Search results

Starting season 5 of TFP

Your pool looks good in the first picture for sure, but if you follow the advice here, you will be amazed how clear your water really can be.

A few things: If your FC is >10ppm, pH test will not be accurate and will register high. Don’t add boric acid until everything is balanced and stable. Adjustments will require more chemical after you add borates. I usually give acid about 30min to circulate without aeration to drop pH and TA...

Just did a clean/drain/fill on my hot tub yesterday.......pool is starting to get uncomfortably cool. Anyway, I was adjusting pH/TA yesterday too. It usually takes me 3 small adjustments to hit my targets. I usually circulate the first acid addition for 30min then aerate for 45min then test...

The pH down and alk+ are working against each other........even though you are adding them separately. My suggestion is stop trying to manipulate TA and just manage pH. When pH climbs above 8, take it down to 7.4ish. Eventually, pH will begin to stabilize because your TA is also dropping and...

Take identical water samples to 2 different pool stores with digital analyzers........you’ll have your answer.

What test are you using?

Holy moly! Awesome deck/pool/home/property! What kind of carpet? What did you use as substrate?

In a well managed pool that has always had adequate free chlorine, adding bleach at night is the most efficient use of liquid chlorine. But I think that bit of advice has been turned into “never add bleach at night” in some pool maintenance circles. Following TFP methods, you add bleach when...

Their silk guard pucks are pretty popular and they work great for a while. But eventually, there will be problems. Ingredients: Trichlor, Boric acid and a little Copper sulfate. Most silk guard users won’t care about the copper until it becomes a problem........Then they come here.

It’s a possibility. I guess some varieties of zeolite are extremely brittle and somewhat fragile. Pool store who talked me into the zeo suggested I cover the laterals with pea gravel, then reinstall the zeo. My complaint wasn’t their first.

I was talked into zeosand when I installed my pool and had the same issue. Do you have typical filter sand or one of the zeolite varieties? I recently changed to good old #20 silica and the sand on the floor disappeared.

I don’t have much expertise to add to your situation other than suggesting you use the 10ml rather than the 25ml sample for testing chlorine. It is accurate enough and will save a bunch of reagent. Each drop = .5ppm.

I use a Liquidator and I’m puzzled as to how it actually works. There are points when it is full and when almost empty that seem to effect the chlorine concentration being delivered to the pool. But, anywhere in between it is remarkably consistent. Did your suspended bottle of half bleach...

We’ve all been there. Accurate testing + TFP resources = more time enjoying your pool........It’s that simple.

I see what you’re saying about the CYA, SWG levels. My take is SWG allows you to keep a higher CYA level to combat UV losses because it’s a steady supply, not that it requires a higher CYA level. When you are dosing with liquid chlorine, a lower CYA allows you a greater range of effective FC...

As a self-proclaimed redneck engineer, I need to up my game a bit..........had no idea there were 91,000 drops in a gallon. ?

The only time I shoot for a TA target is after a water change in my hot tub. With the constant upward pressure on pH from aeration and use of borates, I like my TA around 60 within a day or 2 of changing water. In my pool(vinyl, no fountains or waterfalls), I simply manage pH.....the TA takes...

This is the crossroads of pool care. What the pool store sold you didn’t work, so their next step is to have you treat phosphates or TDS with some sort of clarifloccushockicide and then do the cya treatment again. Take the money you were going to give the pool store and buy a nice test kit as...

love this pool!

Thanks! The baluster kit is just black aluminum you get at Lowes. It includes the connectors which just fasten to the rail with screws and the baluster slides over. On the stairs, my son 3D printed some adapters for the angle

I started by getting that stringer to the right length, which involved a template, some trial, error and eyeballing, then just used a straight-edge across the other stringers to get riser and tread cut lines. Most of it was cut with a hand saw as my circular saw was looking a little dangerous...

My deck is sort of temporary.......I am a farm manager and housing is part of the deal, this backyard isn’t really mine. So, everything I build will need to be un-built at some point. Footers- just 4x8x16 blocks on compacted gravel. Ground level deck is 10x10......I may expand next year Pool...