Trying to get the pool ready...

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ray5029

Member
Jul 2, 2024
11
Pleasanton CA
Hi all,

We moved into a house with a pool. As I am very new to the pool, given a contract to a pool service company. But even after one month, 4 regular services and some in-between, they could not get the pool usable. Thus taking things in my hand.

My pool is only pool (no spa), plaster with a band of decorative tile, and chlorine (not salt water). Filter is cartridge based. I do not know the capacity and the pool is irregular shaped. So I measured, the longer side is about 30 ft, average width around 15 ft. Shallow end is 3 ft and the deep end is 7ft. As I did not have the long tape measure, the measures may not be accurate. I used the formula to get my pool volume to be 17,000 gallons.

Got the water tested in Leslie's and the readings are:
FC 0.15
TC 0.15
pH 0.8
TA 152
CH 71
CA 5
Iron 0.1
Copper 0.2
Phosphates 168
TDS 1800

Leslie's recommended the following:
Muriatic Acid - 27 oz x 2 times 4 hour apart to reduce Alkanility
Chlorbrite (powdered chlorine?) - 1 lb
15 lbs of Hardness Plus to increase Calcium Hardness
1 gallon of CA
2 Caps NoPHOS to reduce phosphate

Questions:
1. Wanted to take your views on the steps recommended.
2. They have suggested powdered chlorine, indicating it will be easier to apply for me. But which one do you recommend, powder or liquid?
3. I can see debris(sand) at the bottom of the pool. I have a pool vac, which has not picked the debris up yet. Do you suggest using manual vacuum for it? And in that case can I drain the water outside and not add to skimmer, so that the filter do not get dirty.
4. At times I have seen returns sending in dirty water - very fine particles of dust coming in. This is even after cleaning the filters (by the pool guys). This was done 2 weeks back, do you recommend cleaning again?
5. I think I got some idea on how to maintain the chemical levels, but any recommendation on how to brush and generally clean the pool. What should be the frequency?

Regards,
 
TFP methods are based upon self-testing and acknowledgement of the FC/CYA relationship.
FC/CYA Levels
Test Kits Compared

The pool store will only hurt you; don't buy anything, or do anything on their recommendations.
I highly recommend ordering your own test kit, posting those results, and let the wise folks here guide you from there.

Pool Care Basics
 
reggiehammond said:
TFP methods are based upon self-testing and acknowledgement of the FC/CYA relationship.
FC/CYA Levels
Test Kits Compared

The pool store will only hurt you; don't buy anything, or do anything on their recommendations.
I highly recommend ordering your own test kit, posting those results, and let the wise folks here guide you from there.

Pool Care Basics
Click to expand...
Thank you, Reggie. While I get the test kits, wanted to work on it. Are the tests from pool stores unreliable?

Any thoughts on question 3, 4 and 5?

I am planning to clean the cartridges in the filter. Is there any dos and don'ts for that?
 
Pool stores are notoriously unreliable and self-serving. Pool store advice sends TFP thousands of new members per year.

Powdered chlorine (sometimes called shock) is a poor choice because the chlorine is bound to calcium. To get enough chlorine, you end up adding too much calcium, which can only be removed with draining.

Same with chlorine tabs; while convenient, each tab is roughly 3 parts chlorine, 2 part CYA. The chlorine is used quickly but the CYA remains. You then end up with too much CYA, rendering the FC unable to sanitize.

"Dirt" on the pool floor, and the dirty water coming from returns are likely algae, but could be a filter equipment issue. It's hard to say as we can't assess the water condition without self testing.

Think about a doctors' visit. They check your vitals before they ask you anything about what you think the problem is... Same here, we need test results before the symptoms can be properly understood.

Pool Care Basics covers many, many TFP topics. I recommend reading all of the relevant articles.
 
Thank you. The filter pressure increased once I added the CYA (in sock) to the skimmer. Is this expected? I think it may be, as I understand CYA creates a thin layer in the filter cartridge. Can I test CYA level in the pool water immediately after the CYA in the sock gets dissolved?

What is the reason for lowering the pH to 7.2, isn't 7.5/7.6 the recommended level?
 
ray5029 said:
Thank you. The filter pressure increased once I added the CYA (in sock) to the skimmer. Is this expected? I think it may be, as I understand CYA creates a thin layer in the filter cartridge. Can I test CYA level in the pool water immediately after the CYA in the sock gets dissolved?

What is the reason for lowering the pH to 7.2, isn't 7.5/7.6 the recommended level?
Click to expand...

If the CYA caused the pressure increase it should go down once it is fully dissolved. If you have algae, that could also cause the pressure to increase as it is filtered out and you may want to clean the filters before the SLAM.

CYA can take a few days to show up on the test, but you should dose chlorine assuming it is at the higher level right away.

ph reading is not accurate with FC above 10. You lower it a little extra before the SLAM because you won't be able to check it while your FC is high. Also with your higher TA, it will bring that down a bit.
 
ray5029 said:
What is the reason for lowering the pH to 7.2, isn't 7.5/7.6 the recommended level?
Click to expand...
pH measurement during SLAM is not accurate, and your TA is much higher than recommended levels. High TA leads to quick pH rise, so you'll actually need to lower pH to 7.2 a number of times to lower TA to stop pH rise.

CYA "sock method" is used to prevent CYA from caking into your filter. The sock method is not used in the skimmer, but rather in front of a return jet to avoid the situation you've encountered. If you backwash, you'll dump out some of the CYA that has not fully dissolved, but you will need to backwash to accomplish SLAM.
 

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Thank you for the input. Last evening, I added muriatic acid and got the pH down to 7.3. I didn't fine-tune it further.
At night, I added the liquid chlorine (pool math suggested 2 qt 6 oz to raise it to 3 ppm). Morning 11:30 am it was again close to zero (I get a pinkish tinge, not bright pink even after adding 10 dips of the R-0870). I added back 2 qt 6 oz again. Afternoon 1:30 pm, same results. So, added the same amount of chlorine again. Checked immediately after adding chlorine, the chlorine level came to 2.5 ppm.

Also wanted to add, the morning I had to add water to the pool so as not to make it fall below the skimmer level. Earlier it was set in auto mode to replenish water. I had stopped it so that I had one less variable to consider.
 
You need to add liquid chlorine to bring FC up to SLAM level, which is 12, not 3. Check and redose every 2 hours when possible, as you did. You just need to get FC to 12.

In a couple of days, recheck CYA to see if it’s 30.
 
Deb04 said:
You need to add liquid chlorine to bring FC up to SLAM level, which is 12, not 3. Check and redose every 2 hours when possible, as you did. You just need to get FC to 12.

In a couple of days, recheck CYA to see if it’s 30.
Click to expand...
Thanks. At 7:30 pm I added chlorine to reach 12 ppm level (2 gallon 2 cups). 9:30 pm tested chlorine to be 10.5 ppm and added more to go back to 12 ppm level. Will check overnight depletion tomorrow.
 
So I see a problem where the CYA is probably stuck in the filter amd can take up to a week to be completely water bound. So while your night test shows a better hold you will encounter a uv degradation just due to the fact that the CYA is not there at 30ppm so while you slam your losing more to the sun which will make the slam uncontrollable.
I'd recommend you check the CYA daily to see where it's really at.
 
Thank you. I added more as Deb suggested through sock in front of return valve before starting SLAM. I measured CYA level y'day. The dot was barely visible at 30 level. So I think it is very close to 30.

My cc is zero. Overnight drop of chlorine is 1 ppm. No visible algae except for inside the pool light. Looks like I am good to stop SLAM. Thoughts? Should I just allow the chorine to drop to the recommended level?

I am thinking of retesting all the parameters. Should I wait for some time before that to get accurate result.
 
ray5029 said:
No visible algae except for inside the pool light.
Click to expand...
If you still have ANY visible algae, continue the SLAM.

ray5029 said:
I am thinking of retesting all the parameters. Should I wait for some time before that to get accurate result.
Click to expand...
If you have no visible algae and you are done, let the FC come back down below 10, then test.

Remember to always follow this...Link-->FC/CYA Levels
 
ray5029 said:
I have to figure out how to open the light to clean it. Do you think continue slamming will get rid of algae inside the light, without opening and brushing it?
Click to expand...
No.

Post a picture of the light face. Does it have a single screw at 12 o'clock?
 

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