Opening Pool in a week or two

[CarlD]

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.

[onebaddog]

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

[onebaddog]

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

[CarlD]

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

[onebaddog]

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

[CarlD]

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