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hollywoodfrodo said:

I live in SoCal and it’s true what they say that “it never rains in Southern California.” So even though our water isn’t too hard, after adding water almost daily in the summer and then hardly getting any rain water in the winter to offset and runoff the calcium, the calcium levels eventually get too high and so I have to go through the tedious process of emptying the pool about 2/3 and refilling.

We are installing a water filtering and softening system soon and we got one with a high capacity in hopes that I could use the softened/filtered water most of the time going forward so as to not ever have to deal with high calcium levels again. But I just wanted to check in with the experts here and make sure there isn’t anything I need to be worried about with that. Obviously I’m starting with a full pool of “regular” water so not filling it up with filtered soft water (the system couldn’t handle that of course) but just want to use the softened filtered water for my daily (less now during winter) addition of water.

Thanks for any insights!

Click to expand...

In a similar boat ... my CH from the City is 200-225PPM...

What solutions have others used at the equipment pad to install a softner for the autofill... based on plumbing... wouldn't be able to install it elsewhere?

How long should you let ascorbic acid stain treatment to work before draining your pool?

Hello!
We bought a home in August with a pool, so I’ve had it for a while but this will be our first full pool season. I’ve got the chemistry part down, but something that bothers me is that the deep end of our pool, like the deepest part, the floor has darkening that the rest does not. It’s not just that it’s deeper. I read somewhere to put a chlorine puck on the area, leave it for a while and see if that lightens it. It did! In fact it looks in that spot just like it should! But the problem is, I don’t know what that means or how to now fix that entire portion of the pool since I can’t very well move a puck around that entire area. Help please

Last year I replaced the sand in our filter with Zeolite. I think I may have underfilled it a bit. We had a very small amount wash out over the summer. Fast forward to this year I am in the process of slamming our pool for algae. After backwashing each time I noticed there is more and more Zeolite washing out of the filter and the pool is taking a super long time to clear. Over a week into the SLAM prob at the 9 day mark. Is it possible that the under filled filter is washing the media out because it is under filled? I know it could be a broken lateral etc but really wanting to see if that could possibly be the problem.

Hi My name is Michelle, I have a 24x 12 bestway above ground pool. I thought my hose was leaking water at the connection into the pool. It's not the inline it's one of the 2 suction lines. I have changed the hose and it is still leaking. I am assuming it is the connection in the pool where the hose attaches to the pool, What can I do to fix this problem? Do I change the plug to a different size? or what? Help please!

@COLsmj88
Hi, OP! I’m experiencing a very similar issue. Did the new transformer fix it for you? Or deleting and re-adding features? I’m only getting about 1.2 V to any of the relays.

Hello my pool guy wired the VS pump on the “LOW” speed portion of the Omni. I assume this because the pump only comes on when LOW SPEED is selected on the APP/Controller. This seems ok but on the APP when I set the schedule it doesn’t turn on. Only when I open the app turn the schedule off then on does it activate. Or just selecting LOW SPEED on the APP… I’ve programmed the speeds/time on the Pump. Any help is appreciated getting automated activation would help. I was trying to just leave the pump on in the APP and program the times/speeds on the pump but no luck. Thanks.

It's always been quite loose, but I'd always just shut the pump off and insert it back in. I'm guessing it's time to replace the fitting itself, but I don't even know what brand fitting the jets are (the pool is over 20+ years old)

I have a 22000 gallon rectangular pool which was built in 2004 and is great condition. But NO OVERFLOW! Every time it seriously rains, I have to be sure to be home
to manually set the pump to drop the water level. And this summer, I'm going to be away alot. Rather than covering the pool every time that I leave, or drilling the side
of the pool after peeling back the liner, I was thinking of constructing a standing box or large round PVC pipe with a base as high as the water level, filling it with coarse gravel so
it stays upright, and dropping a Little Giant pump in about halfway down with a float switch. So that if it rains heavily and I'm not there, the rising water level would breach the
top of the box or tube and get emptied out by the pump each time. The pump would have a garden hose attached which would go out the top of the tube and lead
away from the pool. The only problem is- the hose would go almost verticle out of the tube, and at that point , the worry is that the pump would not pump vertically.
Any thoughts would be very helpful.

Hi everyone- I’ve had the stains in the picture since last year. I think the brown ones are possibly rust stains? Then you can see what looks like mustard algae. I’m at my wits end. I purchased a kit and have gotten my chlorine levels to 10 after they were super low after the winter. Attached is my latest water test- I don’t buy chemicals at Leslie’s but just use the treatment plan. I started Slamming but I don’t think I’m high enough yet. Thoughts??

Hello all, long time lurker.

I have an excel pools SWG system. We have a T-cell 60k cleaning a 50k gallon pool. We bought it last year (4.2.2024) when a smaller version of it (40k, I know. I wish I had found this page before) broke. We are 12 months into owning it, and only one season on it.
Right now it is reading 'check cell (steady, not flashing)' and 'high salt'. We just are opening the pool, the salt test strips (aquacheck) say that we are at 2400 ppm. I have pulled the cell, cleaned it appropriately and re installed. It was cleaned on the mark last year every time I got the indicator light.

My question is this, and please forgive me, I searched back a bit and did not see this topic. Are these bad cells? This seems like a very short time to have to replace not one, but 2 of these. I tried to register the warrantee with pool warehouse but 'this page has been moved.'

Assuming I made a bad purchase, is there a cell that replaced these from a different company that will still use the excel pools control panel? Or, is there a cell that will straight up replace this one? I checked on several sites but I didnt even see excel products listed.

Thank you in advance for any insight you have!

We are in the process of opening in ground salt pool 16 x 32 (shock stage) overnight we lost 3/4 of our water through the black vinyl drain hose while the filter was running.
Can anyone shine some light on this. New vinyl, new sta-rite multi port module, new dyna pro centrifugal pump all last year.
I'm leaning towards gasket on module but I have no idea. Thank you in advance.

New here and have a 14000 gallon salt water pool. I am trying to learn as much as I can on this site. I am in SW Ohio. Pool is already open. Already, I have a problem with air in the pump that seems to be from a bonding wire (silver wire) entering the bottom of the bowl through a plastic nipple.


What would be the best way to fix this?

I just purchased a 24' x 54' round pool that I will use for a saltwater setup.
I know I want to do a cartridge filter. I will be a first time pool owner. My search on the internet shows this is approximately 15,000 gallons of water and the rule of thumb is 100 sq ft of filter surface per 10,000 gallons of pool water as a minimum.
The recommended filter where I purchased the pool from has the Hayward XStream 150 Cartridge Filter System 1.5-HP Power-Flo Pump which I see is 150sq ft.
I see bigger is better and recommended sq ft for my size pool is 200-225.
So I have searched up some cartridge filters that fit in that 200-225sq ft range.
I have found Pentair - EC-160353 Clean & Clear RP 200 sq. ft. and the Hayward SwimClear Multi-Element Cartridge Filter 225 Sq.Ft.
Are there any other recommended filters I should look into purchasing? Or did I find the two best options?

My husband was a member on this forum and praised the information shared here. He passed away from esophageal cancer January 18th. I just had our salt water pool opened up. I don't know where to begin. What do I fix first? Total chlorine, free chlorine or pH? Chlorines are low and pH is high. Thank you for any advice. Ronda My husband was @Chuck N, some of you may have interacted with him on here. He was awesome!

Hello! New to the forum and pool ownership (though my parents had pools growing up). We moved to a house in southern Pennsylvania in October and just opened the pool April 7. We used the same pool company used by the previous owner, which also built the pool in 2008. It is a saltwater inground pool with vinyl lining. The pool also has a gas heater.

My husband took the water to get tested by the pool company the day after opening. Results came back with FC at .32ppm, combined chlorine 0, ph 7.2, alkalinity 73ppm, calcium 152ppm, cyanuric acid 24ppm, iron .1ppm, COPPER .8ppm, phosphate 246ppm, and salt at 2422 ppm. They suggested adding 5lbs alkalinity, 15lbs calcium (after waiting 1 hr), 2 bags of shock in the evening, then 3 bags of salt. I did all of this and retested with my Taylor K2006 kit on April 10. Assuming I did the tests correctly, I came up with FC 2.5ppm, combined chlorine .5ppm, ph 7.6, alkalinity of 80, calcium hardness of 250, CYA of 35, salt at 3200.

Springtime has been blowing a bunch of Crud into the water. I've been cleaning it daily with the robotic vacuum and they dirt is finally going away! The water looks great. This evening, I noticed what I thought was more dirt on the bottom of the pool, but more evenly spread and not in "piles" like before. After some brushing, nothing has changed. It didn't budge like I expected it to. Are these copper stains? The pool guy originally said not to worry about the copper until the system is running for a bit after being closed. But now I am getting worried! I honestly cannot tell if they are new stains or if they have been there the whole time.

On top of this, the pool pilot digital 220 no longer displays words. For the first week it would go between being readable and then having unintelligible characters, like it was crapping out. Now there is display at all. Do I need to replace the circuit board? Is it something I can do myself without any knowledge of that sort of thing? The pool company said the part alone would be $700-800. As a side question, when this system is working properly, I noticed the SWA says OFF. My understanding, based on googling, is that the SWG is OFF below a certain temp. Obviously the water is cold still. Is that causing any sort of issue with throwing off the balance of chemicals? If its not making chlorine...or does it matter at this point?

It's the middle of the night and these issues that keep popping up are making me lose sleep. I'd love to properly care for my pool, just as my dad did for his. I am desperately trying to learn as much as possible but I am feeling overwhelmed at the moment. My apologies if I included too much in this one post. Still learning how things work around here!

Hi, I'm James, from Texas. I'm buying a house with a 30 year old gunite pool. It's in working condition but I'm planning on resurfacing and updating in the winter. I owned a lakefront house for 20 years but sold it 2 years ago. I miss the water and I've always wanted a pool. I have a lot to learn.

Had this done by local pool store, wasnt there and have a few thoughts. Needed the bypass on the heater as pump is 1hp and water needs to go through it slower since only 20k btu. Thinking the backflow should be between heater and where the by pass joins before the salt generator rather than right after the bypass before the salt chlorinator. Any feedback welcome. Also worried about getting wet taking the filter basket off, hoped id have a ball valve right before it, not just on skimmer. Also corners are sharp on the bypass.

Any adjustments needed?

Thanks

Pool 16ft round above ground.

I've been reading and researching this site for more than 10 years and very thankful to have this resource

@mcwill45

I was wondering if you went with this and your thoughts. We are strongly considering the Blue Bonair. Our only concern is the textured bottom and how well it holds up.

Hi everyone,

We have a pool with a capacity of approximately 57 m³. Last year, we completely replaced our old filtration and water treatment system and have been using a modern saltwater chlorination system (salt electrolysis) since then.

In previous years, we would start each swimming season by refilling the pool entirely with fresh water. For overwintering, we drained about one-third of the water – down to just below the return jets.

Thanks to the new system, the water is currently much clearer and shows significantly less algae growth or discoloration. The current water values are as follows:

• Salt level: approx. 700 mg/l
• pH level: approx. 6
• Chlorine level: low, but still within an acceptable range

Our question:
Can we safely reuse the existing water for the upcoming pool season, or would you recommend a full refill?
(We're concerned that otherwise we might end up using excessive amounts of salt, magnesium chloride, pH adjusters, and chlorine - or that it could negatively impact the new system. A photo of the current pool condition is attached.)

Thanks in advance for any insights or advice!

I’ve just started opening our pool (26k gallon, SWG) this season after converting our DE Filter to a sand filter with glass media. Removed the cover, all plugs and replaced all eye holes. Pump rings and drain plugs looked over and plan to replace on o ring on a drain plug but everything’s in good condition- minor air leak from the o ring I believe.
I thought it was odd but the pressure gauge read 40!! before even turning the equipment on. Thought I’d just back wash alittle and it go down but no change in pressure. I ran it on recirculate for a few hours to let the chlorine do its part but came out this morning to see the pressure needle “redlining” (just before the 0 but on the other side of the screw - think about to make a full lap).
I tried to remove the drain cap on the filter thinking some air could be trapped and maybe purge our but nothing came out - typing this out realize air would rise and water come out .

How could the pressure rise on recirculate?
How do I get this pressure down?
Why isn’t it draining?
Is my family/house in any danger with such high pressure? - the equipment is next to the house behind a 3ft fence but more concerning next to a concrete pad the kids play hoops on.

Thanks in advance for any help/thoughts!

I placed 4lbs into the skimmer and it’s not dissolving. Been over 2 full days now. It’s getting clogged in the return/supply lines (I believe) in the skimmer.

New pool owner. Live and learn. Very annoying. Any advice on how to unclog or will it dissolve after several more days on its own?

My metals readings when I take water samples in for testing are always very low. Is it possible to get metal staining and have low metal in samples too?

This is my first week of doing my own pool maintenance for 12+ years, local company is close to $400 per month. I went to Leslie's and had my water tested. Here are the results:

Free Chlorine 5.49
pH 7.9
Alkalinity 131
Calcium Hardness 341
CYA 20
Salt 3248
Phosphates 1150

I have a 28,000 gallon salt water pool. They told me to add 2 gallons of instant conditioner and 2 gallons of acid. I added one gallon of instant conditioner, but I scraped the pool for 20-30 minutes getting the white stuff off the bottom. Is this normal? Is there a better way to do this?

Should I be concerned about the phosphates? I bought some stuff but have not done anything with it, guy told me I needed to run the pool for 48 hours than clean the filters. I read the article on here not to do that, but should I be concerned about this?

Also, does this ever become cheaper than the pool guy? I paid more in chemicals today than I would with the weekly service.

My pool has brown stains along with greenish tint all over the pool that I'm trying to get rid of.
These stains have been present since last year, but finally wanting to tackle them.

I am passing the OCLT and have been using the TFP method for over 5 years now.
I have a Taylor K2006C test kit and below are my numbers as of this afternoon:
FC: 6
CC: 0.2
PH: 7.4
TA: 50
CYA: 50

I sanitize with liquid chlorine that I purchase from Walmart.

I haven't been to the pool store since I started with TFP, but looking at past forum posts, it seems the general consensus is they are reliable for testing metals in water.

My pool water tested as 0.3ppm of copper
I then had them test my fill water, which is coming from the city, and it came in at 0.2ppm copper.

The pool has no heater for copper to come from.

Also, no chlorine pucks are being used, nor is algecide being used on a regular basis.

These are the only items that have been added to the pool in the last 5 years: Links to actual product included
- Liquid Chlorine (From Walmart or Home Depot)
- Arm and Hammer Baking Soda
- Borax
- Muriatic Acid
- Algaecide (Used in 2022 when closing the pool for winter)
- Clorox Stabilizer

When I took the water sample to the pool store today, the lady mentioned that the liquid chlorine could contain a trace amount of copper. And I did switch from Home Depot's LC to Walmart's LC about two years ago. But if the liquid chlorine contained the copper, I think other people would be complaining too.

I guess I have three questions.
1. What is the best sequestering agent to use?
2. Has anyone used a filter to try and filter out copper from their fill water?
3. Am I missing anything else that I could try? What am I missing?


NOTE: I have also tried using Magic Jack's Stain ID kit last year, but didn't have much luck at all. Quite simply could have been doing it wrong though.
I have tried the vitamin C tablets as well, and they do help with the greenish tint, but not so much with the brown stain.

Hey guys, its my 1st year trying to get our pool running and in good shape since my father hasn't done well and it was full of uncontrollable algae last year. My question right now tho is I was told the sand in our pump had to changed every couple years. Need to know if that's true and if so, best sand and amount? Our label has come off but Ill share pics of what I have/what it looks like. Any help is greatly appreciated!

I currently have a fairly simple setup: 15,000 gallon IGP, 1.5" piping, SuperPump with 3rd party VS motor with integrated controller (and poor freeze protection), sand filter with Zeolite media, Hasa Liquid Dispenser, heat pump. The heat pump cycles on/off with its flow switch and temp sensor.

I am planning to replace the Hasa Liquid Dispenser with a salt cell and upgrade all above-ground piping to 2". I will probably replace the VS pump and use glass media in the filter. The heat pump is elderly and could need replacement at any time.

What would be the advantage(s) of a full automation system controlling everything vs. using the integrated controller in the (new?) pump for scheduling and flow switches to enable the salt cell and heat pump as needed when the VS pump is running?

Operating Note - I am in North Carolina and don't close the pool in winter. During freezing weather I have to reprogram the VS pump to extend run times since the pump's freeze protection runs too slowly for the amount of head in my system. I realize that this reprogramming would be easier sitting inside with my phone in one hand and a hot toddy in the other. Is a new VS pump, e.g. Hayward TriStar, likely to have a sufficiently robust freeze protection capability that reprogramming wouldn't be necessary?

Hi! Wife and I purchased a 1963 split-level home in Opelika, AL that came with a 30000 gallon inground pool. My specialty is technical automotive work so I am here hoping I can be given
some good advice for something I don't have much experience with.

It didn’t used to do this before today. Any help would be appreciated.