Turning my Ecosystem back into a Swimming Pool

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bassace1

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Mar 29, 2012
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I have read "Turning Your Green Swamp Back into a Sparkling Oasis" about six times now and I plan to make it my battle plan this weekend. I have a substantial supply of 10% bleach and ample supplies of CYA, Borax, Baking Soda, and I plan to get acid tonight. I also bought the Taylor K-2006 kit, which I found for $52.45. So, it seems that I have everything in order. I just have a couple of questions that would clarify the post for me some.

I bought my house in September, and it came with a pool. The pool has a sand filter and is above ground. I noticed in the TYGSBIASO post that you can use floc for faster results. I happen to have an almost full bottle of it that the previous owners left at my house. Should I use it? The pool will have a higher pH from the chlorine anyway, so would it hurt to do that before levelling the pH with acid?

Also, it seems like my multi-valve gasket (spider gasket?) is going out. If I set it to closed water pours out of the waste line. Also, I have overturn one direction and come back to get the Filter setting not to let water out of the waste line. Is this normal behavior or is it bad?

Thanks,


PS. My pool is about 13500 gallons, pump motor is 9 HP, and I have no clue how old my sand is.
 
bassace1 said:
Also, it seems like my multi-valve gasket (spider gasket?) is going out. If I set it to closed water pours out of the waste line. Also, I have overturn one direction and come back to get the Filter setting not to let water out of the waste line. Is this normal behavior or is it bad?
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It sounds like you should pull it apart and check the gasket ... probably will need a new one. That said, I have replaced mine and my DE valve has a similar problem where it does not seat completely and when I start to add fresh DE I loos a lot of it out the waste. :evil: I have to make sure it is seated ... I have not checked if this is due to the gasket of something else.
 
Welcome to tfp, bassace1 :wave:

bassace1 said:
I noticed in the TYGSBIASO post that you can use floc for faster results. I happen to have an almost full bottle of it that the previous owners left at my house. Should I use it?
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Not at the beginning of the process, flock is only good once the algae is dead. So don't worry about the flock for now.

bassace1 said:
The pool will have a higher pH from the chlorine anyway, so would it hurt to do that before levelling the pH with acid?
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Since you have the taylor kit already, please post your test numbers for FC, CC, TA, CH, CYA, pH. Then we can talk about what to do. ph must be adjusted when FC is below 10 ppm or the results will not be valid.

bassace1 said:
Also, it seems like my multi-valve gasket (spider gasket?) is going out. If I set it to closed water pours out of the waste line. Also, I have overturn one direction and come back to get the Filter setting not to let water out of the waste line. Is this normal behavior or is it bad?
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It does sound like a bad spider gasket to me. You could take your valve off the filter and look. Sometimes when my (rather old) filter leaks a little out the waste line, I lightly tap the center of the valve to "seat" the valve...I think it is due to a weak spring on mine.

bassace1 said:
PS. My pool is about 13500 gallons, pump motor is 9 HP, and I have no clue how old my sand is.
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Put this equipment information in your signature please.
 
Thanks for all of the info. I will post the test results when I test them. Do I need to do anything to take the multiport valve off, like drain the pool or filter? Thanks Dave. As awesome as a 9 hp motor would be, I meant to say 9A. My label is almost completely worn off so that is actually all I have to go on. I will look at the remaining part of the label and try to get that info for the signature.

Thanks Again and thanks for the many welcomes.
 
Welcome! You don't have to drain the pool the change the gasket. Just make sure the filter is OFF of course. You will get some water that is going to leak out, draining your filter tank wouldn't hurt. Just make sure to bleed it when starting back up. Also you may have to prime the pump if you don't have a ball valve.
 
To check the gaskets, you should not have to take the valve off the filter. Just unscrew the 8-12 screws on the top. I suppose the filter would need to be drained down to the level of the pipes.

(well ... same as what was just posted)
 
I tested the water yesterday and got these results:

FC: 0
CC: 0
CYA: 38
pH: 8
Alk: 60


I am going to start by lowering the pH to 7.2 and start adding chlorine after an hour. I have a log to write levels down in. I will also check that multiport valve while waiting.

Thanks again everyone for your help and advice.
 
So, I added enough chlorine to get 18ppm according to the Poolcalculator. I went and checked it 30 minutes later, and my results are confusing. My pH went back to 7.8, which was expected. CYA is 34. The confusing part is that the FC should have been 0 according to the post but was 1 ppm. Also, the CC showed about 1 ppm. Could my filter really be that effective, or is there something else causing this?
 

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Your results are not at all surprising. Your chlorine is getting mostly used up quite quickly fighting the algae. However, in only half an hour there has not been time for all of the chlorine to react just yet. As the chlorine breaks down algae, it forms CC. The CC will break down once enough total chlorine has been added to complete the break down of all of the algae and all of the CC (which might be a while).

You should go ahead and raise the FC level back up to shock level.
 
FC consumption is as expected, it's on it's way down from the 18 you added. Hopefully, you just went ahead and topped it back up to your shocking level. You'll need to do that in order to keep it high enough to remain effective as it gets used up fighting the pool nasties. Don't worry about CC just now.
 
So, the pool is holding stable today at 13 ppm and no CC shows up on the test. I guess I am just waiting for it to clear up now. It went from brownish-green last night to a light turquoise today. Is this expected behavior? Do I need to do anything else?
 
It takes more than you think it will. Just keep it at shock level as often as you need to and keep the filter running and it'll clear up. Sometimes it takes a little patience but it's more than worth it to see it completely through.
 
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