Help please!

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With regards to vacuuming, make sure it is submerged, then with the pump on go over to one of your jets and put the hose up to it and hold it there until no more air comes out of the cleaner head, place the plam of your hand over the end of the hose and the walk it over to the skimmer adapter ( that is what you are using correct?) and connect it to the skimmer. Assuming you have a multi position valve, I usually have it one notch below full skim so when I connect it to the skimmer, the pump dosent loose prime because it is drawing from another drain source, once any air is evacuated from the cleaner i turn the valve to full skim.
As for the chemicals I did my calculation,lets see what you got first! :-D

jb :monkey:
 
DEBRAPONS said:
Its not the skimmer that the water drains empty its the basket on the end of the pump motor, soom as we get the vac hose full of water and hooked into the skimmer basket the pump motor basket goes dry and the gauge goes to 0. ?????? Thanks
Click to expand...
With these readings and fresh water you need to get chlorine in the water and do it now. Otherwise the entire pool will be GREEN. Use bleach to chlorinate: It's economical and easy but DO IT NOW.

Getting you to 7ppm of FC will take 2 gallons 2 quarts or 1.8 (182 oz) jugs...
Also add 107 oz. of stabilizer (CYA) in a sock in front of a return and do that tonight too.
:?: Trip to Wal-Mart anyone?? :cool:

In Alabama the sun will burn off ALL of the chlorine you add every night until the CYA gets up to about 40 PPM.

- worry about the kreepy crawly later!

free chlorine 0.0
total chlorine 0.0
combined chlorine 0.0
ph 7.6
hardness 110
alkalinity 110
cyanuric acid 5
Click to expand...
 
So, what you're saying is that pump works properly until you hook hose for vacuuming?

a little brainstorming here.....

Does your kreepy krauly have individual hose tubes that you hook together to make one long hose? If so, have you tried attaching one hose and then checking the end of it for suction? I periodically do this to mine as I'm holding a section underwater and before I attach the next section of hose.

Do you have a basket plate cover or something that sticks in the hole in the skimmer that you hook to for vacuuming? If so, do you get suction at the end of it? If it's a plate cover, is the plate cover holding to the basket area and suctioning properly? Sometimes when I manually vacuum my plate cover loses it's position and then loses suction. When I use my suction vacuum I always check the suction at the tip of the connector gadget (the one that goes into the hole in the skimmer when basket is removed.)

just a few thoughts...
 
I need to bring up the CYA (Stablizer)? 77 oz of stablizer??? you have to purchase this at the pool store correct? (is this the only thing that has to be bought there)????

need to raise the FC to 3.7 (191 oz of bleach)?????

on the pool calculator I figured my pool is 16x32x6' average depth 3-1/2' shallow end 9' deep end= 12-1/2 divided by 2=6' overall average depth= 23,000 gallons of water, (correct)???

I put in the pool calculator:

now target add
fc 0.0 4.0 191 oz bleach
ph 7.6 7.8 add 32 oz borax
ta 110 110-140 add 162 oz of baking soda
ch 110 50-300 add 647 oz calcium chloride (I think add nothing)
cya 5 30-50 add 77 oz (the pool store said I need at least 6#'s

I am confused:{
 
You need two 96 ounce jugs of 6% bleach to raise FC from 0 to 4.
You do not need to adjust your pH unless it goes over 7.8.
You do not need to adjust your TA at this time unless you have problems keeping you pH stable.
You do not need to adjust your CH. Your numbers are fine for a pool with a vinyl liner.
You need to add 4lbs 13 ounces of CYA (stabilizer) to bring up your CYA to 30. Only add 1/2 of the CYA at a time, wait a week, and test the CYA level again.

Your FC will not deplete as quickly once the CYA is adjusted to around 30. Test your FC level after sundown and again just before sunrise. If you loose more than 1ppm of FC overnight then you will need to shock the pool.
 
DEBRAPONS said:
I put in the pool calculator:

now target add
fc 0.0 4.0 191 oz bleach
ph 7.6 7.8 add 32 oz borax
ta 110 110-140 add 162 oz of baking soda
ch 110 50-300 add 647 oz calcium chloride (I think add nothing)
cya 5 30-50 add 77 oz (the pool store said I need at least 6#'s

I am confused:{
Click to expand...

The only things you need to do are :

1. add 2 jugs of bleach as Zea advised.

2. add Stabilizer.
You can purchase CYA/Stabilizer at Walmart in the pool section. Get two jugs. Zea is right, you need about 5 pounds to reach 30 range. Pour it very slowly into your skimmer and do not backwash or clean your filter for a week. Don't bother testing for it for another week, just assume your level is 30.

Each night you test, and you'll likely be adding around one small jug of bleach to keep you around 4, which should keep you above 2 at all times. Never let the FC fall below 2.

Once things have stabilized and you are feeling more confident with the routine, you can increase your CYA and FC/levels, if you like.
Your other numbers are perfect.
 
DEBRAPONS, vacuuming is something you sort of have to get the hang of. When my pool was new it took me a while to learn to do it without my pump losing prime. You have to make sure you get ALL of the air out of the lines before hooking the hose up. Make sure you dont raise the hose back up out of the water at all before you insert it into the skimmer.

It is absolutely correct that the Alabama sun will burn up all of your FC. (I live in Altoona, AL)
I know you have heard this several times but it is extremely important to test your FC every single day and use the pool calculator and add bleach to bring it back up where it needs to be. It only takes a couple of minutes and it's so worth it!

Don't fall back into the pool store (or pool guy) trap! I just started using the BBB method last fall and I'm LOVING it!
Last year my pool was cloudy all summer long. The pool store kept recommending more and more Baquacil products. One day I looked back through my check book and realized that I had spent over $1,800.00 over the course of a few months. That was the day I began searching for another solution ans stumbled upon this site. Now I have the clearest pool in my neighborhood, it absolutely sparkles!

I know it may seem complicated and a bit overwhelming when you are new at this, but dont give up. Before long it will seem like a piece of cake.
 
I looked at Walmart and didnt see any stablizer, the pool store wants to sell me 8# bucket for $25.00, says I need to add at least 6-8# and should not have to add anymore all season (only suposed to have to add 1x per year)??

I will look in Gadsden tonight, 2 of the others Walmarts didnt have any that I saw. thanks deb
 

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DEBRAPONS said:
I looked at Walmart and didnt see any stablizer, the pool store wants to sell me 8# bucket for $25.00, says I need to add at least 6-8# and should not have to add anymore all season (only suposed to have to add 1x per year)??
- I will look in Gadsden tonight, 2 of the others Walmarts didnt have any that I saw. thanks deb
Click to expand...
My Wal-Mart price is 3 or 4# for $16 so 8 # for $25 isn't bad at all... Buy it!

Every day that you don't have it in the water is another day that the chlorine (bleach) is burned off by the sun, and it takes about a week the for the CYA (conditioner, stabilizer, etc.) to completely dissolve.

As Jason has said, over and over again...
You should be adding chlorine (bleach) every day.
Click to expand...

In addition, are you brushing daily? It is very important and takes virtually no time.
It takes me 5 minutes to check FC, CC, and brush the pool daily, and that's throwing sticks for the dogs to chase in between brush strokes!

You'll get there...

Terry in NC :cool:
 
Thank you so much everyone for your help, we figured out what was wrong with the vac, the diaphram was not put back in right after someone uncloged it. working great, doing his job cleaning the pool.

I didnt have the money untill I get paid tonight to get the stablizer so i put in 2 bags of shock and 2 bottles of bleach, water is almost perfectly clear. I will get the stablizer in tomarrow and not vac or backwash for a week, add bleach nightly, and follow what you have all said.

Again, thank you so much. I will keep in touch so I can keep my pool clear. Thanks, Deb:}
 
we added 7# of stablizer in the skimmer & about 1# threw on top of the water on Thursday 5/20 + 2#'s of shock, we had a hard rain and the pool water was almost level to the top, covering the skimmer basket, so we thought we had to drain some (hopefully I didnt lose my stablizer by doing this). We set the pump on waste for about 15-20 minutes because the filter was not working properly and drained the extra water. I have added 1-128 oz bottle of bleach each night each night. Took my sample to the pool store this am.

We also ran the automatic pool vac but have not backwashed.

water is 75 degrees now, pool is clear except center of deep end alittle cloudy.

fc= 7.1 ppm
tc= 8.6 ppm
cc= 1.5 ppm
ph= 7.7
hardness= 70 ppm (CH) calcium hardness right?
alkalinity= 100 ppm (TA) total alkalinity right?
cyanuric acid= 10 ppm (CYA) stablizer

The pool store (I only went to ck my numbers) said the stablizer is in the top 17" of the pool water, is this correct? If so I probally flushed it when we had to drain some of the water.??

We have not backwashed at all, but the pressure is just about to where we will actually need to backwash, trying to hold off until Thursday (it will a week that the stablizer was added).

I will order my good test kit the first of the month so I can check my own readings and not have to go to the pool store.
any thoughts or suggestions greatly appreciated!!!!
 
DEBRAPONS said:
we added 7# of stablizer in the skimmer & about 1# threw on top of the water on Thursday 5/20 + 2#'s of shock, we had a hard rain and the pool water was almost level to the top, covering the skimmer basket, so we thought we had to drain some (hopefully I didnt lose my stablizer by doing this). We set the pump on waste for about 15-20 minutes because the filter was not working properly and drained the extra water. I have added 1-128 oz bottle of bleach each night each night. Took my sample to the pool store this am.

We also ran the automatic pool vac but have not backwashed.

water is 75 degrees now, pool is clear except center of deep end alittle cloudy.

fc= 7.1 ppm
tc= 8.6 ppm
cc= 1.5 ppm
ph= 7.7
hardness= 70 ppm (CH) calcium hardness right?
alkalinity= 100 ppm (TA) total alkalinity right?
cyanuric acid= 10 ppm (CYA) stablizer
Your pH is okay, but a tad high. CH and TA are okay. CYA, as you know, is low.
Based on this test, you have 1.5 CC and need to shock your pool.

The pool store (I only went to ck my numbers) said the stablizer is in the top 17" of the pool water, is this correct? If so I probally flushed it when we had to drain some of the water.??
What? Never heard of stabilizer in the top 17" of water. Stabilizer gets mixed all thru the water.
Yes, you flushed some out when you drained. Can't be helped.

We have not backwashed at all, but the pressure is just about to where we will actually need to backwash, trying to hold off until Thursday (it will a week that the stablizer was added).

I will order my good test kit the first of the month so I can check my own readings and not have to go to the pool store.
Good for you :)
any thoughts or suggestions greatly appreciated!!!!
Click to expand...
 
Should I wait until Thursday so it will be a week on the stablizer and get the water re-checked before having to buy more?

The pool place told me I need:
38# of calcium hardness increaser
4#4oz Cal Hypo Shock
2# non chlorine shock
5# stablizer

of course I am not going to follow their instructions I will follow TFP instructions.

Ok to go ahead and shock today?

thanks debra:}
 
Yes, we agree that you need to shock. You added 7# of CYA in the skimmer on Thursday and have not backwashed.
Assume it is in your pool and use that as your CYA #.

How many gallons is your pool?

Don't add any more CYA until you have it retested. :wink:
 
We shocked the pool again last night, took my sample to the pool store this morning to be tested new readings are as follows:

free chlorine 7.7 ppm
total chlorine 7.7 ppm
combined chlorine 0.0 ppm
ph 7.5
hardness 140 ppm
alkalinity 100 ppm
cyanuric acid 50 ppm

Still alittle cloudy in the deep end, not crystal clear. (should we try some claifyer or just leave it alone?

Looks like we may finally have it right!!

Chlorine is still high though. OK to swim???

Should I quit adding bleach every night or not.? I have not added any for a few days. We do have some pucks in the basket right now.

We are having a pool party (laua)? next Saturday, around 30 total swimmers, any thoughts or suggestions that I should follow before or after the party?

I am so afraid of getting yellow/mustard alge, how can I prevent this? I know that you are not suposed to wear a bathing suit in the pool if you have worn it in a river/lake/ocean but most people dont know or dont care and it can cost a small fortune to clean it up:{

Thanks, Debra:}
 

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