Recent content by serialian

I'm from Michigan so I have this idea in my head that every pool has to be closed for the winter. I'm not sure that's true here in Texas where it doesn't get that cold. I just bought this house, this is the first winter. Do I need a pool cover? What do I do all winter long? I'd love to hear...

We completed our first SLAM and then immediately got algae again a week later. Now we've completed our second SLAM. We are coming up on a tough time though. We will be home for a week, gone for a week, home for 2 days, gone for 2 weeks, home for 2 weeks, gone for a week. We will have...

We are definitely remembering to change from 6% to 10% bleach. Thanks for the tip though. Any other ideas?

My return jets don't aim at all. They just spit straight out as far as I can tell. Also we WAY over shot chlorine again. This pool has to be WAY smaller than we think it is. Fell to 13 added 2 quarts, 1 cup chlorine it jumped to 22. It's a 14x48 rectangle with a 4ft side, a 7ft deep pit and...

OK, FINALLY dropped below 20. We've had some shady days and some rain. It's 13 and we are bringing it up to 16. Can you give any advice on getting the pool to circulate better? We definitely seem to get different results depending on where we test. I will let you know what the 30 minute test...

Is it possible for a filter to be both a cartridge and a DE? After some searching, I found both a Swimclear manual and a profilter DE manual that the previous owners left. Looking at the filter and the specs it has a multiflow gauge, which wouldn't be necessary for a cartridge filter and...

Can you help me identify my filter? I think it's a Haywar Swimclear Multielement DE Filter but I can't find the model number. I'm going to attempt to take it apart, clean it and refill it with DE next weekend but I have no idea what the optimal specs are for the DE. I really need to figure out...

I just wish I knew why the chlorine is so much higher than expected. I haven't put any in since last night, so it should start dropping. Could I have really screwed up the lining getting it so high? Is there any super danger? Also a more frivolous question... when can we swim? :D

I didn't get up to do a OFCT based on MarianPoo's recommendation. We just tested and after 10 hours, 3 of them sunlight, it was at 27.5. However, then I chose a spot across the pool and far away from where we added the chlorine and it was only 24. So maybe my pool isn't circulating as well as...

At 150 it was at 21 again so we left it until 180 minutes. Then I tested twice and got 27 both times! I have no idea what's going on. It seems to be bouncing around like crazy and I don't know why. We are going to leave it until the morning. I will set an alarm and get up before the sun to do a...

Yes, I remember changing the bleach % to 10. My husband suspects our pool volume is off. It's a 14 x 48 rectangle that's depth goes 4ft, 8ft, 3ft so it's odd to calculate the actual volume. Pool math says around 23,600. At 120 minutes, it dropped to 21. Do we just let it drop overnight and...

I have no idea what's going on!!! OK, so I started here: TA: 260 ph: 7.2 CYA 40-50 FC: 2 CC: 0.5 We added 3.5 gallons 10% chlorine 30 minutes in the FC was at 13 and CC was at 1. Target was 16 so we added another 2qts and 3 cups. 60 minutes: FC is 21 and CC is 1 90 minutes FC is 24 and CC...

OH! Another question. We have a DE filter and when we bought the house is was about 22 pounds of pressure. It's been slowing edging up. After backwashing now its around 26. We are planning on cleaning the filter next weekend using the instructions I found on this site (What a resource!) anyway...

We ended up letting it overflow a little. We were a little concerned about letting it just overflow into the street for an undetermined amount of time. We backwashed until it was down to the skimmer line and we started seeing a lot of bubbles so we stopped. Instead of going out and buying an...

We've managed to successfully lower our CYA from <100 to between 40 and 50!! I really feel accomplished. We just added 96oz of Muriatic to bring down the ph from 8.2 to 7.5 and then we are going to start our first SLAM! I feel like I'm in control and I understand what's going on with my pool...