I don't have all of the details on my signature yet as it is dark and I don't want to go outside. I am the lady of the house trying to figure this stuff all out because my husband is busy working. We have a salt water pool and it has started an algae outbreak. I'll admit we haven't been the most pro-active pool owners, but this must change and we need help as I have learned that pool stores will tell you all different things to do with the same water reading.
So, yesterday, I did the water testing and found our salt level to be low (2200), our FC non-existent, our PH high (8), our TA high (120), and our CYA low (30). Side note: In addition to the algae, we have a ton of pollen in the pool, and dirt due to the wind and our treed lot. It has also rained a lot here in Texas.
From reading, I thought I understood we needed to get the water in balance before starting the SLAM to kill the algae. Using the pool math calculator, we added the recommended bags of salt (6 1/2) and 1/2 the recommended CYA (we added 4 lbs when it called for 8). We also used skimmer socks and cleaned them every hour or two as well as cleaning the polaris bag every hour or two to try and clear up the dirt/pollen; and lastly we used the leaf rake to help clean as much as the debris as possible. It feels impossible.
Our SWG had been reading low salt for the last couple of weeks and we had been adding salt. After adding the recommended bags of salt, the light finally showed good salt level, HOWEVER, when I tested the water tonight, here are the readings I got:
Salt - 6000 (oops)
FC - .4 ppm
CC - .2 ppm
PH - still 8
TA - 200 ppm (it went up)
CH - 150 ppm (I didn't test this yesterday, but I see from reading that this too low
CYA - 60
We were going to leave the pool on all night, but our pump seems to be running on low pressure and when I went outside to check it before heading off to bed, the red light was on the SWG saying flow, water wasn't flowing over the rocks from the spa to the pool even though it was registering that the pool was on. To risk any damage over night, I decided to turn it off.
So now, I feel stuck! I don't know what to work on first tomorrow - the algae, the PH and TA, the CH, the high salt level, or the water flow problem. My husband will be at work so I'm a little limited on what I can do, but I am pretty capable and want to learn. I don't, however, want to mess anything up . The builder of our pool says we are still under warranty for a few months on some of the parts, so I want to take advantage of that as well if needed and I only have a couple of months for that. I'm tempted to just have them come out and check everything over to be sure it's working correctly, but the pool looks so bad, I"m a little embarrassed. We have talked on the phone though.
Any advice on what to do first would be appreciated. I have been reading and learning from this site. THANK YOU!
So, yesterday, I did the water testing and found our salt level to be low (2200), our FC non-existent, our PH high (8), our TA high (120), and our CYA low (30). Side note: In addition to the algae, we have a ton of pollen in the pool, and dirt due to the wind and our treed lot. It has also rained a lot here in Texas.
From reading, I thought I understood we needed to get the water in balance before starting the SLAM to kill the algae. Using the pool math calculator, we added the recommended bags of salt (6 1/2) and 1/2 the recommended CYA (we added 4 lbs when it called for 8). We also used skimmer socks and cleaned them every hour or two as well as cleaning the polaris bag every hour or two to try and clear up the dirt/pollen; and lastly we used the leaf rake to help clean as much as the debris as possible. It feels impossible.
Our SWG had been reading low salt for the last couple of weeks and we had been adding salt. After adding the recommended bags of salt, the light finally showed good salt level, HOWEVER, when I tested the water tonight, here are the readings I got:
Salt - 6000 (oops)
FC - .4 ppm
CC - .2 ppm
PH - still 8
TA - 200 ppm (it went up)
CH - 150 ppm (I didn't test this yesterday, but I see from reading that this too low
CYA - 60
We were going to leave the pool on all night, but our pump seems to be running on low pressure and when I went outside to check it before heading off to bed, the red light was on the SWG saying flow, water wasn't flowing over the rocks from the spa to the pool even though it was registering that the pool was on. To risk any damage over night, I decided to turn it off.
So now, I feel stuck! I don't know what to work on first tomorrow - the algae, the PH and TA, the CH, the high salt level, or the water flow problem. My husband will be at work so I'm a little limited on what I can do, but I am pretty capable and want to learn. I don't, however, want to mess anything up . The builder of our pool says we are still under warranty for a few months on some of the parts, so I want to take advantage of that as well if needed and I only have a couple of months for that. I'm tempted to just have them come out and check everything over to be sure it's working correctly, but the pool looks so bad, I"m a little embarrassed. We have talked on the phone though.
Any advice on what to do first would be appreciated. I have been reading and learning from this site. THANK YOU!
