Search results

The tablets are probably trichlor. If you have 8-oz tabs, in your pool every two tabs would add about 10ppm FC and 6ppm CYA. Occasional use of trichlor, e.g. for vacations or when you want to raise CYA a bit, is fine. Habitual use will eventually lead to excessively high CYA levels, and the...

Well, I used the Pool Calculator and got an answer of about 1 lb... too late now. After the borax has had an hour or so to mix in, test pH/TA again and we'll go from there. Also double-check your water depth so we can be sure of the volume we're working with. I'll check back in a little...

Re. safe draining: As long as you still have at least 1' of water in the shallow end, the liner should stay in place. So, that's the most you can drain at once; in the pool you described, that would be about half the water. --paulr

Salt won't have any effect on TA. You lower TA by adding acid; but you can't do too much at a time or pH will drop too far (because acid also lowers pH). The article that Butterfly mentioned really does explain it step by step; do what it says. --paulr

Depends on what's in your fill water, and how big the pool is. After you add the water and give an hour or two with the pump on to mix in, run your tests and see if you need to fiddle anything. (The most likely answer is "no" but only testing will guarantee that.) --paulr

I'd like to double-check your 5300 gallons. That would be a 15' round, with a 4' water depth. Note that is actual water depth, not the wall height measured from outside. If the actual water depth is more like 3'8", then your volume is about 10% smaller than you think. And if your volume is...

The smaller cover will still be about 80% of your surface, so you'll get about 80% of the benefit. Mine isn't 100% covered either but it has still made a big difference in evaporation and water temp. --paulr

10:18pm and 10:47pm (pacific). Performance in general kind of sluggish that whole 10-11 hour. Seemed to get better after that. I know that's the wee hours on east coast (1-2am), but not so much out here. --paulr

Here's the trick: Imagine both a chlorine container and your acid jug spring a leak at the same moment. Could they mix? If so, you need to move one of them. --paulr

Oy, wait until one churns through the big oil slick in the Gulf... nope. Not thinkin' about it. --paulr

I've see the full gamut of family relations, DH/DW/DD/DS as well as FIL/MIL/SIL/DIL. I see ETA sometimes, but it clearly doesn't mean Estimated Time of Arrival ?? --paulr

Wrenching this thread back onto the original topic... They're fine. Sounds like optimal storage conditions. Typically they'd be okay for a year, probably two. TA is really a measure of dissolved carbonates; pH is the net acid/base balance of everything in the water. Because you are adding CYA...

ethany, is the sock in front of a return or in the skimmer basket? If it's in front of a return, be patient; if it's in the skimmer basket, you might have lost some in the backwash. --paulr

My tub runs at TA 50. I also use borates and noticed a huge improvement in pH control. We only use it once or twice a week but my records show I've added acid only once in the past month. --paulr

The high dose of MA is because of the super high TA. I suggest adding half what it says, just in case; give it at least a half hour to circulate, and check pH again before you add the rest. --paulr

The main thing a solar cover does is reduce evaporation, which is a big source of cooling. Not having to top-off the pool as often is a big plus too in areas that have water restrictions. I don't know that clear versus opaque makes much difference for heating. (Opaque clearly reduces FC loss...

The non-chain shop near me uses liquid chlorine for their service; the guy said they go through ~350 cases (4-gal each) a week between that and in-store sales. It's cheaper than any other source near me (8 gallons 12.5% for under $20, which includes CA sales tax). It could easily be a loss...

Cal-hypo will increase CH by 7ppm for each 10ppm FC. This is a fixed proportion, independent of the cal-hypo strength or how much you use. Because you want to increase CH, your comparison shopping should be cal-hypo versus the equivalent bleach+calcium chloride. Cal-hypo is sometimes available...

The only "hardness control" product I can find is something to raise your calcium hardness; 140 is on the low side so that seems reasonable. The pH Down is what lowered the pH. There's no real correlation between the pH and hardness adjustments. --paulr

An ozonator produces ozone, sometimes spas have these to aid in sanitation. Please try a Chlorine Demand test. 1) Add what you think is the right amount of bleach (the Pool Calculator is useful for this) to bring the spa up to FC 10. Let the pump run at least 5 minutes, then test FC to make...

CH 100 is fine for a vinyl pool. Note that "12% shock liquid" is really just double-strength bleach. It's what I use. If you have a local source of 12% then you should do some price comparison to see whether it's cheaper than regular 6% bleach. (Complexified because 12% comes in gallons...

I remember a while back reading a post where it took somebody on the order of a week to refill the pool because they couldn't pull more than a few thousand gallons per day out of the well. It was plenty for normal household use but not enough to refill a pool in a day. I don't know what all...

What--that's not you in the avatar? (We have two cameras and three or four photo-management programs. I have no clue where the pictures are. I knew how to drive an SLR, and someday I can put on a very impressive slide show of Kilauea lava pouring into the sea on a summer night in 1989; but...

If an overnight test shows things are okay, it just means your daily chlorine amount is too small for that moment of the season. The amount you need will vary with temp, amount of sun, pool usage, pollen count, and other factors. It might average (say) 1.5ppm per day, but that will fluctuate a...

For the Taylor TA test (and CH test, for that matter) you add drops until the color stops changing, and don't count the first drop that caused no change. So if you saw a change after drop 12 and drop 13 but not drop 14, that would be 13 drops or 130. The salt test works differently. --paulr

As long as the water is improving then you know your routine is working. Can't help with the vaccuum/skimmer questions... --paulr

If you don't have a solar cover, you want the skimmer pulling enough to actually skim everything . My feeling is that if the pool is 6' or deeper then it's useful to have the main drain pulling some as well. So, the correct balance would be "some/enough". :-) Totally helpful, I know... so...

Cleaning the filter happens when it needs it, rather than on a regular schedule. Any filter should have a pressure gauge, and if you have a sand or DE filter, you backwash when the pressure goes up maybe 8-10 psi over where you started when it was clean. If you have a cartridge filter, you...

I'd go for 40-50, the higher end of the normal range. The Central Valley gets plenty of sun but Sacramento is only middlin'-south in terms of latitude. --paulr (Hey, I like that first line in your sig!)

Refilling a pool requires a LOT of water. A well really has a maximum supply rate it can sustain without causing issues. You can fill a pool from a well, but you need to be more careful than if you have a city water supply. --paulr