New VS Pump Configuration

[Suzieq]

First off this forum has been awesome for me as a first time pool owner. The house we recently purchased has a pool that was built in the early 80s.

The details:
~35,000 gallon (big!) pool and spa

I had all the pool equipment replaced at the beginning of the summer:
Jandy ePump (http://www.zodiacpoolsystems.com/Products/Pumps/Variable-Speed-Pumps/ePump.aspx)
Jandy CV460 Filter (http://www.zodiacpoolsystems.com/Products/Filters/CV-Cartridge-Filter.aspx)
Jandy LXI400 Heater (http://www.zodiacpoolsystems.com/Products/Heaters/LXi.aspx)

Rocky's Reel System and solar blanket (http://www.rockysrollers.com/)

Hayward TigerShark robot (https://www.hayward-pool.com/shop/Product_10201_10551_14011_-1_14001__I)

TF100 test kit

I have several questions.

1. Can I set the variable speed pump to 1000 rpm and have it run 24/7 (or maybe 20 hours, 7 days a week) even though the skimmer doesn't seem to work at that speed?
I currently have it running at 1700 RPM for 8 hours (1a-9a). The solar blanket is on when we aren't swimming so I'm not sure if this skimming action is even worth it. Will I run into problems with the motor if I never turn it off? The filter still does its job at 1000 RPM and the water is still circulated, right?

2. How often do people put their robot in the pool?

3. Any quick tips (haven't read the spa forum yet) on how to keep the spa Cl levels balanced. This seems to be the hardest at this point. For the main pool I keep 2 pool floats with dissolving chlorine tabs (blasphemy, I know) and then check the Cl levels every 2-3 days and add bleach as needed. Seems to work well for me and my CYA level is around 50 from the tabs (I actually had to add CYA at the beginning of the season because it was 0).

I had my first "green pool" 2 days ago. Likely due to 1) High use, 2) Me not checking the Cl levels for a week, 3) Pump was only running for 7 hours every day. I am in the process of shocking (FC up to 20), scrubbing the walls daily, and running the robot daily. CC is down to 0 and the pool is starting to look more clear (I can see the bottom), but still has green tint to it.

 

[chem geek]

Yes, you can certainly run your pump at low speed over a longer period of time if you want to do that. In fact, you may not need to run that long and can probably get away with around 1/2 a turnover. You didn't say what the GPM is at 1000 RPM but if that's around 26 GPM then 35,000/26/60 = 22 hours for one turnover so you might be OK with 12 hours and save even more money. The filter still works at low flow rates and the water is still circulated.

I leave my The Pool Cleaner pool sweep in the pool and it runs every night, but it's not a robot one puts in. With a pool cover, it's really up to you how often to put the robot in. If the pool isn't getting very dirty it may not need to be in that much -- it's really up to you. Both the robot and the pump run time are things you can adjust down until you start to notice issues and then bring them up in frequency.

Is the spa isolated from the pool? If so, then yes you'd need to check and add chlorine every few days. It's worse if you have an ozonator and don't use the spa every day or two since ozone reacts with chlorine such that you'd have to add it every day or two.