Help with balancing my water - which do I address first?

[derekb41]

I just opened my pool this week from the winter shutdown. There are a few things that need adjusting and I wanted to make sure if there was a preference on which one I should address first. I use the BBB method and use household Clorox as my chlorine source.

It appears I need to:

1) Adjust my pH
2) Put some chlorine in the pool (easy, but I wanted to follow steps here first before I added anything else)
3) Raise CYA level
4) I'm also concerned about copper because the pool company that opened the pool dumped a bottle of ClearView Copper Strike Algaecide (32 oz) in when they opened it. I'm not sure if this will affect any of my readings and/or adjustments, or cause any other problems.

Here is my test readings and history:

Using K-2006

pH: 8.0 (or more) - that is the max reading on the kit. I did the Acid demand test and 3 drops brought the pH down to 7.2

Chlorine: 0.0 - 3 days ago the pool was shocked by the pool company using my cal hypo - but my CYA is low and the pool gets full sun.

Total Alkalinity: 110 ppm

Calcium Hardness: 240 ppm

CYA: <30 (used the K-2006 cya test and filled to the top and still able to see the black dot)


Any help is appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[aylad]

I would get some chlorine in the pool first of all, so you don't end up with a green slimy mess on your hands. How does the water look, now? Is it clear? cloudy? green?

That being said, I would not shock it yet for 2 reasons: 1) high chlorine might precipitate out the copper, and I'd rather get Pooldoc's take on that before you do so, and 2) when the pool is at shock level, your pH is going to read falsely high. So I would get 3-5 ppm of chlorine in the pool and try to keep it there while you go ahead and adjust your pH downward. You can use dry acid for this, but muriatic is more efficient and cheaper. (See safe handling info here http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?13111-Using-Muriatic-Acid-to-Safely-Lower-Your-Pool-s-pH). If the pool is clear, you can go ahead and start adding the CYA. If it's green, then I'd get it cleaned up first and then raise the CYA.

[derekb41]

I would get some chlorine in the pool first of all, so you don't end up with a green slimy mess on your hands. How does the water look, now? Is it clear? cloudy? green?

That being said, I would not shock it yet for 2 reasons: 1) high chlorine might precipitate out the copper, and I'd rather get Pooldoc's take on that before you do so, and 2) when the pool is at shock level, your pH is going to read falsely high. So I would get 3-5 ppm of chlorine in the pool and try to keep it there while you go ahead and adjust your pH downward. You can use dry acid for this, but muriatic is more efficient and cheaper. (See safe handling info here http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?13111-Using-Muriatic-Acid-to-Safely-Lower-Your-Pool-s-pH). If the pool is clear, you can go ahead and start adding the CYA. If it's green, then I'd get it cleaned up first and then raise the CYA.
Thanks for the quick response. The water is very clear right now.