2 Maintenance Questions (excessive rain & plaster brushing)

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agent86

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Jul 3, 2009
93
Montgomery, TX
I currently have an 3 month old inground SWG pool and all the chemicals are within range according to this site and equipment manufacture...

1. If it's raining just about every day with the sun hardly ever showing should I take any additional steps with my pool? Just trying to be pro-active here...

2. How often should I be brushing the sides/areas of the pool? (weekly, monthly, etc...) I completely forgot about this and the sides of the diamond-brite plaster started to have a brown substance on them. Once I brushed it this past weekend everything looks perfect again...

Thanks
 
Brushing the pool frequently is always a good idea and especially important with new plaster. Good judgement will tell you when it's enough. Twice weekly will probably still show some powder being removed in a 90 day old pool si I'd start with that and go from there.

That your pool walls were brown would indicate your water quality is not as good as it may seem. Without posting a complete set of current test results, that's just speculation and guessing.
 
After heavy or prolonged rains check your chlorine to make sure it has not dropped below your minimum effective level. You may need to add a boost of liquid chlorine if that is the case. SWG are good but they are not fast and algae can get a foothold before it brings the level back to where it should be.
 
That "brownish like substance" is back again on the walls of the pools....assuming it's algae?

FC: 1.5 (boosted the SWG up 15% more now too)
CC: 0
TC: 1.5
pH: 7.8 (struggle to maintain around 7.5)
TA: 110
CH: 230
CYA: 60
Salt: 2880

I kicked in the SWG to super chlorine mode for 24 hours....
 
agent86 said:
That "brownish like substance" is back again on the walls of the pools....assuming it's algae?

Very likely -- your chlorine level is way too low for this pool. It should be in the neighborhood of 5% of CYA (60*.05= 3.0 ppm Free Chlorine (FC)) or more at all times...

FC: 1.5 (boosted the SWG up 15% more now too)

Up to 15% -- or 15% above the previous setting?

CC: 0
TC: 1.5
pH: 7.8 (struggle to maintain around 7.5)
TA: 110
CH: 230
CYA: 60
Salt: 2880

I kicked in the SWG to super chlorine mode for 24 hours....

If you have algae, this is not likely to make much difference (even worse, it may kill a bit of the algae and make you think it's made a difference, only to return once the chlorine subsides.) This is the time to dump in some liquid chlorine or bleach in order to reach minimum chlorine level (3.0ppm+) or to shock, if you determine that you have algae. See the following articles in Pool School: Defeating Algae and Chlorine / CYA Chart
Click to expand...
 
Just want to double check since I'm still new at this (to kill any algae)...

If I want to add enough chlorine to reach my shock level I should be adding 640oz (4 gallons) of 10% liquid chlorine...with the pump running continuously for ???

After turning on SWG to "super chlorinate" FC levels are 5...

Thanks.
 
Actually, you'll need about 5 gallons of 10% to get your FC raised by about 20ppm. That 20ppm plus the 5ppm in your pool will get you to about 25ppm which is just barely above shock value for a CYA of 60ppm.

Importantly, you need to be clear that shocking your pool is a process......you must keep adding chlorine back up to that 24ppm shock value over and over until your FC holds stable overnight.

That will involve an overnight FC loss test and you will need to shut off your SWG prior to performing that test.

Read how to shock your pool in Pool School and post back with any questions......you'll get great help
 

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One thing I'm not quite clear on is that if I do in fact have algae, I shock the pool overnight....and it does kill the algae (after performing multiple FC Loss Tests, after the initial shock)...how long does it take for the chlorine to drop back to "normal" levels?
 
agent86 said:
One thing I'm not quite clear on is that if I do in fact have algae, I shock the pool overnight....and it does kill the algae (after performing multiple FC Loss Tests, after the initial shock)...how long does it take for the chlorine to drop back to "normal" levels?
Click to expand...
If you're not sure if you have algae, you can try an overnight chlorine test to confirm.

But if you suspect that you do, better to shock. And shocking may take longer than just overnight. Start the shocking process and hold a high chlorine level (with the pump running continously or at least for a good part of the day) until the morning when you discover that an overnight chlorine test shows less than 1 ppm loss. At that point, there's no reason to continue (it shows that the chlorine is no longer being consumed at a high rate.)

Many on this board will suggest that your chlorine shock level (25ppm or whatever) will come down in a day or two. You may find this to be the case; but every pool is different, the temperatures are cooler now, the sun lower (both lessening chlorine consumption) so don't be surprised if it takes some time. Following a shock I performed over the Labor Day weekend it took 2 1/2 weeks for me to resume normal chlorination. For a week or so I thought my chlorine would never come down. (But it did, of course!)
 
I would also like to add that if you are using the SUPER Chlorinate on your SWG, the cell poops out sooner. If you want to boost your chlorine faster, you should raise it with liquid chlorine. :wink:
 
Well, just performed an overnight test...

9:00pm Saturday TC=3.5
8:00am Sunday TC=3.5

Looks like kicking up the SWG to 70% Chlorination achieves 3.5 chlorine levels...

Since I didn't lose any chlorine overnight am I to assume that I do not have an algae problem?

Thanks.
 
Great. That means you are not losing any chlorine to killing organics (algae) so that means there are essentially none in your pool. Tell us more.....is the "brownish" stuff still around? What does your water look like?
 
Even with the "brownish" like substance on the walls of the pool, the water has always been sparkling blue. Just looked yesterday and this morning and the brownish like substance is not present...

I've been brushing the sides of the pool every couple days now as well though...

I have A LOT of tall trees surrounding the pool though...and I've been using the skimmer socks on the two skimmers as well...
 
I have A LOT of tall trees surrounding the pool though...and I've been using the skimmer socks on the two skimmers as well...
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So do you think the "brownish" stuff could've been from the trees all along? Do you think the skimmer socks are helping get the "stuff" out of the pool?

Did you shock the pool? What testing method are you using?

Not trying to be a busybody, but I can't tell if you think you've cured the "brownish" problem or not nor have you decided on the source.
 
So do you think the "brownish" stuff could've been from the trees all along? Do you think the skimmer socks are helping get the "stuff" out of the pool?
Click to expand...

It could have been. I never got in the water to examine the walls underwater. The water was too cold for me!. The skimmer socks are getting a lot of fine brown stuff along with a lot of leaves. I have to empty them everyday in the evening.

Did you shock the pool? What testing method are you using?
Click to expand...

I have not shocked the pool yet, or ever. I've been using the TF-100 test kit. BUT, the chlorine levels have dipped to 1.5 at various times while I figured out what the SWG setting needed to be.

I guess at this point I'll continue to maintain at least a 3.5 chlorine level (via SWG) and perform a weekly overnight chlorine loss test, and continue brushing a couple times a week at this point. The chemical tests are posted in a previous post as well...

Thanks!
 

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