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Yeah, mine definitely has a thing going with the wedding-cake steps. Sweet tooth or something else, hard to say... I assume you've checked for adequate pressure, i.e. the wheels rotate at the right RPM. Low pressure means the backup won't be as strong as might be necessary. I have noticed on...

As long as pH stays above 7.0, you should be fine. Note that this takes a little experience--the pool calculator is kind of iffy in the pH department, there are too many variables for it to be better than a good guess. pH will rise on its own, with that kind of TA. Aeration isn't a required...

Hm, true, just thought I'd point out the relationship. Not clear whether diverman57 is a regular tab user, or somebody like me using N tabs to get CYA where it wants to be. I've found asking the Pool Calculator to tell me how much CYA from 10 tabs is a good starting point. --paulr

Pool Calc says 9 lb dichlor in 12000 gallons should bring CYA up by around 45. What's your water temp? The CYA test reaction goes slower in cold water; the sample wants to be up to room temp so the test will work in a reasonable amount of time. --paulr

Some can. Best resource is Taylor's article Recognizing a Bad Reagent. --paulr

Or, trichlor adds 6ppm CYA for every 10ppm FC. --paulr

The initial dose of sodium bromide is just to create a bromide reserve, and doesn't need to be particularly precise. Recommended amount is 1/2 oz per 100 gallons; my local place has 2-oz packets and I just dumped it all in even though my tub is in the 300-350 gallon range. Your OTO or FAS-DPD...

I've used the dichlor/bleach method with great success. It does mean you need to be keeping an eye on the levels at least every couple of days even if you're not using it. This season I'm using bromine because I know I can't be checking on it as often as chlorine requires. Word is that...

If the previous owner used biguanides, any residue would be eating chlorine; it would be like the tail end of a pool bacqua conversion (there's a whole separate subforum for that). Decontamination is generally the right tactic for the first fill on a previously owned spa, it should take care of...

FC 10 twice a day, morning and night, has been enough for the troubles I've had. If it's not working for you, you might consider a more serious Spa Decontamination. --paulr

Yeah, well, I can't say I'm exactly thrilled about having it above the water line; when people are in the pool and I take the Polaris out, it's like a little water feature. (I quickly learned to disable the timer on the booster pump when I take the Polaris out, too!) And my pressure relief...

I recommend these two posts: How do I use chlorine in my spa Spa Decontamination --paulr

You might not have adequately decontaminated when you first filled it. Shocking is a process, not an event (or product). Crank FC up to 10, check it and refresh it twice a day, until the extreme FC loss stops. I had this sort of thing happen a couple times, usually when I wasn't paying enough...

You might still consider a softener, maybe for a particular tap rather than the whole house. I hear about doodads you can attach to your hose to filter out at least some of the metals before they get into the tub. Another approach that sometimes works is to just keep filtering it, cleaning the...

According to this link 5% bleach at 75F has a half-life of over 3 years. At a constant 90F it still has a half-life of one year. Yes, bleach degrades; but unless you get the double-strength liquid chlorine and keep it a while in the summer, it's not a practical concern; and even then it's...

Some people think it's good to let the pool breathe, other people think it makes no difference. If you find leaving the cover on makes CC accumulate or makes your pH go weird, breathing is probably a remedy. I leave mine on pretty much all the time and don't have either of those problems. And...

Last time I got acid at HD it was 15% not 31%; make sure what you're getting isn't half-strength. --paulr

When applying borates to a spa using borax + acid, you're adding a relatively large amount of acid; for my spa, I've settled on using 2c borax + 7 oz muriatic (31%). For controlling pH over time, I use dry acid, but only a couple teaspoons at a time. The sulfates from that amount of dry acid...

A reel is not necessary, but there are several considerations. Pro: - If you have an inground, I'd expect constantly dragging the cover across the coping wouldn't be particularly good for it. - The thicker covers can be pretty heavy, beyond the capabilities of the non-beefcake set. - Manually...

Don't look at the yellow OTO test first; it will change your perception of orange hues. Read pH first. --paulr

What works for me is to lose something else; looking for that, I find the previous lost thing (this is the Law of Conservation of Lossage). Not 100% guaranteed, sadly; entropy always takes its toll. --paulr

I think the tub was not particularly clean when you got it. You've scrubbed the tub, but it sounds like there is still gunk in the plumbing. You need to do a thorough Spa Decontamination. --paulr

The return driving a pressure-side cleaner wants to be placed in the "middle" of a "long side" of the pool. Then you use enough hose to reach the far corners of the pool from that point. This ideal might be compromised in any given situation (like in my own pool) but that's really what you...

The pool calculator tells me 8 oz trichlor is worth what I said, when it has completely dissolved. I loaded 4 tabs in the floater a month ago, have put 2 more in since, and they're not all gone yet, so the floater is contributing < 1.5 tabs per week. I'm still using some bleach to keep FC in...

You still need the floater. --paulr

When my 380 isn't moving, usually that means one of the internal hoses has split or popped off. --paulr

In my 18K gallon pool, each 8-oz tab works out to about 3ppm FC and 2ppm CYA--it would take about 10 tabs to raise CYA by 20. Tab consumption in my pool right now is less than 1.5 per week so it will be a couple months to bring up my CYA that way. --paulr

Yes, didn't notice the location, sorry. --paulr

Have you looked at How do I use Chlorine in my Spa (or pool)? basically, the idea is to use dichlor until you have CYA at 20-30ppm, then switch to bleach. You won't need to change the water as often. Of course you can also just add straight CYA to get to 20-30ppm and use bleach from the...

When was the last time you cleaned the filter? With bromine, 3 months seems to be about what you can expect before needing to change the water. --paulr