Opening Pool in a week or two

Started lurking late last year, gonna get on the BBB method this year, a little info for starters.
Located in northwest Indiana
24' dia above ground, 48" side walls, expandable liner down to 6' foor in the center. Figured about 13,500 gals in the 24' X 4' main body, extra depth will give me a little cushion on chemicals until i get dialed in.
Hayward 250# sand filter, 1hp hayward pump
I also have a main drain.

Used the silly test strips for the last 8 to 10 years, always seemed to have problems at the end of summer. Late July thru August until closing i would usually fight outbreaks of alge, don't wanna do that no more.

Ordered a Taylor K2006C last nite, pulled a sample of water from under the cover last weekend. from what i can tell, with a $15 test kit from Meyers numbers as follows, water was clear in the sample i took.
Chlorine ~ 0
PH ~ 7.8 /8.0
Al ~ 120
CYA ~ 0

From the best of my memory when i closed it numbers with the test strips,
Chlorine ~ 5
PH ~ 7.6 / 7.8
Alk ~ 120/142
CYA ~ 50

Looks like the bacteria consumed my chlorine & CYA so i'm ready to start with the chlorine when i get the cover off & filter hooked up & running. A few questions before i get started, like i said it will be a week or 2 before i get it up & running & mother nature needs to be good to me too.
Once i start in with the chlorine & get it to the point i don't lose any overnite, when do i start to introduce CYA into the water?
I know i need to bring my Ph down, but with the high chlorine level i'm gonna need to get rid of the stuff that ate my old chlorine & CYA will be hard to test Ph? do i wait until i have met the overnite requirement for my chlorine level & get my CYA to 30/50 & then adjust my Ph?

Thanks for the help,
Mike

Welcome to the Forum!

It sounds like you've got a pretty good grip on what to do. :)


You are right about the pH test being skewed to the high side at 10+ ppm cl so you might want to bring it down to 7.2- 7.4 before you start shocking the pool.

You may also want to introduce cya to get to ~20 ppm, too keep the sun from eating up so much of your chlorine (unless you're able to test and add more cl 4+ times a day), you say the water is clear, so you won't be backwashing the freshly added cya out of the pool.

Please run a full set of tests when you get your K2006C and post them before you start the shock process (there's a chance the kit you got has an old reagent in it and it's always best to double check before dumping a bunch of chems in the pool)

IF you still have Tri-Chlor tabs, this is the time to use them up. They will add chlorine (and you need it), but not enough, so you'll have to add bleach. But they will also add acid to bring your pH down, and they will add CYA to start giving you a base of stabilizer. If you don't have tabs, I wouldn't go buy them, but if you do, now's the time for them. Put in one or two floaters, set to max.

But if you don't have them, then you'll want to add either muriatic or dry acid to bring your pH down a bit, then you'll want to shock the heck out of your pool. With 0 CYA, aim for an FC of 10-12ppm, but you can go as high as 15 safely. You'll probably want to get at least one backwash in before you add stabilizer. It takes 48 hours to a week to sufficiently dissolve and you don't really want to backwash in that time as you'll lose it.

Either way works--they are both the same thing. Also, if you have di-chlor powder that too will lower your pH (not as much) and add stabilizer, so you can use that up too.

The B-B-B system is to get your water clear at minimum expense. If you have tri-chlor tabs and di-chlor powder, you can use them if you just use them at the right time, which is ironically, now.

Gentlemen,
Thank you for your replys. I don't have any left over chemicals from last year except 2 cases/ 8 gallons of 12% liquid chlorine. i will get a gallon of muriatic acid & as soon as i get the pump running i'll get the Ph down & find an old nylon for the CYA & start with the chlorine. As soon as i get the taylor kit i'll get some good numbers & post em, like i said it will be at least a week or 2 before i open.

Again Thanks for your help, can't wait till it's warm & i'm floating with a cold libation in my hand.

Mike

First off i would like to thank all you for your replys/help with this topic.

Trying to open this weekend, mother nature don"t want to help me very much, talking about showers on & off all weekend
OK, Got the Taylor K2006C kit & ran a test last nite, here they are.

Chlorine ~ 0 ~ i could not even get the powder to turn any shade of pink even with a 10ml sample & 8 scoops of powder
pH ~ 7.4
TA ~ 80
Calicum Hardness ~ 180/200
CYA ~ < 30 ~ the dot was gone with the test vial filled all the way to the top, the 30 mark is about 3/16" to 1/4" below the top of the vial

My best guess after i get the it open is to shock to 10/15ppm & keep it there until i loose less then 1ppm overnite
increase my CYA between 30/50
return my free chlorine level to 4/5ppm with my CYA between 30/50 & retest?
am i on the right track?
Whevever i see my combined chlorine come off of 0 i need to bring my chlorine to shock level to kill whatever nastys are in the water

A quick question for you guys about the CYA ~ Could i pre-dissolve it in a 5gal bucket, (place the CYA in a nylon & place it in the bucket & add the solution as needed) when i open the pool? I know it would be a longshot as to what % i was actually adding doing it this way, but i would only add say a gallon at a time as i have some CYA present in the pool now. Just a thought

Again Thanks for all of your help ~ Mike

You are right on target! You can try to pre-dissolve the CYA, but it still takes a long time. You can also put it in a sock or, better, a leg off pantyhose and tie it to the ladder, preferably in the return stream. It's still going to take 48 hours to a week to get it up to target. Make 30ppm your first target and then adjust to 50 if you need to. Always easier to add stabilizer than remove it.

Carl

Again, thanks to everyone for your help & sorry bout the delay in getting back online.
Got the pool uncovered last Friday, everything set up & running, water was clear & i had fine silt that filtered thru the cover over winter.
Again the numbers were the same as in my first post.
Using a Taylor 2006 kit.
Placed nylon with CYA in the pool for about 4 hrs on Friday also.
Brought the chlorine up to 14 ppm with 1.5 ppm CC, on Saturday morning i was down to 12 ppm with 1 ppm CC. On Saturday nite i brought it back up to 14ppm.
On Sunday morning i was at 14 ppm with 0 CC, i checked again Sunday nite was at 12.5 ppm with 0 CC, so i Sunday nite i brought it back to 14 ppm, on Momday AM was still at 14 ppm & 0 CC. I also brushed & vacumed thru during the entire weekend.
I checked the numbers this morning & had the following,
FC = 6 ppm
CC = 0
Ph = 7.5 ppm
CYA = 35/38 ppm
ALK = 180

Everything looks good except for the ALK number of 180, do you think i should reduce it to 80/100? or let it stay as it is.
Put the solar cover on to get the temp up. i know i will have to remove it to lower ALK.
Need to change pump seal, have enough of a drip to keep the base damp, gonna do that when the rain stops.
Again thanks to everyone for your help ~ Mike

Actually, with a vinyl liner it's a minor problem and won't stop you from swimming. IF your CH gets too high (like 400-500ppm) and T/A passes 200, you can get cloudy water.
If you have trouble keeping pH down where you want it, you'll want to lower it. Otherwise, if everything's good, you don't need to fix it.

Carl