Newbie here and trying to open a 22,0000 gallon salt water pool ourselves - HELP!

Hi everyone,
I am new here so please forgive me for what may be a redundant question. We have a 22,000 gal salt water gunite pool that we just took the cover off yesterday. What do we need to open it - I tested the water yesterday and the CL level was nonexistent (basically clear instead of yellow) and the PH was about 8.2. We've been running the filter for about 24 hours now and have vacuumed everything out - from what I;m reading I'm guessing that we can just add bleach and salt but am not sure of the amoutns or if this is even correct. Any help would be greatly appreciated - PS - we are in Massachusetts and trying to enjoy an early season :) Thanks!!

Of course I'm more of a "questions asker" than a "questions answer" person but you SHOULD not have to add much, if any salt.

The salt stays in the water until it gets splashed out or pumped out with the backwash water. It doesn't evaporate. I added a couple of bags to mine for a maintenance dose....but you should test your water to see what the current level is before adding.

I'll let Ben and Co. answer the chemistry part.

Thanks Goose - I picked up 12 bags of salt but because of your response will only add 4 and see what happens - we had to add a lot of make up water (about 24") because of the dry winter we had here. I also added 240 oz of bleach 6%. Plan to recheck levels tomorrow and see where the levels are. Thanks so much for your response :)

I wouldn't add any until after testing.

My SWCG tells me what the salt ppm is on the display......might check it first to see the level. Should be around ~3,000 ppm.

Easy to add salt....not so easy to get rid of it.

What kind of kit do you have? Do you know what the CYA level is? How does the water look? What kind of filter do you have?

We have a Pentair kit but I just ordered the recommended Taylor 2006C. We have a Hayward cartridge filter. This is our third season with the pool, the first with us trying to open it ourselves. We did have a hard time last year keeping the water in balance - it seemed to get green pretty easily and i felt like we lived at Leslie's. I don't know the CYA level because the kit I currently have doesn't support that but as soon as the new kit comes in I'm assuming I should be able to get that info. Thanks for your reply.

Good decision to order the K-2006. It will make your pool maintenance so much easier. Keep some chlorine in there so the pool doesn't turn green. Until we know your CYA, it is hard to tell you how much bleach to add since chlorine level is based on CYA level. (Read more about that in the Best Guess Chlorine Chart in my signature below.) In your pool, each gallon (4 quarts) will add about 2.25ppm of chlorine. Use that as a reference. For now, test in the evenings and add enough bleach to take your chlorine level back up to about 5-6. If you find that by next evening when you test that you have no chlorine left, make that night's dose a little bigger. Once the new kit comes and you can test your CYA, somebody here can tweak the advice about chlorine levels for your pool.

Your pH is too high. Use a little muriatic acid to lower it a little. Aim for 7.4-7.6 but anywhere between 7.2-7.8 is ok. Read the following for how to use the acid safely. I'd say start with about a pint and see how much that drops it. Then, redose as needed.
Using Muriatic Acid Safely

Thanks for that advice. I just tested the chlorine and again, it's non-existent, but the ph was down to 8. It looks crystal clear but obviously something is wrong with that chlorine reading. I will add more bleach tonight and retest it tomorrow evening. Thanks again for all the help.

You are welcome. Glad to help!