Help - Need to Slam, want to make sure I understand everything

FC was 25 at 8:30 last night, 21.5 this morning. Prior night I lost 5, last night 3.5, so that's a good sign.

Added 2 gallons this morning, I'll see what we're at tonight.

I'll add 10-20 stabilizer (I'll figure out the right amount) tonight...

In theory shouldn't I lose the same amount of FC during the day (3.5), so then anything additional (which seems to eat all of the 2 gallons I feed it every morning, and a little more) would be loss to sun, right? So adding the CYA should help lower my daytime number.
 
well you gotta figure that when the sun is shining on the pool, the algae are trying to divide and multiply, so the chlorine use would be a bit more. how much? I have no idea :)

you are getting closer.

you removed your light already, right?

CYA will help some, but 10-20ppm isn't going to make a night and day difference. you can figure out your CYA better after you are done with the SLAM and figure out the amount that's best for you
 
well you gotta figure that when the sun is shining on the pool, the algae are trying to divide and multiply, so the chlorine use would be a bit more. how much? I have no idea :)

you are getting closer.

you removed your light already, right?

CYA will help some, but 10-20ppm isn't going to make a night and day difference. you can figure out your CYA better after you are done with the SLAM and figure out the amount that's best for you

Yeah...that all makes sense...just don't want CYA super low anyways.

I have not gotten in there yet, it's getting slowly clearer each day (can now kinda see 2nd step, more than before). Probably this weekend I'll pull out the light.

Question on that...I'll turn off the pool light breaker and then I can just unscrew it or something so I can pull it out and clean? Is that all I need to do? It's a blue plastic colored light, probably fairly common. The light doesn't work anymore (probably dead bulb), but I'm guessing they're kinda expensive so I'm not in a rush to really replace it at the moment.
 
yes, you got the process down. The light bulb itself is in a water tight capsule. usually you just remove a top screw, and there is a clip at the bottom and just pull it out. it will float up to the surface. there is usually enough coil line in the hole (niche) to put the capsule on the pool deck. might as well replace the bulb while you have it out. I just got a standard white bulb on Amazon, check your size and see how much it is. mine was like $15 shipped so I put a new one in. make sure you buy the right voltage light, the pool light is DC and 10v I believe.
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
yes, you got the process down. The light bulb itself is in a water tight capsule. usually you just remove a top screw, and there is a clip at the bottom and just pull it out. it will float up to the surface. there is usually enough coil line in the hole (niche) to put the capsule on the pool deck. might as well replace the bulb while you have it out. I just got a standard white bulb on Amazon, check your size and see how much it is. mine was like $15 shipped so I put a new one in. make sure you buy the right voltage light, the pool light is DC and 10v I believe.

That's not too bad...I saw some on websites for 100ish. I'll have to open it to verify the type of bulb....I can just open it and re-seal it and shouldn't be a problem? Definitely interested, just with all this chlorine I'm buying (along with the test kit) I'm not in the best pool budget situation...may just wait a bit and pull it out again possibly
 
no harm in leaving the bulb out for now, depends on how much you use it. I have used mine maybe 30 minutes this season, lol.

the $100 are the LED bulbs I believe. I just got a cheapo incandescent, which for me was the right call being that I don't ever use it.
 
no harm in leaving the bulb out for now, depends on how much you use it. I have used mine maybe 30 minutes this season, lol.

the $100 are the LED bulbs I believe. I just got a cheapo incandescent, which for me was the right call being that I don't ever use it.

We never really used it, so I'd go cheapo as well...Wonder if a pool place has the cheap bulbs or if they rip you off on those too...If i pulled it out I'd rather replace it easily/cheaply, but Amazon with Prime still can take a day....

Would I need to replace the gasket or seal or something too? I've read that somewhere as well. Might just leave the assembly closed and deal with it in the spring or something.
 
We never really used it, so I'd go cheapo as well...Wonder if a pool place has the cheap bulbs or if they rip you off on those too...If i pulled it out I'd rather replace it easily/cheaply, but Amazon with Prime still can take a day....

Would I need to replace the gasket or seal or something too? I've read that somewhere as well. Might just leave the assembly closed and deal with it in the spring or something.

my light fixture appeared to be original and was around 10 years old. I was able to open it up and get it to reseal and be watertight. the gasket was pretty old, but it worked fine.

if you are unsure and never use the light then don't open it up right now, but definitely remove it from the niche so you can clean it out.

and im guessing the pool store is gonna cost more than $15 :)
 
my light fixture appeared to be original and was around 10 years old. I was able to open it up and get it to reseal and be watertight. the gasket was pretty old, but it worked fine.

if you are unsure and never use the light then don't open it up right now, but definitely remove it from the niche so you can clean it out.

and im guessing the pool store is gonna cost more than $15 :)

Thanks for the input...with our son being 18 months old we don't do a ton of night swimming, so I think I'm safe just cleaning out around it for now.

I should also take a brush on tile and by the skimmer too? I have the Baracuda cleaning most of the pool anyways, but if I'm getting in there I guess i should probably do that, eh? I don't see any gross stuff though, seems like the chlorine is doing a great job!

For those interested here's a pic from yesterday evening....shoulda taken one before I started, but it was dark green with some sludge on the surface starting to grow....very nasty.

pooltuesday.jpg
 
you want to scrub everywhere you can that you see algae. I had some on the inside of my skimmer I had to get out. people also find them behind the holding ring for the return jets, etc. anywhere you think there might be algae, scrub it away
 
Like just scrub to get it loose, right? So the chlorine takes it out?

I could see how the return jets might get it....

Hoping for a bit more visibility this weekend so I could get some goggles on and get the light and drain.

Odd side question, with the drain it doesn't appear to have a pipe back to the pool equipment (meaning my intakes are either side cleaner hose or skimmer basket). Does this mean my pool drain just has plugs or something I'd unscrew and then it'd drain out? Just trying to understand how things work, and I know for sure that there's no drain valves or anything by the filter.
 
yeah, just scrub it loose into the water, the chlorine will get it.

is your drain plumbed through your skimmer? your skimmer usually has two holes, one hole goes back to the pump, the other one is either plugged or is plumbed to the main drain. its not an ideal way to plumb the main drain, but quite a few pools have it. if you look in your skimmer and the second hole is plugged, then your main drain is plumbed some either way.
 
yeah, just scrub it loose into the water, the chlorine will get it.

is your drain plumbed through your skimmer? your skimmer usually has two holes, one hole goes back to the pump, the other one is either plugged or is plumbed to the main drain. its not an ideal way to plumb the main drain, but quite a few pools have it. if you look in your skimmer and the second hole is plugged, then your main drain is plumbed some either way.

I'll take a look....Most pictures on here I see have it controlled by a valve, but my setup's not like that. so if I had the 2 holes and unplugged that one the drain would start to empty and fill up the skimmer so it could be pumped (and drained, in theory....i don't need to, more just like to know how it's all working).

The one good thing a pool guy did for me was turn on our sprinkler lol...didn't know that tiny valve/split on the return lines controlled that.
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.