45000 gallon pool first results

[jdburton]

We plastered and filled our gunite pool on 6/3. It's 50x20x10deep, but with large benches and shallow play area, so we watched our meters and got a number around 45,000 gallons. It's hot here; over 100 every day for the last week. We've added 2 gallons muriatic acid so far, several gallons of chlorox, and 16 pounds of CYA granules. Ran our first full test this morning and got the following numbers:

FC 5
CC .5
TC 5.5
pH 7.5
Alk 135
Cal 220
Cya 45
Temp 77

There is a lot of white buildup on the tile, which we're assuming is from the new plaster, but it cleans off fairly easily. We're also assuming our high calcium number is from the plaster, although we filled from the fire hydrant and the water here in Southern Utah is fairly hard. Are these assumptions correct, or are we missing something important? Will the calcium come down on its own as the plaster cures and we brush the top layer out of the pool, or should we be trying to bring it down with chemicals? Thanks for the help!

James and Denise

[famdog]

although we filled from the fire hydrant and the water here in Southern Utah is fairly hard.
James and Denise

If you tried that here in NY, you'd be posting bail right now...

[Bleach=Chlorine?]

Same here in PA, they just got done putting those sign 'rings' around the hydraunts that warn it is unlawful to use for non-emergency.

[JonnyG]

After college a bunch of my friends and I rented a house with a pool. One of my roommates had an old fire house from when he was a volunteer. One weekend evening we connected the hose to the fire hydrant in front of our house but it was too short to reach the pool around the back of the house , so we ended up running it in the front door and out the back door of the house . As soon as we turned on the hose the fire sirens went off in town (seems they had a low pressure sensor on the hydrant system). We continued filling the pool anyway and quickly disconnected every thing - man did it fill up quickly! We saw them the next day out checking all the fire hydrants. Luckily none of us had to go to jail!

[p.p.h.]

FC 5
CC .5
TC 5.5
pH 7.5
Alk 135
Cal 220
Cya 45
Temp 77
James and Denise

I wouldnt be so concerned with the cal level as I would be with the CC reading. Shock it.

[duraleigh]

James & Denise,

Actually, your calcium level is just about right. Many feel that a CH of 250 is ideal for a plaster pool. You could even consider chlorinating with Cal Hypo 'til you got into that 250 or so range.

Secondly, I would not be in a rush to shock that pool. .5CC is quite common and, as long as your not getting whiffs of chlorine as you walk around the pool, esp. in the evening when the wind is calm, I would leave it alone. A CC of 1.0 would be the indication I would wait for.

The rest of your test results are excellent....nice work!

How does your water look?

[mwsmith2]

I concur with Dave, doesn't seem that far out of line. Just keep watching the pH 'cause curing plaster plays havoc with it.

Michael

[jdburton]

Thanks for the quick replies. The water looks awesome, I had another much smaller pool and it was never this crystal. It has grey plaster and blue 3m quartz and it is very "sparkily" . As far as the fire hose, I had to give the city a 750 dollar deposit and they gave me a meter to hook to the hydrant. They then subtract the water cost from the deposit + 100 dollars. It was worth it to get 45000 gallons in the pool in 2 hours. Our only concern right now is the white deposits on the tile, we hope they are from residual plaster. Thanks again for the advice, how often should I run the full water test?

[AmigaDude]

45,000 gals in 2 Hours Now that is really worth $100.

I seem to recall that you are supposed to brush the pool everyday, for the first couple of weeks, so that should take care of the white deposits. They are probably just leftover plaster dust, or some such.

You do need to take a CL / PH reading everyday, so things don't get out of whack. Again, the first couple of weeks should suffice, then you should have a baseline of where your pool wants to be. I (novice that I am) learned alot from reading here, and found that staggering the full test to about once a month works just fine. But, this is because I know my pool and unless something extraordinary occurs (storm, etc..) then I only need to check Chlorine / PH levels on a weekly basis (at a minimum).

Congrats on the pool, sounds like you need it with those temps.

[Bleach=Chlorine?]

Thanks for the quick replies. The water looks awesome, I had another much smaller pool and it was never this crystal. It has grey plaster and blue 3m quartz and it is very "sparkily" . As far as the fire hose, I had to give the city a 750 dollar deposit and they gave me a meter to hook to the hydrant. They then subtract the water cost from the deposit + 100 dollars. It was worth it to get 45000 gallons in the pool in 2 hours. Our only concern right now is the white deposits on the tile, we hope they are from residual plaster. Thanks again for the advice, how often should I run the full water test?

Thats awesome... I wish my township did that! Of course our hydrant is 7 houses away... I wouldn't want to dry and roll up all that hose!!