I'm new to the forum and a relatively new pool owner. We bought our house in early 2015 with a pool/swamp containing several dead chipmunks and a bull frog bigger then my head. The plaster was flaking off in some areas and hadn't been kept up in about 1.5 to 2 years. We had it chipped out and replastered and replaced all of the floor returns/drains as the PVC was dry and crunchy. After several months of running a 3 hp non programable fixed speed pump, we replaced it with the intelliflo vs (huge energy savings).
As new pool owners, we asked the pool replaster guy how to take care of the pool. He pretty much said to drop a chlorine tablet in each skimmer and replace once it was just about dissolved, buy a test kit and go from there. The chlorine level was always a bit low on tests, but it always looked great, last summer we noticed a few black spots on the bottom and apparently they multiplied over the winter.
I've done some reading here and it looks like the best course of action might be the SLAM method with lots of scrubbing with a stainless brush during the process.
Here are the pool test readings as of this afternoon:
FC 0 (was 4 the night before)
ph 7.2 (added 1 gallon muriatic last night)
TA 40 (added 24 lbs baking soda today)
CH 300 (added 7 lbs calcium chloride today)
CYA 40
My test kit is a Taylor I believe, blue plastic box and I've been using Clorox brand Chlorine tablets which I believe have Trichlor.
2 Questions:
-People say to stock up on bleach before a SLAM, does that mean 20 gallons, 50 or more?
-I have a gas pressure washer, could I use this to remove the black spots while the pool is still full?
Thanks for any advice,
Dave
As new pool owners, we asked the pool replaster guy how to take care of the pool. He pretty much said to drop a chlorine tablet in each skimmer and replace once it was just about dissolved, buy a test kit and go from there. The chlorine level was always a bit low on tests, but it always looked great, last summer we noticed a few black spots on the bottom and apparently they multiplied over the winter.
I've done some reading here and it looks like the best course of action might be the SLAM method with lots of scrubbing with a stainless brush during the process.
Here are the pool test readings as of this afternoon:
FC 0 (was 4 the night before)
ph 7.2 (added 1 gallon muriatic last night)
TA 40 (added 24 lbs baking soda today)
CH 300 (added 7 lbs calcium chloride today)
CYA 40
My test kit is a Taylor I believe, blue plastic box and I've been using Clorox brand Chlorine tablets which I believe have Trichlor.
2 Questions:
-People say to stock up on bleach before a SLAM, does that mean 20 gallons, 50 or more?
-I have a gas pressure washer, could I use this to remove the black spots while the pool is still full?
Thanks for any advice,
Dave
