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I think he is mostly disgruntled that some folks have figured things out (and that I was mentioning them) and they are able to care for their pools independently, which as a pool store employee I could see this being troubling. Although I am sure pool stores will always have plenty of customers.

Re: Dead bird in the skimmer - time to shock? So any other thoughts on this? My gut says if the FC levels are within range, then this one instance does NOT require me to shock the pool, but not 100% sure.

I am posting this because it's more humorous than anything :lol:

thanks guys, great info as always.

Re: Dead bird in the skimmer - time to shock :lol: A new house is being built on the lot next door and that dead bird may/may not have ended up over there

well, to be fair, he said he RUNS a pool store, not OWNS it ;)

Thanks Isaac, good info. The comment about salt levels is especially interesting to me as I have not thought about that at all. See, just trying to use this as a learning moment for myself (and hopefully some others)

Paragraph one is what I am most interested in, I tossed in the rest of his comments as a bonus :lol: But I would like to hear what others say about his claims, as I don't have enough knowledge to say whether he is right or wrong.

Re: Dead bird in the skimmer - time to shock True, I am assuming I need to shock. The little guy (baby mockingbird) was not in there for very long, but I read some other threads that mention shocking when there are dead animals in the pool. I am a total noobie, so I will also wait for the pros :D

I mentioned the BBB method on another site (a DIY site) and someone replied with this and I am curious about a few of the things he says. I am not trying to be a "drama queen", but genuinely want to get thoughts about some of his statements, namely about 1) chlorine tabs being 99% chlorine (if...

Re: Dead bird in the skimmer - time to shock Thanks. So I could start the pump back up tonight and add the necessary bleach and let the pump continue to run overnight and into its next normal cycle?

So I found a dead bird in the skimmer, so I think I need to superchlorinate my pool to be safe. Since my FC and CC levels are currently fine and the water is clear, I assume I add enough bleach just once to bring the FC up to the specified shock level? Based on a CYA level of ~40, I'd need to...

True, you'd think that for the sake of increased "word of mouth" business, pool builders would want their customers to know ALL of the options for pool care. My wife works with a few people who own pools and they curse them, saying how difficult they are to maintain and aren't worth the hassle...

I am assuming that pool builders in general don't mention the BBB method (or anything like it) to new pool customers. When we picked our pool builder, one of the things they pushed was how they strive to build a pool that requires as little time as possible to maintain. I am thinking how that...

As a pool noobie, I can attest to this (just to reinforce the point). I am sooooo glad I was told to read this site and not get into bad habits early on, especially using the dichlor and trichlor and buying supplies at a pool store (unless you have no other option). I would have NEVER thought...

LOL, I think I'll stick to recycling my empty bleach jugs :-D

The Home Depot near me in Spring only had 10% and it was not as good a value as the 6% bleach.

$2.66 per bottle is a good price. Walmart and Target have them for ~$3 each around here. The storage aspect of those jugs is a good idea, I am going to take a look at Sams.

No worries :) TA of 60 is borderline low, so I will give it a little more time before deciding how to address the TA. I first need to see if I can get my pH relatively stable or if I am one of those who has to add acid every 2-3 days. Then I will know which avenue to take to address the TA.

Thanks, I have read the Pool School extensively :wink: My TA is around 60 now, so the above would work well if my TA was 90+, for instance. But I don't want to lower my TA any more than it currently is, unless I am missing something. Thanks, I will make a note of this. I am going to do more...

The TA test from 7/12 came in at 60, fyi. I will re-test pH tmro, but it was still too high after today's test, probably closer to 8 than it was on 7/12 (was over 8 on 7/12). Is TA something that should remain fairly consistent like the CYA level? Curious how often most TFP members have to...

thanks for the info. It's good to hear what others are doing so I have a better idea of what to expect. this is closer to my setup. While all pools are different, I have a feeling I will be adding a little acid every 2-3 days.

Did another round of tests just now: FC: 2 (adding 149 oz of bleach to get to 6) pH: 8 (adding 32 oz of acid to get to 7.4) CH: 135 (consistent with yday's result, going to add 173 oz CaCl to get to 200) CYA: 35 (going to add 36 oz to get to 50) I am going to add the CaCl in three phases...

This is inspired by the following post from another thread: Our pool has a spillover but no other water features. Should I expect to have to add acid on a fairly regular basis as a result due to the extra aeration? Our pH being high makes more sense since it's been raining a lot this past...

Thanks, that works. Considering they are going to be cheaper, I'll make time to get them at Walmart. I've got a few gallons of muriatic acid, so will burn through that first, but I know that is also sold at big box hardware stores.

I am using 6% bleach to chlorinate. I looked into the 10% chlorine at the hardware store and it's priced worse on a unit basis, so will buy the 182 oz jugs of 6% bleach. I can store 10-15 of those jugs fairly easily, so I should always have enough on hand. I am going to do another round of...

BTW, should I do the overnight chlorine loss test just to have one done or is that reserved for pools that have visible issues present (cloudiness, etc)?

and they are not great, although I suspect the 3" of rain we've had today (and 5" this past week) might be skewing the results. Our pool is barely two weeks old, so that might also be skewing some of the results. Anyway, here are the results FC: 1 (clearly low) pH: over 8 (high) TA: 60 (a...

Cool, I will set up a schedule for this. I read that it's best to do the test around the same time if possible, with a slight advantage to testing in the evening. I am one of those "spreadsheet" types, so I plan on keeping a log of the results so I can understand our pool. It's an ecosystem...

Thanks for the feedback. I can see why you threw the test strips out. I have used them a few times and I can't really tell what color they have changed to. I thought it was perhaps that particular brand, but that seems to be a constant theme on this site. Figured I'd ask to be safe. There...