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True, but sometimes in a pinch you have to take whatever you can get.

I just wanted to remind our members how important it is to read the labels on household bleach before you use it in your pool. I had noticed what looked like a good price on store brand bleach ($1.25 for 64 ounces). When looking at the label the strength was 1.5%! Splash Free bleach (which we...

Hi, welcome to TFP! You can download a free version of the app to your phone or you can use the version of PoolMath from the website. Set up your pool, plug in your test numbers and the app will tell you how much of each chemical you need to add. As far as what should be tackled first...

You can't sufficiently clean the tab feeder to prevent a chemical reaction. I would get a floating dispenser for the cal-hypo. Also cal-hypo tabs don't dissolve comepletely and leave some goop behind. It will be easier to keep a floater clean. You will also need to keep an eye on calcium and...

Just to clarify, you can use dichlor/trichlor and cal-hypo at the same time as long as they are in different dispensers. Once they are in the pool there is no problem using those chemicals at the same time. Never try to save space by storing them dry in the same container either.

Hi, welcome to TFP! How long ago did you put cal-hypo tabs in the chlorine feeder? If it has previously had trichlor tab in it there could be a chemical reaction that could start a fire or small explosion. The reaction would take place fairly quickly so if it has been several hours you are...

Hi, welcome to TFP! I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but with very high CYA it is going to be difficult to keep the pool properly chlorinated. It sounds like you have done some water replacement. Ultimately that will be your solution. Almost nothing else removes CYA and it does not...

Is the pump pot full of water when you first turn it on or is their an air bubble or gap at the top?

You should not be having water reverse flow when the pump is off. Is the pump and filter located at a higher elevation from the pool?

You may be a little light on the DE if it was cleaned out to winterize. You should add 1 lb of DE for every 10 square feet of filtration. There is some debate by pool professionals and manufacturers if a DE scoop holds 1 pound or 1/2 pound. Your filter should have 2 1/2 - 3lbs of DE.

This video shows a larger version of your DE filter with the push/pull valve. The valve shows the waste opening at the bottom. In this video they are draining the filter without attaching the hose to the waste opening at approximately 18 seconds into the video.

Slide valve and push/pull valve are the same basically. How big is the scoop you are using? Do you know if all the DE was cleaned out of the filter when the pool was winterized?

Have you added any DE to the filter? Have you backwashed the filter? Try following the instructions in the video Pat posted. I can't really see the bottom of your slide valve in the photos you posted. If you can get a clear profile shot of the slide valve that will help us help you.

Also check any big box hardware store or Walmart for liquid chlorine.

Marty is correct. It is hard to find the FAS/DPD kits in a Pool store. It will say FAS/DPD on the label. If you can’t find liquid chlorine you can use the cal-hypo.

I'll answer your questions in red

As for why your pool turned green in the first place, it is because the FC to CYA ratio was out of balance. The higher CYA goes, the higher FC must go to remain effective. CYA buffers and protects chlorine from premature burn off in the sun, but when CYA levels get too high it "protects" the...

Hi, welcome to TFP! You made the right choice for your pool. When CYA is 100 ppm or more your only choice is a drain and refill. You want your CYA level to be between 30 and 50 ppm. If you drain 3/4 of the pool and then start refilling you should be good. You are also correct about your...

We always wanted to build one too. Just never got around to it.

Hi, welcome to TFP! You can use muriatic acid to lower pH. I don't know how available that is in France. You can also use a pool store product called pH down. The active chemical in pH down is sodium bisulfate.

You can build a really nice AGP with deck for a fraction of an inground pool. You might even want to look into partially burying the pool to give it more of an inground look. You can also get expandable liners if you want to make the pool a little deeper. You still have lots of options with...

If you are looking at getting a SWG you will need to switch to muriatic acid to lower pH. The sulphites in pH down will shorten the life of the titanium plates in the SWG. The SWG tends to cause pH to drift up over time, and if you add any features like a fountain or anything that adds lots of...

Aluminum can corrode, but I don't know if it has the same failure rate as steel. You can read about the demise of my pool during Hurricane Harvey. There's a link in my signature. In the photos you can see my pool also had a lot of rust under the liner on the inside pool wall. My liner did...

I would look into resin wall pool if possible. Steel wall pools seem to have more rust issues than in the past. Mine only survived 10 years and started to rust long before that. My liner was 10 years old and had horizontal wrinkles on the wall from a couple of years of tablet abuse driving...

We really do want to help you, but you didn't tell us you had already read the articles, and your post sounded more like statements than questions so it was hard to tell what information you need from us. You say stabilizer is low, but we don't know how low it is. Did you add stabilizer...

Hi, welcome to TFP! If you can swim down with a pair of scissors trim off the loose edges as close as you can. You are going to patch this in 2 layers. The first layer needs to be about 2" larger in diameter than the current patch with rounded edges. Spread the glue on the patch and fold it...

Hi, welcome to TFP! Your biggest concern with tablets is CYA build up, followed by calcium build up. There are two types of stabilized chlorine tablets, dichlore/trichlor which contain CYA and calcium hypochlorite which contain calcium. CYA and calcium are both problematic because they...

My recommendation was to bring it up to shock level (10ppm) once it is filled and has CYA added. We can walk you through the slam process to make sure there is nothing nasty lingering in the water.

I don't know if you have wrinkles or creases in your liner, but if they are still there after you refill you will want to be sure to brush those areas regularly and make sure algae doesn't get started in there. Once the pool is full, adjust your pH if needed, add enough CYA to reach 30ppm...

If you like to be fancy they have a Pro version that comes with a speed stir and a very nice custom case! Seriously though a speed stir is a very nice addition to the basic FAS/DPD kit. It makes the calcium test so much easier!