Hey Everyone - New Pool Owner Here

[Grasshopper1295]

Hey Everyone,

I recently purchase a new house with an in ground pool and have been lurking on the forums reading posts for a few weeks. I decided it was time to join and introduce myself.

A quick recap of my first few weeks with the pool: Ordered some supplies for the pool on the first few days at the new house ( the necessities; chlorine tabs, shock, and some weekly phosphate treatment). The pool had gone a few days without chlorine after they arrived. So shocked the pool and all looked good for a few days. Pool quickly became cloudy after 3-4 days and started turning green, growing algae on the sides. A good scrub and another shock took care of the issue and pool was all clear again.

Fast forward two weeks, same issue continues. I can't seem to keep the pool clear and free of algae for more than a few days after shocking. Pressure gauge on top of the filter reads 0-5psi no matter what valves I turn off or on, so I suspect a flow problem (also thanks to reading many posts on this forum).

I purchased a new Pentair Intelliflo pump to replace the very old Sta-Rite pump ( I also wanted to get some energy savings and the additional functionally of the Intelliflo, so was going to replace the pump even if that was not my problem).

Pump was installed this morning and the pressure gauge now reads 15-20 PSI when pump is on high. Pressure from the Jets in the pool is considerably better.

As of right now, the pool is still slightly green and cloudy, but waiting to see if my problem has been fixed with the new pump. I plan to shock the pool again tonight and also purchased some algae treatement that I added to the pool yesterday.

Glad to be a member of the forum, I look forward to learning from others and contributing.

Thanks

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[borjis]

Good deal on the pump..sounds like you had circulation issues.

It would be a really good idea to get a taylor K2006 or TF100 test kit as soon as possible and post your test results.

Now would be a good time to get your pool right.

All of those things you put in could make things likely worse. If you haven't unsealed some of them, you probably shouldn't so you can return them.

The tabs & shock will add CYA and you may already have too much CYA the test kit will confirm that.

The algecide can add metals and cause even more problems.


I learned all of this from reading here when I bought my first house with a pool about a year ago.
right now my pool has perfect balance & sparkling clear. all from learning here.

 

[Patrick_B]

Welcome to TFP!

Your issue with Algae is very simple. You have not had enough Free Chlorine in the pool long enough to kill it, and you've not had enough to keep it from growing. Shocking is a process instead of an event, as high levels must be maintained long enough to kill everything. Raising for a short time and letting it fall won't do you any good as you are seeing. If you've been reading a few weeks, you may have gathered that using pucks for a primary source of Chlorine will eventually lead to trouble. You may not be needing, and perhaps shouldn't be using them at all. The only way to know, is to find out your Cya level. If it's high which is likely, this is also part of your problem, but the new pump will not solve your problem. To do that on your own, you need a proper test kit and some knowledge. In your instance, the TF100, or Taylor 2006C will be the correct kit, and all the knowledge is here. The best way to start building it is to start with the ABCs in pool School. Once you have a proper kit, you will need to complete a SLAM procedure on the pool to finally and completely clear the Algae.The links for all this info can be found in my signature links.

 

[Texas Splash]

Hello and welcome to TFP! If I could simply give you a couple pieces of advice before you add anything to your water:
- DON'T add anything to your water to resolve green/cloudy water other than regular liquid bleach right now. Most pool store products either waste your money or add metals to water you don't want. Save your money!
- Please consider obtaining the proper test kit from http://tftestkits.net/TF-100-Test-Kit-p4.html; see also Pool School - Test Kits Compared. I have the TF-100 w/ speed stir and could never imagine not having it. Well worth the one-time price.

You are in position where you will need tohttp://www.troublefreepool.com/content/125-slam-shock-level-and-maintain-shockingl to fix your water, but you need to proper test kit to do that. You also will need to be familiar with, or have access to these pages:
Pool School - ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry
Pool School - Chlorine / CYA Chart
Poolmath calculator
Pool School - Recommended Levels
Pool School - Recommended Pool Chemicals

It's not hard to do. Take a few minutes to read those pages and obtain the right test kit and you can make your water clear without pool store gimmicks. Let us know if you have any questions.

 

[Grasshopper1295]

Thanks for the welcomes and the advice.

I did purchase a test kit but it was a cheaper one and not one of the kits recommended here. I did read several posts suggesting those kits so I will likely order one tonight. In the meantime, there is a pool store right around the corner from me that will test my water for free. I had a test run and CYA did not come up as being an issue ( I don't recall the exact reading, but I will see if I can find the results and post them).

I have been reading posts about the issues with chlorine tabs and will likely change my pool maintenence methodology to try to avoid those issues soon, but right now I am just reading a lot and learning as I go.

Thanks for the heads-up on the algae killer, I already added that to the pool but will definitely be more cautious about adding in the future.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk

 

[borjis]

It's good you have some way of testing at the pool store....the only problem is they are usually not that accurate.

They also will say a CYA of 100 is ok even though thats about 20ppm more than the maximum it should ever be.

After you get a good kit, compare it with the store results...they are often much different.