance - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[dude47]

Get a good test kit - Taylor K-2006C or TFT Test Kits

TFT is a better value.

You are not going to do a good startup with crappy Leslie tests you posted. How do you get CYA of 5 when CYA does not occur naturally in water?

You don’t need to lower your CH from the fill water. Just start with that and raise as necessary.

Plaster Start-Up Guides - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

Plaster Installation and Maintenance - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

I have a Taylor 2005 kit that I tested everything with and came up with results very close to Leslie's. It is Likely that 5 might be the lowest CYA range on their test report. I only checked PH TA and CH myself. I can check CYA when I get home and verify. Leslie's I primarily wanted the ability to check for metal in the water.

 

[ajw22]

You need the FAS/DPD test kit to get accurate FC levels, which your 2005 does not have - Chlorine

Pool Test Kits - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

You don't waste your CYA reagent to see that it is 0. I just use it as the best example of how sketchy Leslie tests can be. Their tester should be able to read 0 when there is no CYA.

Do you have PoolMath? Log all your tests and turn on sharing if you want help during the startup.

 

[dude47]

You need the FAS/DPD test kit to get accurate FC levels, which your 2005 does not have - Chlorine

Pool Test Kits - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

You don't waste your CYA reagent to see that it is 0. I just use it as the best example of how sketchy Leslie tests can be. Their tester should be able to read 0 when there is no CYA.

Do you have PoolMath? Log all your tests and turn on sharing if you want help during the startup.

Downloaded poolmath will get it setup tomorrow when the pool is full and start logging.

So far spa was filled TA was 120, added 4oz of acid and brushed.

Final recorded numbers are TA 90, CH 90, PH 7.2

Oh and I ordered a FAS/DPD kit for testing chlorine.

 

[dude47]

You need the FAS/DPD test kit to get accurate FC levels, which your 2005 does not have - Chlorine

Pool Test Kits - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

You don't waste your CYA reagent to see that it is 0. I just use it as the best example of how sketchy Leslie tests can be. Their tester should be able to read 0 when there is no CYA.

Do you have PoolMath? Log all your tests and turn on sharing if you want help during the startup.

Alright might need help.

Sorry I can't get poolmath to work right on my phone, I do have all numbers recorded and provided if needed. But here is what is happening.

TA has been bouncing up to 110 the last few days with PH raising slightly as well. I have been measuring 2 times a day and managing it by adding muriatic acid as needed to keep it TA at 90 and PH at 7.6. Initial fill CH was 120 and actually lowered over time. I used calcium chloride to increase it yesterday back up to 130.

Today is day 3, I checked chemicals and TA and PH were up slightly again so I adjusted down with acid again. As directed for day 3 I added liquid chlorine. The dose I used was a little low as I am only reading close to 1 ppm right now. I decided to wait a little while retest and re-dose as I did not want to over do it.

I went outside to find that the pool turned green... I am guessing this means that there is some metal in the water and it is oxidizing? I did add sequestering agent after initial fill up but was only able to locate 1 bottle at the store.

Maybe the calcium chloride I used had metals in it?

So questions is what do I do now?

Continue to increase chlorine and keep everything balanced, hoping it is filtered out?
Order more sequestering agent I can't find anymore locally, only a no name pool store in town had 1 bottle (probably take a couple days to get it from Amazon).

Let me know what you think.

Thanks for the help!

 

[ajw22]

Get your chlorine up to 3ppm and keep your pH in the 7s.

You will sort out the water color once you can do accurate chlorine testing and your startup is over.

 

[dude47]

Get your chlorine up to 3ppm and keep your pH in the 7s.

You will sort out the water color once you can do accurate chlorine testing and your startup is over.

Will do thanks. Should I order some more sequestering agent or do you think it will filter out on its own?

 

[ajw22]

Will do thanks. Should I order some more sequestering agent or do you think it will filter out on its own?

Metals do not filter out except by using special filters.

Sequestering agents hold metals in solution but breakdown and need to be continuously renewed.

The only way you can get metals out of a pool is to drain and refill with metal free water.

Iron Fill Water Filter - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[dude47]

Metals do not filter out except by using special filters.

Sequestering agents hold metals in solution but breakdown and need to be continuously renewed.

The only way you can get metals out of a pool is to drain and refill with metal free water.

Iron Fill Water Filter - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

Interesting. I have been here for 7 years and have never had this problem before. And I have had to drain and fill the pool 3 times previously. Maybe the metals are leeching out from the new plaster? I have been running a SWG in that time but never had an issues when having to shock or chlorinate during the winter when SWG is not producing.

What is the best way to measure metals at home? Test strips are all I am finding but I am generally not a fan of test strips.

I am thinking about trying some of these, people seem to have good success.

CuLator Metal Eliminator​

Amazon.com

Thanks again for the help.

 

[ajw22]

CuLater is a waste of money thst has a placebo effect.

Plaster does not leach metals.

 

[dude47]

Well I went out this morning and the green is pretty much completely gone. Very slight tint but almost nothing. I have a sand filter with zeo sand and a cyclone filter off the motor. Whatever it was must have been filtered out? It wasn't normal organic algae color and it looked like pictures when I look at pools with metal in it. Everything reads close to normal TA 100 PH 7.6 CH 130 FC 3.0. I am baffled.

 

[ajw22]

Just follow the process. The chemicals change the look of the water.

 

[dude47]

Well whatever it was seems to have gathered and spun out in the cyclone filter as it was filled with a green slime. Pool is looking good. Thanks again for the help.