This will serve as my introduction post, so here goes. This is our 3rd pool, 4th if you count the old Dough Boy that was left in the back yard of our first home that we put a new liner and pump on and used for a couple of years. All the other pools were in California. We moved to the Austin area 9 years ago and two years ago put in a new pool (see the details below). Turns out running a pool in TX is different than in CA. The dry climate and cool nights along with the lack of rain made it pretty easy. Cheap tablets, some MA once a month or so to adjust Ph. Shock it if it got a little cloudy and its good as new the next morning. Running a pool in CA is like only playing golf on a Par 3 course. You think it's easier than it really is. We started up the new pool on Labor Day 2014, paid little attention to it through the winter, ran it all summer in 2015 with no issues and neglected it again through that winter too. The mild winter with El Niño rains brought robust plant growth and lots of pollen. Fought algae in the early spring and though I had beat it but two weeks later it came back and would not budge with my efforts to shock it. With a family reunion planned a few weeks out I was in a panic. I called a guy who came out and tested my pool. We said my CYA was off the charts and sold me on draining/refilling it, cleaning it and putting a ionization unit on it. I also signed him up for weekly maintenance. I have to admit it has been crystal clear all summer. I just couldn't stand watching him to come out and spend an hour a week on it for what I was paying. So I started reading this forum and decided to take it over myself. I've been testing it every evening for FC, CC, ph, and TA. I'm putting about a quart of 8.25% beach a day in it and maintaining levels between 1 and 2. Have wrestled with the ph and TA (MA and Baking Soda) trying to find a happy medium and it seems to have come into balance at 7.5ph and 60-70 TA. I went and bought a bigger kit today at Leslie's so I could test CYA and CH. The CYA is testing at 90 and the hardness at 400. I can understand the CH since the water here is pretty hard but it's disturbing that the CYA is high when I just replaced all of the water 3 months ago.
So, my questions, do I really need to chuck the Carefree system? I just paid a hunk of money for it and it's working on the algae. Do I need to do something right away about the CYA? What about the CH?
Thanks in advance for any advice.
Phil M.
So, my questions, do I really need to chuck the Carefree system? I just paid a hunk of money for it and it's working on the algae. Do I need to do something right away about the CYA? What about the CH?
Thanks in advance for any advice.
Phil M.