Good afternoon,

I recently tested my water and was told that the CYA ppm was 161 (normal range 30-100) and was told to drain it, so I did yesterday and just finished filling it up a few hours ago. Info on pool: I have an in ground plaster, medium gray color which holds approx. 15,000 gallons located in Southern CA. I called my local pool supply to ask what chemicals do I need to add for starters? They told me to add 2 gallons of chlorine and one gallon of muriatic acid which I have already done. Also, what water test kit would this forum recommend, one that includes a test for CYA ppm. I read a blog in which a test kit made by Taylor “Complete (FAS-DPD chlorine) M/N K-2006 was recommended

Please advise,

We have to replace the spider valve (yet again), but when we pulled it off, the manifold pipe came up with it. How can we reseat the manifold back into the sand??

This spring we had to redo our 24000 gallons plaster pool (removed all the old plaster, fixed some cracks, re-poured the bond beam, tile, coping, new plaster). After 30 days I installed a SWG chlorinator (Circulpool Universal 40) and added enough salt to get to a 3500 ppm salinity. This measurement is reported by both SWG and a salinity measurement pen like device. I've been in the past following the TFP method without too much stress. I checked the water with test strips, and balanced PH first, chlorine second and didn't worry too much about calcium or CSI. However, with the new pool, I want to make sure I stay on top of all chemicals, to give the plaster a long life. So, I got the TF-100 test kit and started to do daily PH and Chlorine tests, and weekly alkalinity and calcium hardness. I'm struggling a lot with the CYA test, but I'm relatively sure the value is about 60-62. My biggest issue is the PH, I'm having to add muriatic acid every 2 days. I only add 1/2 gallon at one time. I use the HomeDepot HDX brand (14.5% hydrogen chloride). One day my PH would be 7.5, the next is 7.8 and the next one is above 8.0. That's when I add another 1/2 gallon for 2 nights in a row (basically 1 gallon in total) to get it back to 7.5. Alkalinity has been decreasing steadily from 110 to currently 80.

Here are the results of today's tests:
FC: 5
TC: 5
PH: 7.5
TA: 80
CH:400
CYA: 62
SALT: 3500
TEMP: 79.5
CSI: -0.24

According to Pool Math, everything is good (CYA and TA are outside of ideal range, but that's about it). The water looks amazing, perfectly clear and blue.
However, based on experience I know tomorrow PH will be 7.8 and the day after >8.0 if I don't do anything.

I've also heard that new plaster and new SWG will quickly raise PH, but I'm not sure if this is in normal parameters. I'm currently adding 2 gallons of 14.5 muriatic acid to the pool every week.
Also the second part that's confusing for me, lots of non TFP people tell me that my TA is way to low and that's why the quick raises in PH, but Pool Math wants me to lower it more.

Also I've done a test at Leslies, just out of curiosity, and most results came back similar to mine, except they measured the TA at 53 and the CH at 300. I'm trusting my TF-100 kit for now, but I'm a bit confused on why I can't get a handle of my PH and the behavior I'm seeing does in a way match what the "non TFP" workflows suggest, my TA is too low and so I have no PH buffer.

And finally, if this matters, we are in SoCal, the pool is clean, brushed and vacuumed at least weekly.
This PH thing is driving me crazy, any ideas on this forum ?

New to TFP...stumbled upon the site a week or so ago after getting upset that pool store was trying to sell me baking soda for $60. Our pool was finished at the end of August last year and we are complete newbs trying to figure things out after the fact .

Current issue: I noticed black stuff on the bottom of the pool last week and after searching thought it might be black algae (we also had what I think was mustard algae as well). After receiving my TF-100 my initial numbers on 7/3 were:
FC- 0
pH- 8.0
TA- 100
CH 375
CYA- 50

I've been slamming (& addressed the pH and CH) & brushing daily w a wire brush since then. I have passed the OCLT the passed two nights and my numbers this morning are:
FC- 22
pH- 8.2 (I added the amount of MA suggested by PM)
TA- 100
CH- 450
CYA- 45

The other/mustard algae is gone, however the black stains persist (see pic), so I'm not sure if this is black algae or something else (I have not tried the scrape/smear).
Also of note my hubs thinks I'm nuts for trying these "home remedies" and that I should "leave this to the professionals", but I think that's part of our problem (being at the mercy of so-called pros).

TIA

Pool has been clear and balanced all season until last weekend when we had a little get together for the holiday. I didn’t shock around then but I bumped up the SWG to 100% the day before and during the party. Day after I went back to my normal setting and FC stayed the same throughout this. My CYA was a bit lower at 50 though so I added to get it to 60 and after about 3 days I noticed that the water was getting slightly cloudy and then yesterday there was a greenish powder on the bottom. I’m figuring start of algae bloom so I’m starting SLAM today with hopes to get this cleared quickly.

I’ve been going fine all season so far with CYA around 40-50 and FC has been 4-5 and water is clear. Like I said before, I added to get CYA up now that it’s getting super hot and sunny and now I’m noticing the algae bloom. Am I better off keeping CYA lower when I had a clear pool or am I just seeing the effect of not bumping up my FC level now that CYA was slightly higher? Or is it just a little bit of everything (party, lower CYA, warmer water, etc)?

Hello. I have sand entering my pool. I placed a duda filter bag over the return and saw sand. What is the possible cause of this? Any help would greatly be appreciated

Things worth mentioning; sand filter is 18 in, pump is 1.5hp, filter not level.

Could the pump be too powerful and blasting sand into the pool?
Would unlevel filter be an issue with sand entering the pool?

Hi everybody. I woke up to a green and cloudy pool this morning after flash flood type rain yesterday. I have been taking care of my pool for the past three summers and this has never happened. The last time this did happen was the first year I owned this house and I was not taking care of the pool. It happened twice that summer so I decided to educate myself.

Even the last three summers, after crazy rainstorms. I have never woken up to anything but a clear pool.

I am attaching a picture of the pool, and a snapshot of my last two chemical readings. The bottom chemical reading is from yesterday morning before any rain. The top reading is from this morning.

Please note that the CYA that I am reporting is from the pool store. When I test my CYA I get 40 to 50 using the taylor test. I have no confidence in my ability to do the dot test and I have read all the articles and looked at the photos.

Also, I do notice that my pool water looks a lot more crystal clear with my chlorine levels around 6, which leads me to believe that the CYA level from the pool store is the correct reading. I've taken my water to the pool store multiple times and the CYA test was consistent, it even increased proportionally based on a CYA add that I did at one point

No clue how a FC levels of 7.5 and balanced water could not handle a rain storm.

Would love to hear anyone's thoughts. Thank you.

Hi all, my in-ground pool install was completed a few months ago and I stumbled upon TFP while looking for some maintenance tips. Since then, I've gained a lot of valuable knowledge reading through so many great threads and have been able to keep my pool chemistry stable using not much more than my K-2006C, liquid chlorine, and muriatic acid. I'm now looking into automating as much of my pool maintenance as possible to make it a truly trouble free pool!

Hi all,
My dad passed away last week and he was unable to care for the pool before he passed, so they had an algae problem. We are following SLAM. The issue I’m seeing right now is the pool is not circulating well and the filter pressure is nearing 40psi. It is a DE filter. We have been spraying out the filter daily (2 days ago very milky green, yesterday not nearly as visibly dirty). We backwashed yesterday. I cleaned the baskets today (poolside and the basket at the impeller; also checked impeller for clogs). Can you please help me understand why pressure is so high? I am attaching photos of valves. Please be patient with me…I don’t have a pool myself, but am trying desperately to help my mom, since she doesn’t have enough money for significant repairs after the death of my father. THANK YOU!

We have an Aquaguard Electric pool cover with polymer side track ropes to open and close. The mechanism operates with a hydraulic pump. There is only one company that services / repairs Aquaguard in the UK and they are based hundreds of miles away. The cost of getting them here is extortionate! The cover was installed in 2007 and was serviced three yers ago, with a new cover and mechanism installed. From my research ( there seems to be little info about Aquaguard on You Tube) I believe there is a way to adjust the speed of opening & closing the cover. At the moment, it closes to about 1 metre short of the pool end. Only by going back & forth about 6 times can I get it to fully close. It opens fine. I have checked the obvious things such as debris in the tracks, water in the pit, oil in the pump etc. All is good. From looking at other units, some seem to have a pressure release valve that once released, allows you to use a wrench or screwdriver to adjust the speed of the cover. I wonder if anyone could see from the attached photos whether that is an option on this system as I am not sure what I am looking for? In my naivety I thought there wold be two torque adjustment options on the mechanism, one for opening & one for closing. But I can't see any. Unfortunately we inherited the pool with the house and there is no manual and I can't fine any on the web. Any pointers gratefully received as I am trying to avoid having to pay £1500 for a site visit!
Thanks Dougal

I have an Intex 20x48 above ground pool. No matter what I do, I cannot get it level to 3 in on one side or lower. Is it okay to fill it at like this, cuz everywhere I'm looking says it's not. I am so tired of digging dirt and packing dirt, I'm just ready to fill it and use it, anyone knows will you please let me know? Sometimes I don't believe everything Google says.

I have a ~30 year old inground concrete pool and deck. The deck has wood slat dividers between concrete slabs. The wood has deteriorated over the past several years and I am replacing it with PVC trim boards. My question is, should the trim boards be loose in the area between concrete sections or should it be more snug or even caulked in place? The few that I have done our loose enough that I can easily take them in and out of the spacing, or just leave them there and they lay perfectly well. Below the channel where the boards lay is crushed stone that the concrete was poured on many years ago. Snow and water can drain to this and I guess has been since the pool was built. Attached is a picture of the wood and a picture of the PVC board. Thanks in advance for the guidance!

What I have learned about removing filter part stuck in spa.
Jacuzzi Imperial model 75 made in 2000 by Gatsby Spa.
We have owned the house since 2006 and so far I have done all the maintenance myself, including replacing an ozonator, two pumps, and a thermostat.
My spa filters have previously come apart while I was changing them (I wouldn’t call them “broken”), but only this week did one leave a part stuck in the spa that I was unable to remove manually. Only after breaking two small pieces of plastic off with pliers did I look for help. My first thought was ordering a 1.5 inch tub drain extractor, which I am sure would have worked, but first I consulted this and another spa forum for a quicker answer. Sure enough, there were several ideas upon which I borrowed. Thank you to those who contributed ideas of homemade tools to shove inside the stuck plastic piece to unscrew it. The tiny baseball bat I acquired 70 years ago was too big on the hitting end and too small on the handle end. My hammer handle was too wide. I didn't try a caulking tube. One shovel handle was just right with a dishcloth over the end. I pushed it down and turned counterclockwise many times, then found the part mostly screwed out. A wiggle, and I could unscrew it the rest of the way with my hand.
Though I admit the pictured filter is old, I would still chalk up this issue to a filter manufacturing defect. Three of these have come apart cleanly: one thrown away last year and these two about to go into the trash. I would argue the plastic parts should outlast the filter part. I suspect I could use my favorite two-part epoxy glue to reconnect them, but since the filters are old, I will buy two new ones. Perhaps they would last longer if I use a thin layer of that glue on the new ones, but I won’t do that. Note that the pictured intact used one is losing a little of the layer of material that covers the seam where the separation always occurs.
Others have pointed out not to screw these filters on tight. I have never used a tool to do that, and this time I have backed them off a centimeter after they are completely, but loosely screwed on. I doubt weeks of vibrations will cause them to come unscrewed.

Hi guys,

I need to add a blower to my pool equipment. Is it possible to add a split on a circuit so it controls two Pentair relays instead of just one?

I found this splitter online:

Pentair - Adapter, Pentair, Compool, 2 Relays x 1 Circuit - RYALX​

Has anyone try this before?

Thanks

We are at just over 60 days from dig and they finally plastered my pool! We went with pebblesheen blue slate which comes with shimmering sea in it. Should I be seeing it already or not until they acid wash it tomorrow? Worried it won’t have the sparkle

Moved from HERE

I think I may have same issue. I have air bubbles in my strainer pot and only have a skim line for circulation. (I paid a company to find the leak in the drain side, but they couldn’t find one.) I replaced my skimmer pot because it was cracked at the bottom and put a new lid o-ring on. It’s better, but still have the bubbles. Last night I was hearing that “tumbling rocks” sound and as of now have mitigated that sound. These steps also made a gigantic improvement in my vacuum suction and bubbles in the discharge line.

I have attached a picture of what I’m seeing now in the pot. Ideally, there should be zero air bubbles in the pot, is that correct?

We are in our third season with our pool, and I recently noticed some wrinkles forming on one side of the pool where the skimmers are located (see photo). They are "squishy" when you push on them. We do have a high water table in the area where the pool is located, but I have a well point that collects water from a french drain in the deep end as well as from the gravel around the walls and pumps it to the woods. I double-checked that, and it is holding the level below the bottom of the walls. Any ideas on what could be causing these bubbles? Is it possible that water is entering behind the liner at the skimmers and I just need to tighten the screws on the skimmer plate? Anything else I can try to diagnose? Will they go away on their own? Any help is sure appreciated! -Wes

We recently purchased a house in S Florida with a pool that needs some serious TLC. I've already contracted for resurface, decking, lighting, etc.

I'm going to move and replace most of the pool equipment, but I am confused by a valve that makes no sense to me. See the picture below:
The valve that is circled in red looks like it either shuts off or possibly reverses the water going to the heater? The In and out pipes from the heater each have their own shut off, so if the valve in question is intended to shut off water flow to the heater, is it even necessary? I'd like to eliminate duplicity if I can.

Thanks in advance for your help!!

Clark

Good morning to all. First, thank you for the he site and knowledge all the members offer freely, it has been very helpful. I believe I am almost done with my SLAM, but have a few questions.

I have my water tests in pool math, if anyone wants to view them. I’m went from having a green pool, to blue and cloudy, and now I can see the bottom and it seems to be almost crystal clear. My OCLT has passed the last 2 nights, my pump is always running, and I keep the FC at 10-11. So I believe I am heading the right direction. When I vacuum the pool, I am getting what appears to be a light tan type dust, that gets all over my vacuum filter and makes the water in the vacuum chamber cloudy, I am assuming this is dead algae, since it is becoming less each time. I used to see little “puffs” of cloudy water when brushing the pool, not so much anymore. So the question is, do I keep the FC where it is until all this is gone, or do I end the SLAM, keep brushing and vacuuming, and let the filter do the rest.

Have been at this over a week now and happy to see the changes taking place, just getting anxious to use the pool.
Thanks all for the long read.

Hello all I’m in a area that I can only find Costco brand Member’s Selection Bleach 5.25%. Is this okay to use. Does it have additives that should not be used?
I have been following TFP with great results. We have the clearest pool in the country. Had to travel 10 hours round trip to get calcium hardness.
Thanks everyone

Before I put in the pool coping, I am trying to decide what to do with the skimmer lids?
1. Can use a “Hide” lid, which is s/s pan that accepts the same material as the coping (porcelain) to make a seamless cover. Pros: looks very nice and can be almost invisible. Cons: the lid will be heavy to lift every time you want to check the skimmers

2. is there an upgrade to the regular round plastic lid that looks kind of cheap when you are spending a fortune on coping and matching pool surround tile

3. stay with ugly plastic lid that looks worse each month with beating sun

We are adding 2 fire/water bowls to our pool and the brand the pool builder uses are Bobe. But I called and he said for the color we are getting (powder coated dark brown) you cannot have a salt water pool. The water would ruin them for some reason.
I was leaning toward a salt water pool and wouldn’t necessarily want to have to do chlorine because of the firebowls.

SO, does anyone have any experience with this or any more info on this? Are there other brands of fire/water bowls that this wouldn’t be an issue?

Good afternoon! I hope you all are doing great! I’ve been dealing with injuries and mobility issues, so I haven’t been active here, and I’ve also let my pool get away from me, unfortunately.

We started the SLAM and see much improvement, but I got in today to brush and was surprised to find sandpaper walls and floor, as well as loose sand on bottom. From outside I just thought it was dead algae, and certainly that was part of it, but there is also quite a bit of sand. Yep, I’m thinking I’ve got a cracked lateral in my sand filter, which would explain the loose sand, but not the scale. And the scale is visible on my pool steps, same exact color as the sand. What the heck?

Latest numbers:

FC 12
CC 0
PH 7.5
CYA 30
CH 300
TA 100

I need to lower PH a bit to get TA a bit lower, but the numbers don’t seem too bad. So what the heck is going on with the scaling??

Photo of sand included for funsies. And unfortunately, I won’t be able to tackle the sand filter until I can get someone to help, so it will be a few days.

Hello, New pool owner here who made the mistake of cleaning my dirt crusted automatic pool cover with SOS pads (the pool cover is 3 years old). At the time, I could not budge the built up red dirt of Southern Utah. Yes, I feel foolish now!

After using the SOS pads, the light gray cover was spotless for days. Then after a heavy rain, brown and dark purple line and circular stains appeared. Next, I cleaned the pool cover with diluted 'Bar Keepers Friend.' This time the pool cover came out fairly clean, but days later similar stains reappeared.

I have no idea what I am dealing with but may be rust or a reaction due to the SOS pads? If rust, I read Clorox was not recommended. How about diluted CLR?
Any advice on what to use to clean next is greatly appreciated!

SOS pad Contains: Sodium Tallowate, Water, Glycerin, Sodium Carbonate, Sodium C10-16 Alkylbenzenesulfonate, Cocamide MEA, Sodium Nitrite, Fragrance, Sodium Hydroxide, Titanium Dioxide, Colorant And Sodium Metasilicate.
Bar Keepers Friends Contains: are feldspar, linear sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate (DDBSA) and oxalic acid.

Has anyone replaced just the motor on this variable speed pump? Looking around the web it appears that motor is only sold with the electronic controller for $1100 for Hayward or about $600 for an AO Smith. I would just like to replace the motor and plug the existing controller into it.

Such a great site this is!!

Using this old thread I made my own DIY saddles and they came out great!


With inflation since 2016 everything cost me approximately $50

Oh and.....pool was already there when we bought the house in 2006, word of advice.....do not put bushes around pool

I am new to TFP, but not a new pool owner. I have enjoyed my pool for going on the 14th season. Recently I changed my automation system and pumps. I am contemplating switching from tabular chlorination to liquid. Recently I have had a harder time keeping my pool water free of algae. My pool care regime has relaxed over the years and I am reinvigorating my care and love for my pool and attached hot tub.

As to why algae is so hard to kill~!

Hi, we currently are having a pool company, which is actually a concrete company, installing our 12ft x 26ft inground pool. We have had issues along the way with voids in the concrete decking that were patched prior to sealing. The concrete color being brown vs white beige etc. However, today I got in the pool to inspect the floor and coping, and it is absolutely awful. Several voids and concrete dripped into the pool. They put a seam that separates the pool decking from the concrete coping in case of issues in the future. There is so much concrete on the liner that I am extremely worried about having them break the coping up and redoing it. In one corner there is actually duck tape sticking out under the concrete. The corners were square and for some reason they rounded them. Please help! What do we do to have them fix it? Do they break it up and redo it and will this tear the liner, or is there a way to put renovation pavers over it to hide all of this sloppiness. I have tons of pics if you would like more than this to help

Now that my other panel/actuator issues are solved (see my other thread!), moving on to getting my lighting working. The pool and spa lights are on a single relay, and the pool light works, but the spa doesn't. The spa is on a 12 VAC 100W transformer (pool is 12 VAC 300W), and voltage out of the transformer (Intermatic if that matters). The pool light used to just alternate between blue and purple on my old board when I did the on/off routine, but now with my new OmniPL it's cycling between several colors (haven't been able to figure out how to get it to turn on/off fast enough to change the routine). So the questions are 1. Can you identify the spa light model from those details and the pic? 2. Can the bulb be changed without having to run new wiring? (I really really really don't want to do that!) 3. How can I change the color routines of these lights? (I assume once I find out the answer to 1 I can search and find more info!). Thanks!