New Pool questions - introduction

[dmarsh70]

WOw you guys are just awesome! Thanks so much. THe pool place said they fill them everyday - in fact they we're putting new ones on the shelf as I got there. But we'll find out soon enough - if the poolcaluclator shows me what to add and it's not close I know its degraded.. I'll test the first week with bleach and the pool version bleach to see if it's close. I hope it is.

SO this is what I did. I took water out of the hose and tested it as i really wanted to learn how to test with the digital read out and check it all out. I do NOT have a test for CC - but I think someone said its a combination of FC and TC.

So here are the readings just out of the hose:
FC: 1.39 (I guess they add chlorine to city / county water)
TCL: 1.40 (Total Chlorine -- is this total CC?? little confused here. Is my CC: 2.88 and thereby I need to shock?
PH: 7.6
ALK: 84
CH: 92
CYA: LOW reading - I was expecting this as I dont see why they would have CYA in city water.

So it appears Carl was accurate - I will need calcium, and Stabilizer. The ALK should be cool I do believe and i'll probably have to drop the PH down with muriatic the first week or two.

If someone could comment on the Chlorine levels I would appreciate it.

Also, I realize the numbers will be totally different when I get 15K gallons of water circulating in fresh plaster. I know the PH will go through the roof.

I was talking to the plaster guy today. He said he thinks I misunderstood waiting 48 hours to add chemicals. He said he would certainly let it run for several hours to filter stuff out - and I may even need to wash the filter once a week at first - however he said once it's filtered for several hours - take your readings and start working on ph and sanitizer, assuming you know how to. Told him I spent HOURS researching..,.

Guys and gals you are all great. I appreciate your continued support. As soon as I am a member out of probation (for lack of a better term) I will post some pics of HOPEFULLY sparkly clean water!

Thank you all for the WARM WELCOMES! Very nice. You are all invited to my pool open party

David

[Watermom]

FC + CC= TC so your CC is only .01. You are looking good!

[dmarsh70]

Thanks Watermom!!!

[CarlD]

To me a CC of .01 is statistical noise. Your FC and TC are the same and your CC is EFFECTIVELY 0.0 .

Yeah I wouldn't worry about your T/A at that level. In fact, for that CYA level, your FC level is good--but you need more CYA.

[dmarsh70]

Well if all goes good we should fill the pool today. My irrigation guy hooked up a little hook-up line so I can turn on the irrigation and fill it in about 4 hours. He said it's the same water so you may as well do it faster.

Anyways off this morning to buy a 2.8 litre bottle of Liquid Stabilizer so it gets right in there. Then i'll test CYA (24 hours?) and then add the granular in a sock. I used Poolcalculator and the 2.8 litres of Liquid Stabilizer should get me to about 18. Still a little low but there may already be some in there.

My LaMotte Color Q kit says it tests from "0" but a reading of "LOW" well not sure if its really zero or not. So I figured put in just the liquid and at least get it up there to a readable level.

My pool builder is out of town so he over the phone told me how to prime the pump and fill it. Said to add some shock to it and try to adjust the PH if I know how - told him I did. Also told him he can come right down here and take his inline chlorinator off as I really dont see me needing it (haha).

I do have a question though.

Skimmer question: under my skimmer basket I have two plugs. One has an "H" on it, the other is blank.

Do I need to have one or both of these open for the skimmer to bring water into the pump? Will it hurt anything if I keep them off and turn on the pump this afternoon? Probably a stupid question.

I would have asked him yesterday but he lost service when driving.

I also have a "well drain pump" under my pool so my main drains have holes in the bottom (which obviously have to be plugged before i fill) but they got filled up with aggragate so it wouldnt drain so I spent 2 hours digging as much out as I could to drain it - then decided I should look into the skimmer (it was NASTY) and after cleaning out all the sand and gunk I noticed the 2 plugs....

Any input on these??

Thanks again for all of your responses!

[aylad]

I can't answer your plumbing questions, but just wanted to throw a caution in there about the stabilizer....most people try to keep theirs in the 20-40 range. Remember that it is very slow to register (not sure about the liquid type, I've never used it) and it's easy to overshoot it. Caution is the key! THat being said, once you get your CYA into the 20-30 range, you can get an idea of how much chlorine loss you have daily, and you can always up the CYA if you feel you're losing it too quickly. I'm in Louisiana, and my pool is in full sun all day, and I find that I lose a lot less chlorine if I keep my CYA up in the 70-80 range. That's extremely high by most standards, but it's the optimal range for my pool.

You might want to reconsider taking out the chlorinator--with the waterfall in your pool, you're going to likely fight a pH rise, and while you still need to raise your CYA, the chlorinator is the ideal solution, since trichlor adds chlorine, drops pH, and adds CYA. It's also really nice for use while on vacation.

Janet

[dmarsh70]

Hi Janet,

Thanks so much for the input. I was joking about taking out the chlorinator I am keeping it for when I do leave town. You make some good points and that helps.

I dont' want to overshoot on my CYA.

I am assuming if it's low - say 20 - then I wont technically hurt anything except burn more chrlorine. Right?

If thats the case I am going to add just 1 gallon of liquid stabilizer as it supposed to get "in there" very quick. Then I'll wait a few days and add a little more depending on where it is.

To be honest this board has kind of scared me, but in a good way. I definitly don't want my CYA over 100. I hear you on the 70 - 80 on the CYA - and we're basically in the same climate so mine probaly needs to be higher.

Because I do leave town once a month, my plan was to "save" the CYA for when I use the chrlorinator when I leave.

I suppose you can see me like a new "mom" - although I am male (ha ha) I don't nothing wrong happening to my baby. So I am probably a bit on the paranoid side..

With the waterfall and the fresh marcite I was counting on fighting PH for awhile. I know I can turn off the waterfall and all that. I plan on brushing and testing everyday especially for PH.

The builders marcite left about 6 gallons of muriatic so I put it in my garage.. I paid for it so I may as well keep it. I have a feeling i'll be using that more than the borax !!

Check back later after I get it all turned on !!

-David