Need instructions on opening a pool

[littleHeidi]

We just uncovered our pool today. We used a mesh cover all winter long. It looks pretty good (considering what I was expecting). Lots of algae of course but at least it kept all the leaves out. Now what do I do? I have an IG vinyl 22,000 gal. kidney shaped pool. 3 feet in the shallow end, 8 feet in the deep one. Oh, and we live in the heart of North Carolina.

[littleHeidi]

Noone has responded to my post. I'm getting a few gallons of bleach, borax and baking soda tomorrow and need my memory refreshed on where to start. I'm assuming I need to test the water first to determine how much bleach to start with. HOW do I determine this? Could SOMEONE please let me know? Thanks very much in advance.

[SJohnson]

Ok, littleHeidi . . . I'll try to help . . .

Let's see, we do need to know your test results, pH and especially your cya levels, so we know how much chlorine would be considered shocking to the water. As a general rule, you can raise the chlorine level to about 10-12 ppm and hold it there for a few days until the algae goes away, but if your cya is at 120 ppm, or something higher, 12 ppm of chlorine wouldn't reach your breakpoint . . . so, test that water, and then start from there. If your cya levels are normal, in the 30-50 ppm range then the 12 ppm of chlorine would work just fine for you. pH also affects the effectiveness of the chlorine too, so you want to get that under control first . . . testing will ultimately save you allot of guesswork and time spent out of the water. Post some tests, and people will respond, sort of like the "build it and they will come" thing . . .

Need to know:
pH, Total Alk, Calcium(not as important w/ vinyl, Free Chlorine, Total Chlorine, CYA)

Oh and grab a copy of the bleach calculator if you don't have it already, it's a handy little computer program that will tell you how much bleach you need to add to raise your chlorine levels a certain amount. It also works for the other chemicals too!!! Here's the link provided by forum member mwsmith2:
http://www.hal-pc.org/~mwsmith2/BleachCalc262.exe

Hope that helps a little at least,

-SJ

[aylad]

Heidi,

Have you gotten your pump/filter working yet? Get it working, use a drop-based test kit, and test for Cl, pH, Alk, CYA, and Ca (calcium only if you have a plaster/concrete pool, don't worry about it if it's vinyl). Post those numbers, and we can help you go from there.

Janet

[littleHeidi]

Yes, we turned the pump on for a bit yesterday. (Didn't see much sense in leaving it on until we get the bleach). I will test tomorrow and post the results here. Thanks to both of you! (And it's good to see you again Janet!)

[littleHeidi]

Well the only test I was able to get this morning was the ph. It was 8.0. There wasn't ANY chlorine in it. My husband put 1 gallon jug and 4 3-quart jugs of bleach while I was at the gym. (MEN!!!) On the positive side, the water is now a light green. Still cloudy. Do I just let the bleach circulate for another day or so until it clears up?

[Watermom]

Adding 4 gallons of bleach will raise the cl in your pool by about 11ppm. So, adding the amount your husband did was OK. Actually, you need to test 3x a day and each time add enough bleach to shock your pool back up to around 12ppm. When we know your cya reading (which we need to) we can better advise as to whether this is high enough of a chlorine reading to kill the algae. Keep your pump running 24/7 while you are fighting the algae.

The other thing I can advise you at this point is to try and bring your ph down to around 7.4 or so. Add a pint of muriatic acid slowly in front of a return jet. Be careful not to inhale the fumes or splash any on yourself or the pool liner. After several hours, retest the ph and redose as needed to get the ph down to the target. Better to add small doses of acid and get there gradually rather than try to hit it with one dose.

We really need to know those other numbers. Please post them as soon as you can. Then somebody here can help you further. Hope this helps.

Watermom

[littleHeidi]

Okay, I just got back from the "pool store". (And laughed all the way out. She tried selling me Calcium Hardness again for my VINYL pool. And when I questioned her about it she said "you still need it because it acts as a barrier for the machinery". WHATEVER!!!) Anyway, here's the results:

FC .1
TC .4
CC .3
pH 8.2
CYA 9
ALK 55 (adjusted alk was the same)


I added one more gallon of Clorox (all I had left until tomorrow) and put 2 tablets in the skimmer. (May as well used the darn things up since I wasted the money on a WHOLE bucket full of it!!) I also ordered some more stabilizer solution so I can test the CYA myself again.

I have a question. The sheet said my temp. was 85 but there's NO way!! It feels more like 55 or so to me. I know the car ride there must have altered it in the 10 minutes it took to get there. Would it also affect the other results any?

[littleHeidi]

One more thing, she didn't even say anything at all about the algae. Shouldn't she have been able to tell from the water that it had algae in it?

[SJohnson]

It'll be fine to use the tablets as you need to raise your cya level anyway, needs to be 30-50ppm. Your pH needs to come down to about 7.4-7.6 and the tablets will help that too, so I'd stick with the tablets and shocking with bleach, but don't pour the bleach anywhere near the tablets . . . The important thing here is just making sure you maintain chlorine at about 12 ppm, this may require testing the water everyday or maybe even twice a day. Add the bleach at night, test in the morning, get it back up to 12 ppm, then test later in the day and add enough to get back up to 12 ppm, repeat until the algae is gone or dead. Also bringing your Total Alkalinity level to around 100 - 120 will help keep your pH level a little more stable. You really need a titration or DPD-FAS test kit for testing higher levels of chlorine. That would make this process a whole lot easier for you. What are you testing with now? The pool store? I don't see how your FC could be .1 when you just added 4 gallons of bleach yesterday, is the pool getting full sun all day or something? . . .Hope this is helping . . .

SJohnson