Got rid of the pool guy... now on my own.

Jump to latest Follow Reply
S

stahltkd

0
May 17, 2014
8
United States
Greetings from sunny South Florida - where at this time of the year we envy you northerners :)

Long story short - due to finances and now that I'm doing this on my own, I think our pool guy was good but missed quite a bit.

After letting our pool guy go and not doing anything to the pool - it turned a wonderful green:suspect: We had been getting algae while we had the pool guy that would clear up when he came but shortly there after, it would come back. I ended up going to the local pool store (names withheld to protect the guilty :) ) and getting the pool back to somewhat decent shape but was still getting that green slime on the sides (was recommended to use Yellow Out). I had been reading the forums so I knew a bit more than before, so I knew I needed to keep SLAMing. I was out of Chlorine and it was after that stores operating hours, so I ended up going to Wal-mart.

I was in their pool aisle and was looking at algecides (I know bad!) and as I was reading, I noticed that I didn't just have green algae - I had mustard algae. So I ended up buying a box of shock - (don't kill me!!!) and the bottle of the algaecide to kill the now known bad algae. Followed the directions on the bottle.

Now that the algae had finally been beaten - I hope! I recently picked up the TF-100! Pool is cloudy, but looks a lot better without stuff growing in it :) Here's the results of this mornings test:

FC: 1
CC: .5
TC: 1.5
CH: 400
TA: 160
CYA: 50

Pool is 12x28 in-ground. I'm assuming plaster? (has texture to it)

Using Poolmath - I need to dump around 25% of the water and refill with new. After that retest and add chlorine. ?? Am I on the right track??

https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd....4_10102466871661444_2991570690407963478_n.jpg

https://scontent-b-mia.xx.fbcdn.net...8_10102466871337094_4368533173235874409_n.jpg
 
Welcome! :wave:

You are indeed on the right track -- you have a TF100. :party:

If the water is clear - meaning no color, no patches of algae on the walls, you can see through it all the way to the bottom drain - you may have somehow managed to kill the algae. If not all the way, at least the worst of it.

Since you have found poolmath... enter plaster as your surface, bleach as your chlorine source, and tfp as your guidelines in the last box. Now go back up to the top and enter the pool volume and start entering your current readings in the now column. Then go back and look at FC. Oops - you're too low. That's just inviting the algae back in. For CYA 50, you should never let FC drop below 4. And when you add, target 8 to handle the daily loss as well as build in a safety margin.

Tonight, check for FC near sunset. If it's still above 4, you're doing good, and you can run the overnight loss test. Get up extra early tomorrow and recheck FC before the sun hits the pool. If FC has dropped less than 1, you don't need a SLAM. You won't need to drain any water. If it doesn't pass, then you will need to SLAM, but you don't necessarily have to drain any to lower CYA. You might not want to. Florida tends to have a high water table and you could actually float your pool up out of the ground if you drain too much at once. It is possible to SLAM at 50 CYA.

So the short term advice is to raise FC to 8 today and run the overnight loss test. Then decide what needs to happen next.
 
stahltkd said:
On poolmath - Cya says lose 20% water and CH told me to lose 35%. So I split the 2 and came up with 25%

Richard - Gotcha! Will do :)
Click to expand...
That's only because you let poolmath pick the goals.

50 CYA is a fine number for day-to-day operation. It's a little high for a SLAM, but easily managed.

So your CH is 400. losing 35% will put your CH at 260 or so, if your fill water has zero CH. Odds are it doesn't. Poolmath doesn't know what your fill water has. What happens if your fill water is 200 CH and you split the difference and replace 25%?

.75*400 +.25*200 = 350CH It's not worth it. It'll be back to 400 in a month from evaporation and topoff. 400 CH is easily managed. My pool's CH has never been that low in the last four years.

If you want to drain a bunch of water to meet some arbitrary number, go ahead. But I see no point to it. Get your FC level up to the right level for your CYA and see if it holds overnight. If it does, you just maintain pH and FC and go swimming.
 
Ok good news and some stupidity on my part. I was talking to a friend while pouring the liquid chlorine from the pool store (2 gal of 10% for $4.70) and dumped the bottle into the pool. Bad news it raised the chlorine to 28.5. Good news, if it doesn't matter what the start number is, it only lost .5 - leaving the overnight test a success.
 
stahltkd said:
Ok good news and some stupidity on my part. I was talking to a friend while pouring the liquid chlorine from the pool store (2 gal of 10% for $4.70) and dumped the bottle into the pool. Bad news it raised the chlorine to 28.5. Good news, if it doesn't matter what the start number is, it only lost .5 - leaving the overnight test a success.
Click to expand...

Since chlorine is a consumable you can expect to be at normal levels in a day or 2 ... No worries.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
You'll be fine in no time, don't sweat it.

For CYA of 50, shock level is 20, so once it drops below 20 you can begin swimming and won't need to add any chlorine until it drops below 6.
BTW, don't test your pH until FC drops below 10, you'll get incorrect results.
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
rick6668 said:
Was there any CC? If the water is cloudy, you need to continue to SLAM. What kind of filter? Did you clean or backwash? Running the filter 24/7, scrubbing?

Make sure you are following all the steps in the SLAM
Click to expand...

Re-ran the FC / CC test earlier today - Maintaining FC at 28 and CC was .5

Very cloudy today and a bit of rain. Will rerun the FC/CC test before bed.

My thoughts: I'm wondering if the left over algae/cide is the cause of the cloudiness. I was vacuuming/sweeping today and noticed that when I swept (especially the stairs) I was still stirring up small clouds. I also have for the lack of better term - stains on the floor that do not brush clean nor kick up clouds. Suggestions?

Cleaned out the filter (cellulose thingybobber - I'm guessing what the professionals call cartridge? ) was no longer "green" but teal blue....

So continuing to SLAM....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply