Starting from scratch (new water)

[Watermom]

Your vinyl should not affect your test results. As long as your pH is between 7.0-8.0, you are ok. You can always add more CYA later if you decide to but can't 'take it back out.' So, starting with 50 sounds like a good plan.

[jilted]

Thanks! Since the CYA comes in 3 lb containers maybe I'll just round up to 12lbs. That should still keep me at the lower end of where my swcg recommends.

I was going to start adding salt as soon as I finish making all the cuts and as the pool reaches a foot or so in the shallow. That way I can get the SWCG running as soon as possible. (let the salt circulate for 2-3 hours before starting up the SWCG)

Would you still recommend a few gallons of bleach to kick things off since it would take some time before the SWCG can get ramped up to a reasonable ppm?

[Watermom]

Yes. You don't want to leave water unchlorinated for long. It is surprising how fast a pool will turn green. Don't risk it with new water!

[jilted]

oh i have seen how fast it turns green! I had to refill after measuring and it went green quick. I hit it with bleach and ran the pump and cleaned it up once but the seal was bad and trying to repair the pump was actually worse than just letting it run grinding! So it turned again... quick! I am hosting a serious frog infestation at the moment!

I started draining it again today with a small sump pump to get a head start until the new motor comes in tomorrow.

I'm hoping to have the old liner out and do all the cleaning of the bottom by Friday evening and Saturday so we can start early putting in the new liner. I sure hope that's not too long to have it without water!

[jilted]

OK we are back in business as of yesterday evening and I am now circulating again.

The water is clear but by yesterday evening i could feel the surface a tiny bit slimey so I brushed it before and after adding bleach to kick things off.

I added:
5 gal's of 6% bleach after the sun went down and this morning my reading was 10ppm (with last years reagents)
15 bags of salt and my reading shows 3600ppm which is in line with my swcg recommended levels (have not run swcg yet)
I'm almost done with adding 6 lbs of CYA but I need to do upwards of 12 lbs to get to the low end of my swcg recommended level

So here's my test results from this morning:
FC: 10
CC: 0
pH: 7.8
Alkalinity: 160
CYA: NA (new reagents on the way)

Should I adjust anything from those initial readings or should I let it circulate somemore? It's only been mixing up the water for about 15 hours.

Thanks!
-stephen

[Watermom]

Without knowing your CYA reading, it is hard to know if your chlorine is high enough to kill your impending algae bloom evidenced by the slimy feeling walls. Check the overnight chlorine consumption again tonight and see what that shows.

[jilted]

will do... I'm going to jump in later and feel the floor but the wall was not slimy.

The FC test was approx 14 hours after dosing so I will check again this evening and again in the morning.

the first 6 lbs of CYA has pretty much dissolved so I'm about to go add the 3rd 3lb container which should still have me at the lower end of my recommended level but since I am running pump 24/7 right now anyway I don't want to waste any time getting cya up to a respectable level