Hi there.
I am so glad ya'll are here to help us with our pool question. Thanks a bunch! Also, I like to write, so if you prefer to just get to my question please scroll to the end and skip my storytelling. Many thanks!
So my hubby and I bought a new home last fall and we are thrilled that it has an in-ground pool. We are way out in the middle of nowhere so running in to a pool supply store is not something we can do.
We are both somewhat disabled and we had hoped to have someone else open our pool but we were unsuccessful at finding anyone willing to drive this far out into the country to help us. We were told if something breaks they will come but anyone can open a pool. Oh really...
After talking to the guy on the phone I felt a little more confident. Especially since he didn't try to sell me anything. So on Mother's Day weekend we drove to Kansas (from Missouri) to visit our kids and we stopped in a local pool store and asked them what all we needed to open our pool and they gave us a quick crash course on what to do. Of course we explained we had never done anything remotely like it before. We spent a little over $600.00 and left feeling both broke and excited to get back home and open our pool.
note to self... never step foot in a pool store again
Once we got it was time to turn our filter on. Thank the Lord my hubby thought to look in the pump for a plug. We also found one in the filter. This was when we got on Youtube to see where to look for more. We didn't find any others. The pool store people didn't mention any plugs.
Better look for more.
While hubby was looking for plugs, I was playing with the fancy new chemicals. The pool store sold us a test kit and some strips and things so I got a clean water bottle and slapped the black water a couple times to scare away the snake we found on the cover when we cleaned the leaves off the day before and then plunged my hand in and collected some water to test and took it in to my laboratory... I mean my laundry room for testing then went back out to check on hubby.
All the plugs were out so we turned on the pump. The pumped groaned a time or two and then hubby smacked it with a pipe and we heard it begrudgingly began chug along and then thrilled as the water began to move. And then... up from the bottom our snake buddy comes and sticks his head out of the water. He looked right at us as if to ask us why we dared disturb his sanctuary. I hate to kill him with the bleach but I bet he will get out once we put it in and we are not waiting. At least I hope he gets out as the idea of netting his rotting dead body out of the pool did not excite me.
So... now that the water was moving we happily put the powered shock directly into our pool. We had a $65.00 box of shock that had 12 bags of shock and we were told to put 4 bags in every 12 hours at which point our pool would be crystal clear. We had explained the pool was so black you could not see through it. No worries we were told. So we did not worry and we faithfully put the shock in until it was gone.
At the end of 36 hours our pool had gone from deep dark black to a wonderful sparkling... black. hahaha... and the pool store was 2 hours away. On top of all that my poor hubby had the flu and was sick in bed.
That was when I got out my laptop and started researching. That is when I found TFP's Pool School. When he wasn't busy feeling just plain miserable hubby helped me read through all the steps of opening a pool and we began to feel really foolish and a little bit rooked by the pool store. Well at least we got a test kit and a solar blanket for part of our expense. Most of it was just not needed.
So we let it go for a few days until hubby got better during which time the frogs reclaimed the lovely greenish black water as their own private pond.
The one key thing we were never told... and I guess it is just plain common sense.. (I guess I am not common) but we were never told to get a vacuum and get the junk off the bottom of the pool. We could not see through the water and there was a cover... I guess we assumed it was just dirty water. We didn't think about there being leaves and those little seed strings from the oak trees all over bottom. :-? So all that organic stuff just had to come out. We did find the vacuum. Again I praise the Lord that there was one in the barn and that it actually worked. So many things in this new home are either missing or broken... but that is another story. Anyway we vacuumed and shocked with bleach.
We just put 6 more bottles of bleach in tonight. I was so excited to find that there was still chlorine in the pool this evening when usually there is exactly zero when I test it in the evening. The filter keeps kicking off... I am pretty sure it has something to do with the timer so I removed the little metal markers that tell it when to turn off and on. I think that will make it run 24/7 until I am done with the opening. After that I can work on determining how the timer works.
There also were no critters in the pool or the skimmer tonight. I think probably because there was still 2-4 ppm of FC still in the pool. So far I have found many frogs both dead and alive in the skimmer. I have found a snake in the pool. I also found a snapping turtle in the skimmer so large he was jammed in pretty tight. He was bigger around than the 7 inch skimmer basket and his head was nearly as big as my chihuahua's head. He was very mad when I got him out as to do so I used 2 pair of 14"channel lock pliers. I would have asked hubby to do it but his knee prevents him from kneeling. I wasn't sticking my hand in there with him for fear he would get me.
Okay... so now you know how far we have come... I know we are not done and we need to keep going.
My vacuum does not do much for the algae growing on the liner so I think I need to go out and brush that down. I plan to do that tomorrow... if it does not rain.
Also my skimmer does not pull the stuff down into the basket it just sort of swirls around on the surface above the basket. I think I have the water level a bit too high. Does this seem like a possible reason for that?
My levels tonight are:
TA:100
CH:300
FC:3
PH:7.2
CYA: <30
Our well water has a PH coming out of the hose of 7.5 I am not sure why this is testing so low unless it is the higher FC. I tested it before I started slamming and it was7.5
My CYA is slightly less than 30 as I can still see the black dot but just barely. Do you think I need to raise it? If so does anyone know if I can use a product that I currently have that came from a pool supply store called Leslie's Jumbo Tabs?
Perhaps you know of something I don't even know to ask about.
Again thanks so much for your time and knowledge
Lorianne Robinson
I am so glad ya'll are here to help us with our pool question. Thanks a bunch! Also, I like to write, so if you prefer to just get to my question please scroll to the end and skip my storytelling. Many thanks!
So my hubby and I bought a new home last fall and we are thrilled that it has an in-ground pool. We are way out in the middle of nowhere so running in to a pool supply store is not something we can do.
We are both somewhat disabled and we had hoped to have someone else open our pool but we were unsuccessful at finding anyone willing to drive this far out into the country to help us. We were told if something breaks they will come but anyone can open a pool. Oh really...
note to self... never step foot in a pool store again
Once we got it was time to turn our filter on. Thank the Lord my hubby thought to look in the pump for a plug. We also found one in the filter. This was when we got on Youtube to see where to look for more. We didn't find any others. The pool store people didn't mention any plugs.
Better look for more. While hubby was looking for plugs, I was playing with the fancy new chemicals. The pool store sold us a test kit and some strips and things so I got a clean water bottle and slapped the black water a couple times to scare away the snake we found on the cover when we cleaned the leaves off the day before and then plunged my hand in and collected some water to test and took it in to my laboratory... I mean my laundry room for testing then went back out to check on hubby.
All the plugs were out so we turned on the pump. The pumped groaned a time or two and then hubby smacked it with a pipe and we heard it begrudgingly began chug along and then thrilled as the water began to move. And then... up from the bottom our snake buddy comes and sticks his head out of the water. He looked right at us as if to ask us why we dared disturb his sanctuary. I hate to kill him with the bleach but I bet he will get out once we put it in and we are not waiting. At least I hope he gets out as the idea of netting his rotting dead body out of the pool did not excite me.
So... now that the water was moving we happily put the powered shock directly into our pool. We had a $65.00 box of shock that had 12 bags of shock and we were told to put 4 bags in every 12 hours at which point our pool would be crystal clear. We had explained the pool was so black you could not see through it. No worries we were told. So we did not worry and we faithfully put the shock in until it was gone.
At the end of 36 hours our pool had gone from deep dark black to a wonderful sparkling... black. hahaha... and the pool store was 2 hours away. On top of all that my poor hubby had the flu and was sick in bed.
That was when I got out my laptop and started researching. That is when I found TFP's Pool School. When he wasn't busy feeling just plain miserable hubby helped me read through all the steps of opening a pool and we began to feel really foolish and a little bit rooked by the pool store. Well at least we got a test kit and a solar blanket for part of our expense. Most of it was just not needed.
So we let it go for a few days until hubby got better during which time the frogs reclaimed the lovely greenish black water as their own private pond.
The one key thing we were never told... and I guess it is just plain common sense.. (I guess I am not common) but we were never told to get a vacuum and get the junk off the bottom of the pool. We could not see through the water and there was a cover... I guess we assumed it was just dirty water. We didn't think about there being leaves and those little seed strings from the oak trees all over bottom. :-? So all that organic stuff just had to come out. We did find the vacuum. Again I praise the Lord that there was one in the barn and that it actually worked. So many things in this new home are either missing or broken... but that is another story. Anyway we vacuumed and shocked with bleach.
We just put 6 more bottles of bleach in tonight. I was so excited to find that there was still chlorine in the pool this evening when usually there is exactly zero when I test it in the evening. The filter keeps kicking off... I am pretty sure it has something to do with the timer so I removed the little metal markers that tell it when to turn off and on. I think that will make it run 24/7 until I am done with the opening. After that I can work on determining how the timer works.
There also were no critters in the pool or the skimmer tonight. I think probably because there was still 2-4 ppm of FC still in the pool. So far I have found many frogs both dead and alive in the skimmer. I have found a snake in the pool. I also found a snapping turtle in the skimmer so large he was jammed in pretty tight. He was bigger around than the 7 inch skimmer basket and his head was nearly as big as my chihuahua's head. He was very mad when I got him out as to do so I used 2 pair of 14"channel lock pliers. I would have asked hubby to do it but his knee prevents him from kneeling. I wasn't sticking my hand in there with him for fear he would get me.
Okay... so now you know how far we have come... I know we are not done and we need to keep going.
My vacuum does not do much for the algae growing on the liner so I think I need to go out and brush that down. I plan to do that tomorrow... if it does not rain.
Also my skimmer does not pull the stuff down into the basket it just sort of swirls around on the surface above the basket. I think I have the water level a bit too high. Does this seem like a possible reason for that?
My levels tonight are:
TA:100
CH:300
FC:3
PH:7.2
CYA: <30
Our well water has a PH coming out of the hose of 7.5 I am not sure why this is testing so low unless it is the higher FC. I tested it before I started slamming and it was7.5
My CYA is slightly less than 30 as I can still see the black dot but just barely. Do you think I need to raise it? If so does anyone know if I can use a product that I currently have that came from a pool supply store called Leslie's Jumbo Tabs?
Perhaps you know of something I don't even know to ask about.
Again thanks so much for your time and knowledge
Lorianne Robinson
