getting clear sparkling water?

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Should I backwash on high or low speed?

Does the sand come out of the filter when you backwash? According to pool school it does not; but the water looks very brown like sand when it starts up.

Should I vacuum to waste all the time, sometime, never? I could lose 3-4 inches of water by the time I vacuum and would have to replace the water and chemicals.

Since my T/A and CH says to lose 20%, maybe I should backflush and vacuum to waste to get the levels down. The water is too cloudy to vacuum today; but maybe next week?

When you vacuum to waste do you just point the hose out to the yard or do you actually have a connection to the sewer line? I have a cleanout nearby that could keep all the water from flooding the yard and street :)
 
When backwashing the sand won't come out of the filter. You need to rinse well after backwashing to avoid the issue of stuff going to the pool.
I only vacuum to waste when I've got a lot of stuff in the pool I normally vacuum while filtering. I let it out in the yard but there's no where for it to pool up. Some people have it hooked to a drain as well.
 
Hi Randelli,
I'm also a newbie to TFP but I feel like I've learned sooo much in such a short time. I had your cloudy pool problem last season and didn't know what to do. I hadn't found TFP yet. When I first started I was scared to use my test kit! I'm loving it now!! My pool is that 'crystal clear' that everyone is talking about. I have faith that yours will look that way too in no time! Welcome to TFP!!!
 
I'll also mention that if you have not yet used up the Cal-Hypo, you probably ought to save some. It is handy to have on hand when you need to shock the pool in a hurry and you are not able to get enough bleach. Bleach does not keep as well as the dry Cal-Hypo. Nice to keep a few lbs of the dry stuff on hand, but try to use bleach all the time.
 
What does rain water do to pool chemestry?

We got .4" last night, along with a lot of wind, the algea gods are against me....................

Does rain water have any effect on the ph balance?
 
For the most part rain doesn't affect the chemistry of the pool very much, unless you get an enormous amount. To put it in perspective .4" in a 19,000 pool would equal about 150 gallons more or less. That's less than 1% change.

As to how it affects pH. Since rainwater is usually somewhere in the middle of the pH range, it won't have much of an effect on the pool pH at all. You can always test your rainwater to see just where it is.
 

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Here are the test results from this morning:

Date: 4/18
FC: 7.5
CC: .5
TC: 8
pH: 7.2
T/A: 100
CH: 440
CYA: 57
Temp: 66

I can see the main drain from the shallow end of the pool, in fact I can see the main drain from 40' away, until the angle of view through the water gets to be too great. I think I can call this "clear".

It still appears that my CH and CYA is too high? If I vacuumed to waste I would keep the dirt from getting into the filter -and pool- and lower both levels at once. Is this a good idea?
 
I decided to vacuum to waste after all. I used the low speed setting because I did not want to lose too much water before I got all of the dirt out. I ended up losing 4" of water so we will see how that changes the balance after it fills and circulates for a while.

Just for googles I decided to test my fill water. I took it right out of the stream as the pool was filling.

Here are the results:

FC: .5
CC: 0
TC: .5
pH: 8.2
T/A: 60
CH: 40
CYA: 0 - filled the tube to 20 with no change in clarity.
 
I'm surprised at the pH of your fill water but ours is 7.9. The rest of the numbers look great for fill water. You'll not have to worry about high TA or CH from the fill water.

You're fill water won't have any CYA, or it better not have any. :)
 
Drum Roll Please>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Here are the results of replacing 4" of water yesterday:

Here are the test results from this morning:

Date: 4/19
FC: 12.5 (I added bleach yesterday)
CC: .5
TC: 12.5
pH: 7.2 - no change from 4/9
T/A: 90 - down 50 from 4/9
CH: 400 - down 40 from 4/9
CYA: 50 - down 10 from 4/9
Temp: 69

How do these look?

The water looks wonderful, clear, sparkly if I stir it up, and blue blue blue!
IMG_0086.jpg
 
frustratedpoolmom said:
If the PH doesn't come up on it's own in a week or so, I'd go ahead and bump it to 7.5 with Borax.

Otherwise, lookin' good! :)
Click to expand...

I do have trouble with reading the PH colors. I am not colorblind; but the color is between 7.2 and 7.5 now.
 
Reverse Osmosis lowers CH. As for it dropping on it's own, it should come down as you replace water thru backwashing/splash out, etc.
350-400 is high but certainly not unmanageable if you monitor the PH/TA.

Can someone else look at the colors on the PH vial for you? I had trouble yesterday myself so I asked for a second opinion :)
 
So this week we had 2 good days of wind and rain - and then my pump went out for 2 days. My son (14) cleaned the strainers and I noticed that the pump strainer was in backwards and water was not passing through!!! I think that killed the motor.

So today I replaced the motor and tested the water:

Date: 4/24
FC: 8
CC: .5
TC: 8.5
pH: 7.3? - up .1 from 4/18
T/A: 100 - up 10 from 4/18
CH: 310 - down 90 from 4/18
CYA: 57 - up 7 from 4/18
Temp: 66

I also had Leslie's test it:

FC: 5 (They only go to 5)
CC: They don't test but allow .2
TC: 5 (They only go to 5)
pH: 7.4
T/A: 90 (10 less than my test)
CH: 220 - (90 less than my test)
CYA: 50 - 7 less than my test)

So the weather and broken pump didn't hurt my pool any - YAY!! The color and clarity is perfect and I MAY get in the pool tomorrow??
 
THANKS TFP FOR ALL OF YOUR HELP :party:

My pool water is perfect, the filter does not leak sand, the pump motor has been replaced, the pool sweep has been replaced.

Here is how the water looked when I got here on April 4:
IMG_0001.jpg


And here is how it looks today - yes you can read "Hayward Pool Vac Ultra" from the diving board:
DSCF0001.jpg


Now, I need to figure out how to clean rust staind from chinese throwing stars; and chemical stains from hockey pucks thrown in the pool; and general stains fro who knows what. I also need to replace some missing tiles - which means I will have to redo ALL of the tile. Next month I suppose.

Again - A BIG thank you! I raise my glass to you :cheers:
 

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