Visalia 25k Gallon Filling Now

[Fuzz1]

Thanks Dave. The pool is in direct sun with no shade. That's about what I was thinking re the Dichlor to add the CYA. Would Trichlor add about as much CYA as Dichlor? I never had a good grasp of the difference between the two.

What about the calcium? Isn't that something I want to get in there right away to prevent corrosion of pipes and leeching from the walls? Or is that something that's not a big emergency, and I can chlorinate with Cal-hypo and Dichlor-Trichlor for a while to bring the CH/CYA levels up?

[BigDave]

I haven't personally had to deal with Calcium (vinyl pool with ~150 CH in the fill water), but I would think you'd want to take care of that directly instead of waiting for it to build with cal-hypo.

I recall that Trichlor adds 6 ppm CYA for every 10ppm FC so dichlor will get you there faster. Trichlor is also usually available in slow dissolving pucks/sticks dichlor dissolves pretty quickly. Remember, you'll need to test / chlorinate several times a day until the CYA starts to build up.

[CarlD]

I know I've been away for a while but maybe I can help.
While it's certainly possible to mix and match using di-chlor, tri-chlor and Cal-hypo safely, I think it's a bit too confusing to be practical. Pick one and work with it.

If you want to add Di-chlor, expect it will help with CYA (as Dave describes) but plan on adding calcium and muriatic acid and baking soda. Di-chlor isn't nearly as acidic as Tri-chlor.

If you want to add cal-hypo, expect it will help with calcium levels, but you'll need to add stabilizer, muriatic acid, and baking soda again. Cal-hypo isn't acidic at all

If you want to add Tri-chlor, it will work differently in that it is an eroding tablet. I like to use two floaters loaded with tabs when I am using it. This will be very acidic, will add CYA, albeit more slowly, and provide a more constant level of FC as it erodes. You'll still need to add calcium, and baking soda. You may also need to get to your maintenance level of chlorine using bleach. But this can be a painless way to three things at once.

Finally, you can do it all by adding bleach/Liquid Chlorine (my favorite), Calcium, Muriatic Acid, Stabilizer, and Baking Soda. Having a vinyl pool I don't add calcium, but I have used Cal-Hypo and don't care for how long it takes to dissolve.

A week ago I just got back from being out of the country for a month and returned to a pump our house-sitter had blown up, and a general mess. Over a foot of water had been lost (nearly 5k gallons). FC was down, pH was up, CYA was down, Alk up, salt level down. I added 120# of salt, one gallon of 12% LC, 4lbs of CYA, and about a pint of Muriatic Acid. Now the FC is around 6, CYA is 60, pH is 7.4, and salt level is an ideal 3000ppm.

But it's raining so we can't use the pool now!

[BigDave]

Welcome Back CarlD, sorry to hear about your pump. Wasn't it new this season?

[Watermom]

But it's raining so we can't use the pool now!

Yeah, cuz you might get wet!

(Sorry to hear about your pool.)

[BigDave]

Yeah, cuz you might get wet!

[CarlD]

Yeah, cuz you might get wet!

(Sorry to hear about your pool.)

LOL!
Yeah, I might melt. Actually it gets cold as.... no sun, cold water...BRRRRR!!!

The pump IS new this season. Luckily, with some replacement plumbing it seems OK. I did order a new casing (far less than a pump) in case the threads were stripped.
The pool is fine now, the water is fine again and the boys and I were in it today!