Confused with keeping Fc at the right levels

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Did I tell you about the "trick" of using a turkey baster to suck some up? You can do that and squirt it out onto a white paper towels inside a colander. Let it dry out and shot a pic to share. We should be able to tell what it is when we see it and you feel it.

You will clear the pool and it will look better than it ever has before! Like a jewel :sun:

The brushing is doing two things-helping get the algae where it can be killed but it does make the pool look cloudy BUT that is a good thing. It is getting up so the filter can do it's thing and filter it out.

Do you know anyone with a pool? I have an idea if you do.

Kim:cat:
 
Call them and ask if any of them has any DE sitting around. I bought a big box to use in my sand filter and cannot even tell I have used any. Maybe someone will have some you can use.

The pressure gauge-they are fairly cheap and VERY easy to replace. Tell hubby you have a "man's job" for him (did I REALLY say that??) and have him get one and install it. Will that work on him? Mine knows better and would just :rolleyes: if said something like that to him. LOL

Kim:cat:
 
Lol ....he would definitely laugh at me if I say that... I told him we need a new gauge and he was surprised we could get it at a hardware store. Are they pretty universal? I'm thinking no one with a pool will know what the heck DE is... lol. They all call the pool companies ... I will try though!

Just brushed again. Fc at 14.5..so adding some chlorine . Cc still at 0.

My husband just doesn't understand patience. Plus he always listened to the pool store since it always worked before. . until we spent $300+.... lol. Then he started listening to me. He even asked if "my people" had any suggestions about where to point the Jets. He was told up a little so it makes some ripple in the water...

He will come around when it gets better. For now it looks worse so in his head... he is wondering what the heck. The pool store gave us chemicals and it cleared right up. He said he wanted to use dichlor because that worked before. lol


I told him to just hush and let me work through this...

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Take a pic of your gauge and take it with you. Some are a bottom mount and some a back mount. They are kept in the pool supply area of Lowes by me. Once your pool clears you can get one of the really good ones but that will be later.

Oh you can buy the DE but was hoping you would not have to. I did not want you to have to spend any more money. It comes in a big box but is very light. It is also kept by the pool stuff. Do NOT get food grade DE. Pool only.

Kim:cat:
 
Minor pressure gauge tip: get one that only goes up to 50 PSI. It's easier to read than one that goes higher. If it's from a pool store, you won't see higher, but at a hardware, there's a good chance you will.
 
ok... they are pretty easy to pop off?

I read the article let on DE. Does it stay in your filter for awhile? I read you put it in your skimmer. About a cup I think it said.. or enough to make the gauge go up one psi? I will read it about fifty times more before I actually do it.. lol
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With the pool normally operating, I backwash about once every 1 to 2 months. When I backwash, the DE is backwashed out of the filter along with the dust the filter has taken out of the pool. So after backwashing, I add fresh DE.

I've learned that the filtration is best for my filter with 1.5 cups of DE, so I don't need to repeat the full procedure. I just put 1.5 cups in a half bucket of water, keep it mixed up, and very slowly pour it into the skimmer. Then I rinse the bucket out dumping the rinse water in the skimmer, just to be sure I'm keeping any DE out of the pool. That wouldn't be a big deal, but if I was sloppy, I'd just be adding more dust that needs to be filtered out.
 
Sounds good.. will see if I can get the gauge of.... if not, will have my husband do it tonight.


fc this morning is 17. Don't think I have had much trouble with whatever the contaminant is eating up my chlorine.

Pool still very cloudy but the good news is I didn't wake up to piles of whatever in my pool. That is a first. I brushed this morning. I could still see brown being pushed around but not on the entire bottom . This is also a first. I made many passes where I didn't see a brown cloud get swept.

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Sorry, I missed the question about the gauge. Easy to remove.

Turn pump off so it cant start while you're working on the gauge.
Best to grip the base under or behind the dial with a wrench (small adjustable, or one that's the right size) and rotate so the threaded part turns counter-clockwise.
If it wasn't put in over-tightened, you may be able to just rotate the gauge with your hand and it will come out.

When you're out to buy a gauge, also buy a roll of Teflon tape
When you get home, wrap a couple of wraps of the tape around the threaded part on the gauge with the bottom of the threaded part facing you, go twice around the threads clockwise
When you thread the new one in, be careful not to cross-thread it. (metal into plastic cross-threads easily)
To avoid cross-threading, hold it straight against the threaded hole, rotate it counter-clockwise with slight pressure until you feel it pop into place, then screw it in clockwise.
Hand-tight should be fine, but if it drips when you start back up, you may need to tighten it a bit more

What schedule is your pump running on? Do you get a lower price for electricity at night?
 

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The gauge screws out and in. Lefty-loosy, righty-tighty. Easy-peasy LOL

Add 1/4 cup of DE at a time. Add more if you see your filter can handle more. We had one pool that only liked 3 Tablespoons (small filter) and my filter likes 2.5 cups so you can see each pool is different. Take it a little at a time. Stop adding when you see the gauge go up 1 psi. If it shoots up higher by a big amount just turn the pump off and do a back wash to get it out. That is the beauty of it....easy to use and easy to undo if needed.

Kim:cat:
 
That's fine, but be aware that it's maintaining your chlorine level overnight, despite whatever is being used up getting rid of the algae.

When you do your next OCLT, be sure that it's turned off (I know you know, just cant help myself, haha)
 
Update:

Pool still cloudy. I think it might look a little better. ..or it's just me getting my hopes up. Added more chlorine . Cc still 0. Yesterday morning I was able to push around only a little dirt and there was only a small plop of it here and there. So I thought I was getting places. We got a really heavy rain/thunderstorm yesterday. I went out around dinner time and there was much more dirt or whatever in the pool again. Bigger piles. Ugh. Brushed yet again.

We got a new gauge last night at Home depot. They did not carry a smaller psi one...so got the larger one. Couldn't find the DE so I will go check Lowes today. This morning big piles of dirt in shallow and deep end. Brushed again. Will vacuum tonight since we aren't supposed to have storms. I only have until Saturday to keep up with the SLAM process. Im so afraid this won't be clear and then I will have to start over. We are running the pump 24/7 and it's gonna kill me in electricity. Then I am afraid when I get back ...it will be a mess again since I don't have anyone to take care of the pool why I am gone.
 
Just a thought. There was a thread I read about a year ago, needed a slam in the worse way, got the pool to a similar state, but could not get it clear. Turned out that the last time the sand was replaced, they didnt use pool filter sand, it was much coarser and wouldn't filter at all. Do you know for a fact when the sand was changed out that the correct sand was used?

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