New to TFP...Need a little advice

[bakemehappy]

Hello Everyone!

I'm new to the forum, but I have already learned so much from just reading posted threads. We have been pool owners for three years now and love it. However this is the first year that I ran into some issues. Spring start up, water was mostly clear with some algae on bottom and sides. Scrubbed, vacuumed, backwashed, repeat, added chemicals , got water crystal clear, all chemicals on point and quickly noticed pool was not holding chlorine. Been using leslies chemicals and quickly discovered that they care more about upselling their products rather then helping with pool maintenance. After about a week of testing and adding shock daily(leslies recommended Chlor-brite) with no results. They kept telling me I had chlorine lock??? (Umm, no such thing that I found anywhere), they tell me just keep adding 3lbs of shock daily until chlorine holds...UM! NO! BTW, pool is still really cold (68 degrees) and we had no sun that week, added at night, so I know it was not burning off and my CYA levels were at 80. So I started researching on how to solve this issue, found this site and quickly educated myself. After reading everything, I knew I need to slam the pool. I ordered my test kit and slammed the pool 5 days ago with liquid chlorine. I Followed the directions and recommendations per CYA levels to a T and all went well, fairly easy and all is good, but still getting high FC reading and now CYA levels, all other chemicals on point. I took a sample to leslies yesterday and they said I had low calcium. There is a faint chlorine smell when I get close to the water, but no smell when I smell the water in the test bottle. Can anyone tell me a faint chlorine smell is normal? I do not recall in the previous 2 years ever smelling any chlorine. All my chemicals were on point before slamming, does slamming lower calcium levels? Why did CYA jump so hi? last question, I want to start ordering my chemicals online, but I have been using leslies products for 3 years, can I switch to another brand without causing issues? Pool is crystal clear

Leslies test results as of yesterday 4/30 Home test results Taylor K-2006 FAS/DPD this morning

FC-4 FC-10.6
TC-4 CC-0.2
PH-7.8 PH-7.6
TA-100 TA-120
CH-180 CH-250
CYA-80 CYA-100


I do not understand why I am getting extremely higher FC and CYA results than leslies. I am really concerned about those high levels. I allowed the kids to swim for about 30 min last night and they want to swim today. Could I have done something wrong during testing? Should I have a different pool company test my water and compare? Its gonna start getting hot and really want to have pool ready ASAP. I am glad I did not add any calcium before testing myself. I feel like my results are right as my calcium and all others chemicals were straight before the slam, except FC was 0 and CYA was 80 All help is very appreciated. Thank you to all who post here. It feels good to educate myself and eventually eliminate the need for pool companies for maintenance.

 

[Richard320]

Seriously, trust your own testing. If you've managed to kill the algae and the pump and SWG were running after the sun went down, that will explain the jump in FC.

Your FC is actually not all that high for 80 or 100 CYA. No problem for the kids to get in at all.

Review the test kit videos and check that CYA test as many times as you need to be confident of your reading. Take a reading, pour it back, swirl, take another reading. Do it outside, in bright light, and only hold the view tube between thumb and forefinger. Some people find it easier to fill to a certain line and then look down the tube and see if they see the dot at all, then pour it back and try it again at a different reading. You don't want to stare at the dot, or it ends up like an optical illusion.

 

[bakemehappy]

Thank you very much for your response. I have not turned on my swg since I did the slam, because I did not want to generate more chlorine if it was really that high. Tested again this morning and my FAC went down 1ppm and it was not sunny yesterday when I tested the cya, when tested this morning it was sunny and I got a reading of 85. I will do what you suggested above. Do you know if I will have any issues switching from leslies pool chemicals to a different brand? I want to get away from leslies completely. I will read the test videos and only rely on my tests.

Thank you again, this site has definitely educated me more, will save me some frustration as well as money and give me peace of mind.

 

[DaninFLA]

no issues switching chemicals...nothing special about Leslie chemicals...unless you count them costing 2x as much as stuff from walmart, lowes, etc.

congrats on taking control of your pool!

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I do not understand why I am getting extremely higher FC and CYA results than leslies. .

its because you have an accurate test kit and know how to use it! seriously, just never give the pool store your water to test. never.