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Replying to myself in case anyone is following this... So today I topped by the local pool supply store and they suggested replacing the o-ring gasket on the pump. Another store had it in stock, so being a pretty simple DIY job and an inexpensive part, I gave it a shot. Naturally when I came...

Sadly there's nothing trouble-free about our pool except the chemistry method I wish to use. Otherwise, it's a hole in the ground that swallows our hopes of swimming. :( So I have a 3-way valve at the pad that controls the skimmers (A, Both, B). Since the "B" skimmer line leaks at a rate of...

Thanks for the advice! Since the water level had already dropped below the skimmers and returns, I turned off the skimmer valves at the pad and tried filling the lines from the skimmer boxes from a garden hose. Sure enough - once filled, one of them holds water consistently, and one leaks at...

I'd love to treat this as a game, but thus-far locating the source of our pool leak has been anything but fun. We're renting a house with an in-ground vinyl pool about 30k gallons (105,000 square inches, average 5.5' depth) and just opened the pool about a week ago. The pool guy who opened it...

Thanks! Great to have confirmation of this. It certainly makes sense intuitively but what I know about pools is what I've learned here in the last couple weeks. So it's accurate but somewhat incomplete. More reading to do! Not a lot of dirt to blow after we powerwashed the patio. Certainly...

Thanks for such a seemingly obvious idea! I wouldn't have thought of that. - Jason

We just opened the pool 12 days ago and the pool has been in swimming condition for the past few days. I've been keeping the pool at shock levels on a daily basis and find what I believe is dead algae at the bottom each day, but less and less. An overnight FC loss test will happen soon but I'm...

I think it was more of an artifact from the crappy iPhone camera, but I've been keeping chlorine levels up just to be safe until I can perform an overnight loss test. In the mean time, we swam last night and today and the pool water is great! My wife even remarked that the pool water doesn't...

Absolutely! Save this photo. It will go perfectly with a tagline like, "Vote for a leader who's not afraid to jump into any situation with both feet!"

I'm far from a pro, but a couple things come to mind... - How did you add the stabilizer? Recommendations here are generally to do so slowly by sticking it into socks or stockings over the water returns. When stabilizer is being added the water nearby can get slightly milky looking but this...

As a newbie to both this forum and pool maintenance, I can say this forum is unusually newbie-friendly. Information is spelled out so clearly that I've quickly become the pool expert among my friends and family. I think just about every trip to Walmart for bleach has resulted in at least a...

Teach the kids the phrase, "Wow, grandpop - the pool is MUCH less acidic now! Thank you! We love you!" Good job dealing with the pool and the father-in-law. I can't imagine trying to convince mine of something that ran counter to his opinion.

^ That's where I found mine, too.

Thanks - I had a feeling that was the advice I'd get. The pool store was no help obviously... they said my FC is too high at 5 and I should stop shocking the pool unless it's a green pool (lots of algae). :roll: I may drop the FC levels to less than shock (10 on the pool calculator) but...

Thank you - that's very nice of you! We're actually just renting the house, but I can still take pride in it. :-D After we power-wash the patio it should look great. It's already a huge improvement. Here's a better angle... [attachment=0:3emp3pk1]day-8-pool-and-house.jpg[/attachment:3emp3pk1]

Hey folks... I've had my pool open for 9 days now and the last couple days have really started to look great - nice clear/blue water. I've been keeping the pool at shock levels each day and every day I'm greeted to more dead gray algae on the bottom that I skimmer vac up and backwash. What...

I have a feeling the dog was watching her like, "Really?!? Even I know better than to jump in the pool now!"

Tue 6/22 7PM: FC=8.5 CC=0.5 TC=9 pH=7.3 TA=80 I added another 182 Oz bottle of 6% bleach to keep the pool in igh shock until revisiting it around Noon-1PM on Wednesday (target FC of 11.5). The water is looking better every day! We had a rain storm this evening but I'm confident we'll be...

Tue 6/22 1PM: FC=9 CC=0 TC=9 pH=7.2 TA=70 Following the testing, I added 1 182Oz container of 6% bleach to bring FC up to about 12 since the pool is still a bit green and I want to kill off the algae and swim in a few days. I'll test again and give the pool another cleaning in a few hours and...

Levels as of Monday 6/21 @ Sunset: FC=11.5 CC=0.5 TC=12 pH=7.3 TA=70 Stabilizer<20 (probably zero or close to it) I had shocked the pool about six hours prior up to about 13 so that looks pretty good -- just a small drop from the sun and killing algae. :) I cleaned the entire pool, added just...

Gotcha - I'm starting to understand this. It sounds like TA is sort of a buffer or stabilizer for pH, so if pH levels could fluctuate when total alkalinity is low. That would seem to be the reason to address TA issues before pH issues. Thanks!!

Thanks for the advice! I'll definitely start slow with the CYA and only after I take some more accurate measurements of the pool. If it turns out the pool is smaller than I think, I could easily overshoot my target and that's no good at all. I'll start slow and measure in a week to see how...

Thanks, Scott - that's very helpful. I'll start with the TA and address the pH after. I'm hoping to stick with bleach or liquid chlorine, but I don't want to bring my CYA levels up too much and end up requiring more bleach each day. Depending on budget I may have to rely on 3" tabs...

Hey folks, First let me say thanks for this great forum. My wife and I are renting a house that has an inground vinyl pool which hasn't been open for a season or two, so we had our work cut out turning it from green (or black) to blue. Today is the first day that I'm seeing a nice blue/green...