Hello from Virginia

[deekayfry]

Hi, I have been lurking for some time, but I wanted to say that this board has been very helpful understand pool chemistry and getting the algae under control.

I bought a house and property with a pool on it. I have a long story to tell which I began to type but figured it would be too much for a first post.

Anyway, thanks for all the information.

 

[Butterfly]

Welcome to the forum

Go ahead and tell us the whole story! With pictures :-D :-D

 

[DaneCE]

Welcome from SE VA.

 

[linen]

Welcome to tfp, deekayfry

 

[257WbyMag]

Welcome to TFP!

 

[deekayfry]

Thank you, Everyone!

I wish I could give you pictures (heh). However they willbe "after pictures." Because, I am already done with the "before" (oh well). The process did take several months involving different things (not just hyper-shocking to kill a nasty algae outbreak).

In a nutshell, I bought a house with a pool with two filters dismantled (one sand and one cartridge, one with a 1.5 horse the other with a 2.5 horse), an empty AG 12,000 gal pool and bottles of different Baquacil chemicals laying around. Observation and some detective guessing (I will never fully know) is that the prior owner was dealing with a Baqua melt down.

What I can tell is that the owner tried all kinds of unassisted remedies to deal with an algae bloom, one being the massive 2.5 hp motor and cartridge filter over kill (side note: I do hydraulic eng. at work. So, I know bigger is not better).

As I said, I have more to talk about. I have to go to the in-laws for pre-mother's day

Thanks for the cordial welcome

 

[BadOleRoss]

Welcome! Looking forward to the rest of the story!

 

[grizgoalie]

Welcome and we in VA must have the same type of people that sell us houses. Ones that give up on the pool when they put the for sale sign in the yard. Closing the pool seems to be ... a cover if your lucky. Then we inherit the fun.

More story please, this way I get to enjoy others success/horror stories too.

Any updates?

 

[deekayfry]

Pictures are worth a thousand words, right?



The filter in a hole (1.5 hp pentair pump and sand dollar filter)



The second dismantled filter being attacked by a vicious puppy (2.5 hp waterway and cartridge filter)



Oh noze Zombie Puppiez destroyz filterz!

 

[linen]

Looks like a nice pool. That cartridge filter looks decent too. I like sand filters (what size is yours in diameter?) but cartridge filters will tend to filter a smaller particle size. What is the sq. ft. size of the filter media?

What I can tell is that the owner tried all kinds of unassisted remedies to deal with an algae bloom, one being the massive 2.5 hp motor and cartridge filter over kill (side note: I do hydraulic eng. at work. So, I know bigger is not better).

You are right about the pump size, but the bigger the better on the cartridge size (and to a lesser extent sand filter as well) does still apply. It allows you to go longer between cartridge cleanings which is nice.

 

[deekayfry]

Anyway, back to story

After I bought the house, I began filling the pool. After about two hours the well ran dry. Soooooo... I decided to try to fill it intermittently.

Well as we all know this thing called life tends to distract us from the more important things like setting up a pool My wife moves to VA from TX, we continue to try to fill the pool and had little luck. So we figured we let nature help us out.

A few rain storms raised the pool inch by inch. In the meantime, three (or four) species of tree frogs made the swamp its home. Countless nasty water beetles also settled in. There was a coating of green slime over the green water.

Finally, a small storm called Hurrican Irene gave the pool level a big boost.

Oddly enough the algae died off and carpeted the bottom and what remained was literally a beautiful crystal clear water. Yeah the frogs and beetles were still there, we even watched the tadpoles turn into frogs and a few of the bigger beetles eat some of the tadpoles and frogs.

So, the pool remained until the end of summer, and I let the pool sit through winter, fall and spring. I did not cover it, but early in February I rebuilt the pump and sand filter, which was a nightmare because I had to fit hoses and parts from two separate filters.

The great green algae returned, too!

 

[deekayfry]

Looks like a nice pool. That cartridge filter looks decent too. I like sand filters (what size is yours in diameter?) but cartridge filters will tend to filter a smaller particle size. What is the sq. ft. size of the filter media?

What I can tell is that the owner tried all kinds of unassisted remedies to deal with an algae bloom, one being the massive 2.5 hp motor and cartridge filter over kill (side note: I do hydraulic eng. at work. So, I know bigger is not better).

You are right about the pump size, but the bigger the better on the cartridge size (and to a lesser extent sand filter as well) does still apply. It allows you to go longer between cartridge cleanings which is nice.

Hi linen, thank you. I did not take into account that a cartridge would catch smaller particles. I have good clear water, but not sparkling pristine water. I suspect that I have colloids that will never catch in sand or settle. I don't want to floc either.

I have debated on hooking the cartridge back up, and maybe I should.

I will get back with you on the specs of both filters.

 

[linen]

Hi linen, thank you. I did not take into account that a cartridge would catch smaller particles. I have good clear water, but not sparkling pristine water. I suspect that I have colloids that will never catch in sand or settle. I don't want to floc either.

I have debated on hooking the cartridge back up, and maybe I should.

I will get back with you on the specs of both filters.

Don't get me wrong...I personally like the sand filter and it's simplicity/robustness. It is what I have chosen to run on my pool, but you will find others on here that like three filter types ( DE filters being the other). All three technologies filter adequately enough to get sparkling pristine water. My water has been (and will be soon since I just opened) sparkling pristine water without anything but the sand filter and proper pool water chemistry. No floc ever used.

 

[deekayfry]

Okay, I looked at each filter.

Since most of the label is missing on the Sand Dollar filter, I guess the hoop diameter to be 18". The filtering media is a #20 sand.

Now the much more interesting filter is the cartridge filter (and to some extent the pump and motor)

Waterway Pro-Clean
PCCF 200 (200 gpm) (WOW)
150 sqft of filter media
50 psi (115 ft of head)

Century Laser Motor
2.5 hp, 220v, Water-way Insulated wet end (not too sure what this really means. Does it have something to do with thermal or maybe electrical?).

The pump has a brand name of "BaquaPure"

To be fair, there is a 220v outlet nearby and I actually tried the pump for the heck of it. The pump was so powerful that leaves from the far end was at the skimmer in less than a minute. Of course the pump continued to dead head, and I put a stop to it before the hoses blew off.

 

[linen]

Both those motors are oversized for the filters you listed and a better fit for either is a 3/4 hp pump. If you decide to buy an new pump, consider getting a two speed. For now I would use the 1.5 hp pump regardless of which filter you are using.

As for the filters:

For your pool ansi specifications are 2.2 sq. ft. (yours is ~1.77 sq. ft.) for sand and about 89 sq. ft. for cartridge. One of our special contributors, Mas985, recommends 2X the ANSI spec for cartridges so the TFP recommendation for your pool would be about 178 sq. ft, which is close to what you have. So your sand filter is 80% of the ANSI recommendation and your cartridge filter is 84% of the TFP recommendations, so I might think about the cart here. If you already have the sand filter up and running, I would stick with it for now and see how it goes.

See this link: http://www.troublefreepool.com/hydraulics-101-have-you-lost-your-head-t915.html#p6543

 

[deekayfry]

Thank you again, Linen.

The pool is still just barely cloudy, but I can swim in it. I will keep it on sand for a while. If I switch I would have to refit the hoses and fittings. I will have to wait on that.

However, do you have any suggestions on what hoses, piping and plumbing material that would work well, when I decide to plumb in the filter?

 

[linen]

If you still have cloudy water, you still need to be doing the shocking process until you pass all three criteria (criteria are in my sig). Post a full set of test results and we can help with that, see:http://www.troublefreepool.com/what-we-need-to-know-to-answer-your-questions-t10341.html


As for your plumbing: Without looking to closely at your details. Hard plumb everything you can with sch 40. If you can do it, go with 2" sch40 pvc on the vacuum side and at least 1.5" sch40 pvc on the return side.

 

[deekayfry]

I have been shocking by best guess estimate with a OTO/pH kit from Wal-Mart. I know about the TF-100 and other kits, but I am unable to afford any of them just yet. I am out of work, hence I have time work on a pool However, I should be back working within the next week.

I have been using bleach, which is working quite well. Since my last post, the water is now sparkling clear. I have been shocking with bleach at dusk and filtering about half the day.

Also, I am not able to afford CYA just yet, either. I do have Borax and Baking Soda on hand. I have only used either sporadically and in small amounts (no more than two pounds, at most). I have not added any of the alkali's recently.

I am also very rigorous when it comes to keeping the pool surface skimmed and I frequently brush the sides and bottom.

So, given that I don't have any succinct chemistry data, yet. Nor, am I able to add CYA, yet. Is there a good "rule of thumb" to follow to feel reasonably sure the chemistry is holding up? Since I am using the OTO test, how can I use this to make reasonable determinations?

Again, the pool is sparkling crystal clear, algae free, and I have swum it several times over the last few weeks.

 

[linen]

Again, the pool is sparkling crystal clear, algae free, and I have swum it several times over the last few weeks.

Why are you still shocking it?

If it looks good and the bleach usage (once down at normal, non-shocking FC levels are okay) according to your OTO test is not excessive each day (although no cya will cause depletion do to the sun), you should be okay.

Have you ever put cya (or used trichlor or dichor), and if yes, do you know how much cya you have?

 

[deekayfry]

Okay, this all makes sense.

I put a 1lb bag of aqua-chem dichlor (with copper) two weeks ago, but I do not know how much cya is still in the water. Since then I have not added any more because I don't have anymore. I do plan to obtain some once I am able to along with a better test kit.

Telling me that once "down to normal" and to have non-shocking levels is okay, helps a great deal. I suspected as much. I was getting clear OTO in the mornings and I was a little worried about that, but I figured that since the pool was clear and algae free it would be okay to swim in.

Where do the other two "B's" fit in? As in Borax and Baking Soda? I have a half a box of 20 mule team and 3 #'s of Arm 'n Hammer.