This is my first pool and I've had it 2.5 years. When we bought the house there was a calcium ring already on the tile and the pool hadn't been well maintained. We drained and refilled. With the help of this site I have had zero issues with the water and the chemicals always seemed to be in check.
Earlier this week my auto-leveler quit working - it was running non-stop. I turned off the water to it and decided I would fix it this weekend. Over the past few days the pool level dropped a couple of inches. Given how high it was that needed to happen. I go out tonight to run a full chemical test and I see a nasty white ring around the entire border. Last year we slowly went the pumice stone route and we seemed to have the ring gone. I was surprised and unhappy to see it return this afternoon.
I'm unsure of what I did wrong. I saw nothing for over a year and then, BOOM, ring. Could the ring have been underneath the normal water level? Do I not have my chemicals where they need to be? Is my calcium hardness getting too high for a rookie to maintain? My pH does tend to wander up and my CYA loves to drop (I'm low again). My calcium hardness has increased steadily since we filled the pool, going from 325 at fill to 850 now. Chlorine stays very stable. Any advice appreciated.
Test results from this afternoon:
20K pool (SWG)
FC: 4.5
CC: 0
CH: 850
CYA: 40
TA: 70
Salt: 3100
Borates: 60 (no idea how this is over 50...may just be reading the strips wrong)
Pool temp: have not seen it over 93 but I don't run my pump in the afternoon
Now that's I've typed all of this out I see temperature has a pretty big impact on CSI (pool math). I've been trying to keep my pH between 7.6 and 7.8 Should I be keeping it lower than that?
Earlier this week my auto-leveler quit working - it was running non-stop. I turned off the water to it and decided I would fix it this weekend. Over the past few days the pool level dropped a couple of inches. Given how high it was that needed to happen. I go out tonight to run a full chemical test and I see a nasty white ring around the entire border. Last year we slowly went the pumice stone route and we seemed to have the ring gone. I was surprised and unhappy to see it return this afternoon.
I'm unsure of what I did wrong. I saw nothing for over a year and then, BOOM, ring. Could the ring have been underneath the normal water level? Do I not have my chemicals where they need to be? Is my calcium hardness getting too high for a rookie to maintain? My pH does tend to wander up and my CYA loves to drop (I'm low again). My calcium hardness has increased steadily since we filled the pool, going from 325 at fill to 850 now. Chlorine stays very stable. Any advice appreciated.
Test results from this afternoon:
20K pool (SWG)
FC: 4.5
CC: 0
CH: 850
CYA: 40
TA: 70
Salt: 3100
Borates: 60 (no idea how this is over 50...may just be reading the strips wrong)
Pool temp: have not seen it over 93 but I don't run my pump in the afternoon
Now that's I've typed all of this out I see temperature has a pretty big impact on CSI (pool math). I've been trying to keep my pH between 7.6 and 7.8 Should I be keeping it lower than that?