Getting rid of the weekly service. Would like some advice.

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T

tjf

0
May 23, 2013
25
Boca Raton, FL USA
Hello, everyone! First time, long time.

My wife and I bought a house in South Florida last August. I commissioned the pool guy that handled the house we were renting prior to our purchase and he's been coming every Friday, since.

When we moved in, the pool appeared to have a small pile of sand down by the main drain. Our pool guy vacuumed it up and didn't think anything of it. The next week, I noticed the same thing. This time, I examined the sandy substance and it appeared to be grit from the pool finish. (Diamond Brite, I assume). I mentioned this to the guy and he said 'hrm, maybe the calcium is off' and he sprinkled some stuff in the pool and that was that. Needless to say, my faith in the pool guy was starting to wane.

I began reading here and purchased a Taylor K2006 test kit and it arrived yesterday. I checked my levels, and here's what I've got:

FC 1.5
CC 0
CH 210
pH 8.0
TA 100
CYA 80-100 (I thought it was 100, but when I really looked, I could still see the black dot faintly, so I'm not 100% sure on this one)

Based on my reading here, I'd say my pH and CYA is WAY too high, and the FC is WAY too low. (caveat: we've had a LOT of rain this week and the pool guy comes on Friday -- test was Wed night) I'd guess that my CH has to be increased as well?

I have played with the pool calculator and it's very intuitive and makes sense, but I'm not sure which level to adjust first.

Needless to say, I think I'm getting rid of this guy at the end of the month. I've also been researching SWGs (as I'm a lazy guy) and they really seem like the way to go.

Thoughts? Comments? Flames? :cool:

Thanks in advance!
 
Re: Getting rid of the weekly service. Would like some advi

Welcome to TFP.

Add chlorine, calcium, then lower your pH.

Low calcium hardness can damage your pool surface. The Pool School article Recommended Levels shows 250ppm as the minimum level.

If you are considering a SWCG, you may be able to deal with your CYA where it is. Otherwise, you need to maintain a higher level of chlorine to account for the CYA. The Chlorine CYA Chart shows that you should be holding your chlorine around 12ppm, and never letting it get below 7ppm.

Add enough acid to get your pH to 7.4 or 7.5, but don't get in in a hurry. Add a little and then check it again in a few hours to see where you are.
 
Re: Getting rid of the weekly service. Would like some advi

Thanks for the reply, John. I do plan to go the SWG route, but I'm not sure that it'll be any time in the next few months. (Wife wants to finish furnishing this new place before I can buy toys for the pool) :-(
 
Re: Getting rid of the weekly service. Would like some advi

Pool guy came today and I let him know we would be discontinuing service at the end of the month.

Watched him pour some bleach from a yellow carboy -- I estimated over a gallon, closer to 2. He also walked around the perimeter and sprinkled tri-chlor granules (he said it was tri-chlor anyway). I tested the water a couple hours after he left. FC is now 12ppm. If his program is basically 'raise FC to 12 every Friday', I'm amazed I've never had any algae, given the FC on Wed when I got my kit was 1.5

I also re-did the CYA test, and I'd say that level is probably closer to 80 after reading the best way to do the test (sun, etc). I think I'm going to refrain from trying to drain/lower the CYA. It appears to be at the upper end of the spectrum for SWG which is in our future plans anyway. I am in the South Florida sun. After about 3pm the pool is in the shade, but it's in the sun all day until then. Is a CYA level of 80 actually ok for this part of the country?

Also, would this work for raising my calcium? http://www.amazon.com/Morton-7877-S...d=1369415764&sr=8-3&keywords=calcium+chloride

Thanks again for the advice!
 
Re: Getting rid of the weekly service. Would like some advi

You can live with the 80 ppm of CYA, just make sure the FC stays above 6 ppm.

The label said pure calcium chloride, so you should be good with that product.
 
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