Hello all,
Looking for some help. I'm a first time and new pool owner. We bought a house, and with it came an above ground pool (full details in my signature).
Last weekend my father-in-law and I went to Leslie's (literally round the corner) and had the water tested to see where we were at. It was at that point we were told that the town I live in has high amounts of copper in the water. The manager said that we need to put in a 1 liter container Natural Chemistry Metal Free, run the filter for 24 hours and then come back.
The following day, we went back and had the water retested. This was the results:
Free Available Chlorine (FAC) = 0
Total Available Chlorine (TAC) = 0
Calcium Hardness (CH) = 700
Total Alkalinity (TA) = 30
Base Demand = 8
Copper = 0
Iron = 0
Total Dissolved Solids = 1100
We were told it was OK to swim in that night (our twin girls were chomping at the bit to swim), so we did, after I spent the afternoon scrubbing the pool to clean off the slight amount of algae that was in there. We knew we'd handle the high calcium afterwards. My Father-in-law wanted to show me how to backwash the filter (he's had pools all his life) and basic maintenance. He has a pool service, so doesn't worry about the testing, cleaning etc.
Leslie's advice was to train the pool a foot, and refill to reduce the amount of calcium. So, the Father-in-law showed me the pump, filter etc. It's in a kind of awkward place under our deck. It's in a such bad position, that we had to take a picture of the top of the sand filter to figure out where the various settings were (filter, rinse, waste etc.). The lack of access and view led to my Father-in-law incorrectly setting the handle to waste instead of backwash. It was set to 'waste' to drain the pool. We drained the pool as much as we could, but as soon as the level dropped, the skimmer wasn't able to pump the water out. I think in total we dropped the level about 6 inches maybe, if that.
So then we set about filling it up with more water. This is the point where pretty much all **** has broken loose.
Ever since last weekend, the pool has steadily looked worse. There is a definite green tinge to it, and the algae is back with a vengeance on the stairs and sides. There also a definite cloudiness to it too. My 4 year old girls even asked why the pool is green now, so it's pretty obvious. In my very basic understanding, it would appear from the test results that there's no chlorine to kill/stop the algae from forming.
So yesterday, I took another sample to Leslie's. Here were the results:
Free Available Chlorine (FAC) = 0
Total Available Chlorine (TAC) = 0
Calcium Hardness (CH) = 130
Cyanuric Acid (CYA) = 50
Total Alkalinity (TA) = 30
Base Demand = 8
Copper = 4
Iron = 0
Total Dissolved Solids = 1700
Phosphates (Pho) = 300
The advice from Leslie's is that we have to get the copper removed before we can handle anything else. So this time around, I was told to buy and put in 2x 1 liter container Natural Chemistry Metal Free in. At this point, I'd figured out the timer, and the filter was only running 8am to 8pm all week (including after putting in the Metal Free).
I went back today, had the water tested (didn't get the results), and was told copper was still high. She asked about the filter, and I told her it was only running 8am - 8pm. Her advice was put in another Metal Free and run the filter for 24 hours. I put in the Metal Free and disabled the timer, so the filter will run constantly for 24 hours. That was this afternoon. I again looked at the pump and filter. I noticed the pump had a significant amount of debris in the basket. Dead insects, leaves and whatnot. I opened the pump up and cleaned out all the debris. Later on, I noticed the basket in the skimmer wasn't sitting correctly, so I guess a fair amount of stuff had got through to the pump. Then I looked at the filter and noticed the where the backwash setting was, as opposed to the waste setting we used the previous week. So, I did a backwash, and the water came out and I could tell it was green. So, I ran it until it was clear, did a rinse, and turned the filter back on,
So, this evening, I ordered the K-2006 test kit. I want to understand and have less of a dependence on Leslies (even though they've been really helpful) and test as frequently as I can/should.
I'm asking for advice. I'm at the mercy of Leslie's, and so far the pool has gone from being swimmable to looking pretty grim, so I'm a little skeptical right now. I'm reading the getting started guides and trying to understand the chemistry, but I can't really do much until my kit arrives, other than keep going to Leslies.
What should my next step be?
Looking for some help. I'm a first time and new pool owner. We bought a house, and with it came an above ground pool (full details in my signature).
Last weekend my father-in-law and I went to Leslie's (literally round the corner) and had the water tested to see where we were at. It was at that point we were told that the town I live in has high amounts of copper in the water. The manager said that we need to put in a 1 liter container Natural Chemistry Metal Free, run the filter for 24 hours and then come back.
The following day, we went back and had the water retested. This was the results:
Free Available Chlorine (FAC) = 0
Total Available Chlorine (TAC) = 0
Calcium Hardness (CH) = 700
Total Alkalinity (TA) = 30
Base Demand = 8
Copper = 0
Iron = 0
Total Dissolved Solids = 1100
We were told it was OK to swim in that night (our twin girls were chomping at the bit to swim), so we did, after I spent the afternoon scrubbing the pool to clean off the slight amount of algae that was in there. We knew we'd handle the high calcium afterwards. My Father-in-law wanted to show me how to backwash the filter (he's had pools all his life) and basic maintenance. He has a pool service, so doesn't worry about the testing, cleaning etc.
Leslie's advice was to train the pool a foot, and refill to reduce the amount of calcium. So, the Father-in-law showed me the pump, filter etc. It's in a kind of awkward place under our deck. It's in a such bad position, that we had to take a picture of the top of the sand filter to figure out where the various settings were (filter, rinse, waste etc.). The lack of access and view led to my Father-in-law incorrectly setting the handle to waste instead of backwash. It was set to 'waste' to drain the pool. We drained the pool as much as we could, but as soon as the level dropped, the skimmer wasn't able to pump the water out. I think in total we dropped the level about 6 inches maybe, if that.
So then we set about filling it up with more water. This is the point where pretty much all **** has broken loose.
Ever since last weekend, the pool has steadily looked worse. There is a definite green tinge to it, and the algae is back with a vengeance on the stairs and sides. There also a definite cloudiness to it too. My 4 year old girls even asked why the pool is green now, so it's pretty obvious. In my very basic understanding, it would appear from the test results that there's no chlorine to kill/stop the algae from forming.
So yesterday, I took another sample to Leslie's. Here were the results:
Free Available Chlorine (FAC) = 0
Total Available Chlorine (TAC) = 0
Calcium Hardness (CH) = 130
Cyanuric Acid (CYA) = 50
Total Alkalinity (TA) = 30
Base Demand = 8
Copper = 4
Iron = 0
Total Dissolved Solids = 1700
Phosphates (Pho) = 300
The advice from Leslie's is that we have to get the copper removed before we can handle anything else. So this time around, I was told to buy and put in 2x 1 liter container Natural Chemistry Metal Free in. At this point, I'd figured out the timer, and the filter was only running 8am to 8pm all week (including after putting in the Metal Free).
I went back today, had the water tested (didn't get the results), and was told copper was still high. She asked about the filter, and I told her it was only running 8am - 8pm. Her advice was put in another Metal Free and run the filter for 24 hours. I put in the Metal Free and disabled the timer, so the filter will run constantly for 24 hours. That was this afternoon. I again looked at the pump and filter. I noticed the pump had a significant amount of debris in the basket. Dead insects, leaves and whatnot. I opened the pump up and cleaned out all the debris. Later on, I noticed the basket in the skimmer wasn't sitting correctly, so I guess a fair amount of stuff had got through to the pump. Then I looked at the filter and noticed the where the backwash setting was, as opposed to the waste setting we used the previous week. So, I did a backwash, and the water came out and I could tell it was green. So, I ran it until it was clear, did a rinse, and turned the filter back on,
So, this evening, I ordered the K-2006 test kit. I want to understand and have less of a dependence on Leslies (even though they've been really helpful) and test as frequently as I can/should.
I'm asking for advice. I'm at the mercy of Leslie's, and so far the pool has gone from being swimmable to looking pretty grim, so I'm a little skeptical right now. I'm reading the getting started guides and trying to understand the chemistry, but I can't really do much until my kit arrives, other than keep going to Leslies.
What should my next step be?
