Hack My Pool

[proavia]

Take a breath - its just pool water chemistry. We aren't making rocket fuel.
A couple points either way is no big deal.
Sometimes the liquid chlorine you add is a little stronger than listed. Much better than weaker than you paid for.

And testing 16.5 is only one drop of reagent more than 16.0 - well within the testing error of the test kit.

 

[JessBlount617]

Breathing…

So for the time being - don’t add any additional chlorine?

Test again in 2 hours?

If it’s low - add back to goal of 16?
If it’s steady - let it ride until morning?

 

[Newdude]

Exactly that.

 

[JessBlount617]

Last post of the night!
Just tested again… it’s 11:45 PM ET. FC dropped from 16 to 14.5. I added 8oz of Chlorine. Fingers crossed we hold strong over night and into the morning!

I’ll check pH tomorrow morning and then adjust down to SLAM range if needed. And then FC and CYA!

 

[proavia]

Don't test anything else but chlorine.

No pH or CYA testing.

Follow the SLAM Process
To. The. Letter.

Do NOT focus on anything else.

 

[JessBlount617]

Oh.. my… goodness! HUGE progress overnight!

First - I CAN SEE THE BOTTOM OF THE POOL!!!!!! Haven’t seen it since fill day almost 2 weeks ago!!!! I almost cried!!!! Check the pic!!

Second - Chlorine holding at 16!!! Target 16!!! We are achieving some balance and this almost makes me FREAKING EXCITED!!!! Not adding any chlorine for this 8:00 AM ET test, but will test one more time this morning when I can!

Going to revisit the SLAM article for my next steps!

Feeling really good today! Great progress! Fingers crossed we continue to move in the right direction!

Seriously yelling THANK YOUUUUU as loud as I can to all those who have contributed these 7 days!!

 

[Newdude]

Second - Chlorine holding at 16!!! Target 16!!! We are achieving some balance

We'll never know if the well water had organics in it besides being filthy, or if you got a touch of algae while waiting for the test kit, but something was chewing up your FC.

Once it's gone the FC will hold within normal daily UV loss. (3 ppm a day right now by you maybe ?). At slam level you also may see a little extra burnoff because it's a %.

For example only because its not nearly this high: with a 50% burnoff rate, you'd lose 5ppm a day at 10 FC, but 10ppm a day at 20 FC.

 

[kimkats]

What a wonderful thread!! SO much done right! Wonderful helpers and a great pool owner that gets it and does what is needed to get her pool up and going again! Then throw in the laughs and it going to be a classic!

Once you get the pool clear we will do a bit more teaching on how to keep it that way.

One thing I am thinking about is how to filter your well water. I wonder if you get one of the household filters if you can attach it to the end of the hose from the well to help catch some of the rust and stuff? I will have to look at mine and see if it can be attached to a hose.

Kim

 

[JessBlount617]

What a wonderful thread!! SO much done right! Wonderful helpers and a great pool owner that gets it and does what is needed to get her pool up and going again! Then throw in the laughs and it going to be a classic!

Once you get the pool clear we will do a bit more teaching on how to keep it that way.

One thing I am thinking about is how to filter your well water. I wonder if you get one of the household filters if you can attach it to the end of the hose from the well to help catch some of the rust and stuff? I will have to look at mine and see if it can be attached to a hose.

Kim

I am building a "polyfil cannister" have it run directly off the spigot, then through the hose - will probably help when I water my flowers and plants too! One less thing to dump rusty water into!

I am so incredibly excited about all the progress!! And yes - achieving that "bermuda blue" all summer long is a priority!

 

[JessBlount617]

We'll never know if the well water had organics in it besides being filthy, or if you got a touch of algae while waiting for the test kit, but something was chewing up your FC.

Once it's gone the FC will hold within normal daily UV loss. (3 ppm a day right now by you maybe ?). At slam level you also may see a little extra burnoff because it's a %.

For example only because its not nearly this high: with a 50% burnoff rate, you'd lose 5ppm a day at 10 FC, but 10ppm a day at 20 FC.

Yeah my FC went from 0 to holding at 16 in about 5 days... who knows what is going on. The poly bucket is definitely a successful contribution - and I'm glad I had enough poly to be able to swap it out as needed.

I'm glad I am over a substantial hurdle, and I think the universe threw me a favor in clearing over night!

 

[CreedenceTapes]

It's just a gentile reminder that you shouldn't be in SLAM. Kinda passive aggressive, but she means well. 99% of the time it helps.

As a dedicated member of #TeamRunHot, I'd like to be able to disable this. But I understand why it's there.

@JessBlount617, please forgive that sidebar. Loving your attitude, work ethic, and progress!

 

[JessBlount617]

12:40 PM ET - chlorine holding at 16!

Had a minor poly bucket issue - it tipped into the pool and dumped some nasty water. So I lost some clarity but nothing we can’t make up!! It’s cycling pretty well right now - I’m not gaining PSI, which I keep checking when I run my chlorine test.

I’ll run one more chlorine test today and then one later tonight. Gotta big party for my High School Senior today… so my tears my change the pH of the pool

 

[JessBlount617]

Grad party was a huge success! No tears shed!

Polyfil bucket might have seen its best days. I came home to the entire thing open and polyfil allllllll over the pool

Chlorine dropped to 12 - so I got us back up and we will see show we do overnight!

 

[proavia]

Yeah - sometimes the lids pop off. Best to secure with a tie-down or rope.
Also tied down to its mounting point as well.

 

[wireform]

I'd recommend anyone doing the poly bucket rust filtering to use a bucket with a threaded cover that actually locks so the former cannot happen.

 

[JessBlount617]

Good morning and happy Sunday! Hope your coffee is strong today, I know mine is!

Chlorine dropped from 16 to 15. Not a huge loss overnight!

I took down the poly bucket after the mess it created yesterday. I’m going to tighten it back up, and teach myself how to use a ratchet strap to keep that thing in check.
When the polyfil dumped into the pool, I lost a good amount of water clarity. So my goal is that I can regain that today, and see improvement!

I’m also home most of today - so my chlorine test gaps will be smaller than yesterday!

Cheers!

 

[Newdude]

 

[CreedenceTapes]

teach myself how to use a ratchet strap

They can be more frustrating than they should, but I'll be surprised if it takes you as long as five minutes. I'd get it threaded while on an air-conditioned couch and then take it out and put it on the bucket.

 

[JessBlount617]

View attachment 583128

My whole life is like watching with a bowl of popcorn… but it’s more like this:

 

[JessBlount617]

They can be more frustrating than they should, but I'll be surprised if it takes you as long as five minutes. I'd get it threaded while on an air-conditioned couch and then take it out and put it on the bucket.

YES!! Why are they so stupid frustrating?! I probably watched 4-5 YouTube videos, went through step by step tutorials and I STILL mess them up!