Opening Day Help Needed.

[herb396]

Have a 25,000 gal in ground gunite pool, cover off today here in NJ, water is clear, but bottom and walls have silt from the mesh cover (lots of trees around).
Have my new Taylor K-2006 test kit out
Readings:
Ph -7.4
CL - 0
Alk - 130
CYA - 0

So what now,,vaccum to waste then lots of bleach? Don't know what my CYA was at closing las fall (new to the site) and new to 'not going to the pool store'.

[madwil]

yes- vacuum to waste, then start with Clorine and CYA- you may want to use a little of the triclor initially, to get some CYA in the pool, then switch to bleach.
If you don't get any CC when you add Cl, then you may not even have to shock the pool- just maintain the FC once you get it started!

[CarlD]

I would have to respectfully disagree with Madwil. I would DEFINITELY shock your pool to start. That's the first thing. Shock it to the 10-12 level. Your pH is fine so that's not an issue. I would do that before adding CYA. First things first. And vacuum the pool to waste. I have a robotic cleaner so I run that about 4 times to get the same effect.

Then you can use Trichlor tabs to maintain FC and add CYA, if you have them. The Tabs erode keeping a fairly constant level of FC to offset the lack of CYA. But you'll need to watch your pH and keep a couple of boxes of Borax handy for when the pH drops due to the tabs. If not, you'll need to use bleach and add CYA separately. Always use LESS CYA than you think you'll need. It's easy to add but hard to get rid of when you over-shoot.

Watch your CYA every week and when it hits your target (I recommend 30ppm for spring and early summer, and 50ppm for mid-July and August), stop using trichlor completely and stick to bleach.

I, too, live in NJ and have the same issues (not really problems, just the task you face). That's why by pure dumb luck I've found that CYA of 30ppm for the first half of the season and 50ppm for the second half works well.

BTW, I ALWAYS open to FC=0, and CYA=0. If I can, I open mid April with far less clean up. If I have to wait 2 or 3 weeks (like this year) I have green slime, which is now gone. It was gone, mostly in 2 days.

Carl

[herb396]

Thanks Carl. I vacuumed today & got about 80% of the bottom surface, added about 5 gal of bleach & will brush tomorrow and start up the Polaris.
Questions:
1. Should I be using bleach to shock (meaning to bring the Cl level up quickly) ?
2. For how long should I look to hold the shock level?
3. Then how long should I wait before beginning to add CYA (wait until the water is clear?)
4. I do not have the trichlor tabs, what might I use to add CYA? (or if I need the trichlor where should I get them?)

*Current status - After about 5 hrs my green slim walls have started to clear, CL was up to 2. (thanks for the helpful NJ neighbor info!)

herb

[madwil]

1- yep, bleach is good
2- hard to say- a couple days to a week maybe; maintain your shock levels until you pass on overnight chlorine test and CC <.5 and water clear
3- you can add CYA at any point- I would add some now to help you not lose as much FC to sunlight -but once you add, don't put more for a week and retest; just remember once you add CYA you need to adjust your shock/FC levels accordingly
4- CYA is at the pool store; sometimes at Walmart/HomeDepot/Lowes sold as stabilizer- read the contents and look for CYA, isocyanuric acid, or cyanuric acid

If your walls are clearing, you're definitely on the right track- now some patience and work will clear it all soon!

[Watermom]

I would wait a bit before adding the cya. Since you are dealing with a green pool and a dirty floor, you will most likely need to backwash some in this first week and backwashing will remove the cya. (Backwash when your filter pressure rises 8-10psi over your clean filter pressure.) Once you get your pool cleaned up, then you can either add some cya directly or use trichlor (or even dichlor) for awhile as your source of chlorine, both of which have cya in them. BTW -- cya is sometimes called conditioner. Check the label ingredients.