Hi, few weeks ago I went of vacation and forgot to dial up the SWC. I came back with algae in the pool. I did a double shock, brush and the algae was gone. Water is clear, all chemicals seem to be balance for a week now. Started few days ago, I noticed this black thing around the skimmer. It's sticky, gooy tar like substance that I had to use a sponge to remove it. But it comes back rather quickly. The ring would form within a day or so. The pic is showing the ring after few hours.

btw, nobody swam in the pool neither when I discovered the ring, so it can't be lotion or oil.

What is this? Is it black algae? This is new and I had never seen that before for the past 3 years since I got the pool. Please kindly advise.

Have a 30K salt pool and had algae come out of no where. I'll sweep the pool and within 2 days, it starts creeping back - always in the deep end and in the same couple spots. Below are my numbers with pool math recommendations.

CYA: 45 (60-90)
FC: 9.0 (3-9)
PH: 7.5 (7.2-8.0)
ALK: 70 (50-90)
Phosphates: 1,400

My numbers always look good and I always keep the FC on the higher side to prevent dumping $100 in LC to SLAM the pool. This one has me beat and comes back faster than anything else I've had. What am I doing wrong?

Everyone on the FB groups rave about PoolRX and while I agree its more important to have a balanced pool vs using PoolRX to overcome bad numbers, I've got good numbers and still having an issue. Plus I get a little weird with higher than normal metal in the pool.

Only thing I've never done is address phosphates since I always keep my pool in balance. Would it help to use some Orenda PR-10000 to get ride of the algae food?

Last thing is I know algae dies off once the pool gets to 55 degrees. Pool is getting colder and I'd imagine in 3-4 weeks my kids will no longer swim. If I can hold out, will the winter 100% kill everything and I can start fresh next spring? Thanks!

Morning everyone. Finally got in my Taylor 2006-fas/dpd kit. Been battling an off and on green pool since going to the beach for a week in June. Seems like I’d get it ok and pretty clear and blue but over night it would go back to green. Now having found TFP I realize I probably didn’t kill the algae off all the way. Anyway, here are my stats. I know I need to slam but dang I don’t think I can with my cya this high. How would y’all start this process? Also is it dumb to even start now that it’s fall?

Pool details-
22k gallon in ground vinyl pool
350lb sand filter
No saltwater

Test results as of this am-
pH- 7.4
TA-60
CH-140
FC-2
CC-0
CYA- 100

Pool is green, but you can see the bottom. Was using tablets/powdered shock with stabilizer until I found tfp. Since then using liquid chlorine or bleach (depending on what stores have in stock). In July pool store testing had me add 4lbs stabilizer .

I have an Hayward Omnilogic Panel and shows me that the temperature of my spa is at 80F when the water feels at 100F and I can confirm it by looking at the screen of the heater that the water is at 100F what I did was replace the temperature sensor but it still gave me the same problem, panel shows 80F and no temperature rise or fall on panel. The next thing I proceeded to do was update to the latest version of the MSP and MP but it was still the same, I already changed the temperature sensor 2 times and I even put my neighbor's sensor on it that was working fine on his property but it shows me on my panel 80F and it doesn't go beyond that, I tried to contact Hayward but no one speaks when they answer, at this point I don't know what else to do!

Hi Guys,

Yesterday, when I went to use the pool, I noticed that on my shallow end, I had a spongy section that looked like a wrinkle. Stepping on it would move it back into place. I guess water somehow managed to get behind the liner. Not sure how this happened since my drywell is empty, and I have an automatic pump inside to make sure water is removed during the rain. We have had a crazy amount of rain in the last two weeks. Overnight, the bulge has gotten much smaller and seems like it's going back into the same place and might not cause a wrinkle. I have a couple of questions.

Should I try to remove the water, or wait until it disappears on its own? Anything I can do to prevent this? My drywell was put in the over-dig and sits at about 3.5 or 4 feet deep, but my deep end is 5.5 feet. Should my drywell have been made deeper? My shallow end was also done at 4 feet deep instead of the normal 3.5.

Yesterday


Today - area much smaller

Hi everyone, i have a older minimax plus that was working great. I went to try and turn it on yesterday and the service light is on along with just the power light. pilot is not doing anything. but when i turn the temperature down the service light goes away but still no pressure or heat light comes on or any spark from pilot. i tried jumping the pressure switch/wires and still nothing. I would greatly appreciate any suggestion on what i can try and check thank you.

Hi Everyone,
Quick question on an aquabot classic repair. The pump motor stopped working, so I took it apart, soldered in new capacitors and got it working again, no problems. Now the confusing part for me.. The capacitors were initially in some sort of sealant/epoxy about 1". So far I've read, replace it with Duct Seal, Sik N Plus, or some sort of Marine grade epoxy resin and hardener. I personally am leaning towards the duct seal, or GE Silicone but wanted to ask 2 questions, do you know what the original material was (I attached a picture), and which of these will actually work? I'm going to bucket test it first, so if it leaks, I'll just try something else. I thought the cable might have been what is technically the waterproof seal, so I don't think this necessarily is for waterproofing, but I can be wrong on that. Any advice/suggestions would be great, thanks!

Thanks for your advice on sources of copper. After engaging the top rated pool service company to treat copper symptoms ( green hair and nails ) it lead to a fiasco that stained the liner with bright blue splotches after Cop Out precipitate was left I vacuumed for 5 days. At same time as Cop Out they super shocked the pool and added 500 grams of CYA to my already high level of 100. Now Cl and CYA are off the test charts. After vacuuming the liner colour pattern was completely removed from the slopes and bottom and purple precipitated out.
I find out they don’t have copper test strips or kit which is first thing instructed in Cop Out use. Today we replace the pool water to get rid of residual copper and CYA over 250.
Back to my thanks - your tip on the copper heat exchanger source solved the mystery as my 4 year old heater was rotted out and replaced two weeks before the green hair started and ashamedly I then started to manage pool water chemistry after 35 years of just adding chlorine pucks to keep the pool clear. You can imagine where I added the pool
pucks.

This Friday will be two weeks since I started SLAMing my pool to get rid of what I think is mustard algae. I live in west Texas, so dirt is always an issue, but even more so now. The land beside my house that used to be full of Mesquite trees and cactus was cleared just a few days into the process and is now a huge (an acre) field of loose dirt. I've consistently vacuumed using a robotic vacuum 3 times a day and I brush the pool at least 5 times if not more. I've never been able to get all of it out, which make me worry that there is also algae (dead and alive) hiding in there. One of the issues is that there is wrinkles in my pool lining, so unless I'm able to stay out there the whole time, the vacuum gets stuck and not much is picked up. The other issue is that any time I get close to getting it all out, we'll have a windy day and then I'm back to where I started. The good news is that my water is more clear than it's ever been, so I know I'm making progress. I'm still losing a ton of chlorine through the day and my overnight loss seems to be 4 ppm. It was originally 8, so I think that's a good sign.
Today I spent several hours outside vacuuming and brushing and I was able to get quite a bit of dirt out and fortunately there was only a small amount of algae in the vacuum when I was done. I recently purchased a solar cover and I decided to go ahead and put it on today. It's supposed to be pretty windy for the rest of the week. But then I got to thinking that it might be a bad idea while SLAMing and got sort of mixed results about it while looking through the forums. So I guess this has been a very long winded way to ask if I should keep the cover on or just risk getting more dirt in the pool and not worrying about it?

Good evening all. So I discovered a break in the wire of the pool cleaner. Looking for suggestions on a repair (connectors) or is this a cord replacement? Thanks in advance!

Dave

I am sure most of you with Maytronics pool cleaners have dealt with this at one time or another. Its my turn now. My Dolphin S300 has stopped working yet again for the 4th time. Three times it was the control unit, once the blue cable, and now its out of warranty. I don't think it would matter if it was as I think my current problem is wear and tear items not covered by warranty. The plastic bushings, wheels and rubber tracks have worn out and gears are slipping causing it to shut down. I have ordered almost every part I have needed and am missing just one item or maybe two. I installed all the other parts I have received but the big wheels are the source of the most slop in the system so of course it still wont run for long before shutting down. So I need a pair of the large front wheels. They go by several part numbers, 9993219 (wheel & bushing kit), 99983111 (wheel only kit), and most recent number, 9983114 (wheel only kit). Nobody seems to have these things in stock. I just ordered the bushings for them which will be here in a couple days but both bushings and wheel are worn. Marina Pool and Spa is out. So is Pool Poolweb, and of course Maytronics. Ebay vendor shows to have 4 but they aren't accepting messages. Not likely they are available and I am not going to order and hope they ship out someday this year.
So I am wondering if anyone has any other sources I might have missed? Some stashed in their garage they want to make disappear? This whole manual cleaning stuff is hard! I know, 1st world problems right???

Hello ya’ll
I have been TFP’d for just about 2 months now and my pool looks, feels, smells (lack of smell) beautiful.
My current test results as of Aug 2, 7:30PM Central
FC: 8.5
CC: 0.0
pH: 7.4
TA: 60
CH: 360
CYA: 60
SALT: 3400
BOR: 44
TEMP: 90F
CSI: -0.49

I’m planning to depart on a 3 week vacation and will not have anyone tending the pool while away. I was hoping folks with experience can chime in and let me know what to expect when I return.

CH, CYA, SALT, and Borate levels are stable and I do not expect any changes.

Concerning FC, pH, and TA: I plan to do the following before I depart:
1. Drop FC down to ~7ppm, knowing that my SWCG slowly increases my FC level by about 1ppm per week. Expect this to be ~10ppm, maybe a bit higher, upon return. I don’t see that being any issue.
2. Shut off my fountain and my 3 vertical bubblers to minimize aeration.
3. Drop pH to 7.2. The addition of MA will also lower my TA a bit as well.

My questions:
What should I expect my pH and TA to do during the 3-weeks I’m gone? Yes..Rise...but how much?
Is there anything else I should consider doing?
Will high pH (above 8.0) damage anything that quick (guessing above 8.0 and rising for 2-weeks). Or will the borate keep things under control.
Will TA remain within a satisfactory range. If not, will that be a major issue?

Thanks in advance for all your support.

I recently had my water tested. Attached are the results. They said I should FIRST add 1lb. 2 oz of PH up. Then wait two hours. SECOND, add 7 lbs. 10oz. pf PH down. Third, add 25 lbs 9 oz of calcium Increaser. This sounds stupid to me. Why should I increase the PH and then lower it. Hope fully the attached works. Suggestions, Mike

I’m so weary with trying to get my pool looking good this year. I’ve had stains on everything white and the liner of the pool. I’ve done 3 ascorbic acid treatments. The 1st 2 times, I didn’t use a sequestrant. My bad, I was confused (I thought I could use polyfil). And, the second time I used Culator thinking that would pull the metals out. I did an algea treatment also. Then, I did a a third treatment using a sequestrant. I have cleaned my filter cartridges and salt cell. As soon as I start raising my chlorine back up the stains come right back. I’m thinking about opening my wallet and throwing my money in the trash. I’m including pics of the sequestrant I used and the stains.
CYA 40
FC 1-2
PH 7.4
Alkalinity 60

I’m feeling a little discouraged about this. I started in early May, the water temps were in the 60 degree range. Now they’re in the 80’s and I don’t like dropping the chlorine. And, I’m about $250 in now. I just ordered another CULater.

4 yr old pool, constantly has high ph and high calcium hardness issues. I recently drained the pool and did an acid wash all by myself... somewhere around May. Came out pretty good. Restarted the pool got all the numbers right everything fine for the first month or so. Calcium hardness upon startup was around 150ppm. I waited a while before testing the hardness because I thought that issue was gone but recent results show over 400ppm. How can this be? Only chems added where a little bit of shock to get started, some salt, some cya and some acid to control the PH. Nothing for Alk it was in range around 80 I have not put one other chemical in this pool since except acid. Not to mention the PH is always still high. Currently draining some and adding some fresh water. Going with borates this go around. All results from Taylor Test kit and bounced off of pinch a penny results every once in a while. Aquapure SWG.

Lasts results from pinch:
FC/TC 4ppm
PH 7.9
Alk 100
Hardness 400
Cya 60
Salt 3300

I looked on Amazon and saw a bunch, mostly being sold by well known pop-up entities that also specialize in crocheted welcome mats...

I have a dummy cell coming for my SWG, but the existing threaded/rubber plugs and the skimmer 'gizmo' are pretty manky, so time to replace
All my returns/inlets are 1 1/2" threaded, so are the Threaded plugs preferred, or the rubber-wingnut types, or the duck valves ?
Thinking a new 'Gizmo' for the skimmer too...

I usually have my local pool store do the blowout and manhandle the cover etc, and I haven't had any issues, but last year we had so much rain I had to pump the pool out twice, so it was well over the returns well before the freezing weather was done, so I want to be certain I'm not risking any leakage etc, as digging up all that concrete would be a nightmare...



Thanks !!

Hi

I am looking to install a bypass for the pool heater but needs some guidance. I have a Thermeau electric heater with no bypass. Attach pics are how the pool equipment looks. I would like to use 3 diverter for the bypass. I am thing i need one coming out of the pool filter, one coming in the heater and one coming out of the heater. I know there might be more details than that but I am looking at the basic right now. Any suggestions would be appreciated. I am planning to do this myself.

Thanks

I have balanced water, shock, and scrub regularly, water is clear. I’ve had the look 10 years and just this year I’ve had these green spots showing up in my pool. They can fade slightly with vigorous brushing. One came free today and feels like algae/lichen growth. Wondering if anybody has came across this!

Hello,
I have a pool about 2 years old. The pool contractor put in a Hayward Omnilogic controller and installed SR Smith TREO color pool lights. I have two issues.

1.) When I select a fixed color or light show from the Hayward Omnilogic app, I get something totally different than what I selected.
2.) One of the lights does not sync with the rest of the lights. I have six lights. Five will turn the same color (though not the one I selected) and the other light will be a totally different color.

I've done a bit of calling around and I've learned that these lights are not compatible with the Hayward Omnilogic controller. Hayward tells me that if I want to communicate with the lights via the Hayward app, I need to buy their Colorlogic bulbs. I don't want to have to invest a ton of money in new lights and fixtures. SR Smith tells me there is a workaround if you go into the Hayward controller and change the default from "color lights" to "white lights". After the lights are changed to "white lights" there is a series of steps that requiring rapidly toggling the lights on and off. My issue is I cannot find any setting in the Omnilogic controller that refers to "white lights". I only see "color lights". Maybe there's something else in "service mode"? The other issue is that there is no quick way that I can see to power down the lights. Every time I power them down, it takes 30 seconds or so.

SR Smith also said issue #2 might be a bad LED and that I can file a warranty claim and they will send me a new LED lamp.

So my question is for issue #1 right now. Does anyone know where I can set the Omnilogic controller to "white lights" and is there another way to power the lights on and off. I am attaching the document from SR Smith that addresses this workaround to use SR Smith lights with Hayward. Are there are solutions to resolve issue #1 that I am not thinking of? For example, is there a way to purchase a separate LED controller so and use a different app to select colors for the SR Smith lights that are currently installed?

Thanks,

Mike

So I think I have figured out where I went wrong but I want to make sure I fix it correctly. I have had this pool for 3 years and it has always been so easy. I have always used tablets in a float to chlorinate without issue, well I must have had some without stabilizer previously so I didn’t realize the issue they can cause. This summer (on a new bucket of chlorox xtra blue, never used this brand before) all year I have battled high FC and CYA. Today I rolled back my solar cover to find a green pool. I was dumbfounded as to how I could have high chlorine and algae. I’m assuming the CYA (been between 100-120 all summer) is tying up my chlorine. I took out the tablets added a gallon of bleach (it’s all I had), backwashed, brushed it (came off super easy), and am running the filter all night. Will drain some water tomorrow and refill to lower CYA, but how much to drain? And then what do I do from there to get things cleared up?

I am having an algae bloom in my 18000 gallons inground pool. So far I have used 12 pounds of cal hypo. 5 pounds of acid and 4 gallons of liquid chlorine. But I can't treat it. I cleaned my cartridge filter twice and partially drained and refilled the pool. Today I added some clarifier in the hope that some of it clears.

Issues I know off. CYA was high before I partially drain. Now it is within acceptable ranges. PH is high and it has been like that since I had the pool and I can't find a way to control it. I am out of options and started to get really frustrated. I have been fighting it for a week now

My hot tub has been leaking (repairs and other efforts have been unsuccessful), and I think it's on its last legs. I'm thinking of moving it farther away from the house until it eventually dies.

Is this surface good enough for the tub's last days, do you think? The tub is a smallish 2 or 3 person unit.

I don't want to go through a major project to build the perfect pad, as the tub might not last long. But I also don't want to destroy the tub immediately with a bad surface. This is basically crushed granite (I think) with some larger rocks. It's been in place for over 10 years.

If the tub can sit here for another year or three, I'll be happy.

*Obviously, I won't blame you for my laziness if you say it might work just fine. I'm just wondering if it's almost certainly doomed to fail.*

Thank you.

My Hayward Aqualogic P8 main board has gone out. When I try to use it, it is turning the filter pump on and off every 2-3 mins and I get an "communications error 2". I ordered and received the Main board part (GLX-PCB-MAIN) and am waiting for my pool tech to install it. The filter has been off for the last 4 days and I want to avoid having to spend gobs of money on chemicals to fix the water (should I have to wait 4-7 days until I can get an appt with him).

Is there a way to by pass the Hayward system and manually turn on my VS pump and run the filter? Should I unplug the system connect at the VS pump? Help please!

Thanks in advance!

We have had an above ground pool for almost 25 years and are thinking about changing it up. The pool area is surrounded by trees, some hanging over the pool, so lots of leaves falling into the pool begins in august when trees get stressed (texas). I am curious if infinity pools have ever been designed with a diagonal wire mesh that the water overflows on, which would allow the water to go through but the leaves would be prevented from entering the overflow trough and hopefully, eventually going to ground beyond the trough? Maybe this wouldnt look so nice but am wondering if it would work to best eliminate floating leaves from a pool?

Are there any pool designs that are best for handling large volumes of leaves? I realize trimming the trees and surrounding the trees/pool with netting is an option. Thanks for your insight

Noticed water shooting out of this connection at about a hairs width. It's maybe a little hard to see it in the picture.
It seems like it happens when I set returns to spa jets and psi goes up by about 5 (10->15psi.)
When I change valves to bring pressure back down leak seems to stop.
What should I do? Is it safe to have system running with lowered psi in the meantime?

I think my pool is in very good shape chemically speaking. A friend came over today and sat by the pool and commented that my pool doesn’t smell like chlorine. My wife opined that it doesn’t because it’s a salt water pool. I explained the salt to chlorine process but I really couldn’t explain why (technically) my pool doesn’t smell of chlorine. I run pretty hot - usually over 8ppm. My CYA is around 60. I figured the stabilizer was why but wanted to check here so I would understand better. What causes a pool to smell of chlorine?

Made a rookie mistake this last weekend, and thought I'd share in case it helps someone in the future. My pool builder "estimated" the gallons of my pool at ~ 22,000. I never bothered to verify in detail, but I read how to do a quick and dirty estimate. The pool is irregular shaped, but at it's longest and widest, it is 41' x 17'. The depth varies from 4' in places to 6' in places. Since there are some curves that go in from the widest places and also on the corners, I used 40 x 15 x 5 x 7.5 (length x width x avg depth x 7.5) to come up with ~ 22,500. Since that was close to the pool builder's estimate...I decided it had to be good. Had to be good....right?

Well...I've waited the 30 days for the new plaster to cure...and time comes last weekend to put in the salt. I'm super excited about this, because I've already spent way too much in chlorine. The plaster guy's advice was to NOT put it all in at once...because "it's a lot easier to put more in than to take it out". I chuckled..and agreed.

So I did the math. I checked it twice. I'm gonna find out who's naughty...er...wait. Sorry. Got distracted there. I figured somewhere around 15 or 16 bags was going to be the right amount. Cuz I'm great at math. Easy peasy. So I put in 13 of my 16 bags, assuming I would check it after a day and then add the rest. To my surprise...was reading more than 3,600 ppm. What? Either I had somehow purchased "super potent" salt....or my math had gone wrong somewhere. After some reflection...I decided that maybe I'm not as great at math as I thought.

You see...the pool volume turned out to be no where close to 22,000 gallons. I have this gigantic tanning ledge that is included in the 41' x 17' shape, and it is only 9 inches deep. About 10' x 15' feet of my pool is only 9 inches deep. Plus...I've got two different sets of in-pool plaster stairs, and some bar seats in the pool. In short...I really screwed the pooch by assuming the pool builder's estimate was good and also messed up my initial quick verification of his number. I decided to get a little more accurate. I setup an Excel sheet and made all the rows and columns the same height/width, so that they were squares. Basically made a grid on the spreadsheet, and then I drew the pool. I dropped in water depths in each cell, which let me get more precision for the tanning ledge area, the depth gradation, and the stairs, etc. Then summed all the cells, multiplied by 7.5, and I get my number. Even threw some conditional formatting on it as a quick check for depth variations. Looks like this....



The bottom line....is that my approximate 22,000 gallon pool, was really only about 16,500. Yikes. So yes...I put in too much salt. I spent the next day filling the pool up past the overflow so that it was shedding water. Took me about 13 hours to knock it back down to 3,000 ppm, which is where I want to start my SWG journey. Will adjust up or down based on SWG production, but I figured that would be a good place to start. This should make my acid additions a little more accurate, as I've been using 22,000 as my pool volume. Yikes again.

Anyway...hope that helps someone. Now I get to start tinkering with chlorine production. Should be a fun week!

Good Evening!! I am at my whits end right now and I don't know where to turn. We got a new Jandy heater installed 2 months ago after our original heater took a Crud. Anyway we have only had our pool for 2 years so you can only imagine my frustration.

Here is the issue... when the heater turns on you hear it ignite then it shuts off. My pool guy replaced the ignator rod but then the Jandy tech said we didn't have enough gas pressure going to the heater which makes zero sense since it worked fine for the last 2 years. Anyway we called the gas company and they installed a 2lb gas meter and we had a plumber install a regulator as directed by the Jandy Tech and we still have the same issue. Now of course Jandy is saying there is a problem with the gas line but the gas company took their measurement called the water colum and it was fine. I don't know who to be angry with at this point.

Have any of you had this issue where the heater starts then stops? Eveything was working fine gas wise for over 2 years so how can this have been a problem all along? I am lost.

Hello

I noticed the whisperflow communication cable

356324Z is 25ft long… the pump and the panel are about 50 ft away..is it possible to buy two cables and configure/attach wire them together so it can reach that far?​

has it been done?

thanks

Usually I can find YouTube videos for stuff like this, but I'm coming up empty. I've attached a picture, as you can see this bubbler is broken and collecting a bunch of crud and algae. Awhile back I noticed water was running out of the conduit box, and it turned out there must be a crack in the housing for the light. I've since turned off the water to it, but while I wait to actually fix the thing, I'd like to take the cover off so I can clean it.

I've tried with both a Phillips head and Allen but cant seem to remove whatever is holding it. Is it able to come off easily?