New swamp (hopefully pool again) owner

[Sabercatpuck]

In my case the pool had not run in at least a year, and likely longer and the CYA was at 0 on my test strips, two tests at pinch a penny and finally on my test kit too. I had picked up some dichlor shock at an ace hardware just up the street since it was at $2 a pound. Now that my test kit is showing the CYA right about where it belongs the other pound I hadn't used will likely sit around for awhile. My Ph has been on the low end all along as well and I think adding the dichlor drove it down a bit (pool math said it would so it wasn't a surprise). The hard question is that while normally Ph is ignored during a slam, but at the same time it also normally is driven up by the chlorine and drops back at the end of the slam on its own.

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[duraleigh]

but at the same time it also normally is driven up by the chlorine and drops back at the end of the slam on its own.

Not exactly. The pH of chlorine is high (11.7, I think) but when it changes to HOCl in the water it is pH 7.5. You need not have any concern about high pH in your pool from chlorine.

 

[duraleigh]

Just confirming what Patrick_B said, you cannot dilute the pH test.

I am also not a big fan of dichlor. Moving more than one parameter with one addition is often confusing to newbies and the addition of CYA when you use dichlor is quite large.

 

[Sabercatpuck]

I can certainly understand what you mean about dichlor. After seeing what it did for me I would exercise caution too. The only reason I am OK is that I was only shooting for half of my total maintenance level of CYA (about 20, figured that would be a good place to start shocking from) and still managed to get up to the maintenance level of 45. The scary part is that that is marketed by some as a regular addition to the pool. I can see why you are normally needing to have people drain their pools to get the level down, my case has been the exception not the rule. I think a big part of that is that I found you first instead of after the pool techs did. The good thing for me is the Pinch A Penny I have stopped in has been very close in advice to yourselves.
I think one thing I have going for me vs most is my degree is in a scientific field (electronics) but my detail oriented testing helps.

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[Sabercatpuck]

Sampled about 45 minutes after the sun went down. Was FC 12 and CC .5. Pool math said 138oz, since it was close I added a whole 121 oz bottle plus the little bit left in the bottle from this morning. I was noticing I wasn't getting as much pressure drop when I was cleaning the filter so I spent extra time on it tonight and got it down to 21 again.

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[Sabercatpuck]

Unfortunately getting out a couple times a day is the best I can do now that I am back to work. This morning it was FC 19.5 and CC 1, went ahead and set the target at 22 for the morning to help offset the sun loss (predicting heavy storms tomorrow and Wednesday FYI) so put in 43oz of chlorine. Will be interesting through the storms but I will make it work.

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[kimkats]

We sure do have some wild weather coming our way! Hold on to your hats! Test the water after the rain and see what it does.

Kim

 

[Sabercatpuck]

FC was at 14 and CC at .5. Since it was so close again I added a bottle.

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[kimkats]

Slow and steady! You are getting there!

Kim

 

[Sabercatpuck]

So this morning was FC 19.5 and CC .5 and this afternoon was FC 12 and CC .5. Since it was just feeling weird I rechecked my CYA. This time it came out at 18. The interesting thing is that was about where I thought it should be. I wonder if it just wasn't mixed up enough or it needs to bind with the chlorine to get an accurate reading.

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[Sabercatpuck]

Since my new CYA number was much closer to where I expected it to be (18) and that number was after the 72 hours recommended to wait I went with that and left it alone overnight. This morning FC was 10 and CC was 1. Added 86 oz of bleach to shoot for FC of 15. Heavy storms predicted today so we will see what happens there.

It is clearing up, in the dark picture with the pool light on you can see the steps and bench on the left and the main drain on the right. It still is a little cloudy but better. It was clear enough I could see a fairly large spider crawling along the bottom of the pool, any guesses?

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[Sabercatpuck]

Well the good news is the lanai has been rescreened the bad news is in the process all kinds of new stuff ended up in the pool. At least going forward I won't get as much stuff into the pool.

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[WASP]

I didn't know that spiders could scuba dive or hold their breath.

 

[Sabercatpuck]

I knew some were known to, just didn't expect to find one in my pool

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[Sabercatpuck]

OK I think I may be back to base now. I did a vac to waste to get all the extra stuff from yesterdays lanai repair that was sitting on the bottom of the pool. Now I can get back to clearing the leftovers from the swamp days. I know the pause sucked, but knowing it will be good in the long run.

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[Sabercatpuck]

Realized reading the page on suction side leaks that I likely had one since I would see random bubbles from the returns and since my motor would sometimes spit at me I changed the pump gasket.

Still have a bunch of small debris (algae husks?) in the water that will plug up my filter fairly quickly if I am running the vac through it. I know when it gets there I will definitely replace this filter even if it has only been used a couple weeks.

Nice thing is that it is clear enough that I can see the light blue of the dolphins eye even after sunset. Not bad for just a couple weeks.

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[Texas Splash]

Hi Saber. I saw you posted a few times with updates, but not a lot of replies. Probably because everyone figures you're SLAM is just going to need some more time. But from those last few posts, I just wanted to emphasize a couple things:
1 - Water clearing shows progress; be confident TFP is working in your favor.
2 - It is extremely critical you know that CYA level. Anything below 30 and the FL sun will grab the FC too quick. If you just added stabilizer, then yes it will take a few days to register. But just make sure your target CYA was at least 30. If you find it different, just go to the Pool School - Chlorine / CYA Chart, find the correct Shock FC for that CYA and adjust. You must maintain that shock FC level during the SLAM.

I have about the same filter as you in my pool. Before TFP I cursed up & down as to why the filter wasn't keeping my pool clean. Well, later I learned - I wasn't matching the FC with the CYA. Now that my water is clear, I hose off my filter once a month or so and it's just grey with fine dirt. No green ever. You'll get there as well. Be patient and good luck.

 

[kimkats]

The blue of his eye! You are doing a great job!

Kim

 

[MarianParoo]

Are you using skimmer socks?

 

[Sabercatpuck]

I know the filter has stuff that has embedded itself on the back side of the filter, somehow managed to get to the far side and nothing I have tried has gotten it out. One of the bands is starting to come off as well. I just don't want to move on to the new one till I get all of this fine particle stuff out. It is getting harder to rinse it off and then get decent flow afterwards. I am considering getting a fine mesh leaf rake to see if it would work to collect more out manually.

Figured I would give you a closer pic of the dolphins. If you look close enough you can see it even in the pic which isn't as clear as in person.

Yes, I had been using a skimmer sock on the skimmer basket directly, without the float installed. This afternoon I decided to install it into the float since I was seeing that quite a bit of stuff was getting into the skimmer area but just hovering above. Since the switch I have pulled out quite a bit more in the skimmer sock.

Tonight I just pulled a FC of 11.5 and CC of .5. Going to let it sit to get an idea of how my overnight loss is. I know it isn't done till I have the haze of fine stuff out though.

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