Hi.
Firstly thank you for the site, i have been using it to read up for some time now. We bought a house in January 2015 and it was this site that helped me get my pool great.
Unfortunately it has been an ongoing battle.
I am from South Africa. This summer has thus far reached temperatures of 39 Celsius or 102 F. So it gets hot here.
So i am posting here because the pool always has issues. I will try to give my suspicions of what can be contributing to it but will try to keep it structured to make it easier to diagnose.
Background information
Day 1 : ( day we moved in) Pool water was black.
Corrected PH levels and threw in Chlorine shock. Lots of it. Vacuumed and brushed. Took 3 weeks before it became clear.
Clearness lasted about 2 weeks then went back to a dark murky green.
Followed same steps but noticed CYA was low. Added too much CYA. Cya levels were way over the target and lasted for months always way over the limit.
Eventually installed a chlorinator. Pool seemed to behave. But again... only lasted about 2 weeks before going green.
On two occasions i forgot to turn the borehole pump off when filling to pool, flooding the entire yard and overfilled the pool. Immediately after this the pool is a dark brown green.
I recently replaced the filter sand.
The 2 main issues i have.
Algae is a constant problem. I have to shock or add algecide and the pool stays good for about 2 weeks.
All chemical levels are on the recommended levels.
The chlorinator has to be cleaned every 2nd day. It literally runs only for 1 day, on day 2 it is a solid calcium block.
Algae blooms or a constant. My chlorine levels are always low now. Possibly due to the chlorinator being a calcium block.
Suspicions
Leaking pipes are pushing soil into the pool. There is always a layer of dirt at the out pipe going into the pool and the general area is covered in sand and mud. Not a crazy amount but enough to notice it.
When the pump starts running it blows a cloud of brown water into the pool. Even if i backwash and run the filter for 20 minutes. It seems to never clear out, making me think its because of a pipe leaking sand or soil.
Calcium must be super high even though my water hardness is the the middle of the test strip.
What have i considered
I am considering just emptying the pool completely and fill it with tap water. I suspect the borehole water flushed out the salt and also the water hardness is too high. My neighbor told me every time he fills with the borehole he adds metal remover because the metal content in the water is super high. Though for the past 2 months i have not been using the borehole water to see if it improves the quality of the water.
I really hope someone can give me some insight. Keep in mind. No pool shop here can test the water for anything except chlorine levels.
Thx for reading
Firstly thank you for the site, i have been using it to read up for some time now. We bought a house in January 2015 and it was this site that helped me get my pool great.
Unfortunately it has been an ongoing battle.
I am from South Africa. This summer has thus far reached temperatures of 39 Celsius or 102 F. So it gets hot here.
So i am posting here because the pool always has issues. I will try to give my suspicions of what can be contributing to it but will try to keep it structured to make it easier to diagnose.
Background information
Day 1 : ( day we moved in) Pool water was black.
Corrected PH levels and threw in Chlorine shock. Lots of it. Vacuumed and brushed. Took 3 weeks before it became clear.
Clearness lasted about 2 weeks then went back to a dark murky green.
Followed same steps but noticed CYA was low. Added too much CYA. Cya levels were way over the target and lasted for months always way over the limit.
Eventually installed a chlorinator. Pool seemed to behave. But again... only lasted about 2 weeks before going green.
On two occasions i forgot to turn the borehole pump off when filling to pool, flooding the entire yard and overfilled the pool. Immediately after this the pool is a dark brown green.
I recently replaced the filter sand.
The 2 main issues i have.
Algae is a constant problem. I have to shock or add algecide and the pool stays good for about 2 weeks.
All chemical levels are on the recommended levels.
The chlorinator has to be cleaned every 2nd day. It literally runs only for 1 day, on day 2 it is a solid calcium block.
Algae blooms or a constant. My chlorine levels are always low now. Possibly due to the chlorinator being a calcium block.
Suspicions
Leaking pipes are pushing soil into the pool. There is always a layer of dirt at the out pipe going into the pool and the general area is covered in sand and mud. Not a crazy amount but enough to notice it.
When the pump starts running it blows a cloud of brown water into the pool. Even if i backwash and run the filter for 20 minutes. It seems to never clear out, making me think its because of a pipe leaking sand or soil.
Calcium must be super high even though my water hardness is the the middle of the test strip.
What have i considered
I am considering just emptying the pool completely and fill it with tap water. I suspect the borehole water flushed out the salt and also the water hardness is too high. My neighbor told me every time he fills with the borehole he adds metal remover because the metal content in the water is super high. Though for the past 2 months i have not been using the borehole water to see if it improves the quality of the water.
I really hope someone can give me some insight. Keep in mind. No pool shop here can test the water for anything except chlorine levels.
Thx for reading
