Starting from Scratch - Advice?

[milhouse]

Pool Info

• Endless Pool
• 2767 Gallons
• Indoor
• Cartridge Filter
• Vinyl
• Temperature 97°F

I have owned and maintained my indoor Endless Pool since 2009. I have had many issues with maintaining the water, which were probably my fault (turned water blue, corroded heating elements etc,), along with relying on chain pool company drones. For a while I used chlorine, and then switched to bromine. The bromine, however, is terrible. The fumes from the pool are awful when the water is churned at all, and unfortunately there is no easy way to drain the pool to refill with clean water (it has to be done with a submersible pump, so doing it every week/month isn't going to happen because it takes hours to setup).

Because its an Endless Pool, I can't use SWG or add an ozonator etc. to the system. Basically, it is what it is. The information on this site is great, but I have questions because:

• It is indoors and the windows block UV
• It is kept around 97 degrees
• Bather load is light - my wife once a day for about an hour for aquatherapy.

I have looked at some of the "non-traditional" products - PristineBlue, Cleanwater Blue, Nature2 etc. but after doing some research they seem like a bad idea. The EndlessPool actually comes with four Nature2 cartridges that you leave in the filter but I don't think they did anything.

Because my bromine level is so high, I am planning on draining the pool and starting frrom scratch, and I think I'd like to go back to chlorine for SLAM. But I have some questions, that if anyone could answer I would greatly appreciate:

• When I used chlorine in the past, bathing suits were destroyed in 6 months. Is this going to happen regardless, or was I doing something wrong?
• Because the pool temperature is so high, is chlorine the best option?
• Are PristineBlue, Cleanwater Blue, Nature2 etc. worth investigating further?
• Is the only issue that makes care of an indoor vs. outdoor pool different CYA?
• The pool came with "random" products, including Leisure Time Spa Defender, and Spa Perfect. Should these ever be used? Same with Spa fragrances (the wife likes them)?

Any help would be appreciated - Thanks!

 

[jblizzle]

I think you might want to read up on spa maintenance as this is going to be very similar. There is a sticky all about using chlorine.

Addressing you questions:
- If your suits were destroyed, you were not keeping a balanced pool. Likely your FC was much too high for whatever your CYA level was. I am guessing maybe you did not have any CYA which would make the water very harsh. We recommend 20-30ppm of CYA even for indoor pools due to the buffering it does on the chlorine.
- For high temps, I think bromine is the best, but chlorine if fine as well
- Absolutely NOT!!!
- In fact there is no difference. Like I said, we recommend using CYA indoors as well, just at a lower level and thus the FC level is a function of your CYA level according to the FC/CYA Chart.
- We do not recommend the use of potions in the pool. Does not stop my wife from putting fragrances in out spa though There are some reports of white water mold occuring in these endless pools and decontamination with Ahh-Some might be useful if you find this problem.

 

[milhouse]

- For high temps, I think bromine is the best, but chlorine if fine as well

Thanks so much for the fast reply. I am going to re-read the sticky now.

With respect to bromine, I am currently getting serious throat irritation with bromine which I assume is because the bromine level is so high (I use a floater and I did not have any fumes the first 6 months or so). But the problem is the bromine sticky says to drain and refill the spa every 3-4 months. Because of the size of the pool, that isn't a realistic option. Is there anyway to reduce the bromine level without draining and refilling the pool? Maybe I am just using too many tablets (though testing weekly everything seems fine).

This is the only issue I have with my current bromine setup, so maybe I am misunderstanding what is causing the problem or doing something wrong?

 

[delirium330]

Regarding the bathing suits question, I agree that you probably had a high FC level that chewed them up faster then normal, but it also depends on the bathing suit material and the fact that the temperatures in the pool are so high. For example, if you're wearing a lycra bathing suit, it isn't uncommon for those to wear out really quickly, especially with the water temperatures. Speedo makes a lineup for men and women called "Endurance" and it holds up much better than straight lycra for long periods in the water (and one hour per day is definitely a substantial time in the water). Lycra suits are normally reserved for competitive swimming (and usually less expensive than "training" bathing suits like the Endurance line from Speedo).

 

[JVTrain]

As jblizzle said, you could likely treat it like a spa. The specific thread he's referring to for chlorine spa maintenance is this one: How do I use Chlorine in my Spa

It's a lengthy read, but well worth it and some of the additions by chem geek and a few others are great in that thread.

Your pool may be a bit large to do a deep clean treatment with a product like Ahh-some but I would consider it when replacing water this time. It worked wonders on my spa but, my spa is 1/8th the size of your pool.

The only problem you may have with indoor usage of is build up of combined chlorine in the pool. Does it get any sunlight? It's not a huge problem but can be over time. Periodic use of a non-chlorine oxidizer such as monopersulfate (MPS) would help deal with combined chlorine if it ever starts to rise despite maintaining appropriate FC levels.

Also add your location to your profile. It helps with suggestions and advice. You can be vague if your like but at least a state and/or city helps.

 

[milhouse]

As jblizzle said, you could likely treat it like a spa. The specific thread he's referring to for chlorine spa maintenance is this one: How do I use Chlorine in my Spa

I will take a look assuming bromine isn't feasible.

Your pool may be a bit large to do a deep clean treatment with a product like Ahh-some but I would consider it when replacing water this time. It worked wonders on my spa but, my spa is 1/8th the size of your pool.

Seeing a cleaning has never been done, it seems like a good idea.

The only problem you may have with indoor usage of is build up of combined chlorine in the pool. Does it get any sunlight? It's not a huge problem but can be over time. Periodic use of a non-chlorine oxidizer such as monopersulfate (MPS) would help deal with combined chlorine if it ever starts to rise despite maintaining appropriate FC levels.

No sunlight. There are windows, but they block UV and even if they did not, the setup of the room prevents direct dunlight from ever hitting the surface.[/QUOTE]

Also add your location to your profile. It helps with suggestions and advice. You can be vague if your like but at least a state and/or city helps.

I didn't think it mattered because it was indoor. In any event, Central NJ.

 

[JVTrain]

I did not mention anything about bromine as you said you didn't like the smell but rereading, maybe it's just because it got out of hand. There is also a thread on bromine as well: How do I use Bromine in my spa You could go that route, but with an indoor pool that you don't want to change water out very often, I'd certainly go with the "2 step" method detailed in that thread rather than continued use of bromine tablets. You should be able to maintain the same water longer with that approach.

I can't stand the smell of bromine myself so I maintain my spa with chlorine. I tried bromine for a while because I was sort of forced to and hated it but some folks love it. It worked fine as a sanitizer but the smell always got to me more than chlorine.

 

[milhouse]

I did not mention anything about bromine as you said you didn't like the smell but rereading, maybe it's just because it got out of hand.

Yes, it got out of hand. You couldn't breathe. I was doing the 3-step method, so it might be worth trying the 2-step before giving up on it.

Thanks to everyone, btw...

 

[3dogowner]

bump..... what's the status of your EP? did you switch to chlorine only? Did you do the Ahh-some treatment?

 

[Patrick_B]

I think this was simply a matter of high Chlorinating/Brominating products. And at some point, this type of system will have to be handled more like a stand alone spa.