What do I do first??

[OlivasFam]

Hello! We bought a house with a pool in 2018. It is 15,000 gallons, sport pool, with a SWG. We have used test strips and shocked weekly without much issue until this year. We opened the pool last Friday and it was green and gross. I have ordered my TF-Pro Salt kit, but it is not here yet. (I’m excited to get started with that, but also a little worried!) I vacuumed as much as I could, have run the pump 24 hours a day, backwashed the filter once and put 1 gallon of chlorine in every night (based off another thread I read). The water is now blue, but cloudy. Every day gets a little better. Is there anything else I should be doing while I impatiently wait for my test kit?? When I get the kit what do I test first?
Thanks in advance!

 

[V___25]

Hello and welcome! Great start on getting that test kit. But until that arrives, just keep doing what you're doing and once you get full test results, you'll get plenty of help. Keep brushing, vacuuming, backwashing, and add 5ppm of LC every night. Assuming you have a sand filter, they are the slowest at clearing pools so you'll have to be patient with it.
If you don't already have the poolmath app, download that.

Also, fill out your signature with your pool details, what specific type of equipment for filter, pump, heater, and SWG, and all that good stuff. If will people give better advice knowing what you have.

Oh and if you haven't read through Pool School, do that too. And read up on the SLAM process, as that may be in your future.

 

[OlivasFam]

Hello and welcome! Great start on getting that test kit. But until that arrives, just keep doing what you're doing and once you get full test results, you'll get plenty of help. Keep brushing, vacuuming, backwashing, and add 5ppm of LC every night. Assuming you have a sand filter, they are the slowest at clearing pools so you'll have to be patient with it.
If you don't already have the poolmath app, download that.

Also, fill out your signature with your pool details, what specific type of equipment for filter, pump, heater, and SWG, and all that good stuff. If will people give better advice knowing what you have.

Oh and if you haven't read through Pool School, do that too. And read up on the SLAM process, as that may be in your future.

Thank you! I will fill in our pool info when I’m home tonight. It is a sand filter. What does 5ppm mean? I’m guessing a more specific measurement.

 

[Mdragger88]

Thank you! I will fill in our pool info when I’m home tonight. It is a sand filter. What does 5ppm mean? I’m guessing a more specific measurement.

Parts Per Million is how things are measured in the water.
You need to add 5ppm of liquid chlorine every day.
Download PoolMath
Input your pool volume & it will tell u how many oz of bleach it takes to add 5ppm in your pool.

 

[OlivasFam]

Cl 1
pH 8.2
FC 1.5
CC 0.5
CH 150
TA 90
CYA 0
Salt level 3600
Pool temp 76

Thanks in advance for any help!
I have teenagers that are hoping to swim tomorrow….
TA edited after retesting

 

[mknauss]

Great job on the testing.
Check your TA test procedure. I do not think 900 is reasonable.

Add FC. Get to 3 ppm. Add CYA. Target 30 ppm.

Please fill out your signature when you can.

 

[V___25]

Is your TA really 900? or should that be 90? If your TA is really 900 that will need to be addressed.
Assuming that's a typo, I would say you need to bring up to your FC and CYA first to be in line with the FC/CYA chart.

a pH of 8.2 is a little high so if you went swimming in that it could irritate skin. Anywhere in the 7's is usually idea for swimming.

Do you have the PoolMath app? After putting in your test results, it will tell you how much of what chemical to add to bring everything in line.

 

[OlivasFam]

Thanks for your replies. I’m most confused on the muriatic acid to lower ph when looking at the pool math app. It says to add 3oz, but the old pool math calculator says 20oz. Which is right? I will retest my TA, but I got 900. Also, I thought I had completed my signature. What am I missing??

 

[OlivasFam]

Just repeated my TA…it’s 90. My bad!

 

[mknauss]

Also, I thought I had completed my signature. What am I missing??

Create Your Signature - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

I’m most confused on the muriatic acid to lower ph when looking at the pool math app.

Be sure all the test results are entered and saved. Be sure you have your pool volume properly entered in the Settings.
Using your posted data and test results, you need to add 28 oz of 31.45% muriatic acid to lower your pH from 8.2 to 7.4.

 

[OlivasFam]

Okay, I’m back! Yesterday I added 2c 3oz of muriatic acid (20% ?), a 4 lb bag of stabilizer (put in lingerie bag and in skimmer-gone by this am) pool math said to add 9lbs but I’ve read to add slowly since the only way to lower is to drain. I tested my pH last night and it was 6.8 so I panicked and added a box of borax. Put in 1.5 gallons on liquid chlorine last night and another 0.5 gallon this am.

Here are my readings from tonight. Should I add another 4 lb bag of stabilizer? More acid? Any more chlorine tonight? The water is still somewhat cloudy.

Cl orange
pH 8.2
FC 10
CC 0.5
CH 125
TA 100
CYA the dot is cloudy, but I can still see it (maybe 20 ??)

 

[mknauss]

You added acid then borax. Think about that.

What CYA was targeted with 4 lb of CYA? Be sure to keep the FC in the target range FC/CYA Levels

If water is cloudy, do an Overnight Chlorine Loss Test

 

[OlivasFam]

I know, I shouldn’t have added the borax. I just panicked when my pH dropped so much. The CYA yesterday was 0 and for a target of 70 it said to add 8lbs of stabilizer. I didn’t know if it was okay to add that all at once or if should add half and recheck in a few days/week or if I should have just put it all in. Just seemed like a lot.

 

[mknauss]

Good decision on the CYA. So what was your target with the 4 lbs? Use that for your FC target for the next few days and then if the water is clear and no issues raise your CYA the rest of the way.

 

[OlivasFam]

Target with 4 lbs was 30-35. Do you leave your pumps running overnight with the OCLT? How do you shut your SWG off?

 

[mknauss]

How does your SWCG shut off if your pump is not running?

No need to run the pump all night. Just run it 30 minutes or so in the morning before testing. Before sun hits the pool surface.

 

[OlivasFam]

How does your SWCG shut off if your pump is not running?

No need to run the pump all night. Just run it 30 minutes or so in the morning before testing. Before sun hits the pool surface.

I just thought I had to run the pump, but shut off the SWG and I wasn’t sure how to do that. I’ll just shut off the filters overnight.

 

[mknauss]

You will want to have the SWCG off in the morning when you run the pump before taking your test sample. If nothing else, reduce the % generation by pressing the LESS button until the generation lights are off.