I left our new (to us, 2 year old total) pool alone for the last week and got back to the following results:

FC: 8.5
CC: 3.0
CYA: 75
PH: 8.2
Alkalinity: 100

The CYA and FC are right where I want 'em, and I was able to get the Alkalinity & PH on track with a little MA. What in the world is going on with my CCs though? I'm wondering if I'm testing wrong (using 10 ml sample w/the TF-Pro kit. 6 drops / 0.5 = 3.0). Am I messing up the test, or is it time to SLAM?

I have followed the SLAM method. I did it last week, went to mustard algae level shock, brought chlorine back down, then saw more dead algae. I started again Sunday night. I meet the 2 requirements to be done, but I continue to see the white dead algae in the mornings, even though it is a small amount (sometimes one quarter size spot). I have not seen live algae in over two weeks. I vacuum to waste every morning, brush, backwash, cleaned everything, threw away floats, etc. my levels have been kept as follows:
FC 18-24
CC 0 - .2
Alk 130-150
Ph 7.4-7.8
CYA 30-50 (currently 40)
CH 240
Fiberglass, SWG, Taylor test kit (testing several times a day and have gotten store test)
What else??? Will the dead algae stop appearing?

Prior to really focusing on my water chemistry, this scale formed around my water features. Also during construction and landscaping, the brick and mortar leached onto my stucco.

What ideas do you have to take care of this?

Ok anyone out there able to help me troubleshoot my Intex pump?
Stopped working the other day. We have been having horrible heavy rain lately here on Oklahoma. Found it with breaker tripped.
1. Tried reseting the GFCI plug and when I go to turn it on it immediately trips it again.
2. Assuming it got wet up in there I open it up to let it dry out even though I couldn't see any moisture.
2. Next morning put it back together and try it. It would turn on and say it's work but no pump sound or water moving. Took it back apart and sire enough a connector was loose and put it all back together.
3. Tried turning the motor and it still moves freely so I dont think its seized.
Now it's tripping immediately again. I've tried looking at videos and posts but not finding any that match this problem exactly.
4. Off one recommendation I replaced the GFCI plug. It ran for about 10 minutes and then tripped again. Now it's back to tripping immediately.
Help!

Hi I have a 6500 gallon salt pool.

I noticed the chlorine levels were getting really low so I replaced the salt cell with the same model, a Hayward T Cell 925.

I can see that’s it’s working because there are small bubbles coming from the water jets and everything looks good on the aquarite control board.

I tested the water and the chlorine was really low so I’ve turned up the percentage dial.
I ended up going to 100% and the chlorine is still crazy low.
I took a sample of water to a shop

pH 7.6
Alk 69
CYA 71
FAC 2
TAC 2.6
CH 306
Pho 0
FE 0
CU 0.1
Salt 3200

Water sample was taken from the return jets.

Any ideas why it’s so low? With a new salt cell I should be making lots of chlorine especially with it set to 100%.
I’m in Orlando and the water temp is 87ish
Thanks

Hey friends, typically I have no issues with my pool (or no issues that I can't solve easily by balancing, cleaning and patience). My pool is an above ground, vinyl liner, salt water pool. Chlorinator is cleaned and operating normally, Pump and cartridges have been cleaned and are operating normally.

Here are the specs :
Salt level 3,400
Total hardness 650 (definitely too high)
Total chlorine / bromine 2 ppm
Free chlorine 2 ppm
Ph 7.7
Total alkalinity 160 (slightly high?)
Stabilizer 60 (slightly low?)

Water is cloudy, but the correct color (not green). I've tried shock, I've tried clarifier, I've been checking the chemical levels often and the only thing that really stands out is the high hardness. The pool has been cloudy for about 4 days and does not seem to be improving. I use a filter on my hose when I fill my pool, because our area does have hard water. It's clear that the filter may have met it's usable life and I've purchased a new one for future fills.

Any suggestions? I've included a photo of the water and the equipment. Location is Southern California if that helps.

I am a new home owner with a above ground pool, for me it’s the first time even understanding what parts are there and how a pool actually works.

Facing a lot of issues as a newbie

Hi all,

We recently had our pool refinished. We went from standard plaster to a pebble finish. And it has been the remodel from Hades.

The current problem is that the pool finish is rough, very discolored and getting worse. I suspect it wasn't properly acid washed in the beginning...? What the contractor wants to do now is shut down my pool equipment, dump a high level of acid in the water and let it sit for a week or so to eat the surface layer. After which, they would come back and neutralize the acid and restart the equipment. Then we would be required to maintain higher, but supposedly safe, level of acid to prevent it from turning white again. We've monitored our water chems with the LaMotte 2056 ColorQ Pro 7 Digital Pool Water Test Kit daily and also had it checked by our local pool store every few days to be safe during the startup process. Everything has been good. And yes, they did try to blame the water chems initially.

Has anyone experienced a situation like this before, or have any thoughts or recommendations? I have concerns about this method, the safety of the pool water, the damage it will do to the pool surface in terms of its longevity, my equipment, etc. I've had so many problems with this company I've lost all confidence in them.

The Calcium Hardness in my nearly 3 year old plaster pool was always steadily maintained in the 350 to 400 range. So much so, that I haven't checked it in the last 3 months. That is, until it started to get a bit cloudy and I ran a complete chemical check using the TFP test kit. It is now 750! I know I have few options on lowering it and am considering either RO or draining. (I am also considering a stain control chemical and maybe a flocculant to remove some calcium to see what they can do, but I doubt it'll make a dent in lowering it).

But before I do anything, can anyone tell me what would have caused this sudden increase? I don't want to incur the burden of remediating this without knowing if it'll happen again because of something I'm overlooking.

Thank you.

The filter replacements for Pentair DE line are expensive, close to half the price of the filter which comes with cartridges, around $130 per cartridge. There is a brand called Optimum sells a 4-pack on Amazon for a few hundred. Does anyone have experience with replacement cartridges by Optimum or companies other than Pentair brand?

I've got a Heyward Pentair filter for an 18k gallon pool we inherited with the house we bought last August. When I backwash I have to put the hose over the exit valve hole and clamp it down with a metal adjustable ring. Not to mention I have to stretch the hose quite a bit to get over the little bit of the valve hole that protrudes out from the spider valve, and more often then not when I go to send the water out the pressure kicks the hose off making it a wet mess. I see the inside of the exit valve hole has threads for a reducer to make this easier. Why the previous owner didn't have one I have no idea.

What I can't figure out for the life of me is what this part would be named and where can I get one? Is it just a PVC reducer? Is it specific to the filter?

Going through SLAM.

1. Cleaned the pump filter last week
2. Backwashed and re-filled DE
3. When I dumped DE into the skimmer, I noticed white powder coming out of return jet (not the typical salt-based Chlorine)
4. Just opened and saw this - I think everything is intact

Not sure why DE is not "sticking".....I have done the filter cleaning 1-2 times a season...will check whether I have any damages / rips in the media but when I was washing those filters last week, didn't have any. Any inputs / advice is greatly appreciated, as usual!! Struggling with numerous issues this season.....unbelievable...

I’m looking to see if there are better things out there to clean my cartridge. I was looking at something called the Aqua Comb attachment for cleaning cartridges. It sells on Amazon. Right now I just use hose without any attachments. My question is are these types of attachments that have these “fingers” - are these actually supposed to be placed in between the pleats? Thinking that could separate the pleats and make cartridge less effective?

I have an Intellichem that shows Label P/N 521349 Rev B. The LCD has gone bad due to sun exposure. Can I easily replace just the screen, using this?


A new PCB board is $500, so I'm hoping the above is an easy swap?

Thanks.

Hi all,

I just unboxed this heat pump:


Hopefully it's right-sized for our modest setup and anyway, it seemed overboard to me to get something 3x the cost of the pool itself, and we don't have gas or 220V readily available. Water is already sitting at 82 degrees without it and the thought is we can get a few degrees boost when needed or stretch out pool season a bit. One review was from a fellow Chicagoan, albeit with a smaller pool, but I was encouraged by that.

I welcome general thoughts/opinions, but also wanted specifically to ask -- I've noted that it has 1.25" connections. Our pump output has a 1.5" connections, and I've also seen a review that mentions that this heat pump noticeably restricted flow for them. I wasn't sure if that was going to be the case for me given how basic the pump we have now is. My thought to correct this issue is to buy two of these:


And attach the 1.5"output of the pump to one of them, and the 1.5" output of the pool to the other one. Then I will join these two parts by adding a 1.25" hose straight through on one pair of the 1.25" connections, and then add the heat pump between the other pair.

My question is would this potentially starve or reduce effectiveness of the heat pump? and then on the opposite end of the spectrum, is this overkill and should I let it ride as is or could restricted output potentially put some strain on the filter pump?

Thank you!

bradgray said:

I have no experience with heat pumps, so others will have to chime in.

We have a lot of chillers on our routes. Glacier brand. They technically work, but we hate the maintenance on them.

I second Maddie's suggestion. If you can add a neat feature, you'll have some visual candy with a purpose!

Click to expand...

Brad, I don’t want to hi-jack this thread, but I would be interested in more detail on your maintenance experience with the Glacier chillers. We will be using ours for the first time this summer. What do you recommend for preventive maintenance and operating tips besides what is in the operating manual? Thanks, Mark

Moved from here.

Got a call this morning the robot doesn't want to move only to find this cordless formally corded robot in the deep. Now with Maytronics is this cable even available for the DIYer?

Any insights on why my CYA is dropping although I am adding more? We did have a few (2 inches?) of rain during that storm around July 4th but I also added more after that....

Hi, just installed a Pentair Clean & Clear 420 cartridge filter and new Pentair Intelliflo3 VSF pump on my pool. Replumbed for SWCG at the same time and getting ready to start that up.

Everything in general is running good but the filter leaks around the clamshell seam when the pressure first comes on and then it stops. Seems like the gasket has to seat or something.

Is this normal for this filter or do I need to crack it open and reseat the gasket (or something)?

BTW, really like being able to set up programs and control the pump via the Pentair phone app. Very handy.

Thanks

My heater was working fine for about 2 weeks, and then I noticed strange sounds coming from it. 3 days ago I saw "bd" code. And now when the heater receives power it makes a loud buzzing sound, so I cut power from the breaker for the heater.

My guess is that I need to replace the boards but I'm concerned that maybe something else caused the boards to fry first. My plan is to open the panel and take a picture of everything in the inside. I've looked up videos online on how to replace the boards (ICB, FUSE).

Hello,
My name is Jim and I just bought a house that has a very nice pool. It is about 35 feet by 18 feet. I do not want to use a pool person, so I am going to fast track myself on learning pool chemistry. I'm sure I will be doing lots of post and look forward to all the repsonses. Thank you.

New to the forums wasn't sure exactly which category to ask my question but I want to start a slam I'm pretty balanced out except ph (at about 7.7) how long should I wait after adding sodium bisulfate to start adding liquid chlorine.

What about adding salt through an in-line chlorinator? After battling high CYA, I do not plant to use it for tabs anymore. Draining the pool now. Going back with the BBB pool treatment.

Moved from here.

Hey guys,

We are doing a traditional pool style with a shallow end of 3’6” that then transitions to a “deep” end of 6’6” with a slide in the deep end. Our PB is asking if we want the traditional transition of a 3:1 drop or more gradual of 4:1. I’m attaching a graphic here of how that affects our space for shallow vs deep end. What is better? Obviously one option gives us some more shallow end but a steeper slope. Also, any other opinions on the way this pool is split up? Will we wish we had more deep end or does this look okay? I know so much is preference, just looking for your experiences and insight.

Good morning,
My main drain has been capped due to a leak so we're trying to limp by this summer before looking at options. I knew we'd have a rough summer fighting algae because of poor circulation, but this one I can't figure out. I always end up with algae this time of year when the sun shifts so I keep it at SLAM level to combat stubborn algae. At 0730 this morning, I check the pool before the filter kicked on and there was no algae in the pool. Great. Go back out at 0830 after it kicked on and the shallow end is covered in algae, mostly in the direction of the return. I vacuum, brush, and backwash daily. Is it possible the algae is in the filter? How did it bloom THAT fast once the water started moving around? CC = 0.5
Thanks!

I run my VSP 12 hours a day, at 1800rpm, from 8am to 8pm. I just fired it up on July 5th, the day after all my salt, so I've been tracking my levels pretty carefully since then. It's been holding pretty steady for several days and went up yesterday, and I'm trying to figure out why.

Here is my FC readings for the last several days:

• 7/5 - 6.0 (had added liquid chlorine to get it to this level before starting the SWG)
• 7/6 - 4.5
• 7/7 - 4.5
• 7/8 - 4.5
• 7/9 - 7.0

My kids wanted the bubblers on higher so I ran the VSP at a higher setting, something like 2800rpm for most of the day and when I checked my chlorine at 7pm last night, I was a little surprised to see it at 7.0.

Rest of my levels:

• CC: 0
• pH: 8.0 (I'm trying to get my pH and TA balanced... it's been around 7.9 to 8 most days)
• TA: 90
• CH: 375
• CYA: 70
• Salt: 3800
• Water temp: 80F

Any thoughts? Thanks!

I posted last week about our liner failing and we have decided to go the new pool route and are going with a 24ft vogue panache. The pool store is trying to sell us their package but we don’t really need a new pump or filter. If we do go with it, is sand (what we have now) or cartridge better? I added a circupool edge 25 swg a couple years ago but they are saying the warranty doesn’t cover salt and we have the option of chlorine or their mineral system. I’ve read not so good things about mineral systems so I wanted to get y’all’s advice, TIA!

Hello,

I noticed that over the weekend the water is higher than normal. I can't figure out where this drains out of but seems like we have an overflow pipe. Any ideas of why its not draining? Maybe clogged?

Also I am cleaning the pool from leaves getting in there. Any insight will be helpful.

Thanks,
-jb

Hey, I have a Raypak 106a. It's the 105,000btu model. Brand new, received it a few days ago but had to wait on a regulator for my tank. Finally got the regulator(10.2-13WC regulator) and went to fire it up and wont even try to spark. Any ideas? I read on some forums its probably the rollout switch. Is there a way to jumper it just to diagnose it? Or any other ideas on the reason it won't even spark? I have the Funsicle sfx1500 pump feeding it(not the best pump I know).

Is it possible that adding muriatic acid and baking soda raises salt level in SWG hot tub?