New pool here, not real familiar with all the ins and outs, but have been lurking in the shadows here since I discovered TFP last fall and trying to learn. New fiberglass pool installed and opened late August 2023 and only had a short time to use it last summer. One thing I immediately noticed was a tanning around the entire pool below the waterline. I couldn't get any answers from anyone, dealer, pool store, etc. They all thought I was either delusional or sunlight was playing tricks on my vision. Pool shell is a light blue but below waterline it's a definite tan. I finally happened on a thread here at TFP that explained the iron staining and read all that I could find on it. We have red clay soil here and while they were building it there was dirty water in for several weeks. At opening they filtered, balanced and turned it over to me. If only I had known.
So, I did the AA treatment yesterday, followed the instructions to a T. I ended up using 2 pounds of AA, Jacks Purple, Polyquat 60, still a few rusty spots on the bottom that look like a piece of iron had laid there for a while, but the tanning disappeared and I am now in the process of bringing up the PH. I think I may have taken it too low to begin with (I got the Taylor 2006C Kit) but all seems fine so far. Since the PH test doesn't go below 7.0 I can only guess how low it went. Water is cloudy/milky as mentioned in some posts but yesterday it was sparkling clean and had never looked better.
My question is, when exactly do I put the polyfill in the skimmer basket to filter out the iron? Should I actually try to force the iron out of solution in order to capture it in the polyfill? Also, I put a solar cover on every night to preserve heat and chemistry and when I took it off this morning, the sides of the pool had once again taken on a tanning stain but a couple of hours later it seems to have disappeared again. Am I imagining that? My cover is clear, only slightly dirty from whatever falls in from the trees, bugs, frogs, salamanders, etc. What could possibly be going on?

Hello.
We have our pool installed over a year ago with Pentair equipment
Since then we had priming alert issues that were fixed by our pool company
Couple of days ago we woke up facing another issue
The ScreenLogic application show high temp ranking from 104F to 122F on and off
The pump will start but jets are not working, so the pump will then turn off, there is also low flow red light and blinking red light for the salt on the cell. Do not see any pressure going up on the filter
Can anyone recommend a solution?
Our pool company are not helpful
Thanks

I bought a salt cell at the end of season last year. 2023 summer installed new liner and cleaned/new sand in filter. Salt cell now displaying ‘check/inspect cell’. Hayward.
Why?
Set it on super chloration for 1 month at 30.
2nd month it is giving me issues… why?

Once I found the chorine was too high I turned it off and let it open to the sun.
May have added too much stabilizer earlier. All is well now… is the cell ok, or did I kill it?

I received confirmation from Google Play that my yearly fee for Pool Math was paid on 07/14/23. Today, I tried to enter test results into the Pool Math app and was deneed access. The message indicated that I need to renew and pay my membership via iTunes (When I joined TFP and Pool Math I had an Android Tablet, but have since switched to iPad).

The fee for Pool Math has already been paid, and I hope you can correct this so I can use the app again. Also, I really do not wish to use iTunes for anything. What would be an alternative I can use for next year’s fee?

Thank you, Christiane

Hello All,
I have a ten years old system with Pool Pilot Digital DIG-220 and RC-42 cell.

I'm getting the "verify cell!" error and after checking everything I think it's time to replace the cell.

Now comes the problem: nobody all over Europe seems to have a cell in stock and they are asking around 1k EUR to ship a replacement cell to me in about 2 weeks.

Considering that a new complete system like Hayward SALT & SWIM 3C or SALT & SWIM 2.0+ costs more or less as much as they asked for the PoolPilot cell... what should I do???

Any advise would be really appreciated.

Thank you and ciao!

Has anyone tried using Flex Seal tape to repair a vinyl liner hole?

I have an inground pool. My pool water is clear, but every few days, algae grows on walls. It is easily brushed off and a good vacuuming/cleaning takes care of everything making the pool quickly swimable but then the algae is back about 2-3 days later. Any remedies for this?

Hi! We have an Intex swg for our 15,000 gal pool. This is the third summer. We keep getting the 91 low salt error. In the past cleaning the electrodes did the trick. Not anymore. Our titanium electrode isn’t made anymore. Should we buy a new swg?
Would this one work:

To replace this one that we have:

I guess I am not sure how the new one would fit with our basket and sand pump?

Is it usually the titanium one that is the issue? I can get the ECO one just not the titanium.

What is also interesting is the same new one on Amazon from Intex is $185 instead of the $409 on the Intex website?


Thank you for your help!!!

So we got our pool painted in July of 2021 for $5300. Zeron Epoxy paint. Was fine for the first year, we put the winter cover on September of 2022 but when I opened the pool in May 2023, there were chunks of paint falling off. So it lasted somewhere between 15 and 22 months. I realize paint doesn't last forever, but everything I've read says Epoxy paint should last 5-7 years... I'd be happy to get 3 or 4.
Its faded, there are bubbles below the surface, chunks falling off and we get blue on our hands and feet when we swim. There's no difference above vs below the waterline, even for the 8 months the pool is covered and untouched.

Is this bad prep? Bad paint mixture? Or does paint really only last a year?

Hi All,

I'm happy to be a part of this forum and its wealth of information. I've spent the last week lurking the site (and Reddit), and I took delivery of a TF-Pro this week. I've watched countless videos and read the instructions several times, but I'm a full-on rookie at this through and through.

That said, I tested CYA today, and it was through the roof. I was under the 100ppm marker by a good margin. I retested with the tap water combo and barely hit 90 (oh, and this is ~90 before doubling it. Yea). I took a shot at the FAS-DPD too, and the water barely turned pink. It took one drop to go clear. I have no idea how my pool doesn't look awful right now. I pulled the plug on the rest of the tests (pH, TA, CH) because I'm not sure how much all that matters considering my CYA numbers.

I'm concerned about a partial drain while we're close to hitting 115+ degrees here in AZ. I've read that RO is an option. What's the consensus on this procedure to lower my CYA? There are a couple of mobile RO shops in town, but I haven't contacted anyone yet.

Any input is much appreciated!

Additional details (not in my signature):
• Maintained by a pool service company for 10 years (uses nothing but tabs and shock) that I'm trying to part ways with
• Pool was last drained around 4 years ago
• Tons of direct sunlight and under a massive Eucalyptus tree (city-owned) that rains down leaves and seeds (especially this time of the year)

Just had a pool renovated. I am a first time pool owner. I'm showing 0 on the sand filter pressure gauge and no flow alarm is on. Pump primes up. I see plenty of water moving in during priming. During priming the gauge shows about 8psi but still alert shows no flow. After priming pressure drops to 0. Have plenty of flow at the pool jets and suction on skimmers. Pump and skimmer gaskets are clean. I checked impellers and they are moving freely. Didn't find any debris on the impellers. Everything is brand new. Trying to get this going as waiting on installer to come back is a bummer.

First time having a pool. Was opened professionally last week. The tests have been basically zero FC, zero CYA.

Today:
FC: 0
CC: 0
CYA: 10?
pH: less than 7
TA: 250
CH: 300

Over the last few days I’ve added 6 lbs of CYA stabilizer With the sock method. I added the last pound now.

Should I add borax? Should I add liquid stabilizer? Should I add any bleach now or wait until CYA comes up? I’ve added several gallons of bleach over the week and it seems to burn off quickly which is expected with the CYA, but I was trying to learn and read at the same time.

Hello all, We have had our pool for two weeks, and the water had been nice and clear until 7/18 when we tested TA, PH, and FC and adjusted per the Pool Math app around 1600 cst, and ran pump 24 hours. Our water has went from pretty and clear to the color of the water in the attached photo overnight. To add, there is not a slimy feeling on the sides or bottom. There doesnt appear to be any algae deposits anywhere, the water is still clear just tinted a green/teal green. I have attempted to research it and have come up with beginning stages of algae or metal oxidation. We did fill our pool with well water that had been filtered through a commercial water filter through Culligans, that supposedly removes metals and sulfides. my current testing stands at FC: 5ppm PH: 7.2 TA: 80ppm TH: 0 CYA:0 (didnt want to add more chemicals until i can get my water color resolved.) Please Help. Thanks The Morgan Family from Texas

Hi
we noticed in Tuesday that our pool is leaking. This is not our first leak so we’re able to quickly narrow it down to the buddy seat. With the previous leak the due was clearing spiraling away, this time it’s slower ( water level dropping less rapidly) the dye is gathering at the edge as shown in the photo.
We live in Jersey so have maybe 6 weeks of pool use left this season and don’t want to to it up everyday. We are looking for the quick fix (bodge) to see us through. Thinking silicon sealing?
Appreciate community thoughts!

Any secrets of LeafVac debris canister? I put the pool in “service mode” and remove lid of Leafvac but water continues to pour out of this device? I thought in “service mode” that would prevent water from overflowing. It’s difficult to put the lid back on. Thanks very mcuh.

Costco pool, still in the box.
PowerSteel 22"x 12'x 48" Above Ground Oval Pool
Water Capacity: 6,021 gal
I really need help in finding out what SWG I need and any other supplies.
My Dr. has recommended it for myself & spouse for Lupus & PSA.
THANK YOU EVERYONE.

Hi folks! Today’s test results:

FC 5
PH 7.8
TA 60
CH 250
CYA 30
Temp 92
CSI - neg 0.10

We had a monsoon yesterday evening which lowered pool temp a bit, and probably increased PH which was 7.5 on Tuesday. Interestingly, I tried scraping scale off liner with fingernail - no dice. But the inside of my skimmer is smooth, as is my weir door. Forgot to check that before.

Daughter is home this weekend so we are going to tackle the sand filter. I’ve been running on recirculate since I figured out where all the sand came from. I was being pretty aggressive in lowering my PH, but now my TA is at 60 so I’m not sure I should continue with the MA without raising TA some.

My CH came up 25 points, but still isn’t high at all, in my mind.

Your thoughts?

Hi everyone!

Long story short my wife wanted to remodel our pool (we remodeled our kitchen and bathroom ourselves) she figured since we did those remodels a pool wouldnt be much harder.... we had the pool poorly painted that only lasted a couple of years before the paint started rubbing off the walls onto our skin and clothes and eventually flaking off, so now we are looking to replaster the pool.

We have the tiles removed and pressure washed the whole pool and we are going to do a acid wash this weekend.

Im hoping to get any recommendations for a contractor to repair/ replace the cantilever decking surrounding the pool. One contractor told me to avoid doing the concrete decking because I would have to replace all the plumbing and electrical and the whole project would run 80-100k. He recommended I leave the decking and just replace the broken skimmer basket housing and the floor drain to bring it up to code. To replace the skimmer, drain, tile and replaster would run around 25k. Doesn't seem that bad of a deal but doing the replaster and tile ourselves would save us 20k (5200.00 to repair the skimmer basket)


The second thing im hoping to get comments on is the product sider-crete. Ive watched videos and read threads but there is never a follow up after to see if the product holds up to the advertised 7-10 years.

Thanks for any and all advice, recommendations, and tips.

On Sunday, 16-JUL during the day we started seeing cloudy water in our normally "Crystal Clear TFP Pool" water. The cloudiness gradually worsened throughout the day. When i was closing the pool up for the night, i set the SWG to super chlorinate since i assumed there was a load on the pool from the weekend and day.

Monday 17-JUL afternoon i was able to take a sample and the results were:

Once i saw the results i added 2# of soda ash to bring the pH up as i knew i needed to start a SLAM.
i overshot my FC to 38, and my CC was at 1.5 @ 8pm Monday 17-JUL night

the following is a list of testing results and times, (full logs are in my profile).
after each test, i added the proper amount of 10% bleach (liquid chlorine from walmart) to bring FC level back up to 28
I've also been brushing twice daily, and using our robot as well.
I've scrubbed the steps, ladder area (inset steps), light (did not dissemble), skimmer and return, all by hand. I've also ran our deck jets for a few hours as well.


The FC loss seems to have slowed, but is still concerning. Hoping for a good OCLT test tonight.

Am i missing anything w/ the process and testing? How often should i be testing?
Also, should i have the pool uncovered? we have a solid auto-cover.

Thanks for the assistance.

-Phil

Our pool (outdoor) is almost completed, water goes in on Friday. I am at work and was making some notes to get ready for everything I will have to learn (we are first time pool owners). I was just reading this in the UV description:

"UV, in combination with a sanitizer, is very nice for use with an indoor pool. UV can take care of the CC which tends to build up in indoor pools. UV is not worth it for an outdoor pool, where sunlight performs the same function for free."

My pool builder has already installed a DEL AOP 40 Ozone/UV-C Sanitizer, even though we are outside, and apparently its really not needed. That's about $1400-$1800. I did not find out about this group until very recently from a coworker that has a salt water pool. I guess we are just stuck with a useless piece of equipment now. Should I be calling them and telling them to come remove it before we introduce water to it? Will it help at all? Or totally useless and I should get that money refunded? Thanks!

Just found this thread a couple of minutes ago while searching for information around quartzscape.

I am in the 12th day of my pool build. So far long pipe has been finished.

I have 18 helical piers, no.4 rebar with 8x8.

I am on thr fence on quartzscape but wanted to see if anyone can convince me to go with it.

View attachment 484592

I have an older k1004 kit I have been using and recently after a replaster I thought I would pickup a k2005 so I could monitor calcium and alk more closely. That being said I'm having a heck of a time with the new kit. Attaching a picture for reference. The old 1004 on the left is matching what the strips and store say I have. Also the old kit showed 5ppm on Monday and is now down to 1 or less (I expect it to go down over time). The new kit on the right shows what I'm reading as a 5 - and hasn't changed, same reading today as on Monday. Both tests were for Free Chlorine in this picture but the results are similar for the total. I tested tap water with both kits and both showed no detectable chlorine.

What am I doing wrong, what's wrong with the test kit...

I have the pictured pump and looking for a seal kit to have on hand.
Looks like there are a couple of options at inyopools. It is salt but was converted at some time in the past, if that matters for fit.
Choice 1
Choice 2
Which would be the best choice?

Hello there. Just bought my house with pool and I'm doing what I can to learn. My pool has a slide but when I turn the water valve it barely trickles down from about 1/2 down the slide and nothing comes out at the top. If i remove the hose feeding the slide from the valve i can put my finger over the outlet and stop the flow of water. My pool guy who I fired originally told me he thought the second pump was to run the slide, but I believe it's actually for a Polaris vacuum that is no longer here. When I turn that pump on a 3rd center jet in the pool blows water out just below the slide and it actually kills what little pressure the slide had. If that 2nd pump is off I can still feel water coming out of the center jet, but it's weak pressure. The other two jets have really strong pressure. Please advise how pools slides are supposed to work, so I can troubleshoot the low pressure. Pics attached of everything involved. Thanks in advance

Ok so I’ve read the ABCs and test kit arrived. I know I’m way out of balance without testing.

I will be doing my first test tomorrow or Sunday. Any tricks or advice before I start?

I have a large syringe and was going to pull my sample with it so I had plenty of water to use through all the testing



All help is greatly appreciated

PH test with Taylor test kit is bright yellow...
CYA is 120 (I cut the sample water in half with fresh waster and CYA said 60 so I doubled it...)
TA is 0

I have added suggested amounts of baking soda and run the fountain Jets...

Why is my PH and TA not coming up?
Does a high CYA level effect PH and TA tests?

I'm draining and refilling smaller amounts trying to get my cya down. Then add the baking soda my next test still shows TA and PH bottomed out. I have done this twice.

I was having an algae problem, SLAM’d,
OCLT zero, and then sent my new Nautilus CC Plus on patrol. It’s first pool outing was after the SLAM. I also have a PV3 in-floor cleaner so the primary purpose of the Nautilus is wall cleaning and overall brushing, the PV3 gets rid of most leaves and other big stuff.

The first few passes of the Nautilus caught some stuff that sure looked like algae and was still green, as well as sand, stone dust and some seeds. Subsequent passes captured less and less of it but it’s still there a little bit in the Nautilus filter after each pass (I clean it every pass).

I also get a faint smell of algae from the Nautilus as I pull it out of the pool. Nothing else smells like algae (brushes, nets, etc). It’s literally just the Nautilus that I get a whiff of algae from.

Is all this normal/expected from the Nautilus?

Hi, I have never posted here, but I am at the of my wisdom. I am winging maintaining our saltwater pool (21,000 gallons, vinyl liner, cartridge filter) for 6 years (came with the house, I converted to salt after a year of ownership) and did a reasonable good job keeping it crystal clear most summers. I don't use a pool company or pool store chemicals.. I test my own water.
I opened the pool end of May and was never able to clear it from cloudiness this year. Turned out the salt cell was dying. Waiting for an expensive replacement from manufacturer Solaxx (after getting burned buying a cheap knock-off cell from a shady internet company (saltpoolstoredotcom, avoid at all cost) and loosing time).
Meanwhile the pool turned green again this week, although I kept adding shock and maintained a 3ppm chlorine level. I added 6 gallons yesterday and no change.
CYA level is at 80, which I guess is ok for a saltwater pool. PH is 7.8 this morning, a jump from 7.2 (after adding muriatic acid) pre-shock yesterday. Alkalinity is at 90. Current chlorine level is at 9ppm , from 17ppm yesterday evening.
New Salt cell is due to arrive tonight.
Appreciate any advice. Thanks.

New liner installed last year, just noticed this. It's not a huge slip. (you can see more of the light blue in the middle of the pic here).

Tried to briefly move it back in with my hands until I decided I didn't know I was doing and to do some more research. Reached out to the installer a few days ago, nothing back yet. What can I try without damaging the liner?

Thanks!

Hello folks,

Here are the facts:
Pump motor stopped running. Display states "Check system. Pump failed to start. Check motor and wet end for binding." Took apart wet end and saw impeller was stiff. Was able to hand free impeller and turned on the pump without re-attaching to the housing. The motor and impeller turned fine. Attached motor to housing and the motor does not run and trips breaker. Disconnected motor again from housing, and tested motor, and this time motor does not come on, just hums and then trips breaker and also the free spinning impeller is now binding badly and not turning. Am now able to turn impeller 3/4 turn only back and forth. Something is preventing it from spinning.

So is the problem with the impeller or is it with the motor. Please help. My pool is green and starting to stain the surface. What do you recommend as possible solutions? Pump is 7 years old.

Thank you.