And now I remember why I hated chemistry in school....this should be fun. I just had to make my wife happy and get a pool...lol.

1. On the first of each month, a contest "theme" will be announced (i.e. water clarity, family fun, decking, custom features, lighting, scenery, etc)
2. Members have 10 days to upload ONE image for consideration; Photo must be related to the thread titled theme for that month.
3. Per general TFP rules, nothing profane, political, or insulting.
4. The first 10 days is the submission period. Posts are limited to ONE image ONLY. No discussion posts yet. This will make viewing much easier for all.
5. Days 11 - 15 the thread will be locked and is for voting only. No more uploads. Viewers now have a final opportunity to vote (or modify their selection) for their favorite upload.
6. Members are encouraged to use an emotion icon ("Like" or "Love") to vote for their favorite upload; it will be tough, but select only one favorite.
7. On day 16, emotion Likes/Loves will be tallied for a winner. In the event of a tie, we will create a poll on the thread to make a final selection.
8. Once a winner is announced, the thread will be unlocked and comments/discussions are welcomed. Winner and nominees can tell us all about their pool/photo/event.
9. A member can only be selected as winner once per calendar year.
10. Winner will receive a $50 gift certificate from tstestkits.net! Oh, and maybe some bragging rights.

This should be fun. Showcase your family fun pool toys. Let’s see those pics! Have fun and good luck to those who apply!

Not sure if this is the right forum or not, but even after 2 (very long) years, I still feel like I'm "Just Getting Started". I bought a home in Summer of 2020 with a crazy/resort-like pool in the back... Fully landscaped with giant boulders (50 tons worth) and rock mountains, 2 huge waterfalls, a giant waterslide, an upper spa (leads to the slide which goes down to the main pool) with a cool Tiki Hut next to it, a disappearing edge and overflow basin, a cave grotto with seating, built in bar-stools/firepit (all in the pool), 2 bubblers/fountains on the beach, and an infinity swim thing-a-ma-bopper. And here I thought, never having owned a pool, "Oh neat, this will be awesome. What problems could their be with a pool? It should take what, 5-10 minutes a week to manage and maintain properly, right?!" I sure was ignorant and naive.

The pool worked, sure. But, it had it's share of problems. Okay, a LOT of problems. Of which, I had to figure out nearly all of the problems and fixes by myself because the company maintaining the pool was a bit, lacking, of how all the pieces of this massive puzzle came together and were supposed to work (thankfully at least they were honest, and didn't take advantage of me). They were good with break/fix of the physical equipment, but didn't quite grasp the dynamics of the pool that all had to be running in-sync for everything to operate properly. I was basically forced to learn it all on my own (with the help of TFP!) and make decisions for fixes and improvements to get the pool running 100% efficiently and without problems. What a work in progress, but it's also been a great learning experience (yeah, let's call it that, a learning experience) and I feel way more empowered and knowledgeable as a pool owner now. I've since switched pool maintenance companies as well, and found a service manager that really LISTEN to me, and trust my own knowledge (which they admit is more than other pool owner they've encountered so far), they trust my Taylor-2006C reading and findings and let me manage my own chemicals per my liking, and they also know about TFP and admit to coming here to learn and figure things out (imagine my delight when I mentioned TFP early on when we began discussing them maintaining my pool and he says that he loves coming to this website too). Not to mention, he admits when he doesn't know something, rather than faking it and pretending to know. I can certainly appreciate that, as we all continue to learn about this stuff constantly (for example, he learned about Poly-Fill in the skimmer from me, which I learned from TFP, and he thinks it's a great addition for getting rid of iron when its in suspension, based on what he's witnessed with iron in my pool and use of Poly Fill).

That all being said, it's been a long long road. And I can't count the number of times I thought it'd be better to get some dump trunks of concrete and fill this blasted thing in but... patience (and unfortunately, a whole lot of $$ to address all these issues) seems to be winning out and things are very close to getting to where everything is finally about where it needs to be.

All the issues fixed along the way.... (in order of completion)

This site really is amazing. I can't express how much I appreciate every single response I've received to my past posts here, and all the knowledge I learn from the real experts around here that -always- seem to offer up opinions and advice for us newbies and frustrated owners when I'm randomly reading things here to increase my own knowledge and curiosities. (and Pool Math app FTW!)

-J

Hey all !! It seems like forever ago that we saw warm places freeze like they shouldn’t have.

Take a few moments this weekend in beautiful weather to check/download your equipment manuals to find all the drain plugs. Each the pump, filter and heater should have 2 locations. When many people were forced to learn last time, it was an emergency and there were more pressing / life threatening issues going on. Or it was 3 AM and they were fumbling with flashlights after the power went out.

If you have built recently, take a minute in good times to learn how to shut your system down and drain it all. If you are currently building, make sure the PB includes this in their pool school.

Anyone else use Excel to track pool results in addition to Pool Math? I am about to put in formulas for CSI and LSI, slow week at the Stinson house. Any other interesting ideas folks would like to share?

Howdy!

Im officially ~24 hours into the TFP method and I would like some guidance as I undergo my first SLAM!

I started with a filmy, cloudy, green pool, which had high CYA (~100). I drained off about 4-6 inches (refilling with tap water), as we as backwashed and deep cleaned the DE filters. After the DE refill I added 2 gallons of liquid 7.13% bleach and left the pump running over night. We are coming up on 24 hours July 31st ~5pm.

I have cleared up majority of the algae but will bush again today. My test results currently are:

FC: 15
TC: 15
PH 8.2
ALK: 67
CYA: 110

I am thinking to add some additional water to 'top off' the pool to help bring the CYA down, but would love any advise from the pros!

When I started:


As of this post - progress!

Thank you to everyone who has contributed to our 2023 campaign. Because of your overwhelming generosity, we have met our $10,000 goal in a mere 5 DAYS out of our 50 day timeframe. We are continuously blown away by this community. The funds we have raised will support TFP comfortably through the 2023 calendar year Any further donations will be earmarked for our 2024 budget. We hope to see you again next year as we repeat this campaign, but for now we will stop bugging you!

---

Dedicated volunteers on the forum, including our TFP guides, TFP experts, and moderators, are committed to helping pool owners everywhere have the best swim season possible. However, the group responsible for keeping us going and keeping our lights on are our TFP supporters. If you have contributed your time or money to supporting Trouble Free Pool, the administration would like to thank you for your generosity.

Trouble Free Pool is a registered 501(c)3 non-profit organization that is free of advertisements and membership fees thanks to user donations. As pool seasons sadly draw to a close in many parts of the world, we would like to ask our users to consider donating to TFP to maintain our status as the best swimming pool owner’s resource on the Net. We currently have a goal to raise $10,000 by October 1st 2022, an amount that will secure TFP through 2023’s pool season and let us pursue additional goals during the colder months. In addition, TFTestkits.net will be matching 25% of all donations during this time. This is and will be TFP’s only fundraising effort each year.

If TFP or its members have helped you through a swimming pool issue that could have been complicated and costly, please consider putting some of the money saved towards TFP’s maintenance and server costs. Supporter status comes with perks, like discounts and free merchandise, depending on the amount of your donation. In addition, anyone who donates during our 2023 season campaign will be recognized with a 2023 TFP Supporter badge. Financial support from users allows us to continue developing Trouble Free Pool Care, articles on Pool School, and video content to reach more swimming pool owners worldwide.

Donate to Trouble Free Pool here

Thank you,
Sarah and Nate
[email protected]

I made this reference sheet for my TF-100 kit; color-coded to match the Pool Math app. I printed it out and will try to laminate and/or tape to my kit. Sharing is caring!

Yesterday.... while getting my water tested for Iron (and trying to find some MA that was actually out of stock)

My local pool store dude reported to me yesterday that my high phosphate level of 179 will tend to reduce and even kill my FC in the pool. I told him it was my understanding that the ONLY issue with phosphates is that its Algae Food...and if there are NO Algae in the water...then who cares?? I explained how I SLAM my pool each season when I open it...and using my a) SWG and b) Nautilus CC Plus...I have pretty much a "Trouble Free Pool" all year with the exception of the most mundane maintenance.... To which he said..."no, Phosphates will reduce or kill the level of FC thus causing algae to bloom or it will make your SWG work too hard"...What??? Say What??? I just smiled and said: "Thanks, have a good day".

I’ve thought about getting a pH meter for a while, I sometimes struggle to differentiate colors, especially on the high end of the pH scale. But it never really was that important, and meters need care, cleaning, and calibration. Certainly a lot more involved than rinsing a comparator block and adding 5 drops of reagent.

As some know I started making cider and beer last year, and to allow me to be more consistent, especially as I move to all grain I decided to get a pH meter. The pro is that I can also use it for my pool and spa since I have it. Over on HomeBrewTalk the Apera PH60 seemed like a well liked sub-$100 model. Currently sells for $80 on Amazon, and has replaceable pH probes for $40. I decided this all seemed good and ordered one.


It comes with some water drops in the probe cap to keep it from drying completely, but ideally you store it in storage solution at all times. I put it in the storage solution and let it sit overnight, then ran a calibration cycle. That was a bit annoying the first time, it was behaving odd, with the reading bouncing all over the place. Eventually I discovered a bubble tends to get trapped by the probe when sticking it in the small calibration cups, which throws off the reading. Need to tilt the probe and cup to release the air bubble. I ran through calibration, then noticed there was an air bubble IN the probe, which the manual notes may happen and if so just shake the unit a few times and it should go away. It did, but this changed the readings just slightly and I ran through the calibration again. This was a three point calibration using the three included buffer solutions.

The case does have a handy spot to put the calibration cups which holds the meter upright while the readings stabilize.


I have a video if people are curious but after call I went to the hot tub, turned on the meter and stuck it in. In 11 seconds I got the smiley face that indicates things are fairly stable, with a reading of 7.56. Note the temp was 75, this does have temp compensation but after about a minute it was up to only 85 (spa is 100) and the reading had only dropped to 7.55 (it had gone up to 7.57 shortly after this picture was taken, then slowly started dropping as the measured temp increased). In any case letting it sit until fully warm doesn’t appear it’s worth the time, with a close enough for pool usage reading in under 15 seconds.


I then compared to my drop based kit. I had a bottle that was almost used up, with a reading of 7.7


And I had a brand new bottle of R-0004, which got me a reading of 7.5. Not sure why the difference, I didn’t think the old bottle was that old. I’ll have to check my purchase history and see now.


Conclusions from initial testing: Calibration is fairly easy, readings are quick for pool usage. Probably not something I’d like to have to maintain though if all I was using it for was pool testing.

I’ll post an update once I’ve got more time using and maintaining it.

Finally got the Taylor sample sizer. I thought it was a waste of money until I used it. It is so nice not having to add a little, pour some out, add a little more, too much…. Seems like an under appreciated tool in the kit if you test a lot.

Hello all you wonderful TFPers! We are back in the pool game! We just put a contract in on a house with a pool after having lived without one for a couple years (down in Florida). The new pool has a vinyl liner (vs. our previous gunite pool). Also, looks like a sand filter and a single speed pump. The salt cell is also a Perma Salt System. Older equipment, so probably will replace with variable speed, cartridge filter, and new salt cell. Going to be buying my test kit soon. Cannot wait to be swimming in our own pool again!

Orion7319 said:

Beat me to it

Click to expand...

5 heads are better than 1.

Anybody here have any experience with or opion on the following? Friends new AGP vinyl liner with soft gorilla pad. Store sold them a tracked maytronics front and rear brush robot. Is this safe for that?

TFP members, the TFP “Pool of the Month” contest for August 2022 begins now! it’s time to show-off your pool decking! Rules are as follows:

1. On the first of each month, a contest "theme" will be announced (i.e. water clarity, family fun, decking, custom features, lighting, scenery, etc)
2. Members have 10 days to upload ONE image for consideration; Photo must be related to the thread titled theme for that month.
3. Per general TFP rules, nothing profane, political, or insulting.
4. The first 10 days is the submission period. Posts are limited to ONE image ONLY. No discussion posts yet. This will make viewing much easier for all.
5. Days 11 - 15 the thread will be locked and is for voting only. No more uploads. Viewers now have a final opportunity to vote (or modify their selection) for their favorite upload.
6. Members are encouraged to use an emotion icon ("Like" or "Love") to vote for their favorite upload; it will be tough, but select only one favorite.
7. On day 16, emotion Likes/Loves will be tallied for a winner. In the event of a tie, we will create a poll on the thread to make a final selection.
8. Once a winner is announced, the thread will be unlocked and comments/discussions are welcomed. Winner and nominees can tell us all about their pool/photo/event.
9. A member can only be selected as winner once per calendar year.
10. Winner will receive a $50 gift certificate from tstestkits.net! Oh, and maybe some bragging rights.

This should be fun. Showcase your decking projects. Let’s see those pics! Have fun and good luck to those who apply!

Hi there,
Never owned a pool before, but watched a zillion videos on YouTube. Maybe watched most of them by now.

Found out about this place and decided to join to ask questions which haven't been answered yet.
I'll be asking detailed questions after searching to see if other people DIY as much as I plan on doing.

I've read much of the beginner TFPC stuff and I agree with most of it.
If I ask a question, it will likely be one that has never been asked before (unless I didn't do my search correctly).

Just saying hi here though... (as suggested in the welcome message).
I'll put the pool stuff in the sig later when it's needed.

I have an inground 5K gallon pool built into sand with a high water table. I have high copper levels of 3.3ppm and ideally would remove and replace the water. This is not an option as the pool would pop out of the ground due to the high water table. I added a metal removal product for 24 hours and then backwashed the filter and replaced 1/3 of the pool water. Copper levels remained at 3.3. All of this was done after bypassing the water heater in case the heat exchanger is causing the copper issue. PH is low at 6.4, as is hardness at 136. Cyanuric Acid is high at 160 and phosphates are high at 403. Have tried raising PH but to no avail. I'm told copper is overriding any attempt to elevate PH levels and copper must be lowered for PH raising chemicals to work. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Hi Everybody~~

DH just told me that our 12% liquid chlorine will go bad--that it has a finite shelf life.

We keep 3 or 4 jugs of this around, stored outside, just in case of a power failure or whatever. Now he tells me that it is not like Clorox. It has a shorter life.

He says that bleach is better--it is 6% -ish and is more stable, and therefore it lasts longer on the shelf, but the fact is that we like to be able to buy something from our neighborhood pool store occasionally to keep up a little patronage/relationship going, so we buy some of the liquid chlorine....

Yes, I am lazy, and I have not searched our site for other postings on this; it's been a long day in an already too-long week.

Any quick short comments? Thank you very much!

Weary Lana

I am ready to get off the Leslie merry-go-round and move to the TFP philosophy. Walmart has pool chlorine for $5 a gallon. I plan to buy them out.
I am fighting CYA problems. I drained half the water last week and that got CYA down to 100. I tested this morning and it is considerably higher than a few days ago.
Here are my specs:
pool 37500 gallons by an online calculator, water meter not possible
filter Hayward Pro-Guard, model DE 7220, serial 2111407050197003
chlorine feeder Pentair, model 300
backwash valve Hayward
pump Star, model 025191, 1.5 HP
chemistry
FC 5
CC 2
CYA >100
pH 7.8
TA 120
CH 500

This is an informational post.

What can happen if a pressure relieve valve fails? This will happen.

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We've had increasing problems over the past 3 years with yellow jackets/wasps. This year the number swarming was just gruesome! (20 or more at a time). We tried all the traps and fake nests and stuff they're not supposed to like (like smell of spearmint herbs) but nothing seemed to help.

I read about using 20 mule borax on the forums. (There are good threads here on balancing the water chemistry etc). By the next day instead of 20+ yellow jackets/wasps there were less than 5 around our pool. 48 hours later they were totally gone and I haven't seen them for a full week.

I know you can sometimes follow them towards their nest but the nest can be over a 1/4 mile away and so we were never able to find it. The borax solution has been nothing short of amazing!

Hope this helps someone else.

So after my last questions I have been using my 2005 & my ph was about 9 (since the color was still darker) & it asked for acid, I added what it requested in the evening when my water was green.. next morning my water seemed darker..
Tested it again...
Added more, this time I added about 2cups more ... water got even more darker the next day.. so then I tried liquid chlorine.. 3rd day didn't do anything.
So now yesterday I just got the permission to just flat out empty it out.
So if they say muratic acid & liquid chlorine is all I need (minus the tab) then what happened?? Was the app (poolmath) not right? Should I had doubled it? I know they say it doesn't clear up overnight, but I was not noticing a tad bit of change & when it emptied out there was alot of algae on the floor yes I vacuumed & used the net everyday. I'm confused. Need to know for future reference, what else needs to be added? Ph is supposed to be the 1st thing to take care of???

Just filled our pool and have added 1/2 gal Liquid Chlorine. Our ph is a little high, how long after adding the chlorine should I wait before adding Muriatic Acid?

I became a new pool owner in January and these are the things that surprise me the most as a new pool owner....
1- How little time it takes to maintain the pool
2- How little chlorine my pool uses
3- How cool my water is during the heat of summer

I probably spend ten minutes a week maintaining my pool and without OCD, it would be more like five minutes.

My neighbor with a similar sized pool and similar pump run time has his IC40 set to 62%. Mine is set to 20%. My pool is using about 1.5ppm per day.

My water this morning was 82 degrees! The highs here in the Phoenix area have been 110+ with lows in the upper 80's. I thought my water would be at least 90 by now. Crazy, but crazy good!

Guess who’s frustrated with their pool?!? A little about my situation: Moved to a new house with a pool and zero experience. Anticipated the company that does opening and closing would explain a few things, but no. Moronically paid for “pool school” to learn as much as possible, huge waste of money. That guy was literally, LITERALLY, driving away as I rattled off questions as fast as I could remember them. Got duped into thinking the local pool store had my best interest in mind and was sold plenty of useless chemicals. I hear the phrase “yeah, you’re gonna have to run tabs” in my nightmares. Finally managed to get the chemistry balanced 3 weeks after opening, dumb luck I presume. All seemed well for a few weeks there, but now I can’t seem to keep any chlorine in the mix. Brought a water sample in, got a pile of info on high phosphates with a list of instructions for cleaning the filter cartridges twice over. Figured I needed a better way and found this site by recommendation. Finally ordered my own test kit and hope to get this thing right for the final month of summer. Good grief, I needed a rant. Hours of fun and relaxation indeed! Now I plan to read up on low chlorine levels and if phosphates actually “eat” chlorine as I was told.

Hi,
I'm considering adding borates to my pool but have a hard time adding 55lbs of the stuff and 3 gallons of acid to my pool Seriously though I know there are tons of benefits but anyone regret doing it for any reason? Also when they say the water feels silky it doesn't feel slimy does it? Lastly, no trouble opening eyes under water or water ingestion (i'm thinking kids).
Thanks!!
Joe

After having a small 7,000-gallon fiberglass in-ground pool for a year and being sold a bill of (expensive) goods by Leslie's when I first opened the pool, I am still left with SUCH frustration over ONE thing: cyanuric acid! I've had to partially drain/refill my pool three times already due to CYA being too high. WHY don't places like Leslie's tell you that there are OTHER ways to add chlorine besides stabilized tablets? Why do tabs contain so much CYA? It's infuriating.

I am at my wit's end trying to find a way to keep the CYA in my pool from rising. I'm experimenting with liquid chlorine, and with keeping stabilized tablets to a minimum in the pool. (Leslie's told me initially to fill the tab feeder all the way to the top!) I just discovered there are NON-stablized tablets on the market, hard to find but just ordered a bucketful.

Does anyone have an idea of exactly what I should be doing to chlorinate my pool with only the minimum CYA being added? I've looked high and low and can't find a definite answer. I'm flying blind trying all different combinations of CYA and non-CYA options.

Hi all,

Total newbee here

With an IC40 salt cell and salt level of 3750 ppm, should there ever be a reason for 0 chlorine in the water unless cell is not producing?

Thank you!

Hi All! New Member here. I have consulted several "pool experts" in my area and get different answers, none of which are resolving my issue so hopefully someone here can lead me right

So, I have an above ground pool. Small 15' round that holds about 5300g gallons. I have had the pool for about 5 years now with no problems really...until last summer & this summer. Now all of a sudden I have all this copper and cannot get rid of it!
Not well water, city water. So nothing about the water has changed over the years. Anyhoo.. problems started last year, but I will just get into this year since the past is gone LOL!
In a nut shell, I cannot shock my pool anymore. Even 1/2 lb of shock brings the copper out. I get major staining and discolored water. I have used stain remover twice, and probably about 4 or 5 bottles of copper sequestrant (Jacks Magic brand as I LOVE their products) already this season. They work beautifully! Water is crystal clear again in a couple of days!
Then I need to shock and it starts all over again...
So basically I am spending an additional $70 every time I shock my pool for products to remove the metals.
Now... one water test from a pool store said my levels are so high there wasn't enough product to remove it and I should drain my pool (did drain it.. didn't help), another water test from a different pool store said there was barely any copper at all, so low they would say zero copper... However I don't even need a test to tell me I have copper.. I can see it.
So, a pool "expert" who I feel like may be fairly knowledgeable, tells me that the 4 or 5 bottles of sequestrant I have used so far just simply may not be enough yet as they can only remove so much.

What I am needing to know is
1). if the above statement is true, how much sequestrant can I possibly need for one small 5300 gallon pool???? and
2). more importantly, how do I stop this cycle of shock, metal control, shock, metal control?? Algae is another issue where I am (trees, humidity etc.) so I have to shock regularly.
I am just so over it...