Taking over maintenance of pool

[BenB]

Yup with 325 from the tap, you're going to need 100% fresh tap water to start!

Consider looking into a cheap solar cover. It will help significantly with overnight evaporation which will reduce the rate at which you're adding new water and therefore more calcium into your pool (as once it's in, it's never coming out except via a drain!). Will save a reasonable amount in the water bill too (a small amount that adds up over time).

The evening / overnight plan sounds like an excellent one.

Good luck!

 

[mknauss]

Great plan.
Do you have a whole house water softener?

 

[AprilSte]

I just got a solar cover to put on once The refill is complete and all the chemicals are balanced. There’s no water softener and that’s not happening anytime soon.

 

[mknauss]

I just got a solar cover to put on once The refill is complete and all the chemicals are balanced. There’s no water softener and that’s not happening anytime soon.

Ok -- the solar cover will help reduce evaporation. You may find it will let the pool get uncomfortably warm later in the summer. I use one until about June 1 and then leave it off until mid September. That keeps the pool water from going into the mid to upper 90F region.

 

[BenB]

For my own curiosity, is that still the case if you only cover overnight when the evaporation would be worse? Or you actually need the evaporation to occur to remove heat from the water? I'm asking as to your experience of the mix of "unwanted heat gain" you get by having the cover on vs heat retention.

Also, your pool sizes are very different so I can see a smaller body of water getting hotter faster.

 

[mknauss]

Or you actually need the evaporation to occur to remove heat from the water?

Correct. The water temperature will drop 5-7F overnight. If you cover it, you will retain that heat.

Depth of water matters a bit more than volume. But yes we have a small pool. Luckily, by letting evaporation happen in the summer the water temperature stays reasonable.

 

[AprilSte]

Hello,

On Saturday, after a complete drain due to excessive CYA and calcium hardness, my pool completed filling.
25,000 gallon, plaster, Triton II sand filter

(I’ve been in the house for 15 years but I’m in the process of a divorce and I’m taking over the pool maintenance. Previously, my husband was using tablets and shocking the pool randomly without performing any tests and I am now only going to be using liquid chlorine.)

Yesterday morning, I added a gallon of chlorine in the morning as it was at zero. The pH was at 7.8 and I had not put any CYA in yet.

I got the powder CYA — 7 pounds based on 1 pound per 4000 gallons (which would be for 28,000 gallons) to raise it to 30 ppm and attempted to dissolve it which did not really work. It went into the skimmer and by 6 PM most of it had already dissolved.

here are the readings from yesterday
Chlorine 5
PH 7.2
FC 3
Cc 1.5
TC 4.5
Calcium hardness 375
CYA 25
TA 140

I have the TF- 100 and was using the speedstir

this morning I redid the tests
Chlorine 5
PH 7.5
FC 3.5
Cc 0
TC 3.5
CYA 28
Calcium Hardness 275
TA 120

there’s still about a pound of CYA in the sock in the skimmer basket

I’ve read a lot of of information on your website and it seems that my chlorine staying at the same level overnight is a good thing since that means there is no algae. is that correct?

do you recommend adding another pound of CYA since it’ll probably be right at 30? I plan to use only liquid chlorine but I know 30 is the absolute minimum for a CYA. also, I don’t think my calcium hardness should’ve gotten lower, maybe I just did the test wrong? I did do it twice today to confirm the results of 275.

if you could let me know what you recommend as next steps, and also when I would be able to put the solar cover on, I would really appreciate it!

Thank you!

 

[mknauss]

Good job!
The 7 pounds of dry stabilizer should get you 34 ppm CYA. Your measurement tool for CYA is not that accurate. So when you say 28, round up to 30.

1 more pound of dry stabilizer will get you to near 40 ppm CYA. For now, I would wait on that. Let what you have added mix around for a few days to a week and then test the CYA again. If near 30, then add 1 or 2 more pounds of dry stabilizer to get you to 40 ppm CYA.

The FC holding is great. Just do the FAS-DPD test (R0870 powder and R0871 drops). No need for the yellow color matching test. Also can skip CC test for now.

Maintain your FC using FC/CYA Levels. Add liquid chlorine each day to get to the upper target range.

Your CH and TA did not change day to day. Those are testing variations. They will get less as you test more.

 

[AprilSte]

Thank you so much @mknauss !

I appreciate you taking the time to explain everything to me! As you recommend, I will wait a week before adding any more CYA to see if it increases but will add more if I need to so I can get it to 40 ppm.

I will maintain my FC using the chart you linked.

Thanks again!

 

[AprilSte]

Is it alright if I put the solar cover on now?

 

[mknauss]

Yes. No issue.

 

[Casey]

That pool will look so much nicer than your soon to be ex husband ever had it. You're doing great and have a good grasp of TFPC (trouble free pool care).

 

[AprilSte]

I’m already so happy with how clear the water is!