Good morning pool people!
I am so thankful I found this site. I wish it had been sooner before I got myself into this pickle! I am hopeful that I will eventually find my way out of this and get to experience the joys and ease of a properly balanced pool, but I think I need help getting there!
Our D36 River Pools fiberglass pool was finished being installed almost exactly one year ago. I went into the process as researched as I possibly could after reading everything I could find online, which as well all know is a very difficult place to find non bias information on everything. Originally I wanted a salt water system, as our kids both have very sensitive skin, and our son is extremely sensitive to ALL chemicals. I wanted to healthiest most natural water I could get for him to have a safe place to swim and get out all of his energy.
Unfortunately, our PB was very persistent on informing me that salt water was not the way to go. It would destroy all of our natural stone and was NO different than a regular chlorine system, and would often be much more difficult since "salt doesn't dissolve" and things build up and can be a disaster. Eventually I caved and went with the Ozone/UV sanitizing system combined with regular chlorine. After a year owning this system, and since finding this page I am realizing that this was basically a huge waste of money. GIANT bummer. This system has also already allowed air into get into our system twice, and needed pieces replaced. I WISH I could just take it all off and get our money back. Oh well. Hind sight is 20/20. MOVING ON.
Our PB also told me he would teach me everything I needed to know to manage my pool myself after install, but he never did. He basically threw a piece of paper with a few terms and definitions on it at me, downloaded the pentair app on my phone and connected my pool, and told me to go to Leslies pool once a month to have my water tested and get chemicals. Needless to say I have been struggling horribly with chlorine lock for months now, and really really getting tired of draining and refilling my pool only to have my CYA levels drop minimal amounts at a time. I seriously want to cry. It takes me an entire day to drain just 18 inches of water out of my pool and then another day to refill it... and since we are on well water that apparently has absurdly high TA levels I am just at a loss with the entire situation.
I am insecure about my water testing abilities, unsure if the results from the pool stores testing is even accurate, and feel like I will NEVER get my levels back down. The pool store is now telling me that my CYA level of 114 is actually just fine and I don't need to worry about it! They also tell me that I absolutely need to start using chlorine tabs again to manage my pool now that it's warmer again.
I have stopped using the tabs and bags of shock since my CYA level reached 160 last swim season, and have since been draining and refilling over and over and over and over, cleaning my filters occasionally, and trying to get it down. I have started using 6% bleach from Aldi to chlorinate to try and hold the algae down while I am working to lower my CYA, but it is starting to feel hopeless. I have been using the pool math app (Which is awesome!!!) but I am basically just having to pour an entire gallon+ of bleach in daily now, and still have algae growing. After draining and refilling literally like 5X my CYA is finally starting to test around 100 with the Pentair rainbow CYA dot test, but I am still insecure even using that.
After reading a bunch on this page I bought the recommended TF 100 test kit, but I am still waiting for it to arrive. The test kit I have been using (DPD, Not the CYA test) got left out in the sun open for a day accidentally a few weeks ago, and I am worried it's not perfectly accurate anymore, but after draining and refilling AGAIN the last two days, my current levels are as follows:
TA: 170
PH: 7.4 or 7.5
FC: 1
TC: 1-2
CC: .5?
CYA: 100
I am devastated that my CYA didn't drop more than 14 points after this last and biggest drain and refill I did the past two days. I brushed the sides occasionally as it drained. It is an enormous pain in the booty to drain my pool as the PB didn't install any kind of overflow or way to refill other than literally throwing the hose in the pool... So we literally have to drag our sump pump out of the garage and prop it up on rocks in the pool with a PVC pipe sticking out of the top of it into the yard proper up on a bunch of chairs. There is a place on the plumbing where I can attach a hose and drain some water that way but it is incredibly slow and takes literally two+ days to drain a foot of water. I feel like I am missing something. Is it always this frustrating and difficult to drain pool water?! Is there a way to install an overflow somehow after the fact?
My questions:
-My TA is really high (170 this morning, if the test is actually accurate) but my PH is only 7.5. I have used acid to drop my PH to 7.0 to try and bring down my TA but it literally BARELY does anything. I have since read that I only need to do this if I am having issues with metal or rapidly rising PH, so I have stopped trying to do this. I am just really frustrated that my well water seems to have a crazy high TA, and I have to keep adding tons of it because I am trying to lower my CYA. I feel like I am chasing my tail!
-Is it worth removing the UV/OZONE sanitizing system? Is that expensive?
-ANY advice on my CYA level situation would be so appreciated. Do I need to clean my filters AGAIN?! I just did a couple weeks ago!
-ANY advice on the draining and refilling would be helpful too... even just words of encouragement or shared similar experiences!
-Do you think my DPD Test kit is ruined and inaccurate after being left outside in the sun for a day? It wasn't the CYA test, just the DPD kit...
I am SO sorry this is such a long wordy post, and I am SO thankful for anybody who takes the time to offer advice or even just words of comfort at this point! Thank you so much for this site and for the pool math app! It is absolutely a game changer!
Hopeful I will get on top of all of this!
Haley
I am so thankful I found this site. I wish it had been sooner before I got myself into this pickle! I am hopeful that I will eventually find my way out of this and get to experience the joys and ease of a properly balanced pool, but I think I need help getting there!
Our D36 River Pools fiberglass pool was finished being installed almost exactly one year ago. I went into the process as researched as I possibly could after reading everything I could find online, which as well all know is a very difficult place to find non bias information on everything. Originally I wanted a salt water system, as our kids both have very sensitive skin, and our son is extremely sensitive to ALL chemicals. I wanted to healthiest most natural water I could get for him to have a safe place to swim and get out all of his energy.
Unfortunately, our PB was very persistent on informing me that salt water was not the way to go. It would destroy all of our natural stone and was NO different than a regular chlorine system, and would often be much more difficult since "salt doesn't dissolve" and things build up and can be a disaster. Eventually I caved and went with the Ozone/UV sanitizing system combined with regular chlorine. After a year owning this system, and since finding this page I am realizing that this was basically a huge waste of money. GIANT bummer. This system has also already allowed air into get into our system twice, and needed pieces replaced. I WISH I could just take it all off and get our money back. Oh well. Hind sight is 20/20. MOVING ON.
Our PB also told me he would teach me everything I needed to know to manage my pool myself after install, but he never did. He basically threw a piece of paper with a few terms and definitions on it at me, downloaded the pentair app on my phone and connected my pool, and told me to go to Leslies pool once a month to have my water tested and get chemicals. Needless to say I have been struggling horribly with chlorine lock for months now, and really really getting tired of draining and refilling my pool only to have my CYA levels drop minimal amounts at a time. I seriously want to cry. It takes me an entire day to drain just 18 inches of water out of my pool and then another day to refill it... and since we are on well water that apparently has absurdly high TA levels I am just at a loss with the entire situation.
I am insecure about my water testing abilities, unsure if the results from the pool stores testing is even accurate, and feel like I will NEVER get my levels back down. The pool store is now telling me that my CYA level of 114 is actually just fine and I don't need to worry about it! They also tell me that I absolutely need to start using chlorine tabs again to manage my pool now that it's warmer again.
I have stopped using the tabs and bags of shock since my CYA level reached 160 last swim season, and have since been draining and refilling over and over and over and over, cleaning my filters occasionally, and trying to get it down. I have started using 6% bleach from Aldi to chlorinate to try and hold the algae down while I am working to lower my CYA, but it is starting to feel hopeless. I have been using the pool math app (Which is awesome!!!) but I am basically just having to pour an entire gallon+ of bleach in daily now, and still have algae growing. After draining and refilling literally like 5X my CYA is finally starting to test around 100 with the Pentair rainbow CYA dot test, but I am still insecure even using that.
After reading a bunch on this page I bought the recommended TF 100 test kit, but I am still waiting for it to arrive. The test kit I have been using (DPD, Not the CYA test) got left out in the sun open for a day accidentally a few weeks ago, and I am worried it's not perfectly accurate anymore, but after draining and refilling AGAIN the last two days, my current levels are as follows:
TA: 170
PH: 7.4 or 7.5
FC: 1
TC: 1-2
CC: .5?
CYA: 100
I am devastated that my CYA didn't drop more than 14 points after this last and biggest drain and refill I did the past two days. I brushed the sides occasionally as it drained. It is an enormous pain in the booty to drain my pool as the PB didn't install any kind of overflow or way to refill other than literally throwing the hose in the pool... So we literally have to drag our sump pump out of the garage and prop it up on rocks in the pool with a PVC pipe sticking out of the top of it into the yard proper up on a bunch of chairs. There is a place on the plumbing where I can attach a hose and drain some water that way but it is incredibly slow and takes literally two+ days to drain a foot of water. I feel like I am missing something. Is it always this frustrating and difficult to drain pool water?! Is there a way to install an overflow somehow after the fact?
My questions:
-My TA is really high (170 this morning, if the test is actually accurate) but my PH is only 7.5. I have used acid to drop my PH to 7.0 to try and bring down my TA but it literally BARELY does anything. I have since read that I only need to do this if I am having issues with metal or rapidly rising PH, so I have stopped trying to do this. I am just really frustrated that my well water seems to have a crazy high TA, and I have to keep adding tons of it because I am trying to lower my CYA. I feel like I am chasing my tail!
-Is it worth removing the UV/OZONE sanitizing system? Is that expensive?
-ANY advice on my CYA level situation would be so appreciated. Do I need to clean my filters AGAIN?! I just did a couple weeks ago!
-ANY advice on the draining and refilling would be helpful too... even just words of encouragement or shared similar experiences!
-Do you think my DPD Test kit is ruined and inaccurate after being left outside in the sun for a day? It wasn't the CYA test, just the DPD kit...
I am SO sorry this is such a long wordy post, and I am SO thankful for anybody who takes the time to offer advice or even just words of comfort at this point! Thank you so much for this site and for the pool math app! It is absolutely a game changer!
Hopeful I will get on top of all of this!
Haley
