New to forum and BBB..Needing guidance.

I've been reading here and I thought I was getting it but now when I have to put the info into use. I'm not so suere which issues to addres first.....I'm a bit confused. Can some one help.

I opened my pool abpout a week ago. It was swamp green. It is 16x35...IG...Vinyl liner........

I didn't have a test kit a week ago so I just put about 7 jugs of 1- 1/2 gal of 6% bleach from WalMart. The next day it was blue green. I I put in about 5 more jugs two days after the first time.....For the past 4 days or so the pool is so cloudy I can't see the bottom , even in the shallow end (3 feet). I know thre is leaves and pine needles in the deel end but I can't see to vacuum.

My test kit arrived two days ago so now I have some numbers.....

PH- 7.0
TA- 50
Cal.- 40

I ordered the Taylor 2006 kit and it's a little confusing to me concerning the chlorine directions. I filled the tube to the 10ml. line and did the 0871 bottle of drops. It took 2 drops to turn the water from pink to clear. From what I can gather I would multiply the 2 X 0.5 to get 1.0 reading for the chlorine????

The CYA test said to add the mixture to the tube until the black dot disappears. When I did this the liquid was completely level with the top of the tube but there was a small squirt still left in the bottle. From what I understand the CYA is low it must be at least a 20 or lower?????

I believe I need to add stabilizer but if I do I can't backwash for about 5 days. If I vacuum I need to backwash so I'm not sure in what order to do this in or how much stabilizer to add???? If my calcium is low is it arm & hammer or borax???....

This is a bit confusing because I have so many numbers to look at and they all require different actions and I'm concerned about the order in which to do them....Any advice would be so helpful...... Thank you.....

Hi,

1. Yes your right about the Chlorine test. 2 drops shows a Total Chlorine of 1. You need to get it up to something like 15ppm and hold it there until all the algae is dead.

2. To assist in keeping your Chlorine level up in direct sunlight you will need some CYA. According to your test you do not have any. Where you live and the pools exposure to direct sun determines the amount of CYA you need. Generally aim for 30ppm to get started. If you hang the stabilizer in a sock in front of the return then you can still backwash in the meantime. Try to add most of your chlorine at dusk so it's not fighting the sun and then check in the mornings. If you can add more several times a day to keep it up then that's ideal (but expensive if it's sunny).

3. Vacuum direct to waste and get the crap (aka algae food) out of the pool as soon as you can. I'd do that first before adding a bunch of chemicals. Even if you can't see the bottom you can vacuum blind in a grid pattern.

4. Don't worry about Calcium in a vinyl pool and in any case concentrate on clearing it up and getting your PH TA and Chlorine levels in range.

Use the Pool Calculator to determine amounts.

Thank you so much!!....You have given me some direction I felt so lost as to what to do.....

Sorry for asking questions these type of questions but I found the calculator confusing. Can you tell me how much to start with when I add the CYA in the sock. My pool has a 3 ft shallow end and a 7 foot hopper at the deep end and I'm in Ohio.....

How many gallons would it take to get to 15ppm with the bleach????

I suppose after a few times this will start to make sense to me.......

Ok I used the pool volume estimator at the bottom of the pool calculator and an average of 5ft deep so about 20,000 gallons. I have a 16*36 kidney shaped and use 21000 gallons for mine and it works well. As you go on you will see how well the numbers work out and can adjust the volume based on experience. So in the calculator once you've set the water volume at the top you put in the now value and the target value for each component and the see what is called for.

Here is what I get so you can try it and match the results on the calculator.

20,000 gallons

FC Now= 1 Target = 15 Add 581 oz Chlorine (4.5 gallons) or 58 oz of 65% Cal Hypo (Granulated Chlorine)
PH Now= 7.0 Target = 7.5 Add 1 box of Borax or 40 oz Soda Ash
TA Now= 50 Target = 100 Add 15 pounds of Baking Soda
CYA Now= 0 Target =20 Add 53 oz stabilizer

Subject to corrections by the guru's on here I'd:

1. Pour in the chlorine in SLOWLY by the return stream so it doesn't collect in one spot and bleach your liner.
2. Set up the sock and hang in front of the return.
3. Add the Baking Soda slowly through the skimmer with the basket in.
4. Wait a bit 1 hour and add the PH up ( Borax or Soda Ash ) again slowly through the skimmer.

I'm not sure that you need to wait with the last two but best practise says to not mix chemicals so I would out of principle.


Lastly I put 20ppm CYA as the initial target as it will be enough to get the pool clear and you can easily add more but you can't easily get rid of it. It might well be higher if we are off on the volume etc.

Hope this helps...

Glenn has you started but let me tweak it a bit. Do not add all this at once or you will have a cloudy pool!!! Also, use Borax to raise pH, baking soda to use alk, or washing soda to raise both at the same time. But, certainly don't put 15 lbs. of anything in the pool at one time. Small doses and gradually get to targets. By the way, it is ok to add Borax and baking soda one after the other.

I also would not use cal-hypo. It is a vinyl pool and thus doesn't need calcium. Cal-hypo can cloud the water up. I'd just stick with bleach. Take it up to shock level and try and hold it there.

Thank you for the detailed instructions it's awesome of you to help...I feel so much better that someone can walk me through this. This is my first time opening using the BBB method and everyone here is getting so frustrated that they can't swim with it being close to 90 degrees so I have to do this right......:)