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You might want to check the small print on your vehicle rental contract. In 2018, our rental agreement clearly stated that ‘no roadside assistance will be provided on highway 360, south of Hana’. Mind you, that doesn’t stop people from driving that stretch anyway… The best decision we made on...

If your pool freezes solid and remains so for many months, just add chlorine manually just before final freeze up. If you time it right, it will last all winter under the ice cover.

A black opaque tightly woven fine mesh cover, designed to trap pine needles, inhibits photosynthesis very well. I keep my pool in ‘hibernation mode’ for six weeks, between the end of the swimming season and winter drawdown. Chlorinate, mesh cover, stop all circulation and chlorination. After...

Bugs can exit ponds in shallow water, pools haven’t been around long enough for Darwinian selection to enable bugs to ‘adapt to‘ pool walls and skimmers.

Yes, as soon as nighttime temperatures dip near 10 C, swimming season is over. So keep your salt for next year. The later you winterize, the cleaner your water will be after ice out. I usually winterize when water reaches 6 C; early November. Just before the permanent ice cover sets, I dissolve...

A reel simplifies things; you can sweep any leaves as you are reeling It in. Most leaves stay on top of the solar blanket, and the skimmer should be unaffected. Depending on number of returns and orientation, there is sometimes less scouring action near the pool floor or in corners resulting in...

If you get much weight from snow or ice accrual, the overall geometry of the pool should be maintained to prevent collapse. So I would re-level and fix.

Thanks for the update. Chemicals can be delayed at customs, but Shippsy seems to be on track with procedures.

Did your kit arrive on schedule? What was the total cost?

Do we know how chlorinated isocyanurates affect solar blankets?

The triazines melamine and atrazine are nephrotoxic and are endocrine disrupters (ED). Unfortunately CYA has not been studied to the same extent mostly because it’s acute toxicity is lower, but we know virtually nothing on its endocrine effects on amphibian or fish models, much less on human ED.

Please let us know how the TF Pro kit delivery went, with respect to costs and customs. Many thanks!

That’s a good question! It’s all about rates of dissolution, the trichlor might dissolve too quickly even at minimal setting on the floater, and add too much CYA. Since you have a pool, you can always put undissolved leftover trichlor pucks there. Normally, after a spa water replacement, you set...

Anywhere they sell spa products. They are 1 inch diameter tablets/pucks, that fit in small floaters. They add CYA as well, so use sparingly or only when you are away. You need to experiment to determine dissolution rates in your spa and amounts needed.

If you are using ‘Nitro’s method’, you just need to add a few dichlor tabs in a floater in your tub.

The critical variable missing from the HDX kit is CYA concentration. In a northern short seasonal pool, CYA is essentially ‘set and forget’. If you know your pool volume, you can use a ‘dead-reckoning approach’ (Ben Powell coined this term) to test the accuracy of pool store determined CYA...

Your guests are due within two weeks, so you might concentrate in getting your pool in order using your kit and liquid bleach. Salt electrolysis requires some tweaking, best done at low bather load.

You are using Caribbean Clear which adds metals; you may have adsorbed and oxidized metal on your plaster surfaces, as you mention ‘years of use’ of the device.

The pool was built by the original home owner in the late 70’s, and was surrounded by 18 x 18 inch ’diamond‘ cement tiles Like shown here (Cement tile) He later removed these and used more esthetic smaller pavers. The aluminium ladder anchors were identical to your brass anchor image shown...

Thanks for the detailed approach, we do have Quikrete products here. My ladder has the conventional side to side anchors, but I understand the general approach.

What would you suggest as anchor cement?

Given that we are in mid season, I would leave things as they are, and keep your FC in the 1-3 ppm range. You don’t need to follow the FC/CYA chart because algal/fungal growth is preempted by the Poolrx system. During the next winterization cycle, you will lose some CYA, and depending on CYA at...

Did you check your skimmer weir, to make sure it is working right?

That is an amazing first picture! Lemna minor, a macroscopic algae, usually grows in agricultural drainage ditches which are heavily fertilized by runoff. Seldom seen in swimming pools, as they require lots of nutrients to begin growing.

Small irregularities in the vinyl floor combined with the pool circulation pattern, sometimes result in ‘debris lines’, as shown in your pictures. You don’t need to add calcium to a vinyl pool, unless you have a piece of equipment (I.e. heater) with a warranty specifying a calcium concentration...

Yes, you can check this with Pool Math ’effects of adding chemicals’. Your alkalinity may be too low as well. Usually, Dichlor is used to increase CYA to about 20 ppm, and then switch to liquid bleach. Known as ‘Nitro’s Method‘ here on TFP.

ionizers are successful in reducing DBP formation in North Carolina public pools, but their output is way too high for algecidal use in residential pools. Ions inhibit algae, fungi, but are not sanitizers; you still need chlorine. Unless you understand trace metal chemistry and have access to...

You can buy liquid chlorine and stabilizer at your local Canadian Tire.

Since your pump seems to be in an enclosed garden shed, which might result in overheating, you might consider going water-cooled: Silensor , very quiet but costly. Made in Australia by Davey.

CYA dissolves much more slowly than baking soda. You squeeze the sock periodically to release a cloud of CYA. You should wait at least 24 hours to allow for complete dissolution before retesting CYA. Afterwards, monitor FC for a few days to determine if you need to lower your SWG output.