Trouble Free Pool

Your pool must be protected from germs, bacteria, algae and a variety of other organics. Without reservation, chlorine is simply the best sanitizer for your outdoor pool. There are other sanitizers available but, in one way or another, they all fall short of chlorine.

It is important to be aware of the calcium hardness (CH) level of your water. The CH level is especially important for pools with surfaces below the water line that contain calcium, such as plaster, pebble, gunite, concrete, quartz, tile, or stone. But all pool owners need to control their CH level to some extent.

In general, most TFP members who follow the TFP Pool School – Recommended Levels page have no need to be concerned with CSI. Those parameters help to keep the CSI well balanced.

In this article we will help you determine if you have Organic Stains caused by leaves or debris or Inorganic Stains caused by iron or copper. Then we will help you remove the stains and prevent them in the future. 

This guide covers smaller pools that have the advantage of a simple water change if ever needed. Seasonal pools on TFP are described as following

• Above ground pool with less than 3000 gallons
• Pool where the liner can simply be put into place wrinkle free without the weight of the water
• Pools that are or could be completely drained and stored each winter

It’s a sad truth that owning a pool sometimes means having a leak either in the pool itself or in the plumbing and filtration system. These leaks can come in three varieties, one that draws air into the plumbing system and two that allow water to leak out of the pool, the first of these being the plumbing and the second being a leak in the pool vessel itself. 

What it is – One of the most common mechanical pool issues, a suction side leak can be difficult to find. The effect is just like using a straw with a hole in it. A suction side air leak shows itself most commonly by bubbles and splashing and frothing in the pump basket This indicates your pump is not getting the water it needs to function smoothly but, instead, air is getting into the system and starving or semi-starving the pump. The pump basket can have absolutely no water whatsoever (that’s when it “loses prime”) or it can have a mixture of water and air frothing around, or it can be a stream of tiny bubbles…..often easy to overlook. In any case, it is still an air leak and should be fixed.

There are two reasons to lower your total alkalinity (TA) right away, because you want to slow down the rate that the PH rises, or if high TA is contributing to a high calcium saturation index (CSI) which puts you at risk of calcium scaling. You shouldn’t lower TA just to reach a target number. Make sure you actually have one of the above issues before lowering your TA. 

This following step-by-step article will help you transform your pool from Biguanide (Baquacil, SoftSwim hereafter referred to as Baqua) to chlorine. There are a few main advantages of keeping a chlorine pool instead of a Baqua pool.