My first-time TFPC method adventure....so far..

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Time Vampire

Time Vampire

0
May 25, 2016
23
Clay, NY
I started last Thursday after reading most of this website for a couple of days. First thing I did was a deep clean of my sand filter. I had not done ANYTHING to my filter in the 8 years I have been in this house, and I can only imagine how long the previous owner had it while doing nothing to it. After watching the video and reading the instructions I saw here, I started my deep clean. It took 1 hour 15 minutes to get the water clear, and I could not believe what flowed out of that thing!!! The great news is that my filter pressures are now 4 PSI below what they used to be and the suction and return pressures are much improved. I actually find debris in my skimmer basket now. Once I got the pool filled and pump running, I tested my water. CYA was absent, PH was 6.8, CL 0, Alkalinity 70 and I believe calcium was around 80. Spent the rest of the day adding chemicals and getting all of my levels within range. Had trouble getting the FC up for the first day or so, but after several trips to Walmart and several rounds of chlorine pouring, they started to stabilize a bit and the water quickly turned to a nice skim-milk-like liquid. Took some time for that to SLOWLY start clearing up. By Tuesday, things were improving nicely, but still had a few days to go. Tuesday evening I come home to my pump hose having blown off the pump intake, which of course led to water loss down to the bottom of the skimmer. Somehow, my pump did not burn out. After several obscenities, I dropped the hose in and filled the pool back-up for several hours. Retested everything last night to find CL at 1, PH at 6.8, and surprisingly CYA at 40 which is where I wanted it anyway, so that was lucky. Got the PH back-up and added yet more CL and called it quits at 9:30PM. That leads to today, a day in which we received some very heavy rains this morning, so it will be trip to Walmart for some more Borax and CL, then home to test and adjust again. The only good thing so far has been that I was not forced to completely start over from loosing as much water as I did. I guess for a first time it is going well, but after 8 years of hatred and frustration with this pool, it is difficult to remain positive, but I am sticking with it!
 
Time Vampire said:
but after 8 years of hatred and frustration with this pool, it is difficult to remain positive, but I am sticking with it!
Click to expand...

This is the best part of your whole post, right here. :)

* Yep...taking control of your pool takes time and work. This is especially true after years of neglect. (Ok, perhaps neglect is a strong word...let's say...years of riding its coattails *heh*)
* Yep...pool stuff breaks. If it's not a seal here or a hose it's a light fixture or a pump...or, heaven forbid, even a liner or a frame or concrete or or or. It's the reality of owning a pool...none of them are maintenance free, and stuff often breaks at the least convenient time.
* Yep...it's a project, and like every project we take on, it ALWAYS results in 5 extra trips to the hardware store, double the initial budget, and 3 rounds of cussing at having to tear it all down and start over. *lol*

Having said all that...HANG IN THERE! :calm: It WILL work, and it IS worth it.

My favorite TFPC story isn't really a story at all...it's an observation. After about the 2nd year of doing this, I realized something...my WHOLE FAMILY AND I can tell what's going on with our pool the moment we get in the water. We don't even need test results to know something's ever so slightly off now...daughter gets in, "huh...my eyes don't quite feel right under water"....sure enough, pH is a little out of whack. Wife says there's a hint of chlorine smell when she's in the pool...yep, there's 0.5 CC...something needs killing.

THAT'S having control of your pool, instead of the other way around. You know exactly what it's doing, why it's doing it, when it's going to need some help, etc. And TFPC gets you there.

So good on you for sticking with it. We all need a bit of cheerleading sometimes, so....

:party::whoot: and if necessary, :hammer:
 
* Yep...taking control of your pool takes time and work. This is especially true after years of neglect. (Ok, perhaps neglect is a strong word...let's say...years of riding its coattails *heh*)
* Yep...pool stuff breaks. If it's not a seal here or a hose it's a light fixture or a pump...or, heaven forbid, even a liner or a frame or concrete or or or. It's the reality of owning a pool...none of them are maintenance free, and stuff often breaks at the least convenient time.
* Yep...it's a project, and like every project we take on, it ALWAYS results in 5 extra trips to the hardware store, double the initial budget, and 3 rounds of cussing at having to tear it all down and start over. *lol*

Yeah, I get all that, it is still nice to vent once in a while! I wouldn't call it neglect, it was basically never really getting the correct advice or education on how to deal with the stupid thing. I think I am armed with enough knowledge thanks to this site to make this year much better for me. Not only have I replaced the pump, liner (a do-it-myself project with some friends and beers that was another pain in the butt), all hoses, fittings, skimmer, and many other misc parts over the last few years, but I have been fighting algae for what seems like an eternity. I also am just not very patient with these things. I want it crystal clear overnight, which I know will never happen. To add insult to injury this weekend, I think this was the earliest we have seen 90 degree temps here in several years and I was messing with the pool instead of swimming in it. :-x
 
Well, if you dedicate yourself to some "hard-time" now, you will find that pool maintenance is so easy. You CAN love your pool again.

My neighbors on either side of me are jealous of how little time I spend pool-side. (I am in the process of converting one of them!)

What testkit do you have?
 
I love when someone tells me pools are a time consuming money pit. I reply I spend about 10 minutes a day and about $60. For the whole season and just look how pretty the water is!

Learning and reading is actually the hardest part. But you can ask questions about what ever you are unsure of. (Easier to ask to confirm before adding, as sometimes it's not easy to undo something.)

Other advice.... The TFP method and pool store advice don't play well together. You pretty much have to commit yourself to the process for it to work right.
 
Just realized it was the 6-way kit, so it came with the CYA test. One thing I learned, and all newb's reading this should consider, don't try to save a few bucks and do this method! Laying out the extra dough up front for a good kit will save you multiples of that over the course of the summer.
 

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OK, long overdue update. After the false start, I have now been at it full-bore since 6/3. I have been checking chlorine and keeping at or near slam level for most of it. Admittedly I let it slip a little low a couple of times due to my son being in the little league playoffs since Saturday (tonight is a big one, round 3 against the number 1 seed who was 10-1-2. We win tonight we go to the championship game. Kind of an exciting time for us). Anyways, I have gone from deep green to a cloudy blue. I am now able to see the bottom almost all the way across and was finally able to vacuum without guessing where the dirt was. My FC has onlu lost 3-5ppm every 24hrs the last couple of days. The even better news is that the CC has been 0 for 3 days!! Can't wait to get the last of this cloudiness gone.

I do have a quick question, if the CC stays at 0 and I let the FC drift down a bit, is the water safe for swimming even if it is still a little cloudy? We are looking at near-90 degree temps for the weekend. Also, with a FC of 20 and a CYA of 50 right now, will a PH test be accurate?
 
1. Depends on your definition of cloudy. You need to see to the bottom of the pool. Think worst case scenario, for safety.

2. No, pH test is not accurate with FC > 10.

If the water is truly clean (and I believe it is with no CCs for days) it might be time to add some DE if you want to speed things along.
 
Yep, can now see the bottom pretty clearly. I am actually thinking it will be near clear by the weekend. Yesterday was the first sunny day in three days so it lost about 6ppm in 24 hrs, which still isn't bad. Once again, the CC was 0, so I am very confident this slam will be done by the weekend.
 
SLAM over!! It is starting to sparkle and we spent a ton of time in it this weekend. Here are my current levels:

FC: 8
CC: 0
Ph: 7.5
CYA: 30 (maybe 40). Considering raising this just a bit since the pool is in the sun almost the entire day. Will see how much FC it losses over the next couple of days first.
TA: 110
CA: 120

I couldn't be happier right now! These are the best pics I have for now:

POOL.jpg

View attachment 50537
 
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