At the stage where my salt water plaster pool has cured for 30 days. Per PB been adding a chorine puck every couple days. Pool testing has pretty much been up to us. Not a complete set but our latest results today using the Taylor K-2005 kit are:

FC - 2
PH - 8 or higher
CYA - 110

Wondering what chemical readings I need before adding the salt and turning on SWG for the first time. Is the CYA ok for a salt water pool or do we need to drain some water and refill?

I would add, the 100+ temperatures currently here in Texas are having an impact.

Thank you!

Currently here in Aus we are just moving into spring.

My pool is relatively new and have only owned it over this winter.

I have been utilising an M500 for the last few months and it has always done a great job except for being able to make it over the perimeter ledge which is located approx. ¾ up my sidewalls.

Obviously I was not expecting it to climb onto steps etc but I had thought it may have been able to make it over the narrower perimeter ledge.


There has been some mention in various posts that water temp can affect the Dolphin's ability with respect to climbing and currently my water temp is around 10°C, so it is cold and therefore this may be impeding my M500's ability to drive over the ledge. Unfortunately I will have to wait for the warmer months (not too far away now... ) to verify this variable.

Last weekend I did play around with my M500's bouyancy by adding some polystyrene blocks into the main filter chambers.

It did not require much to give the M500 an added 'lift' so to speak. Too much polystyrene and the unit became too light and would not grip & traverse along the bottom of the pool correctly.

I ended up using some small strips (4 of them - 2 in each chamber) approx. 80mm long which fit into both filter chambers.

This was only a temporary setup to prove whether it would work or not.

So far it seemed to work reasonably well but I would like to spend some further time testing to reduce the polystyrene blocks as much as to maintain max traction when on the floor.

More than likely as the water temp heats up over the next month or two I may have to re-adjust the amount of added flotation required.


Just wondering if anyone else has played around with their Dolphins in a similar way...???



Quick and simple addition of some added floats:




Tucked in just under both main lids - The lids hold them in place as a temporary solution for my tests.





Quick video showing it climbing over one of my main solar heater intakes and then over the perimeter ledge.

I have 18 around 4' tall intex had the same problem everyone else that has this type of pool, it's all rushed it out !! This is the 3rd or 4th one I've had and and I was wondering if anybody knows if schedule 40 or schedule 80 pVC would be strong enough to make the whole frame out of that

Hi again! I just had a new Pentair IC-40 installed about 3 weeks ago. My pool tech just informed me that although all the lights are green, the cell is not generating chlorine. He tested the pool water and the Chlorine was 0. He said he suspected an issue last week as well but decided to see what happened this week before letting me know. He tested the salt level and that's good at 3600. Im surprised about a zero Chlorine reading as I do have chlorine tabs in the floater.

He thinks it is a wiring issue of some kind. Can anyone help shed some light here?

Thank you!
Christine

Current:
FC 15.6 (tested first thing in morning)
CC .4
PH was low 7’s before SLAM
CYA was 40 before SLAM

I’ve been at SLAM levels for 8 days. before 8 days ago I was losing 4-5 pms per day so I started to SLAM (pool has always been clear).

First 4 days of SLAM at 16 gave me OCL of about 4-5 with little loss during the day.

I found a ton of algae behind my light and cleaned it on Sunday. I’ve brushed everyday and tried to keep slam at 20 since Sunday because I started losing a lot more chlorine.

I lose about 5ppm’s per night and lose about 10-15ppm’s per day since Sunday.

I don’t have much on my liner when I brush…a little bit (maybe a total of 3 tablespoons) of a copper color dirt on the bottom? Or copper color algae? The cover is broke so could be dust?

Would love some help thank you!!

Pool Details
17k, 6 returns/1 bubbler, SWG, Inteliflo VSP. North Texas with 100° F for a month and a half.
I had been running my pool fast at 3000 RPM for about 12-14 hrs a day with SWG at 65%. Then I got my electric bill.
I'm experimenting with speed, SWG settings, and run time to hopefully maintain 3-4 FC with minimal chlorine supplement.
Currently I'm at 1700 RPM with SWG at 90% for 11 hrs/day. This is not maintaining my FC very well but I do need to bump my CYA because it is at 40 and TA is at 110.
I'm seeing champagne bubbles out of 2 of the closest returns. Searching on the forum it seems this is unavoidable as it is due to the SWG. Is this OK?
The pressure gauge on the cartridge filter housing barely registers anything. When running the pump fast it would hover around 10 to 12 psi.
Do I need to pick the pace up a bit to build more pressure?

I know i've seen some of you say you run your pump really low. Just curious to what others are doing.

Struggling a bit to get the rubber bead on the back of the liner to fit into the receiver channels on the Hydra steel steps. I have to press so hard, the plastic install tools they sent are cutting into the rubber bead. Is there some sort of lubricant like dish soap or something I could use, or will that just make a mess?

I have a Jacuzzi VS pump. 1.635 THP. Does the PSI need to be at a certain level in order for it to filter? At 1200 RPMs the PSI is at 0. It still seems to circulate. The jets are pushing water out. The skimmer basket is full. Even the water fountain is pushing out water. At 1500 the PSI increases to 2 or 3 And at 1750 it is at 5. At 2250 it is 8 I just wonder if my pump is high enough for it to filter or is it moving the water around?
When I hit the quick clean button the PSi is around 12.

I have a kidney shaped gunnite pool that needs new paint and tile.

Located in Central Kentucky and interested in any first hand experience with contractors in the area.

Plan is to start the Reno in the early spring 2023.

Thanks!!

So my well water has a CH of 350 to 375, therefore my pool now has a CH of 675 after being in service since September.
My pool fill is attached to my faucet, and my faucets are bypassed and don't go through my water softener. My plumbing is PEX and runs in the attic. I was contemplating getting up there and splicing the facet line to a sink line nearby.
This requires me too:
-Put a valve on the faucet line ahead of the splice where I can keep the untreated water from going to the splice and then to the faucet.
-Then splice the remaining faucet line into a water line going to a sink.

I have pex tools, clamps, and some pex laying around. Anybody see a problem with this?
My other option would be to do what I've seen some of the guys do an put a softener at the pool equipment pad. That brings in more work for me in that I would need to re-rout the pool fill to the equipment pad then set up the softener. I don't know where I would discharge it though during regen.

Last two years I setup and enjoyed for the most part an Intex Easy-set 15x48 pool. The design flaw of the material used on the top ring, and the constant deflation during thunderstorms or other rapid temperature changes, and then having to refill the volume of water lost at least six times let me to upgrade to a Bestway's Steel Pro 15x48 this season.

I made the same 1.5 inch valve modifications to be able to use my Intex sand filter 3000gph, and added an Intex Deluxe Skimmer to the mix. I am 100% satisfied with the design, easy of set up and quality of the new pool so far. I am amazed how well the skimmer keeps the pool clean, having to vacuum about half as much as I did with the Easy-set pool and no skimmer.

So the mysteries I have are why the pool water in this configuration is so much warmer than the past two years, and why I can't use both suction ports with the skimmer. The pool is in the same location as the previous one so same amount of sunlight etc hits it. Same filter configuration and running times.

For the first I would say its hotter this summer here than last two but it is just the opposite. June had no 90 degree days and nights were in the 50's for the most part. Only since July have we had 90 degree days and relative lower humidity than is historically typical in New England. So why is the water approaching 85 degrees now? I run the pump mostly at night but I do not have any spray or fountain helping to chill the water. I am also not covering the pool by day as I did with the other pool. I primarily did that to try to keep the inflated ring out of direct sunlight. Any way other than adding cold water to chill the pool water down?

The skimmer does an amazing job but it needs 100% suction to really do the job. I would like to let some water flow from the other port as a safety in-case a large amount of leaves clogs the skimmer basket even though it seems to have a safety valve on the bottom so it never starves for water, or burns out the pump. Is there some magic ratio to have both ports working or do I just have to sacrifice the skimmer efficiency part of the time that the filter is on? I guess water is going through the filter either way but I think if I have two ports I should be able to use both especially with the size filter I have running.

Thanks in advance for your advice.

Not sure where to put this so here is as good as any place. When I first get into the pool, my eyes, even though I do not go underwater or get them wet at all with pool water, feel like they are burning. I usually rub them a bit while my eyes water and it passes usually in a couple minutes and I am ok the rest of the swim. I noticed that this happens even if I do not get into the water at all. If I stand over the pool my eyes start to burn too (not as bad or as often). Not sure what this could be possibly - the chlorine gassing off? I have no CCs and water is balanced to TFP standards. Any ideas? It is a minor inconvenience but would be nice to know what is happening.

Hello! My husband and I bought a pool and just finished filling yesterday. It’s a 24’ round intex with a 52” wall height. We bought a saltwater system for it since we heard maintenance was so much easier but haven’t put any salt in yet because we were told to shock first.

We have roughly 14,000 gallons of water and shocked with 2 gallons of 10% liquid chlorine as instructed. The pump has been running since adding the chlorine and I just tested the water with the strips that came with our pool. I’ve attached the pictures. It looks like our free chlorine, pH, and alkalinity are all high but our calcium hardness is in normal range.

Do we need to add any more chemicals or reduce free chlorine or pH before we add our salt and run our SW system? We’re new to this and I can’t find anything on the internet relevant to it. Help would be majorly appreciated!

On Saturday we are having a party. There is going to be 50 adults and 12 kids. I want to plan accordingly to have the appropriate level of free chlorine before, during, and after the party to avoid any water issues after the party.

I maintain these levels everyday using liquid chlorine and the water has been great.

FC- 4.0 - 4.5
CC- 0
PH- 7.5
TA- 80
CH- 310
CYA- 50 ….. although I checked it to today and it has since dropped to 40 since I switched from the pucks to liquid chlorine.

Any suggestions on what levels I should bring the FC to the day before the party and the day of the party ?

Thanks in advance!

I can not figure it out. Our pool has developed a very interesting problem. Basically everything seems to be functioning OK, except one skimmer is pulling to much water and empties before it can refill, thus the pump starts to suck air and loses prime. Bizarre.

Some pool make-up: Pentair pumps, filters, and parts. 15,000 gallon pool with a spa. Everything is controlled by a central electronic control system. There are two pumps, one for the normal filter operation, the other for a waterfall effect from the spa into the pool. There is a pool heater, chlorinator, and a filter. I also have a pump for our cleaner ("rover"). Each skimmer has its own valve, along with the main pool drain, separated by a motorized valve that separates the spa main drain. A little diagram below: <> = manual valve. <M> = motorized valve.




The spa part does not seem to be involved, but will explain it just in case. There are two drains on the bottom of the main pool. One goes to the normal filter operations, the other feeds the second pump that pumps directly into the spa to create the waterfall effect from the spa into the pool. There is a valve that extends the spa into the main filtration system or causes the spa to loop back into itself.

The filter has a pressure valve on it and it hovers at 19 or 20, so this is good. When there a loss of prime or the pump is suck area, the pressure in the filter drops and you can see the needle bounce!

All pumps and valves seem to working, so I can not find any obvious equipment faults, but please let me know if I am off base.

So here is the problem:

If the all manual valves are open, drawing water from both skimmers and main pool drain the pump will soon lose prime. Looking at skimmer 2, it will literally have no water in, all be sucked down until the pump loses prime and stops pumping, and only then does it refill with water from the pool.
If I close skimmer #2 valve, the pump will prime again and everything starts working. I have isolated each skimmer, including the main pool drain, and the spa drain (there is a switch on the motorized valve that you can operate to have it turn), and as long as skimmer #2 is off, everything works.

Also note: even with all three valves on, skimmer #2 still empties out and sucks area causing the pump to lose prime. Ugh!

I did some searching online and can not find anything that matches this problem. I watched the video about a possible clog, but that does not make sense since the skimmer basically has too much suction, not too little as a clog my prescribe. I even tried throwing the hose into the skimmer #2 and even with the extra water input, the skimmer empties out and the pump looses prime.

I have checked for leaks in the pipes coming from skimmer #2, but I can not find any.

HELP? Any other troubleshooting I can try?

Been a pool owner about 6 years, learned a lot on this forum. Been SLAMming and fighting algae for over a month now. I seriously feel like Bill Murray in “Caddyshack” and algae is the gopher! Our pool floated couple years ago.. it does every year.. ripped at the drain. Pool guy supposedly order liner but apparently never did so we did homemade patch during pandemic. This spring, no new liner so still patched. Water is clear but every morning and evening I see what (I’m assuming) is dead algae along some seams and around part of the drain. So previously mentioned pool guy LAST time he replaced liner snd light ring.. “ oh, we don’t have the right screw to fit” So stupid us, okay it’s hanging on so it’ll be okay. Gap at top of pool light. So last week I realized maybe algae behind light. Took it out… brown/ black plume comes outokay… that’s the problem! Cleaned it, light has been sitting on the deck for a week. Nope… still can’t pass OCLT… help!!

Second season with my fiberglass chlorine pool. No problems so far. But about a week ago I first noticed some whitish, stringy floating stuff in the shallow end of my pool. It almost looks like a thin string of spit. Weird. I attributed it to a new pool float, thinking it had some sort of plastic residue. I tossed the floaty (cheap and inconsequential). A couple of day later I noticed it again when I was using a small fine mesh net to skim bugs off the surface. Worrying. Today it’s back. I read some about white water mold, but the posts said that looks like tissue paper in the water. Biofilm?

Some facts:
- Pool is crystal clear other than these stringy bits in the shallow end.
- Pump runs nightly from 7:30 PM until 5:30 AM.
- We’ve had 100+ degree temps for two weeks straight. Today is about 108. Again!
- I test for FC and CC daily and add the stuff from Walmart labeled chlorinating liquid according to what Pool Math tells me to do. That’s 10% chlorine.
- I do the full range of tests at least twice a week.
- I run a robot for two hours every morning. It does climb walls, steps, etc. and scrubs the water line.
- Every evening after I add chlorine I do a quick brush down with a stiff brush on walls and floor.
- Two of us use the pool daily. We often have company. Today there were five of us, yesterday 4; tomorrow there will be 11. We’ve had as many as 13. We get a lot of use. So a lot of sunscreen, etc.
- I don’t add any other chemicals except muriatic acid when my pH gets high. Haven’t had to do that this season.
- I’ve never had an algae problem, cloudy water, or a big chemical imbalance. I’ve never had to SLAM. I’m a loyal TFP follower and treat my pool like a pet; it gets DAILY care.

Any guesses what this floating, swirly stuff is? There isn’t a lot of it. When I touch it it immediately breaks up and goes from long stingy to short pieces. It foams a bit in the fine mesh net when I scoop it. It dries powdery. Pics included. Suggestions? I so appreciate any help. Everything I know about pool care comes from TFP, and I like to tell everyone to just go to TFP and their pool will be as perfect as mine. Now I’m afraid I missed something. I included a pic of my test results from just a few minutes ago. I know my FC should never be below 3, but at 108 degrees I’ve been battling it. I’m needing about 128 ounces of 10% chlorine every night. Thanks for your help if you have time to provide it.

I'm in my 3rd year of a new pool, that has been run under the TFP method from the beginning. Never had any water issues, and other than having trouble at times sourcing liquid chlorine, it's been a mostly "trouble free pool".

Recently, we started to notice that the spillover from our hot tub wasn't flowing cleanly over the tile, and would instead run down the split faced stone under the pool side of the spillover. This has gotten progressively worse and now happens from both edges of the spillover. I clean my filter cartridges about 3 times a year, and even after cleaning the cartridges there is no improvement of the flow over the spillover. Just this past weekend, I noticed that the travertine tiles that make up the spillover are loose and water is seeping under the tile and coming out from under the tile on the pool side of the spillover.

I reached out to our pool builder, to see if there was anything they could do, and they of course asked for my water chemistry logs, which I provide to them. Their response after reviewing the water chemistry was first that I was already out of the 2 year tile and coping warranty, but second they said I had aggressive water and the flow issue was likely due to etching of the travertine tile by the aggressive water. He said that I might try polishing the stone to see if I can restore a nice clean edge to the spillover.

I'm not sure I agree with his conclusion that I have "aggressive water," or if the tile etching is a likely issue. I feel like the spillover tiles being loose probably allows some of the water to flow under the stone, and may also affect surface tension on the pool side edge of the spillover.
Anyone have any thoughts or suggestions?

Greetings,
I have a vynil 24 ' Dismeter poo 54" deep.
I have a 2 speed pump. It stays on on low with apool timer. I use the highest pump setting for the the Polaris 65 pool cleaner.
I installed an underground drain in the center.

Challenges:

• Rain causes my pool PH to lower. I have to add PH Up after a rain
• I use copper to control algae
• I have alot of tree leaves, Ctreating a skimmer to catch larger quatities of leaves
• Was looking for a fiiting the would crew to the outside threads of the Hayward simmer.
• Kind Regards
• TIm

This may be a dumb question but it keeps bugging me.
When my pump is off the lights on the chlorinator is still lit. It is obviously not producing chlorine, but the device is powered. I have the loadcenter integration.

I vaguely remember that when it was installed that the LED's on the chlorinator was not not unless the pump was running?
I didnt install the chlorinator, it was done by a contractor and he did the setup.

I have an easyTouch2 8 with firmware 2.160 if that helps.

Just interested to learn if my setup is right or if something should be changed?
The chlorinator is producing chlorine, that is not the issue. i'm just trying to make sure i didn't mess up something and accidentally changed a setting.

I know everyone loves the Intelliflow. Has anyone tried the Whisperflo VSP? Its not as large (2.6 Thp) as Intelliflo but should be plenty of power for my pool.

The one place I called today says inventory is still an issue. Intelliflow isn’t even available. The whisperflo vsp sounds like it might be a good fit. They also had a Hayward with less power for more money which doesn’t make a lot of sense to me

Any off brands which are worth looking at and where to buy them?

I have the dust at the bottom of pool. If I vacuum it returns. It is super fine and puffs up in clouds when approached by broom or vacuum.I have this problem every single year at this time. I can't believe it would be algae? My water is balanced and my FC has never dropped below 4. My oclt is always 1 or less. I do not have any CC. My chlorine choice is cal hypo(please no negativity for that LOL. Pictures and readings attached. I live in western pa, so not sure if it would be pollen, but it occurs every year now through September, but never in June?
Any help/insight would be appreciated. Should I try a filter sock?

I have some bottles of liquid chlorine that are clearly weekend in terms of current strength versus advertised strength. I’m not getting the expected rise in CL PPM when adding the Pool Math prescribed amount. How do I calculate the current strength of the chlorine in bottle so I can adjust the amount I add to get to the desired chlorine target?

If you look at my logs you can see my current bottle looks to be about half the expected strength.

Hi All,

I've been trying to resolve an issue with green algae in my pool. For the past couple of weeks I've been following the SLAM guidelines documented here to the best that my schedule allows and don't seem to be making any progress. The pool isn't getting worse but it's not getting better.

Attached is an image of what the pool looks like. Ignore the rough shape of the structure and liner. This thing is on its last legs!

Levels before beginning the SLAM were:
FC: 0.6
CC: 0.2
pH: 7.7
TA: 90
CH: 250
CYA: <30 (best guess 20)

Note: When needed, the pool is refilled with well water. The water runs through a softener but there's no way it keeps up during the full pool fill. Unsofened, the water is:
Iron: 0gpg
Hardness: 25gpg

I first lowered the pH to 7.6 with Muriatic Acid. Confirmed with test.

Then I started to SLAM.
General schedule:
- Test first thing in the morning
- Test at ~8pm at night
- Manually vacuum from ~8pm-9pm most nights
- Empty strainer basket 1-2 times per day as needed
- Backwash filter and empty pump basket every 2-3 days as needed

Action log (rough at the start but gets more detailed as we go!)
Day 1-2: I added a total of 10.4 L of 10.3% bleach to keep FC at or above 10. After the first day the FC never tested below 12.
Day 3-6: I went through 7.4L of 10.3% bleach to keep FC above 12 and CC dropped to 0.1.

Day 6-9: I ran out of bleach and didn't have access to a car for 3 days so I added 800g of Trichlor pucks spread over those days to try and keep FC up. I figured (mistakenly?) that I could use some more CYA anyway so it wasn't the end of the world. During this time the FC crept up to 16.5 but the CYA didn't noticeably.

Day 9-10: Once I had a car again I picked up some dry CYA and a bunch more bleach. I added 400g of dry CYA and continued maintaining FC with bleach. Once the CYA disolved this is where my values were at:
FC: 16.5
CYA: 30

With the increase in CYA I decided to target an FC at no lower than 14 for each test. Just in case something came up and I missed a morning or night test.

Day 11: FC at 14, Add 3.6L of bleach
Day 12: FC at 17.5 in the morning and 17 at night (a really cloudy day with rain coming at night)
Day 13: FC at 15 in the morning, add 3.6L of bleach. Got home too late to test but added another 3.6L of bleach at night.
Day 14: FC at 14 in the morning, add 3.6L of bleach.

At this point I'm starting to wonder if maybe I have mustard algae?
Backwashes of the filter are pretty green but clear up much faster than I've seen when the filter is really full.
When vacuuming during the early days of the SLAM the water running through the pump was quite green and I did vacuum up quite a bit of white flakes (calcium?). Probably a pump basket worth.

I'm betting the flakes came from my previous attempt to open the pool where, at the advice of then local pool store, I burned through ~3Kg of Cal-Hypo about a week trying to get rid of the algae before finding TFP and getting a proper test kit.

I think I've been pretty thorough reading through existing forum posts, understanding the tests (including Taylor K-2006 manual), and read through the Pool School posts here. We really haven't been able to enjoy the pool at all this year and I'm starting to run out of ideas. Maybe someone more experienced than me sees a glaring issue or has advice on the best course of action?

Otherwise I think my options are one of the following:
- Raise FC to try a mustard algae shock
- Drain the pool down to the return and deep clean the sand filter.
- Drain the pool completely, pressure wash liner, re-fill. The pool is so old I'd be worried about the liner shrinking/drying out and breaking it. If it did work, I'd probably call it for the season and try again next summer.
- Ditch the pool and think about getting in line to get a new one in a few years (current wait time is ~2-3 years).
- The pool is getting long in the tooth (~15 years) with some uneven pits in the floor of the pool and liner slipping on the sides in some places.

So, my pool had a new liner in, it was drained completely and we filled it up with hose water. Since then we only chlorinated it with liquid chlorine, up until now. Which we have a SWG.

Could my CYA be 0 since it was filled with hose water and no pucks were used? can I just add the recommended amount for CYA now until I restock up on CYA tests? I honestly ran out and wanted to have the right amount of CYA in asap so the chlorine isn’t burning up to quickly

I have a 15x30 above ground vinyl pool. This fall winter a huge windstorm flipped my entire winter cover into the pool. I spent about 2-3 weeks now shocking and cleaning the filter and now I have about 2ft of brownish green in the bottom of the pool. I have tried using clarifyer and nothing is really helping. I am almost to the point of draining and restarting.

The line in to my power center keeps melting. The only thing that changes is a VSP pump and a voltage surge protector all on the same side.

Any one have ideas on what is going on?

I'm trying to get an electrician to look at it too, but I am an EE and don't mind a DIY if it seems reasonable. Just don't know what the root cause is here.

Evidently I have either a cracked lateral or one that is misaligned. So tomorrow I will dig the sand out of the sand pot and make the necessary repairs. The question is, after the fix will I be able to vacuum the sand that it puked out back into the filter with no ill effects? The other question, how do I determine the size filter. It is a Hayward SP1580X15FP. The labels on the sand pot are most likely in KY where we moved from 6 years ago.
Thanks in advance for any and all replys,
Bob G

We went on vacation and after about 6 days away the person taking care of our pool called to say the water was below the skimmer. This would have been about 4-5 inches of water loss in 6 days. Conditions have been very hot and humid. When we got home I added enough water to bring it back above the skimmer. When I turn the pump on there are air bubbles coming out of the jets. I am continuing to add to the water level and monitor but are there any suggestions or ideas of what might be going on? I

My salt cell recently died and I need a new one. I need a Pentair IC40. Just looking for a recommendation on where to buy one. Amazon seems really expensive, so I am looking for a good company with reasonable prices to purchase from. Thank you for your help.