New to forum and pools!

Hello all

So glad I found this site, there is a great wealth of knowledge on here that I have been trying to digest over the last two weeks.

Here's the scoop on my pool: bought a house last August with an above ground vinyl lined pool (33x18) approximately 18,000 gallons. Pool was not opened all summer but I through some winterizing chemicals (not sure what they were bought from pool store) in the fall. Took cover off 2 weeks ago and water was surprising clear with a bunch of leaves on the bottom. First mistake, I took cover off too soon. Didn't fill up pool until a week later and pool turned green since there were no chemicals and filter wasn't running.

A week later pool was filled (maybe 4-6000 gallons) and I got pump and filter running (hayward De) I also dumped 4 gallons of liquid shock (buckmans 12.5% sodium hypochlorite) and 1 bottle of algaecide. Pool turned from green to cloudy white basically within a few hours and was much better over night. Continued to run de filter for next 4 days backwashing and regenerating fairly frequently (algae).

Here's where I stand now: tested with Taylor 2006

Fc 0
CC .5 (maybe .5 maybe 0?)
Ph 7.6
Alkalinity 90
Cya 0

I poured about 128 ounces of bleach in tonight and have had 3 tablets (8 oz each) of trichlor in a floater for the last 2 days. Will test again tomorrow.

My thoughts are, get cya up slowly while also raising chlorine levels. I believe trichlor will raise my cya (and chlorine) but is there a quicker way? Am I on the right track? Should I be doing anything differently? I've also been vacuuming throughout this whole process, it seems the algae may have died and sank to bottom since it seems I have to vaccum almost everyday for last 3 days. Pool is generally clear little cloudy though could be better.


Also I have been having to regenerate my de filter a lot almost every hour when filter is running. I assume this will get better as algae goes down(doesn't seem to be too much left floating) but I also believe the de fingers could use a bath in muriatic acid to clean them, I don't know the last time they were cleaned and I only hosed them off before running this year.

Thanks!

Sounds like your doing everything right ! Their is a product that you can go to pool store and ask them for that will grab all the partials which most likely are pollen . Once you use it run filter for like 8 hours shut down and let it settle to the bottom then vacuum to waste !
Here in NY its called Gold dust or flock . But the pool place will know what to give you when you tell them . Good luck

I wouldn't add any floc just yet. We typically only recommend that as a last resort. Give your filter time to do its job. Live algae clogs DE filters fast which is why you are having that issue. Usually best to put a DE filter on recirculate until the algae is dead. Then work to filter it out afterwards.

Instead of using trichlor to add CYA, you can use dichlor which is a faster dissolving granular chlorine that also has CYA in it. It will introduce the dichlor more quickly. But, you have to be careful when buying it as many places sell blended products that have stuff in them you don't want. If you have a Sam's Club near you, you can buy their PoolBrand dichlor which is fine. If not, Amazon sells Kem-Tek which is also ok. You can get the Kem-Tek through our Amazon store. If you use this link (http://pool9.net/amz/), any purchases made earn the forum a small commission which helps to keep us online.

Hope this helps. Let us know if you have any further questions and welcome to the Pool Forum!

Thanks! Since I was inpatient with the Trichlor I added 4lbs of granular CYA in a sock over the return and 240oz of bleach to get my chlorine levels up last night. Will check my numbers again today when I get home to see where I am at. I believe, based upon the pool calculator, that my CYA should be up to about 30 (after the 3 trichlor pucks disolve and granular CYA gets incorporated into the pool). Since the granular CYA was added last night, which has disovled in the sock and in the pool now will I see my CYA level go up right away or does it take a week to show up on my test kit?

Wait a few days before you test again to be sure. You don't want to waste the reagent.

Fc up to 7.2 and ph down slightly to 7.2 (as a result of the cya I assume) will wait a few days to test cya level but added a bit more today and my best guess is that I should be around 45 after all is said and done. Chlorine held well added last night and while today was mostly cloudy it seems as if the chlorine is beginning to hold. Will add some borax tomorrow to keep ph in the 7.6 region. Looks like I may be swimming this weekend!

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Originally Posted by Giants85

Looks like I may be swimming this weekend!

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Awesome! That would be great. I intend to get off this computer and do the same! I gotta enjoy my pool, too! ;)

if you will use a 10mL water sample when you do your chlorine tests instead of the 25mL sample, you will save on your reagents. It gives you a reading to the nearest 0.5 instead of 0.2 but that is plenty good enough.

Keep up the good work!

Thanks ill do that from now on. Can't emphasize enough how helpful this site has been.

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Originally Posted by Giants85

Can't emphasize enough how helpful this site has been.

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We are glad to be here and able to help. Let us know if you have further questions.

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