Hello, I just joined your site. My name is jvette. I am willing to give the BBB method a try this year because I'm sick of the expense of maintaining my pool. I ordered the TF-100 test kit but I'm not the brightest bulb on the tree. I will need a lot of help getting started and it looks like this is the place to get it. I need to learn quite a lot even before I take my first test. I feel almost relieved now that I've found this. Thank you. jvette.
Just joined your site
- Thread starter jvette
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Hello, I just joined your site. My name is jvette. I am willing to give the BBB method a try this year because I'm sick of the expense of maintaining my pool. I ordered the TF-100 test kit but I'm not the brightest bulb on the tree. I will need a lot of help getting started and it looks like this is the place to get it. I need to learn quite a lot even before I take my first test. I feel almost relieved now that I've found this. Thank you. jvette.
Molson
LifeTime Supporter
Welcome to TFP! Be sure to check out Pool School, and browse the threads here. When I first started I had no idea what I was doing either, a couple coffees and a sit through pool school helped me open my pool myself last year. You can do it.
Welcome,
It's not about joining sides, it's about common sense good pool maintenance as practiced by commercial pool operators for many years!
It's not about joining sides, it's about common sense good pool maintenance as practiced by commercial pool operators for many years!
jvette,
Welcome to the forum!
You will find that Waterbear is one of our true experts here on the forum. He, along with many others, will help you thru the whole process.
Meanwhile, we'll help him find his contact lenses and get him that cup of coffee!!!
Welcome to the forum!
You will find that Waterbear is one of our true experts here on the forum. He, along with many others, will help you thru the whole process.
Meanwhile, we'll help him find his contact lenses and get him that cup of coffee!!!
Scary thought, isn't it!duraleigh said:
I do MUCH better with pools than I do with typing and reading, however! 
(Now if this site were just available in Braille...I can read that better than print these days!)
Hi jvette and welcome to TFP! 
Congratulations on both the TF100 test kit and joining TFP!
You will find all the help you need here. :-D
Congratulations on both the TF100 test kit and joining TFP!
You will find all the help you need here. :-D
I want to thank all of you for such a wonderful welcome into TFP. I received my TF-100 kit yesterday already with a problem! The CYA bottle cap was loose and sprayed the kit completely to where there was little left in the bottle and most of it in the kit. I wrote them and told of the indecent. There wasn't any damage to the other testing components that I could see. Hope the R-0013 isn't corrosive!! Well anyhoo I can't wait to test. What test is the most important to start with? Did some reading at pool school but couldn't find that. :-D
Molson
LifeTime Supporter
jvette , please take a moment to add your location (city and state) to your profile and your pool specs in your signature.
This will be very helpful to your responders. :-D
Whatever happened with your TF100 test kit, rest assured that Dave (duraleigh) will make it right. Fantastic customer service.
Along with getting your baseline numbers as Molson suggested, you might want to run some tests on your fill water.
This will be very helpful to your responders. :-D
Whatever happened with your TF100 test kit, rest assured that Dave (duraleigh) will make it right. Fantastic customer service.
Along with getting your baseline numbers as Molson suggested, you might want to run some tests on your fill water.
The CYA reagent is not corrosive. It's just melamine and it's fairly innocuous. Just rinse off anything it got on and shoot Duraleigh an email and he will QUICKLY take care of it. Same thing happened to my CYA reagent when I got my firt kit a few years back. I suspect it might have to do with the shipping if your kit went by air from a drop in pressure in the cargo area.
Edited for eye breaks. Butterfly 
Hello Again, I'm sorry for not getting these postings correct. I don't usually use these things. Let me tell you about myself and my pool first. I live in Conway, SC. It's next to Myrtle Beach. A beautiful place to live, I'm sure.
My pool though is a major nightmare to maintain! I have trees that shed leaves, then shed buds and seeds. Also my neighbors have huge pine trees on both sides of us. That means pine needles, cones, and worst of all pine pollen. The battle goes on all year, not to mention the storms and broken branches. It's a big job no doubt.
I've been using a pool store as my main source for testing and chemicals. I'm hoping to wean off and do this myself. I use liquid chlorine for FC and chlorine sticks in the cholrinator and a floater in the pool.
I did my first test today, and here are the results:
27,000 gallon pool, lazy L, 20x40
56 degree temp
ph 7.8
chlorine below .5
cc 0.5
fc 2.5
tc 3.0
ta 110
ch 170
cya 20+ (cloudy, still see dot at filled level)
Fill Water
ph 6.8
ta 20
ch 50
cya 0
Used the pool calculator but I am having trouble with it. I don't know where to start with the treatment.
The water is crystal clear for now. I have a Tiger Shark robot I run daily and run the pump 4 to 6 hours a day.
The sand filter hasn't been re sanded probably for 10 years. I have that scheduled with the pool people. I just had the motor rebuilt. This pool is very old. Some of the tiles at the water line are cracked and I loose appx 1 to 2 inches of water every 24 hours. If I have missed anything, please let me know and I will get you the info asap.
My main concern right now is what's happening to the plaster and changing out the sand in the filter. Thank, jvette.
Hello Again, I'm sorry for not getting these postings correct. I don't usually use these things. Let me tell you about myself and my pool first. I live in Conway, SC. It's next to Myrtle Beach. A beautiful place to live, I'm sure.
My pool though is a major nightmare to maintain! I have trees that shed leaves, then shed buds and seeds. Also my neighbors have huge pine trees on both sides of us. That means pine needles, cones, and worst of all pine pollen. The battle goes on all year, not to mention the storms and broken branches. It's a big job no doubt.
I've been using a pool store as my main source for testing and chemicals. I'm hoping to wean off and do this myself. I use liquid chlorine for FC and chlorine sticks in the cholrinator and a floater in the pool.
I did my first test today, and here are the results:
27,000 gallon pool, lazy L, 20x40
56 degree temp
ph 7.8
chlorine below .5
cc 0.5
fc 2.5
tc 3.0
ta 110
ch 170
cya 20+ (cloudy, still see dot at filled level)
Fill Water
ph 6.8
ta 20
ch 50
cya 0
Used the pool calculator but I am having trouble with it. I don't know where to start with the treatment.
The water is crystal clear for now. I have a Tiger Shark robot I run daily and run the pump 4 to 6 hours a day.
The sand filter hasn't been re sanded probably for 10 years. I have that scheduled with the pool people. I just had the motor rebuilt. This pool is very old. Some of the tiles at the water line are cracked and I loose appx 1 to 2 inches of water every 24 hours. If I have missed anything, please let me know and I will get you the info asap.
My main concern right now is what's happening to the plaster and changing out the sand in the filter. Thank, jvette.
There are two schools of though on replacing sand. One group feels that sand should be replaced every five years or so. The other group thinks that sand is fine essentially forever as long as it doesn't get too badly clumped up.
Cracked tiles don't normally lead to obvious leaks, though that can vary depending on how your pool is built. A good place to start with a possible leak is this article at Pool School.
If you are still using the chlorine sticks and/or floater, and I am reading your test results correctly, then your water chemistry is alright, not ideal but acceptable for the moment.
In your test results you show chlorine at below 0.5 and fc at 2.5. I am assuming that the 0.5 reading is from the shades of yellow color comparison, and the 2.5 reading is from the add drops till the water stops being pink test. If so, that is a fairly large difference in the two test results. You might want to try both tests again and see if you are getting consistent results. You may be doing one test or the other incorrectly.
You mention that your plaster is a concern, but you didn't say what you are concerned about in regards to the plaster.
Cracked tiles don't normally lead to obvious leaks, though that can vary depending on how your pool is built. A good place to start with a possible leak is this article at Pool School.
If you are still using the chlorine sticks and/or floater, and I am reading your test results correctly, then your water chemistry is alright, not ideal but acceptable for the moment.
In your test results you show chlorine at below 0.5 and fc at 2.5. I am assuming that the 0.5 reading is from the shades of yellow color comparison, and the 2.5 reading is from the add drops till the water stops being pink test. If so, that is a fairly large difference in the two test results. You might want to try both tests again and see if you are getting consistent results. You may be doing one test or the other incorrectly.
You mention that your plaster is a concern, but you didn't say what you are concerned about in regards to the plaster.
my concern in regards to the plaster is corrosion due to the calcium levels. I will run the tests again, I see what you say about the readings. I haven't put any FC in lately for about 2 weeks because I'm out of liquid chlorine and I wanted to learn about BBB. The liquid chlorine I buy is fairly cheap. $6.85 for 2.5 gallons. I buy 4 containers at a time. I'm not sure how much the bleach compares with this, but I will look into it. It's suppose to be all chlorine. In the summer I was using about 1.4 gallons a week and the levels stayed high, but ran the pump 24-7 which was strongly recommended by the pool guys here. The sun is really brutal that time of year. In late August, the pool temp can reach 90! Talk to you soon, thanks, jvette.
Liquid chlorine and bleach are exactly the same chemical, just at different concentrations. Liquid chlorine is not available in all areas, but when it is available it is often less expensive than bleach. When comparing prices you need to know the percentage. Liquid chlorine is typically either 10% or 12.5%, while bleach is usually 6% (though other percentages are also available).
Your CH level is indeed too low, but I don't see any significant risk as long as you take care of it in the next week or two.
Your CH level is indeed too low, but I don't see any significant risk as long as you take care of it in the next week or two.