From installation to SLAM and beyond (previously Future Pool Location)

Jump to latest Follow Reply
Re: Future pool location photo

Another night going to bed and hoping the pool finally passes the OCLT. My husband is losing faith in the process and thinks I am wasting my time doing all these water tests when his buddy tests his water once each week and throws shock in the pool and he's never had a problem.

It does seem to me a little bit excessive that I've had a clear pool with a CC of .5 or less for nearly a week and I still can't pass OCLT. Why can't I get the water to pass. I didn't even have algae, just dirty water. Does anyone have ideas? The floor is not cloudy when I sweep it. With a slam started the same time the pump was started, how likely would it be that I could have algae somewhere? I thought the CC of .5 showed me that I didn't have algae issues. So...what is eating my chlorine? The closest I've gotten to passing is a FC drop of 2. The final test of the night was 10.5. We will see what the morning brings.
 
Re: Future pool location photo

readings have slowly drifted up from .5, .5, 3, 3.5, 7, and this morning 7.5

...

The closest I've gotten to passing is a FC drop of 2

...

OCLT of 1.5
Click to expand...

Progress is happening! The (small) CC show that something is being eaten. You aren't far :)
 
Re: Future pool location photo

Another day of the deck build. They should finish up tomorrow. Next week they are going to start on my "pool house". It's really just a lean-to attached to the far side of the deck, but it will be excellent for storing pool toys, equipment and outdoor toys (like the red wagon that keeps showing up in my deck pictures).
 
:-xOh. My. Gosh. COLLOSAL FAIL. Can this get anymore disappointing? Wait...don't answer, it probably can and I just don't want it know about that right now. I woke up extra early, before even a speck of sunrise was showing. I still needed a flashlight. My OCLT was 4. Really. This is crazy making. The only thing that I can even pin this on is that a lot of sawdust got blown into the pool yesterday. Wind -1, Me - 0

Do you think I'm right? Is the sawdust the reason for my potential emotional breakdown looming in the not too distant future? It's not even 8 o'clock here, but it's got to be 5 o'clock somewhere. I need a drink.
 
I've been outside manually vacuuming and wall brushing any bit of sawdust that I could see through the wind blown and rippled water surface. The result was gratifying. I'm not sure how much it helped, but it made me feel like I was doing something to see improve my situation. I also politely asked the deck builders to cut the wood where it would blow AWAY from the pool.
 
The deck is done! The shed will get started on Monday. My attention is starting to change focus and the hardscape portion of the landscape is in the forefront now. Any ideas for a walkway between the existing patio and the deck? I have planned on making the walkway and any hardscape around the pool a DIY project. It will mainly be me doing all the labor with some minimal help from my husband.

Right now I'm planning to ring the pool with river rock on top of weed barrier. I'm not sure what to do about the different elevations around the pool. Do I:
1) follow the lay of the land, or
2) make it level using some type of retaining wall block on the low end to raise it up to match the high side?

The one that will probably look the nicest is also the most labor intensive and expensive.

Here are pictures...




 
For the wind snatching "Willy" I suggest the clip bungee cords to keep Willy from being free = attach one end of the clip bungee cords to Willy & the other end to the deck rail or the step pole. I do this every time I get out of my pool. after chasing my floating cooler & my big ole float!
 
We had a 4' beach ball blow across the road during a storm. Apparently the wind changed direction. In the morning it was deposited back to the backyard, beside the pool. I was glad, we got it on vacation.
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
I did not do an OCLT, I slept in until 6:30 this morning. Boy was that nice. I'll test OCLT again on Sunday. Today, I'm taking a break from my 10 times a day testing schedule to get away from the house and do something fun with my family.

Happy 4th of July!
 
We got a walkway between the patio and steps done today. It turns out my husband wanted a walkway pretty badly. He did all the hard work! We'll let it set for a day or so then we'll fill with dirt along the sides and pea gravel inbetween the cobblestones. It's rustic and simple. It didn't have to be perfect, just needed a way from point a to b.
 
OK, I really need an answer on this one. Since my CYA levels registered 35, I brought my shock levels up to 14. Last night on my final reading before bed FC had drifted down to 12.5. Even thought I knew I was supposed to add bleach, I didn't. Sooooo many reasons. Anyway, this morning I tested my water after the sun had been up for an hour or so and my FC was 12.5. No overnight FC loss. Does this count? Water is clear and CC is .5 or less.
 
It seems strange to not be testing every couple of hours. Using the Basic test kit (K-1000) seems insufficient after so much precision for so long. Hopefully my eyes become more skilled at deciphering the subtleties of the color difference between 5 and 3 for chlorine. The pH looks much easier to decipher. I'll probably do both the chlorine drop test and basic test for a while to make sure my eyes are getting it right.
 
Well, that didn't last long. I'm guessing that my OCLT really wasn't a pass since it was held overnight at 12.5 instead of SLAM level of 14. I was just curious and ran a CC test and got a 1.5. Not good...not good at all. So, I'm back to SLAM.

July 2 - last day it was warm enough to swim
July 3 - ran kreepy krauley for 4 hours
July 4 - put solar cover on pool
July 5 - "passed" OCLT
July 6 - turned off pump overnight
July 7 - ran pump from 9-5, just turned back on (I bought a timer for my pump today, guess I won't be using it yet.)

So looking at my calendar did I do anything wrong? Should I run my vacuum more often? Since I had the solar cover on, nothing seemed to be getting in the pool.
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
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