Last week I tested my calcium hardness and the result was 307. I could be mistaken, but I think the Pool Math app told me that level was fine when I entered it. Now it’s a week later and I’ve added some other updated results (TA went down by 20), and the app is telling me the calcium hardness is too low. It is recommending 450 (ideal range 350-550 and safe range up to 650!)

The app recommendation seems quite high when I see other places online recommend for it to be between 200 and 400 for a plaster pool.

What is causing this high CH recommendation and can I trust it?

I have a large shallow area with 3 channels that go to a huge landing. All are about 4" to 6" in depth. I want to clean it with a 25 micron bag. I can clean larger debris with a net. I've called, asked, but no one seems to have a good solution for under $500, or even $1000. Below are some things I have tried and researched:

1. Call Bottom Feeder. Great vacuum for 4" area. However, they don't make heads that is about 8" wide to clean my 12" and 24" wide channels. It's also about $1500 with the smallest micron bag of 57 or attach a 60 sf filter.
2. Someone suggest to brush and push it to the main pool area and let riptide do the job. Lot of labor to brush and pushing it out one channel sucks in the other channel. A lot of work for little result.
3. Riptide or hammerhead requires at least 12" depth.
4. I used a pondovac or similar. Hoses, electrical cables, tubes, weak suction, and stops every 30 seconds is time consuming and too may parts to setup and carry. The other end drains out into a 25 micron bag.
5. Pool side/skimmer suction hose. Hoses requiring water filled to work, and it would just suck it right into my filter. Don't want that either.
6. Pool Blaster: Portable, but requires 12" depth. No go.
7. I looked and tried the Kokido xtrovac 200. It's tiny and was similar to using a handheld vacuum on a whole primary bedroom floor. They have the kokido 410 which looks promising, but I don't know if it will do 4" shallow area. Also, the smallest micron bag is 250 microns.

If I may ask you to put on your engineering cap, please make suggestions on what is the most efficient, cost effective way get the best and quickest result in cleaning the shallow area. I want something portable with a re-sizeable head to do 18" or 8" wide. I want something powerful like the bottom feeder (I think around 18 gallons/minute) and do small debris that could be heavy like a small pebble) and run off a 12v lifepo4 battery like the riptide. I want something that can connect to standard pool pole. I'll provide the manual labor as long as it provide quick results.

For reference, the tile is 16x16. The length of the steps is almost 40 ft long.

Hey all,

I have a cabin in the woods. Off grid. very wooded and shaded.

Would love to have a stock pool but it is a little tricky since no power or water. 6ft poly round. Let me know if this will work -

Since I am only there every other weekend I will need to set this to work while I am gone: I will set it to catch rain run off my metal roof (I do this for my non drinking water for 15 years). I'll have it go through a filter and I will put a chlorine tab in it to make sure it comes into the stock tank clean and chloroinzed. I will keep the tank completely covered so nothing can get in and no light can enter as well. I will set up a solar powered pond pump to create some water movement in the tank during day time to prevent stagnation. Only during day time will it move the water.

Next when I come there, and assuming it will be full, I will run a sand filter and UV filter as well as adjust the chlorine level of the water

I will let this run for 3 hours or so. I then think I can use it. Right? I will run it every day while I am there for 3 hours on the sand filter and uv filter.

Then before leaving I will raise the chlorine level to be on the higher side, put in a chlorine floater, and set up the solar pump again. I won't let any rain run off to go in again and keep it covered really well to prevent anything falling in or light getting in there.

When I get back a week or so later I will repeat the process of the sand filter and uv.

I will empty it before winter.

Please let me know if this should work.

Uri

Hi all, I'm a first-time pool owner and excited (and a little nervous!) to be taking over the maintenance. The pool had service today, and the water is currently clear. I've got the basics covered – a TFPro test kit, a Dolphin Nautilus CC Supreme cleaner, a net, vacuum, and brush. I'm trying to get ahead of things and stock up on chemicals before I start testing the water next week. What chemicals do you all recommend having on hand for general maintenance and balancing? Any advice for a newbie would be greatly appreciated

Have customer with 5 year old plaster (new pool). Has some extensive copper staining (using some “blue” chlorine product).

Plaster feels smooth to the touch.

See pics. This forum has me paranoid about acid washes now.

I'm in need of yet another skimmer basket. My last two have gotten stuck and were destroyed when removing them. We have a few very large magnolia trees around us and on a windy day our basket can get full which causes a major suction issue and pulls the basket down and it gets stuck. When I'm talking stuck, I mean majorly stuck. It usually takes half an hour to get it out. Yesterday when destroying another basket I notice a lip around one portion of the skimmer housing itself, about 4-5 inches below the water line, which I'm hoping to find a basket with a wide enough on top that it'll sit on that lip and not be able to be pulled down when it gets full of leaves.

A quick measure this morning was about 9 inches in diameter but all the baskets I'm finding are 8in or less. Anyone know of larger baskets or where to find them?

The first basket we had was this one and it worked well but it still got stuck and as sturdy as it was, was a huge headache to get unstuck. I'm thinking I need at least 8.5-9in in diameter basket with a lip on it as well. Any recommendations?

Hi all
I can’t get my Polaris 280 to clean this side of the pool.

I swear I have tried every direction of the thrust. The Polaris refuses to go to the circled part of shallow end. Every time It is headed there It turns right. I have tried 9 o clock on the thrust. Nothing. Any other ideas?

Thanks all!
Louis

Hello everyone.

I won't pretend to know anything about fluid dynamics or whatever, so I figured I'd ask here.

My pump is currently plumbed like this:

In order to get enough suction to my Hayward The PoolCleaner to get to ~11rpm, I need to turn the 3 way valve to like 4:30-5:00, blocking off most of the flow to the skimmer and main drain. What happens when I do this though, is it appears that the negative pressure actually seems to cause the water to start degassing. It gets loud and I see a lot of bubbles forming in the pump basket cover.

I'm wondering if 1.5" pipe is just too small for the way it's plumbed here, and if perhaps setting it up like this would may any difference at all:


Like I said, I know nothing about this kind of stuff, but I feel like logically this just makes sense to me.

Thank You!

I can't figure out what this code is. I have replaced both temperature sensors. Cut the power on, The water temperature displays, pump comes on for a minute and then cuts off and this code displays and you hear a clicking noise from the control box.

First post. I have the Taylor TF-100 test kit. For some reason, I get pretty different test results. See table below:


I am taking water samples from the same spot each time. I am using the Chlorine only test tube. I rinse it out with tap water and dry it with a paper towel after every test.

I'm new to testing the water myself so is this fairly normal? Is it within the expected MoE?

Does anyone have any recommendations on a joint sealer for around my concrete and steps into the pool? I have attached a pic of the joint I would like to caulk. Or maybe comments on whether I should or shouldn’t seal this joint, thx

When we bought our house the pool already had a Hayward Aquarite SWG installed in it. We have had some bumps along the way with it, had to replace a control board once (~$400) and about 5 years ago had to replace the salt cell (not sure how old the cell was so it might have just been at the end of it's life). Then toward the end of the season last year I was getting some very wonky readings, low salt, then high salt, then normal, etc with no changes. Checked the cell it looked good, then when putting things away for the winter I found the plug for the cell where it plugs into the controller all burnt up. So it is looking like we are going to have to replace the whole system. Looking for recommendations, should I stay with Hayward, is there something better to consider out there? This is an in-ground 18x24 with deep end pool (Estimate 24k gallon) located in southern Michigan.

I have noticed over the past few weeks white crystals growing on the chrome surfaces of my lights. When you brush them off you can see pitting of the surface. Any ideas what would be causing this? The only other metal surfaces in my pool are the stainless screws that hold down the drain cover and the stainless water bond in my skimmer. Neither of those have crystal growth. I don't see it on the white fiberglass, but it would be hard to see.

My water is decently balanced and has been for a while. 50 CYA, FC 5.0 / CC 0.5, pH 7.4, TA 90 (but was 110-130 for the past couple of months), CH 320. I haven't had any major upsets. I have been using a combination of trichlor tablets and liquid chlorine mainly to ensure I don't lost track of the chlorine as I am learning. I plan to move to only liquid chlorine within a couple of weeks. I use dry acid to lower pH as our fill water is close to 8.0. This a brand new fiberglass pool that was first filled around mid-February with municipal water. I do have some iron staining on the whole surface of the pool that I need to address. I believe it is from soil getting into the water during landscaping work. We have a decent amount of iron in our soil. I have not tested for metals but I did the VitC test and it got rid of the stain. I'm trying to think of any other clues you may need.

Thanks for your help.

Hi all, after hours and hours of research, I finally found a replacement for my Hayward Colorlogic 12v AC pool lights. I thought I would post my solution here in case anyone is in a similar boat. There weren't many search results for my criteria, so hopefully this will help others find a solution. Please let me know if this is not the right place to post this.

I struggled to find anything suitable for my situation - I did not want to spend the $1,300 per light for a direct replacement since Hayward lights are finicky, and I do not trust Florida Sunseekers because of their lack of UL/ETL rating. Cheap Amazon lights were a definite no-go. Pentair Amerlite appears to be discontinued, Hayward Astrolite out of stock everywhere, and the majority of other listings were 120V or $800+. I already have a 120V -> 12/13/14v AC transformer installed and preferred to stay at 12v AC.

Buried under the Hayward Astrolite parts is the InyoPools Pureline 12v AC fixture:

I don't know why it doesn't show up as a result when searching, but the fixture is UL/ETL rated, a fraction of the price of other fixtures (hopefully only because of demand, not because of poor quality... I'll report back in a year), and is a drop-in replacement for the Hayward Colorlogic.

Now onto the hard part of running the new cord through the conduit... I have fish tape so we'll see how it goes. Open to advice!

Willerd

The pool I inherited reduces the 2" coming out of the main pool pump. It's still 2" coming out of the filter. It's there a reason for this? Is it good, bad, neither?

New pool owner and recent joiner here. We purchased a home with a pool 6 weeks ago and I think I’ve managed to keep things well enough in order. Here are today’s levels and the pool details:

TA: 100
pH: 8.0
FC: 5.4
CC: 0.0
CYA: 30-40
CH: 300
Temp: 78

15k gal concrete pool with PebbleTec finish. VS pump running at 2200 rpm for 8 hours per day, plus 1 hour at 2500 rpm for the robot.


A few things I’ve noticed:

- My pH likes to climb. We’ve had a lot of rain lately which is affecting my levels, but I also think our water features (waterfall & fountain in the spa) are contributing to these quick pH climbs. Any suggestions for stabilizing things or is this pretty normal? I’m adding acid weekly to bring it from the 8.0 range to 7.4.

- Are there any issues with using both Trichlor pucks and liquid chlorine as sanitizers? I have a 25 lb bucket of Trichlor left over from the prior owner and I’d rather not waste it. I’ve also purchased some 10% LC per the TFP quorum’s recommendations. Since my CYA isn’t high, I’d think I can sanitize using a combined approach until I run out of Trichlor or my CYA climbs too much. Any concerns with this approach?

- I get some calcium scale on my tiles, but my CH is well within range. Is this a function of high pH? We do have hard water here in TX, but CH is in range despite the scale appearing.

All things considered though, it’s been an enjoyable experience so far. The prior owner left the pool in great condition. This, plus buying a Taylor K-2006 have made things pretty simple for far.

Cheers

I can't seem to find a 2 speed pump for an inground spa that is set up with pool type equipment and that has pump basket, etc., for inground set up. Of course, lots of 2 speed spa pumps out there without a pump basket. Current set up is a Sta-Rite Dura-glas Dual Speed Pump connected to a compool LX3810 panel with spa side control. We're quote a new heater and filter along with the pump that would still work with the compool system. Any suggestions?

I cleaned my DE filter at the season start. It seemed like there was WAY too much DE. It holds 6-pounds. I was told to add 4.5 pounds after backwashing. I just completed a SLAM for mustard algae and am done. I have been only adding 3-pounds after backwash. Is that okay?

I was totally surprised at the amount of DE in the filter when I took it apart. I almost could not lift the filter put it was soooooo heavy.

Thanks

Followup to my first post as a new pool owner over the weekend. Pool company opened pool last Thursday and dumped in chlorine and algicide (water was fairly clear to begin with but a fair amount of dirt/sediment on the bottom. I've vacuumed/brushed everything so the walls and bottom are clean but the water is still a bit cloudy. I can see the bottom, just not crystal clear. I'll run an OCLT tonight/tomorrow morning; but here are the results as of this morning. Anything else I should try or am I just being impatient? Still waiting for my comfort level/experience to grow so I can get to the "trouble-free" feelings, appreciate you all!

FC- 8
CC- 0.5
CH- 125
PH- 7.2(ish)
TA- 40
CYA- negligible (filled tube with my back to the sun and could still see the dot)

I just opened my pool and started heating it up.
I was curious about how much heat energy I was getting on a clear sunny day. I asked Chat GPT to calculate the btu’s required to heat the water from 12C(54F) to 18C(64F) at 50gpm. It came up with 270,000 btu per hour. I’ve got ten 4x12 panels.

Hi Everyone,
I live in the Atlanta area and just opened my IG pool 1 week ago because I was waiting on a new Hayward sand filter. (New filter and sand now in place) However, the pool was dark green swampy looking once the cover came off.

My local pool store (which I know you guys are not big on) recommended Soda Ash, followed by a 'Green to Clean' product, followed by 4lbs of shock every 12 hours. The 'Green to Clean' definitely changed the water from swampy dark green to a milky white, but for the last 6 days of running the pump 24 hrs and constantly adding clarifier and some shock, the pool is still cloudy. (I can see the bottom of the pool in the shallow end but still can't see the main drain on the deep end) It's strange because I thought the clarifier is supposed to bind all those particles for the filter to capture, but I don't think it's working because the pressure gauge continues to read normal. I was going to go back to their store today to figure out what to do next, but while reading this site with folks having similar issues, I'm now concerned about the negative affects of the clarifiers on my new sand filter.

For what it's worth, these are the last readings (4/26) from the pool store:
0.5 Free Chlorine * Chlorine is low because they told me not to hook up my SWG until the pool was clear
2.18 Total Chlorine
7.0 pH
95 TA
233 Calcium Hardness
34 CYA
2000 Salt

Not sure what to do next and would appreciate your recommendations.
BTW, because of this site I did order the test kit you all recommend, which was just delivered this morning and why I'm posting today.

Thanks much, Don

Hi All!

I have inherited a Pentair Wisperflo WFE-2, 1/2 HP pump (Link) for the fountain (the fountain is about 660-700 Gal). There's no filter, just a pump, so keeping the water clear is a bit of a pain... I was thinking of plumbing in a sand filter after the pump, but I don't want to add a huge one, given the size of the fountain. Considering something like a 14" (which is already an overkill, but can't find anything smaller...) sand by Raypak (Link), but it has 29 PSI max working pressure, and according to Pentair support, the pump's working pressure is 40 PSI (well, they weren't too specific... they said "40-60 PSI", but after repeated inquiries, said that the "normal working pressure is 40 PSI").

Please advise.

Thank you!

Our pool pump (Hayward Variable Speed) started making a strange, pulsating noise (like a beating heart). It is only 2 years old (only 2 summers, starting on the 3rd). It might be clogged (I briefly saw a "check for clogging" message on the screen, but can't find the message anymore), but no debris was
found in the impeller from the basket side access.
Has anyone experienced that issue?
Just checking before we take it apart...

I have a the pool cleaner, four wheel model on my inground pebble pool. The suction source is a dedicated port in the middle of the pool. Because of plumbing issues beyond my control, long runs, and many bends, my suction level at that port is not as high as I believe would be optimal. I do what I can to get the cleaner to move well but it’s slow. My question is, does the size of the throat inlet, small, medium, or large, make a difference in how efficiently it moves? Does the small or medium throat make for higher flow speed through the turbines making it move faster,, or do they restrict flow more than the large making it move slower, such that the large would allow more water to go through. Yes, I can try the different options, but I was just looking for some physics ideas to improve things. thanks in advance.

I have a 4 year old Anchor Solid Vinyl pool cover that keeps tearing. I use gorilla tape to patch some holes and vinyl patches to repair tears on the bottom and top. Does anyone know of a product that I can put on the cover that will wear better. I have 2 border collies that run across it because that is what they like to do.

I would like to use this as a pool-safe perimeter fence and am wondering what I'm up against. This would allow me to tear down a smaller wrought iron fence that is closer to the pool.

Reading city codes, I'm not seeing anything to rule this out, but I think I need to:

1. Raise the latches to 60" off the ground
2. Install springs to make them self-closing

Does that sound right? First priority is safety, but secondary I would like it to be able to pass inspection if we sell the home someday.

TL;DR
I can't for the life of me keep my FC up in my 12,000 gallon. Used to use tablets causing skyrocketing CYA. Just balanced everything best I could, and installed a SWCG rated for 25,000g, still waking up with 0 FC in the morning.

Hello TFP.

This is my first time here, but I probably should have joined a long time ago, and maybe saved myself a lot of headaches.

It's going to take a decent amount of history and details to fully describe my issues, so please bear with me.

My family and I moved into our house near Datyona, FL, with a 12,000 gallon inground plaster pool, in late 2019. The pool is screened in, but has two very large trees directly above the screen, which certainly contribute to my issues. We have well water, so I assume the original fill(s) were from the well, and the 2 subsequent refills since I've had it were also from the well, more on that later. The filter is a 36sqft Hayward DE filter. The pump used to be an older 1.0HP Hayward, but I upgraded to a 1.5HP Super II.

For the first ~3 years everything was fine. I would throw 2 tablets a week into the inline dispenser, test regularly with a Taylor K-2005, and balance as necessary.

Now, to when the issues started...

The first time the pool went totally green was a combination of equipment failure, and neglect. Around winter time, probably 2022, can't remember exactly, the old Hayward pump broke down. Now, my wife, bless her soul, told me not to worry about it right away, that her grandfather used to let their pool turn completely green over the winter, and always got it back up for summer. Unfortunately... that's exactly what I did. I put off replacing the pump right away, and let it turn into a swamp. Come spring time, I bought and plumbed in the Super II pump, and began the process of trying to get the pool back to swimmable conditions. That went about as good as you'd expect, so eventually I just drained it and refilled it, everything was "normal" again for several months.

Fast forward to fall 2023. I was hospitalized, had surgery, and was out of commission for a few months. The pool turned into a swamp once more, and when I was back on my feet, I drained and refilled it... again...

As before, things were "ok" for a couple months, but then the real problems seemed to start. I was using more and more chlorine tablets, eventually getting up to 5 a week, but I always seemed to have 0 free chlorine. I would shock with liquid chlorine, and every other type of shock you can imagine, and even with 5 tablets in the dispenser, I'd have 0 FC a couple days later. It was about this time that I learned that tablets contained CYA, which I did not know. After refilling, I added enough CYA to get to ~40ppm, and having put 5 tablets in per week, my CYA was off the charts. I'm assuming this was causing it to have extremely low effectiveness.

Fast forward once more to October 2024. We're on vacation in Nashville when hurricane Milton hits. Thankfully we didn't have much damage, but upon returning, the pool was pretty green, especially from all the rain filtering down through the trees and debris on the screen. I realized the next day that the filter wasn't turning on, and found that the breaker had tripped. I visually inspected the pump, which looked fine, turned the breaker on, and the motor immediately exploded, shooting sparks 10 feet in every direction. I thought, not that big of a deal, stuff happens, and ordered a new motor.

It took over a week to get the new motor, so I was just pouring liquid chlorine and algaecide in as much as possible and stirring it up, but it stayed pretty green. Once I installed the motor, I shocked it with like 10 gal of LC, used drop-out flocculant, let it sit another week, then vacuumed all the sludge to waste. I started running the DE filter again, changing DE several times over the course of the day, and was making progress, until... I looked out the window and noticed the water level had dropped a foot. Three of the brass lugs where the motor connects to the pump housing had pulled out, and water was just spraying everywhere. Admittedly, this was my fault, I probably overtightened them and weakened the bond. So now I had to wait for a new pump housing. I also didn't have enough room to work with the pipes glued into the select-a-flow valve, so had to order a new one of those too. Of course, between waiting for all these parts and having the time to do the work, it got green again. I shocked, flocc'd, vacc'd, and got everything back to "normal" once more. This time though, I was dosing LC instead of tablets.

After replacing ALL of this equipment, and doing all this work, I decided that I wanted to convert to saltwater, in hopes that it would be easier, and I ordered a CircuPool Edge 25. I balanced everything to the manufacturer's specs, with the exception of TA which was at 160, and installed the SWCG on Friday, 4/25.

Before turning on the SWG my levels were as follows:
FC 3
CC No discernable difference
pH 7.6
TA 160
CH 380
Salt 3500
CYA 40
Borate 25

I set the chlorine level right in the middle to see how that would go, and ran it all day Saturday, 8 hrs. Unfortunately, I was unable to test Saturday evening, but on Sunday morning, my FC was 0, and CC was barely any different. I am pretty sure it is generating chlorine, because the cell is clear and I can see gasses coming off the titanium plates. Yesterday, I ran it on boost mode for the entire 8 hours, and in the evening FC was 0, and CC again was different, but barely.

Absolutely flabbergasted as to how this was happening, I thought it HAD to be something that required super chlorination. I threw in a bag of cal-hypo AND a gallon of 10% LC last night. That should have been enough to bring the FC to at least 20+. I also wanted to bring down my TA and raise my CYA, so I added 32oz of muriatic acid and 1.5lb of CYA granules.

This morning, less than 8 hours after adding all that chlorine, my levels were:
FC 3
CC 5
pH 7.2
TA 150
CYA still ~40 but ofc it dissolves slow
others same as above.

I should also mention that I took a sample to Leslie's and, per their test, I have no phosphates, 0.1ppm iron, and 0.2ppm copper. I got one of those CuLator metal absorbing packets and stuck it in my skimmer basket.

What could possibly be going on to make the chlorine disappear so fast. The water is clear, there's no visible algae, no excess debris. How can I be sure the SWCG is working properly?

I'm really lost here.

I don't know what to try next.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you, and I'm sorry for rambling for so long.

Does adding 90-degee turns reduce water pressure and flow like adding them to HVAC ducting does to air flow? I have to add some in for a SWG I'm thinking of putting in and was wondering. I know the SWGs have pressure requirements (max usually). I'm thinking of the RJ-60+ by Circupool.
TIA

Hi everyone, I have an older M600, and it looks like the cable has failed — the copper inside the swivel has corroded. I know the part I need is 9995899-DIY, but finding it at a reasonable price (or even finding it at all) has been tough. I’ve already reached out to Maytronics for support. I was wondering if anyone here has experience with these cleaners and, more specifically, if there’s an alternative part that might be compatible. It’s a 3-wire, 60-foot cable — would any other 3-wire cable work as a replacement?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Hi all, had a quick question for the group regarding our current water level. We're located in the KC metro area, and have our fair share of rain this spring season so far. The water level is getting high and the mesh safety cover is sitting in the water. We're scheduled to open our pool on May 19th, but I'm wanting to know if we should be draining off any water prior to this, or if it's a moot point. We have a submersible pump from the winter that we could use. Attached a photo for reference. Thank you for any and all feedback/advice!