Where to start with balancing water?

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reggiehammond said:
You don't need the bucket method as acid and chlorine additions don't need to be incredibly precise. It's generally easier and safer to pour directly from the jug into the path of the strongest return, close to the pool water level to prevent splashing.

For CYA - if you added it and are reasonably confident in pool volume, assume it's there for SLAM level calculations. It can take anywhere from a few hours, to a day, to sometimes a little longer to appear via testing.

You can add salt, but also not necessary now as the SWCG won't do a whole lot to help you keep up FC. While you work through SLAM, you want to make sure you get all the way through it before considering raising CYA or thinking about relying on SWCG for FC production. Liquid chlorine is your friend, glad you were able to find a bunch.
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Home Depot had a whole pallet of it. It looked reasonably fresh compared to the acid.

I'm using the bucket because I'm measuring with a 1 liter glass beaker and trying to keep the beaker away from the pool.
I'll factor in the CYA in the morning's additions.
I wanted to add about half the salt at this point... partly so it's dissolved, and partly so it's out of my house. I won't be turning on the SWG until I'm done with SLAM and by then the chlorine will be high enough that the SWG should be able to keep up.

When should I add more CYA? By calculations, 12,000 gallons will use slightly more than 4 pounds for 30ppm. I added 4 pounds and it's still dissolving.
If add another 4 pounds that should put me in the vicinity of 55 to 60 ppm which is inside the range for a SWG. A bit on the low side, but I am fine with that as I just flushed 12000 gallons of water to get rid of too much CYA.
 
briangreul said:
When should I add more CYA? By calculations, 12,000 gallons will use slightly more than 4 pounds for 30ppm.
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Right away. Your water (FC) needs the protection from the sun. If you used the sock method, it should be soft enough to squeeze after about 30 minutes and only take about 5-10 min to squeeze out of the sock after that,

Remember, since you need to do a SLAM Process, you can only take the CYA up to 30 for now so that your SLAM FC level is 12. If you take the CYA higher to 40 or 50, then your new SLAM FC level will be 16 or 20 respectively. See FC/CYA Levels.
 
Texas Splash said:
Right away. Your water (FC) needs the protection from the sun. If you used the sock method, it should be soft enough to squeeze after about 30 minutes and only take about 5-10 min to squeeze out of the sock after that,

Remember, since you need to do a SLAM Process, you can only take the CYA up to 30 for now so that your SLAM FC level is 12. If you take the CYA higher to 40 or 50, then your new SLAM FC level will be 16 or 20 respectively. See FC/CYA Levels.
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I think he’s already added the first CYA to get to 30 so I’d hold it there until SLAM is complete. Then you can add more to raise it for the SWG and let FC drift down to new (higher) starting point. SWG should then hold your fc there.
 
I appreciate the comments. Unfortunately, I understood how he bike works so I took it out in the street already. :)
Based on the Pool School articles, 30 is too low for CYA and that's going to cost me FC in the 90 degree weather and Texas Sun. I added another 4 pounds of CYA to a "sock" and it vanished yesterday on it's own. This morning the CYA test suggested it is at 50, so that's an okay level for SLAM. It did take my FC target up to 20. I boosted it to 20 yesterday morning afternoon and this morning I had only lost a little FC and had no CC. I was tired last night and skipped checking and adjusting the water. I did it at like 6:30am and then again right before 9am and again at like 2pm and then it got left alone until 7am this morning. I feel like I would probably pass an OCLT at this point, but I'm not in any rush to exit SLAM.
This morning's numbers were
PH 7.9 FC 19 CC 0 CYA 50 SALT 2360
Some of the salt that WalMart delivered was a bit "crunchy" so I wanted to get it in there and give it time to dissolve. I'm going to add a little more and hold the SLAM level for a couple more days. I know I have algae spores in crevices that I couldn't get out with a pressure washer and can't touch with a brush. I'm at a loss on how to deal with these so I'm just going to hold it at SLAM for a few days.

So far my liquid chlorine consumption has been modest. Only 5 gallons. This morning's boost was only .47 liters and I put a .5 liter in because it won't matter over the course of the day if there was .03 liters of 10% liquid chlorine added.

I should have done this a LONG time ago.... like years ago. It feels nice to be able to test and control the water and not feel like I'm just feeding chlorine to the monster that eats it and smiles. For a long time I had my tablet feeder wide open to keep the Algae in check.
 
On another note, what is the best practices for figuring out run time and when the pump should run? If there is an article on this please feel free to point me to it. I did not see anything and I think this probably needs to be revisited before exiting SLAM.
 
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Tonights numbers are FC 13.5, CC .5.... and nothing has been added since 12 hours ago.
I'm planning to exit SLAM in the morning. By tomorrow evening the FC should be ready for the SWG to come on and I should be able to check the full set of numbers and adjust the PH.
I'll need to add a little bit of CYA still, but I'm being cautious with that.
Looks like I'll also get to return some chemicals to Home Depot. Woo!
 
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Texas Splash said:
You've come a long way. Good job. :goodjob:
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This morning's numbers (8:16am) were FC 13.5 and CC 0.0. So I set the timer back to it's normal control and exited SLAM.
Tonight's numbers (6:48pm) are:
FC 10, CC 0, PH 8.3, TA 90, CH 250, Salt 3440.
I did not test CYA, I know it's a touch low still, but I need to get more before I do anything. It should be in the neighborhood of 50 which is workable for now. No water drained/added so it shouldn't have moved.

I turned the SWG back on and set it to it's 2nd lowest setting.
I also added some acid to bring the PH down towards 7.6

Conclusions:
TFP methods work.
Draining was necessary along with light pressure washing.
there was probably a ton of algae in the water clogging the filter previously
Pool Math rocks

Hopefully this saga will help someone else struggling with their pool who is tired of taking the water to the crack dealer and being told they need $200 of crack for the water. Pretty sure nobody in the crack store actually owns a pool either. Take that $200 and invest in a good TF test kit.
 
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full
 
2 weeks later and it's still clean and clear. PH keeps creeping up, but that's easy to adjust with acid now that I have a good test kit and understand how to add acid.
This morning's numbers were:
FC 3, CC 0
PH 8.8 TA 80 CH 325 Salt 3410

I do have a small air leak somewhere that is putting bubbles in the return. Not today Satan, not today. Anyhow, I just wanted to put a 2 week follow up. I'm testing once a week now and leaving it alone in between tests.
 
briangreul said:
I do have a small air leak somewhere that is putting bubbles in the return.
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Your SWCG creates chlorine and hydrogen gas. The chlorine goes into solution with the water instantly. The hydrogen gas exits your returns as bubbles.
 
briangreul said:
Hopefully this saga will help someone else struggling with their pool who is tired of taking the water to the crack dealer and being told they need $200 of crack for the water.
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*per trip.

Which is once or twice a month in good times, and every couple days with problems. Yeah. Glad you weaned yourself off. :)
 
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