Please help me avoid last year's mistakes

[blessedbeingmom]

Okay, we still have 4 bags of aquachem "shock plus" from last year. It has sodium dichloro-s-triazinetrione 58.2%, Other Ingredients 41.8%. We bought it at Walmart. From what I have been reading, it is mildly acidic and also contains some CYA. Could we use this in any way? I hate to waste it. We have zero CYA currently. We have four 1Lb packages of this.

We also have about 3 lbs of "pH down" (sodium bisulfite 93.2%). Is this the same thing as dry acid? The label says for 10,000 gallons with pH of 7.9-8.0 to add 12 oz. So could we add 6 oz (by weight) of this to our filled pool & then check the pH? How long would we want to give after adding it to check the pH?

Also, regarding pH, the highest our Taylor kit would measure is 8.0, but our hot pink was a bit brighter than the 8.0, so DH suspects our pH may have been a bit above 8.0. The "pH down" says for 10,000 gallons at pH 8.1-8.4 to use 20 oz. of pH down. The package says after adding the pH down, to allow the pool to recirculate the water for 2 hours before checking pH.

Is there any reason to keep the kids from playing in the water in the pool while we are filling it up? They are anxious to do so, as we let them do this last year. This is, of course, the same water they bathe in (just cold). We don't plan to add any chemicals until the pool is completely filled.

Thanks so much for all your help!

[aylad]

The "shock plus is dichlor, which will add chlorine, slightly lower ph, and begin to raise cya, so this is an ideal time to use it. The pH down is dry acid, and you could dose it the way you describe, except I would only add 4 oz or so, since the dichlor may already drop the ph. You don't want it to get below 7.0, because that can damage your liner. I would wait 2-3 hours after dosing to check results. Remember that it's better to sneak up on your target nimber than to overshoot it. Your filter is probably a cartridge and cant be backwashed so you can spray it off with a hose.

Janet

[Watermom]

I agree with Janet. Using dichlor right now is a good idea as it will add chlorine, cya and help lower pH. If, after a bit of time using dichlor, if your pH is still too high, then you can use acid or pH-down to lower it, but for now, I'd just try the dichlor and see how much it affects your pH. Glad to see you back here on the forum this year!