New to the Forum; First Full Pool Season

[TXKnight]

Hey y'all. I'm new to this forum. Last year we purchased this home in the middle of pool season and it was being maintained by a pool service. The pool is an in-ground vinyl liner 36x18 with diving well (unsure of volume). It has a 1.5 hp Hayward Century pump and Pentair FNS Plus 60 Sq ft. DE Filter. The pool came with a very old suction side Kreepy Krawly vacuum, which I removed because there is only one skimmer and no other inlets so the water line couldn't skim with the vacuum being used. Now I use a Aquabot Pro IG robotic cleaner instead.

Here's a photo album: TFP - Album on Imgur I can't figure out how to attach more than 2 photos directly.

I took over and read some online materials, but hadn't found TFP yet. There were still lots of chemicals in the closets when we bought the house: clortabs, powder shock, DE powder, alkalinity down, and muriatic acid. I immediately bought a bunch of baking soda and borax to deal with raising Ph and alkalinity. After the shock was used, I sourced a local pool store that sold liquid chlorine (13%) as a cost savings measure. I was able to keep the levels balanced and everything was fantastic. In the Winter as a direction of my pool store, I shocked the pool every 2 weeks instead of every week. Well, our weather wasn't as cold as usual (didn't even freeze once) and I ended up with this awful mustard algae bloom. I put off getting rid of it and last week I tried Doheney's Super Algaecide. That didn't work. I just read about the SLAM, but I've been having some issues getting the Alkalinity and Ph up to normal levels (not sure if this is because of the algae directly) and because the Ph and alkalinity are low, I've been shocking twice a week to keep TC and FC at normal levels because the chlorine breaks down faster.

Any idea why the baking soda and borax aren't bringing up the levels?

 

[triptyx]

What are you using to "shock"?

Can you please post a full set of test numbers from your testing kit so we can start to see where you are? Should look something like:

FC
CC
Ph
TA
CH
CYA

 

[TXKnight]

What are you using to "shock"?

Can you please post a full set of test numbers from your testing kit so we can start to see where you are? Should look something like:

FC
CC
Ph
TA
CH
CYA

FC 3
TC 3
Ph 6.6
TA 40

Those are the tests my kit does so I guess my kit isn't comprehensive enough.

I'm using 13% liquid chlorine from the local pool store.

 

[RobbieH]

CYA is the important component missing here.

If those test results are accurate (I'm afraid they may not be), your pH needs to be raised pretty quickly, and TA should be raised at some point.

 

[TXKnight]

CYA is the important component missing here.

If those test results are accurate (I'm afraid they may not be), your pH needs to be raised pretty quickly, and TA should be raised at some point.

I just found the calculator on the forum and now I see why the Baking Soda and Borax wasn't working. Ph and TA got way too low for just a couple boxes. Does TA and Ph typically drop in winter? Was it because I didn't shock as much during winter?

 

[RobbieH]

Honestly, you should NEVER need to "shock" your pool. I have not done my pool in years. The shock process (what we call SLAM to prevent confusion with "shock" products) is only necessary when there is a problem.

I have never had pH drop on me, and it is pretty uncommon. Most people have rising pH. But, if your TA is low, all sorts of things can happen with pH.

pH is raised through aeration, or by adding borax or soda ash.

 

[TXKnight]

Honestly, you should NEVER need to "shock" your pool. I have not done my pool in years. The shock process (what we call SLAM to prevent confusion with "shock" products) is only necessary when there is a problem.

I have never had pH drop on me, and it is pretty uncommon. Most people have rising pH. But, if your TA is low, all sorts of things can happen with pH.

pH is raised through aeration, or by adding borax or soda ash.

I guess I'm using the term incorrectly. I'm adding enough liquid chlorine to get the levels back up to normal.

I should need to go through SLAM once I get my pH and TA up and get tester to test CYA to get rid of the algae?

PS- thanks for the help

 

[RobbieH]

Adding the proper amount of liquid chlorine to bring FC into normal range is just normal, not shock.

You will need to follow the SLAM procedures once pH and TA are correct, yes. And you'll need the FAS-DPD chlorine test to properly perform the SLAM.

You may have trouble doing this anytime soon with all the rain we have coming.

 

[TXKnight]

Adding the proper amount of liquid chlorine to bring FC into normal range is just normal, not shock.

You will need to follow the SLAM procedures once pH and TA are correct, yes. And you'll need the FAS-DPD chlorine test to properly perform the SLAM.

You may have trouble doing this anytime soon with all the rain we have coming.

I got a test kit and CYA is at 50.