Need help with starting chlorine after drain/refill

[aciam]

Hi Ben -

so we decided not to go away for the weekend and thus will be able to pay attention to the pool. We didnt have enough time to get the materials we needed, follow the pH and be on the road ahead of traffic. We plan to go away for the weekend in about 2 weeks so that will give me enough time to plan on how to get the pool ready for us to leave. We may have a longer vacation planned in august that we will need to prepare for as well.

should I consider doing the borax/muriatic acid method before then (like next week) in preparation ( and add the polyquat before we actually leave) or will the pool be in a better position to leave in 2 weeks and maybe only need a maintenance dose of polyquat?

This mornings numbers look good: FC 5.5-6 CC 0.5 - 1 alk 70-80 pH 7.4 CYA 20-30 as my best guess

We swam yesterday for the first time - my husband first - with no ill effects; then my kids. everyone is fine this morning as well. no burning or red eyes.

1. do you want me adding weekly doses of maintenance polyquat?

2. what is the procedure for after swimming? do I just maintain my chlorine with the pucks or do I need to shock the pool? you have told me to stay away from liquid bleach so how do I do that ?

3. can you use a tablet feeder in an above ground pool or could I get something like a floater to hold extra pucks for times away from the pool?

4. let me know about whether I should do the borax/acid method even though we aren't going away ( are those amounts correct for a 10 thousand gallon AG pool? 8 boxes seems crazy high! I'll have to go to like 4 stores to find them!)

Thanks! aciam

[PoolDoc]

#1 - No; not till you are ready to leave.
#2 - Just use the pucks. Use bleach only if the chlorine gets below 2 ppm.
#3 - Use a floater.
#4 - The borax is pretty cheap and is a good way to make your pool more resistant to algae. 8 boxes is correct, but you don't have to add it all at once. If you shop at Walmart, there's a good chance you can get by with 2 trips.

Otherwise, your pool numbers look good.

[aciam]

Thanks Ben!

we had another period of swimming today with no ill effects. and my CC is down to 0.5 for the first time ever!!!!! I am just a little ecstatic

Who knew watching that tinge of pink turn totally clear could feel so good!!!!

In any case, I am going to need to add some water from my hose tomorrow to top up the water level - our town water supply is known to be hard but I never had any problems with the baquacil pool in terms of metals ( at least as far as I was aware!)

Do I need to do anything special before or after adding the water from the hose tomorrow? ( either now or in the future?) With the new water you had me put in a 1.5 maintenance dose of polyquat. ( was that for the metals or algae? or both?)

Thanks! aciam

[PoolDoc]

Fill through the skimmer. If you got any chlorine tabs, put one in. That way any metals tend to come out on the filter.

[aciam]

Hi Ben - so we had another great day of swimming yesterday - we didn't swim today because of rain.

I added water from my hose yesterday and then again today through the skimmer with a trichlor tab in it as you suggested with no problem.

When I was checking the skimmer basket this evening, I noticed it had an orange-brown hue to it - so I took it out to better inspect and noted some thick black substance on the underlip of the basket. My best guess is that the brown hue was some metal residue from adding water into the basket the last 2 days. I was able to clean it off with some ajax - it did not feel slimy at all - more a color coating.

However, the black substance I am a little more worried about. It was a small amount but thick and almost greasy - it spread out and smeared under my finger and was difficult to clean ( like grease).

I did some reading on the site about black algae and learned about your "schmear" test - I don't remember it looking green at all when I smeared it and I even went back to check the papertowels I had used to clean it - they don't look green to me either. Not sure what black algae feels like or if this is a typical location. I inspected the rest of the pool and it looks pristine.

We did put a new ladder in yesterday - and we used some black silicone sealing tape at the railing ends - but they are not submerged in the pool. ( Is that tape OK to use or should we change it?)

Otherwise my numbers have been stable : FC has been maintained between 3.5 and 5.5 over the last 2 days and CC has been 0.5 most recently. I have seen no increase in chlorine needs. I continue to use trichlor tabs.
Ph is 7.3 and alk 70-80
CYA today was btw 30 and 40

1. do you agree the color change in skimmer is likely due to some metal deposition from adding water with tab in it? and not a worry.

2. any thoughts about the black substance? do I need to be worried? ( I have a 10K gal vinyl AG pool)

Obviously I will inspect closely again tomorrow. The drain/refill of my water happened on june 24th so the new water has been in only 9 days. You did have me add 4oz of polyquat on the 25th. Other than that, I have only added borax, baking soda, bleach and trichlor to the water. Thanks! aciam

[PoolDoc]

It's pretty normal to have black goo accumulate in skimmers and such. It seems to be related to body oils, sunscreen, and/or mold compounds used in making tabs. I wouldn't worry, though I would wipe it offl.

The test for metal is vitamin C -- if a crushed damp v-C tab removes it, it's metal.

[aciam]

Hi Ben - so it's been a couple of days since I have posted and I just wanted you to know that - I don't have any more questions for you!!!!

You and your moderators have fixed my pool!!!!! I have had a CC of 0 for the last 24 hours - yes that's right - big fat zero!!!! I almost can't believe my eyes when I look at the non-pink clarity of my water in the taylor comparator tube!!!! I keep testing just to get the thrill of the end result! So thank you for all of your patience and diligence and for sharing all of your knowledge with me - and thank you to chem geek and waterbear and watermom and everyone else who responded to my posts and helped. It has been a truly crazy 6 weeks! You were right when you said it might get better in a week or two - after I added the new water and it still had a CC of 5. And I am so thankful! Just wanted to let you know! aciam

PS - I still am quite an amateur at managing a chlorine pool so I am sure I will continue to have questions unfortunately for you and since I trust no one but the pool forum here I will be asking them all to you guys! - just in case you were thinking about closing out this thread!