Hi there. I’m new to this forum but not a new pool owner. We have a built in 23,000 gallon pool.

Last week we had this weird white stuff in pool and once again this weekend after swimming. I know parts of it are from trees, dog hair but the white stuff is what I am looking at. It’s not slimy at all. Wondering if it is just normal debris.

Hi,

I've had my pool for 11 years now, and I've been using the TFP protocols the entire time. I've never had a problem like this.

I opened my pool at the end of May, no issues. The weather has been so rainy and cool I never got in it during the month of June. The problem started last Tuesday. We had torrential rains all day and night - a real gully washer. As of Wed. morning, our pool looked like a cement pond - lots of dirt and mulch had washed into the pool. Unfortunately, neither my husband nor I could be home during the day to really start the clean up process. Until Friday afternoon, I was able to run our vacuum in the late afternoon, and run the pump to start filtering and backwashed it once a day until this Saturday. I also poured in enough bleach to bring it up to shock level on Thursday, but didn't keep at it since I wasn't able to be there to backwash as needed. Finally, on Saturday, I really got to work cleaning things up. Vacuuming, backwashing and adding new DE, adding chlorine. I'll admit it wasn't until Sunday that I started to keep the chlorine at shock level by testing (using the high chlorine level testing supplies) every hour or two. I did not run the pump all night because until today, I've been backwashing several times a day and didn't want to chance the pressure rising too high overnight. At this point, I haven't backwashed in over 24 hours, and my vacuum isn't picking up much debris anymore. However, the water will just not get past the light green cloudy color pictured below. I've added at least 8 gallons of 10% bleach over the past two days. Each time I'm testing the chlorine level is dropping between 5 - 7 ppm every hour to hour and a half. Clearly the chlorine is being used up, but I'm not seeing a difference in the water.

Is there something else I should be doing? Should I add more chlorine than the shock level? I used pool math to determine my shock level, base on my
CYA level. I realize that I since I couldn't clean it up right away, a lot of algae probably grew, but once the dirt and mulch was cleaned out, I expected the water to clear up a lot faster.

Any advice would be appreciated!

Thanks,

Kelley

This amazon LED light I installed a few years back now blows the GFCI outlet after a few seconds. I cant see any water inside of the enclosure, but I'll see for sure when I open it up. In any case, on INYO there seems to be a few Pentair lights that look like mine. I think its the Amerlite but not positive. (Pentair Amerlite Pool Light Parts - INYOPools.com) If this is it, which of the three gaskets should I get? I dont remember what I purchased last time.
Also does anyone have a recommendation for an 120v LED light?

Hi all, first time poster here. Our pool was completed about 3 months ago and I’ve been maintaining using liquid chlorine since startup. I’ve been slowly pouring half a gallon of 10% everyday at noon in this Houston weather, and am ready to make the switch to make maintenance less tedious. Unfortunately there wasn’t much room on the side of the house where the plumbing was installed and so the install looks like it’s going to be a little tight. I’m interested in the circupool rj60+, but wanted to check if I have enough room. I’m considering a vertical install where the inline chlorinated currently sits, or potentially installing horizontally in the plumbing run after the heater. Is there any reason that this won’t work?

I never quite understand when it says lower PH to 7.0-7.2 (which it is) and aerate to Increase PH.
My TA is 140 my PH is 7.2.
Free Chlorine is 4.5 (about to add)
CC is .5
C6N is 40(increasing slowly the last few days)
Just opened Thursday, rain on and off.

Thank you

I am careful to keep my LSI close to zero and follow the guidelines here, but it seems as though I am using a tremendous amount of chlorine. So much chlorine, in fact, that I have to add it every night. I'm wondering if I'm doing something wrong.

The chlorine chart here recommended a max FC of 7 ppm and a min of 3 ppm. And that is my target when I add chlorine each night (pH = 7.6, TA = 80, CH = 300, CYA = 40, and CC is usually 0.2 ppm or 0 using the Taylor K-2006). But when the sun comes out, my chlorine really drops so that by the next evening, 24 hours later, I'm usually at FC of 3.2 ppm. So I'm achieving my 3 ppm minimum but losing almost 4 ppm per day and I have to add 68 oz of chlorine to get back up to 7 ppm each night. That's a lot of chlorine, baby!

The pool is very clean, looks great smells great, and is exposed to sunlight much of the day. I skim the top once or twice a day, usually twice. Am I going wrong somewhere? So much chlorine so often just doesn't seem sustainable.

Who knows, I might like to occasionally take a day or two off. So I've started looking into other solutions like saltwater, UV, solar ionization, and ozone as ways to lighten my burden. Is saltwater the best way to lighten my load?

So how do professional pool cleaners do it? There is absolutely no way that a pool cleaner could dump chlorine in my pool once a week and keep it above 3 ppm. Are they just pretending to clean your pool? What am I missing? Thank you in advance for your response.

I have a Waterways cartridge filter (installed about 7 years ago) with a 1.5hp, 2 speed pump with a side discharge (to the cartridge filter). The pool is a 15x30 pool. The cartridge is new (installed about 6 weeks ago). Between the pump and the return, there is a Raypak heater, check valve and frog leap.

Recently, when the pump is running on high, it will run and then shut off without warning (the timing it runs varies). When it shuts off, I can flip the speed to low, and after waiting about 10 minutes, I can flip the speed back to high. However, this is short term as it will eventually shut itself off again. The pump will start directly on high. Is this is a symptom of the thermal protection cutting off?

If so, based on the age, does it make sense to replace the motor, or even potentially, the entire pump assembly (including the pre filter basket, etc)? I am considering replacing the entire pre filter as one of the drain plugs leaks and it has been difficult to find a replacement. If so, any recommendations? I am also open to upgrading to variable speed.

Attached are photos of the labels on the pump motor.

(I assume that I do not need to replace the cartridge filter portion since I have no issues with that).

Hello, newbie here. We are currently on day 3 of slamming our pool. Pool water remains cloudy despite the following readings:
FC 12
CYA 40
CC 0
I went ahead and added liquid chlorine to maintain a shock level FC 16. Have been vacuuming and cleaning the pool daily. We have a DE filter which we’ve cleaned periodically but have not been adding DE. I am thinking that this is the issue. Your thoughts would be most appreciated.

New here! Stumbled upon your website upon watching another video made by Inyo that referenced this site. This is the best resource on pools! Thank you for all that you do!

We noticed loose travertine coping last night while swimming. The three piece in the center of the photo are easily removed....exposing the concrete underneath. I was hoping someone can advise: What is the best adhesive and grout product to repair the issue?

Is there a simple way to post a single pool log for informational purposes on future posts. I'll apologize now for not being tech savvy, I usually just type the data in, but I need to learn how to get one from pool math to future posts in the forums. Thanks

Hello. I've been testing my free chlorine with the fas-dpd powder. When I pour the 2 scoops and swirl, I see very small clumps at the bottom that don't completely dissolve. Does this mean the powder is bad? Does it affect the results of the test? Or not a big deal?

Test

Help a frustrated old man......

Sand getting into my pool.. Did the normal Google and Forum search.. No real results...

Have a Hayward S244T filter. Changed my sand this season and have been fighting sand getting back into my pool. I added 4, 25 pound bags of ZeoSand-50. Started getting sand in my pool right away. I did backwash to clean out the trash first.
Changed out my Lateral Assembly - same problem...
Installed a new Multi-Port Valve as my old one had a glued in spyder seal - same problem
Removed about 1/3 of the sand - same problem
New sand. so not too much backwash needed.

One thing I did notice is that the lateral pipe fits a little lose on the port valve. Wonder if sand is getting because of this?

I've tossed all the stuff that I know to do..... Any suggestions????

Thank you,

tom

Hi. I have an ~30k gallon vinyl pool with an SWG. I am unable to get rid of the algae consistently. There are times it will subside then other times it starts to pick up again on the walls/deep end removable ladder stairs. The pool water itself is mostly clear, a little cloudy towards the deep end. The algae is on the the vinyl surface/ladder stairs. I replaced my T-15 cell (it was 14 years old) 2 weeks ago and the main board last season. SWG displays salt at 3800 and voltage/amps show it is generating. Below are the test results I ran this morning with TF-Pro Salt kit. I know the Chlorine levels are low but I just spent the last week slowly adding CYA as the pool was showing very low. Hoping they raise now that the CYA level is much better.

I am at my wits end (and a lot poorer). Any help would be greatly appreciated. BTW, the main stairs (white) will also at times start to turn orangish. If I sprinkle vit. c on them, it immediately cleans them. Thank you.

FC - 1
CC - 1.5
Calcium Hardness - 25
Alkalinity - 90
CYA - 80
Salt - 4000/4200
PH - 7.3ish (between colors)

Hello,

New to TFP but this is our second summer with the pool. Best thing we ever did was put in this pool but of course, I stress over keeping it in the best condition I can. I've relied on pool store water testing but after reading through the posts, ordered a Taylor k-2006 test kit from Amazon (I'm near Toronto and can't find anywhere else). It should arrive in the next couple of days and I am looking forward to testing everything.

Thank you for all of the information here and I am sure I will ask for advice at some point and hopefully can contribute in the coming years as I learn more.

New to forum long time above ground pool owner in Wisconsin 4 years to In ground Florida pool.
We had our pool resurfaced 6 weeks ago with a contracted company. They were contracted for resurface ,28 day start up , and replacement/ updated our existing filter system (pre resurface start up.
To our bad luck it has it that our new system was not running upon start and not filtering circulating properly for 2 weeks post resurface. Contractor was aware and we resolved by hiring a second contractor address the issues and get filter system going.
Which leads me to my question to address. With our filter system not running properly and chemistry levels not maintained properly I believe that we have black algae / black spots popping on the new surface.
I addressed the black spots coming out with the start up tech (Which is now finished with his 28 days) His statement was of those are not brushing off ? My thought is you should know this if you were brushing the pool per contract... His answer was Probably black algae .. His suggestions was add granular trichlor to pool and steel brush to break up heads. But the surface is just 6 weeks new in all my research the past 2 years this seems not to be advised. Stuck here on what to do Do not want black algae but also do not want to harm surface/ coloring. (Diamond Brite Super Blue) Side not this is 2nd resurface In a year. Two Different contractors
Looking for some some answers and good advice to proceed here
Consuming and Stressed
Thanks
Holly

I've searched and read everything I can find on TFP about cloudy pools after phosphate removal. Yes, first lesson was "don't do that." I sort-of did it to myself, and asked the pool store what I could do because my numbers were 4000+ ppm on phosphate. ( I found TFP after my pool store visit and subsequent effects. ) So, I dumped 1 qt. of BioGuard zero phos into the skimmer. ( Probably, the second mistake I made as I will not pour anything into the skimmer again. ) Bottle says that water will cloud up, but should clear over the next two days. Well, I'm going into the fourth week of cloudy water. I started a SLAM two days ago. Yes, I understand it is a process and may take a week.

Notes about pool if they did not appear in my signature: Indoor pool, 30,000 gal, vinyl, SWG.
Latest test results:
FC = 20
CYA = 50
PH = 7.4
TA = 140
CH = 225
NaCl = 3500

I am just asking if I am going in the right direction. I am holding FC at 20 ( CYA = 50 ). My OCLT is = 1 or less.

I have a leak where the tube connects from the pump to the sand filter, it seems to be right at the base of the tube. The clamps that came with it I couldn't get to clamp well so I got some hose clamps from Menards. They are as tight as they can get. Don't seem to have any leaks on the pump end but have this on the sand filter end.

I hover around 2800ppm salt in my pool. Until about 18 days ago, at 32% SWG I've been getting a steady increase of chlorine. Today I just did my FC/pH test (I do this every 2-3 days) and FC is actually going down. It's at 4.5 right now and my SWG is at 39%. I know last week we had temps exceeding 100F, so I'm not sure if that had something to do with it.

I'm not sure if this is normal or if my salt levels / SWG has an issue. I can of course bump my SWG higher, but I wanted to check in first. I'm still learning!

PoolMath logs are available if you would like to view them.

About to be first time pool owner here. Should be getting the keys to the new place in the next two weeks. I’ve been scouring this site, Swim University, and SwimmingPoolSteve to try and get the basics down. Wish us luck and I’m sure I’ll be posting soon as we start to move in.

Hi!!! I’ve followed TFPs recommendations to a T this summer and have had the best water I’ve ever had in the past 10 years. I’m so thankful for your guidance

My issue is - I don’t have smooth water. I do generally keep my chlorine on the higher end of the acceptable range but I’ve let it drift down. I’d like to add salt but I’m so afraid of messing up a good thing.

Can u give me step by step instructions for how to add this?

Current readings:
FC 5
CC 0
pH 7.8
TA 80
CH 150
CYA 50

* interestingly my water was smooth for about a day after I added stabilizer to get my CYA up. I use only liquid chlorine in my pool for sanitizing

Thank you for your help!!!

My CYA slowly dropped to 60 with dilution and I noticed I needed to turn the output up a little on my SWG to maintain my FC. I did raise there CYA back to 75 (and may go a little more just to see what happens) and I was able to turn the output down. I know my chlorine use depends on weather, temp and pool load. Just curious if anyone else sees this correlation. This is my first year with a SWG and I love it! I don't miss all of the little bleach spots on my clothes.

27 X 52 round pool. liner coming from pool warehouse. 25 mil unibead. boy they sure try to confuse you with dimensions in mil and gauge.

Having someone install it, which was tough to find as we are out of the city.

anything I should prepare for? I have ordered a new skimmer basket and nozzle.

also what is the pool liner lifetime out there?

Hi,
My Aqua Trol RJ unit is reporting a "No Flow". When I turn it off and back on, it will go 5-10 seconds before the "Inspect Cell" light momentarily flashes on and then the "No Flow" light goes on. I've inspected the cell, flushed it out, backwashed the filter, everything looks clean and I have strong flow. It was also working at the start of the season and then just started doing this. The cell is about 5y old.
Given that the RJ unit doesn't have a flow switch, is there something on the board that I can replace without having to replace the whole board or is this simply the cell being at the end of its life?

Thanks!

We have a intex 1500 pump/sandfilter.. it only works in neutral neutral position. We've changed the sand this year and that didn't help. The pump is 1 season old. We recently changed to filter balls.. still no improvement. Our pool is only a 10x16x3.5... the filter has been disassembled and cleaned twice this year and new O rings installed. Does anyone have any idea what the problem would be? Thank you...

A week before we opened the pool for the summer we fixed a broker lateral and put new sand in. Now. About 2 months after changing everything the jets no longer are blowing and the filter has no pressure. I need any tips possible. I have a company that’s suppose to come out but they have yet to give me a date. TIA

I'm having a strange issue with CYA level in my 26K gal pool: I am observing a steadily decreasing level of CYA over the past few days via the Taylor K-2006 CYA test.

The recent history of this pool is that I took over maintenance a couple weeks ago and found that it had no detectable CYA level, which neatly explains the phenomenon described by the prior 2 pool maintainers that claimed they couldn't get the pool to retain chlorine. I then raised the CYA to 40 by adding 8.2 lbs of granular CYA to it, performed a 6 day SLAM where I vacuumed to waste several times, and have been keeping the pool at 5-8 ppm FC for the past 5 days. After vacuuming to waste several times, I likely cycled ~20% of the water out of the pool and refilled it using a mix of untreated well water and softened water. The CYA level was 30 immediately after completing the SLAM 5 days ago.

Since completing the SLAM, I have been monitoring the FC loss and it was above 5 ppm / day at CYA of 30. I have added 2.05 lb of granular CYA twice in the past 5 days, with the goal of reducing the FC loss rate. At first, I saw the CYA go from 30 to 40 after adding the first 2 lbs, but since adding the second 2 lbs, the test kit shows CYA *dropping*, which I found very surprising. I tested this morning after adding the 2 x 2 lbs of CYA over the past 2 days, which I would expect to show CYA of 50 (30 + 10 + 10). Instead I'm seeing a CYA of 30. I am reticent to continue adding CYA since I know reducing CYA often requires a partial draining of the pool.

A potentially relevant piece of information here is that I have a Taylor K-2006 kit, which only came with enough test reagent for 6 CYA tests. I ordered a 16 oz refill container of the CYA test reagent and have been using this reagent for recent tests. Since my searches of the forum suggest that it's not possible to suddenly start losing 10 ppm CYA / day, is it possible that this reagent refill I ordered has gone bad? Is there a way I can test if the reagent is bad?

Any insights here are welcome, thanks for reading.

I’ve been getting a lot of blue sand which I’m guessing is plaster in the Polaris bag. I do see splotches in spots and a few small white spots. I’m wondering what I can do to stop this and if I’m doing something wrong.

We moved here last august so it’s all still relatively new to us. I believe the pool is about 9 years old.

I’ll attach the photo and this morning my results are:

Fc 40
PH 7.8
TA 80
Cya 50
Ca 390

I added a lot of calcium this year to get it up and also keep adding acid to keep ph low since we have a waterfall and it creeps up.

Thanks

Am I starting to see a pattern of when my FC is low I don't have as much uv loss as when it is high? EXAMPLE : Say I start out in the morning with a FC of 20 and loose 7-8 ppm by sunset..........but if I start at FC of 10 in the morning I only loose 4-5 by sunset. cya, ambient temp, uv index all would be the same for both scenarios in the example. Thanks