Hi all,
I want to say this looks like a GREAT site, and I've been reading here in my spare time for a while. Still, since I just moved last month, I've had precious little spare time, so there are great gaps in my learning, but I am trying.
This is my first time owning a pool (for a few weeks now!) It's about 33 x 14 inground, with a vinyl liner. I don't know how many gallons, but it has a very short "shallow end" and a steep drop to deep. I have a double pole and can just about reach the bottom, but because of the angle I'm not sure of the actual depth. I can post pics of the filter - the name brand is Hayward but I don't know what type it is. (I live in Milton Florida, which is near Pensacola, as far as climate)
The pool was great moving in. It had been professionally maintained and unused for over a year. I had the water tested (I don't have my own kit yet, I can drive into town and have it done but realistically not more than once a day). I was told it was not bad, a little off on the pH but not to worry until spring, and to add chlorine. They said I had to shock on a regular basis. I can probably find the test results, but since it's been a few weeks I doubt it's relevant. There was a tiny bit of (algae?) starting to grow in a couple of places, and a little sand on the bottom.
My husband got laid off right after we moved in, and took a few weeks to find a new job, so having just bought a house, we had to budget very carefully for a while. We have not been able to buy new pool supplies, and the ones that came with the pool are pretty inadequate. I have a decent skimmer net, and a very old brush. We finally found a Polaris 380 on Craigslist, and along with it got a manual vacuum (brushes are pretty worn down) and new hoses. After buying it, we found out it needs a booster pump, so we are probably back to square one.
I know how to backwash it, and that's been kept up with about once a week. The pump is on a timer, and we left it alone. It runs at night. Not sure how long, but I thought since it was in good shape when we bought the house it would work for now. I've tried to stay on top of skimming but fell behind a time or two. The skimmer basket and another skimmer in the line get cleaned out. The pool is mostly in the shade, but they're palm trees and don't drop much. Leaves blow in, and feathers from the geese. The chlorine tower was completely full when we moved in, and we were told it didn't need to be that full. When it got down to having 2 tablets, we bought more (the chlorine plus 3" tabs) and put several in. There was also chlorine tabs in the skimmer basket so we added some there.
I guess the algae has really gotten out of control? I don't know how bad is bad. The water was fairly clean (not sparkling though) but the algae crept along the liner. Now that my husband is working, he couldn't be home to help with the pool. I wanted to scrub and vacuum it manually, but he's afraid I will mess something up, so I agreed not to do it. But he's only off on Sunday, and I don't think waiting is such a good idea.
Anyway, the algae pretty much covers the liner. I noticed the water level was lowered after backwashing, so I went to add more. I saw that the force of the hose "cleaned" the pool, so I was determined to do SOMETHING. I put the old brush on the pole (actually, I got a newer, nicer one as a freebie with the Polaris, but it broke after about 3 swipes - I don't know if I can fix it - the place the handle inserts just split and fell apart). Anyway, I spent a good 2-3 hours scrubbing the pool liner and then trying to fish out the leaves, centipedes, and feathers from the bottom. I set the filter to run the whole time, and it's still running. I didn't get all the algae from the liner, and the water became very cloudy, but I got most of the leaves. A little sediment and other dirt still down there.
I can go tomorrow and have the water tested. In another week or two, hopefully we can have some money to buy some more of what we need. The guy with the polaris gave us a bucket of assorted bottles of chemicals and also a tub of liquid chlorine (smells like) he said was for shocking it.
Oh, and when the pump is running, the jet near the steps (closest to the pump btw) seems to be working well. The next one down blew a LOT of big air bubbles when I first turned it on, but seems to be working fairly well. The one on the deep end didn't seem to be working at all, but later I saw a couple of tiny whirlpools above it, so it is disturbing the water a bit.
I'm not sure how to proceed, except I know I need to get the water tested. If I can, I will do it this afternoon.
I have some more pics if needed, and can take more. I uploaded several others in photobucket, I think it's open to anyone who wants to see it. It's at http://s1018.photobucket.com/user/Trish ... t=3&page=1
Any comments appreciated. I know I didn't even really ask direct questions, but that's where I am. Not even sure what kind of equipment I have, or how bad the pool is. I did take a lot of pics, now going to try to figure out how to get them here.
Thank you all so much, and it's great to be here!!!
I want to say this looks like a GREAT site, and I've been reading here in my spare time for a while. Still, since I just moved last month, I've had precious little spare time, so there are great gaps in my learning, but I am trying.
This is my first time owning a pool (for a few weeks now!) It's about 33 x 14 inground, with a vinyl liner. I don't know how many gallons, but it has a very short "shallow end" and a steep drop to deep. I have a double pole and can just about reach the bottom, but because of the angle I'm not sure of the actual depth. I can post pics of the filter - the name brand is Hayward but I don't know what type it is. (I live in Milton Florida, which is near Pensacola, as far as climate)
The pool was great moving in. It had been professionally maintained and unused for over a year. I had the water tested (I don't have my own kit yet, I can drive into town and have it done but realistically not more than once a day). I was told it was not bad, a little off on the pH but not to worry until spring, and to add chlorine. They said I had to shock on a regular basis. I can probably find the test results, but since it's been a few weeks I doubt it's relevant. There was a tiny bit of (algae?) starting to grow in a couple of places, and a little sand on the bottom.
My husband got laid off right after we moved in, and took a few weeks to find a new job, so having just bought a house, we had to budget very carefully for a while. We have not been able to buy new pool supplies, and the ones that came with the pool are pretty inadequate. I have a decent skimmer net, and a very old brush. We finally found a Polaris 380 on Craigslist, and along with it got a manual vacuum (brushes are pretty worn down) and new hoses. After buying it, we found out it needs a booster pump, so we are probably back to square one.
I know how to backwash it, and that's been kept up with about once a week. The pump is on a timer, and we left it alone. It runs at night. Not sure how long, but I thought since it was in good shape when we bought the house it would work for now. I've tried to stay on top of skimming but fell behind a time or two. The skimmer basket and another skimmer in the line get cleaned out. The pool is mostly in the shade, but they're palm trees and don't drop much. Leaves blow in, and feathers from the geese. The chlorine tower was completely full when we moved in, and we were told it didn't need to be that full. When it got down to having 2 tablets, we bought more (the chlorine plus 3" tabs) and put several in. There was also chlorine tabs in the skimmer basket so we added some there.
I guess the algae has really gotten out of control? I don't know how bad is bad. The water was fairly clean (not sparkling though) but the algae crept along the liner. Now that my husband is working, he couldn't be home to help with the pool. I wanted to scrub and vacuum it manually, but he's afraid I will mess something up, so I agreed not to do it. But he's only off on Sunday, and I don't think waiting is such a good idea.
Anyway, the algae pretty much covers the liner. I noticed the water level was lowered after backwashing, so I went to add more. I saw that the force of the hose "cleaned" the pool, so I was determined to do SOMETHING. I put the old brush on the pole (actually, I got a newer, nicer one as a freebie with the Polaris, but it broke after about 3 swipes - I don't know if I can fix it - the place the handle inserts just split and fell apart). Anyway, I spent a good 2-3 hours scrubbing the pool liner and then trying to fish out the leaves, centipedes, and feathers from the bottom. I set the filter to run the whole time, and it's still running. I didn't get all the algae from the liner, and the water became very cloudy, but I got most of the leaves. A little sediment and other dirt still down there.
I can go tomorrow and have the water tested. In another week or two, hopefully we can have some money to buy some more of what we need. The guy with the polaris gave us a bucket of assorted bottles of chemicals and also a tub of liquid chlorine (smells like) he said was for shocking it.
Oh, and when the pump is running, the jet near the steps (closest to the pump btw) seems to be working well. The next one down blew a LOT of big air bubbles when I first turned it on, but seems to be working fairly well. The one on the deep end didn't seem to be working at all, but later I saw a couple of tiny whirlpools above it, so it is disturbing the water a bit.
I'm not sure how to proceed, except I know I need to get the water tested. If I can, I will do it this afternoon.
I have some more pics if needed, and can take more. I uploaded several others in photobucket, I think it's open to anyone who wants to see it. It's at http://s1018.photobucket.com/user/Trish ... t=3&page=1
Any comments appreciated. I know I didn't even really ask direct questions, but that's where I am. Not even sure what kind of equipment I have, or how bad the pool is. I did take a lot of pics, now going to try to figure out how to get them here.
Thank you all so much, and it's great to be here!!!
