New Pool start-up saga...

We have a recently completed 18,000 Gal., IG Gunite pool with a Pebblefina finish, Aqua rite SWCG, Polaris Caretaker in-floor, Sta-Rite System3 Cartridge Filter, no heater.

Pool was filled directly from our municipal water supply, which has an abundance of Hydrogen Sulfide, high turbidity and is inexplicably very soft (Thank god for the whole house filter) :eek: As the pool fills the water has the appearance of strong coffee mixed with high vitamin content urine. I can just make out the "Baja shelf" which is only about 18" below the surface! Nice.

Next morning the start-up crew shows up and proceeds to dump in mass quantities of Dichlor, Acid, CYA, water polisher and salt. They fire up the filter, set the SWCG to 85% (unknown to us) tell my DW to let it run 24/7 till it "looks good". Not a test kit in sight or use. I unfortunately could not be present for this dog and pony show.

That evening I return home and the water has somewhat improved in appearance, it's now a murky sea foam green and I think I can just make out the bottom step. My DW tells me what they had done, I was a bit dubious but since these guys do this everyday they must know what they're doing, right? (what was that line about assuming?) :D

Next morning I break out the new PS234s and proceed to run the numbers.

FC 28
CC 0 (duh!)
TC 28
pH 8.2 +
Alk 110
CH 40
CYA 70 (good thing they stopped when they did)
Salt 3800ppm (ack, could it be the test problems?)

Dang, FC and pH very high, (thinks to self) is high pH affecting accuracy of the FC test? Let's start there. I fire up bleach calc and decide to start with just under a quart of muriatic acid a pint at time about 2 hours apart. After a few hours I retest and I am still on the high side of 7.8, so I add another pint. this eventually tests out about 7.5. I re-run the FC and now it's 30!

Why is the FC rising? So I actually sit down and read the instructions for the SWCG and the controller (remember no one has showed us anything yet) and decide to see what everything is set at and familiarize myself with the controls. Pressing buttons, scrolling through menus, aha! salt water chlorinator settings, 85%! salt level reads 3600, I shut it off.

CH is also very low, pop down to the local big L store and grab a 50 lb tub of Calcium Chloride (on sale + a coupon) and a another drop based salt test kit (for comparison purposes) after a small battle with the Pool store staff who told me that the strips are much easier to use and will tell me "all I need to know" :rolleyes:

I began adding the hardness increaser a few pounds at a time, waiting and testing as I go until I reach 260 ppm. Retest salt level with new kit, results are identical.

Bright, hot sunny days, pool is getting very clear now, (I am still fighting pH drifting up I imagine from the pebblefina cure as the SWCG is still off) kids are driving me nuts to get in the pool. FC slowly drifting down, gets to 15ppm, OK put on the old suits and try her out. Feels wonderful! I can taste the salt but not too bad.

Pool School, the PB sends out a guy that is really very knowledgeable and I explain how things have went so far, he shakes is head and apologizes for not being there at start-up as he would have made sure the job was done better and blah, blah, blah. No real harm, the salt will eventually dilute down with rain & splash out and we'll find the sweet spot for the SWCG to maintain the FC.

FC finally gets down to 6 ppm and I set the SWCG to 35% and will monitor and adjust as necessary.

I get a call from the "Free" pool service company that was included in our contract to start our two months of free service. My first instinct was to just decline and not use them (always follow your instincts!) but I thought hey it won't hurt to have another person brushing the new finish along with me. I told the rep from the service that I did not want their service guy who I will now call "Pool Genius" to put any chems in the pool other than a little acid if the pH has drifted up. I told them that I would handle the rest.

Well, Pool Genius shows up while no one is home and does his thing. I come home and jump in the pool and bam! salt! taste has increased. I go over to dump the skimmer basket and PUCKS! I pull out the salt test kit, 4200 ppm! I call the company and tell them what happened and that I want to speak to Pool Genius. He eventually calls and tells me that he "tasted" the water and it seemed a little low on salt so he added "some" ME "You don't have a test kit for salt?" HIM "No never needed one, I can always tell by the taste" :eek: ME "Why did you put pucks in the skimmer when I specifically said only add acid if necessary nothing else???" HIM "Well pucks add acid (the only thing he was right about in the whole conversation) and adding a little extra chlorine to a new pool is always a good idea." :confused: ME "If I wanted a little "extra" chlorine I would just turn up the SWCG a bit not add pucks. Do you realize that pucks also add CYA and my level is right where I want it? By the way, my salt level was originally too high and now you've driven it up to 4200 ppm, thanks."

They're so fired!

It just shows that once again there is no free lunch...

Todays numbers:

FC 6
CC 0
TC 6
pH 7.4
Alk 110
CH 260
CYA 70
Salt 4200 ppm (I intend to pump out and add to dilute)