hello all. would appreciate help with new pool.

[neuronpool]

Hello all. First, thank you everyone on the forum. This seems like a great site.

I have a new pool installed last year. I decided that I will give it a try to maintain the pool on my own this year. It seems not quite easy. Please respond. All comments will be appreciated.

40,000 gallon gunite with electric cover, polaris, sand filter, electric heater and Aquapure SWG. Opened May 20th. The pool people (the installers who also maintain) raised the water level, added salt and shocked it.

I got water testing done at local Leslie's June 1
Salt 3000
FC 1
TC 1
pH 8.0
TA 180
CH 100
CYA 0

As advised by them, I put in 8 lbs of dry acid and the repeat testing showed the following. (Also put the SWG into 24 hour boost)

SALT 3000
FC 1
TC 1
pH 7.6
TA 80
CH 100
CYA 0

As advised by Leslie's, I put in 80 lbs of calcium chloride and the repeat testing showed the following.

SALT 3100
FC 0.5
TC 0.5
pH 7.4
TA 90
CH 240
CYA 0

As advised by Leslie's, I put in 10 lbs of CYA x 2 over a few days and the repeat testing showed
SALT 3100
FC 0
TC 0
pH 7.4
TA 90
CH 250
CYA 45

At this point, everything looks good except for the chlorine. As indicated above, I ran the SWG in a 24 hour boost several days ago and am running it for 10 hours a day at 90 percent. Instead of coming up in level, chlorine now reads 0. I called the pool installer/maintenance guys who promptly came over to evaluate. They say that my CYA level is too low. That my chlorine is "burning up" as soon as it is made. I need to bring CYA level up to 70 - 80. That the SWG "looks" to be ok and functional. They also said that the FC level desired is 1 ppm for SWG pools.

Here is my assessment after reading through parts of this forum.
MY CYA level, although on the low side for SWG, is not bad. The SWG (although, the control box is on and the sensors apparently working as the salinity and temperature gauge are working) is malfunctioning and is not producing any FC. The FC level detected several days ago was left over from the initial shock with no more FC in the pool. I keep the electric pool cover on every night and days when cool (such as was the case the past few days here in new york). I got to get the FC level to desired level of 3, as per this forum.

What do I do at this point?

 

[Bama Rambler]

Welcome to TFP.

Number 1 is to get yourself a good test kit.

In the mean time. slightly open the down stream union on the cell so it slowly drips. Run the swcg for a little while and catch a sample. Test it to see if there's any chlorine in it. Seal the union back up.

If there's chlorine, the cell is producing and you have the beginnings of an algae bloom. If there's no chlorine you need to add some immediately and get the cell fixed.

 

[neuronpool]

That is a great suggestion to figure out if the SWCG is working or not. I will try that when I get home. All I have at home are the test strips, but that should work. I have placed an order today for TF 100 test kit from this site with $10 discount for becoming a supporter which I am looking forward to as it seems that Leslie's testing cannot be fully trusted.

 

[frogabog]

It took Leslie's four days of testing and selling you this or that before they bothered to tell you to add CYA. Based on the test results, they should have sent you home with CYA, acid, liquid chlorine (to boost FC rather than taxing your SWG), and calcium the first day. Leslie's can not be trusted in any way. Gah!

 

[Bama Rambler]

Once you post your findings we'll attack the problem of no chlorine.

 

[neuronpool]

Bama Rambler,

I got home excited to be able to check the chlorine production from the SWCG, but to my dismay, I could not undo the downstream union with my hands as it is too tightly put on. As I did not have any tools big enough for the 3 inch pipe union, I checked the water coming out of the return spouts/holes. The return spouts are pointed up to disturb the water surface. There may be some dilution, but there is no trace of chlorine using two different brand test strips. Does this mean the SWCG cell is not producing chlorine? What do I do?

Please advise.

Thank you.

Han

 

[JasonLion]

Are you sure that the SWG was actively generating chlorine at the time? They tend to cycle on and off, so you might have caught it when it was off.

 

[Bama Rambler]

As Jason said, you have to make sure it's in an active generating cycle. The strips are going to be hard to use due to the return dilution. As soon as you dip the strip in the pool it saturates the pad.

 

[neuronpool]

Bama Rambler and Jason Lion,

Thanks for your astute points. You guys are right on target.

Today, I went to a hardware store to get a tool to help me loosen the coupler and successfully tested the water dripping right out of the SWCG. The strip, the only thing i have until my TF100 arrives, indeed shows there is free chlorine!! - sigh of relief. This is good. I had the SWCG running at 70 percent and the strip shows almost 3 ppm. Is this good? Closed the coupler to no water drip and drove back to the hardware store to get some liquid bleach. I added enough to bring it up to 4 ppm as per the pool calculator. The water up to this point has been pretty clear. What would have been the cause of 0 FC level? Algae bloom? not enough CYA?

What do you recommend that I do at this point?

Han

 

[JasonLion]

Right at the moment the main problem is presumably algae in the water. But low CYA is also a problem. However, it is best to kill any possible algae before raising the CYA up to it's proper 70 to 80 level.

 

[neuronpool]

Given that the water is fairly clear without any visible trace of green algae, how do i get rid of presumed algae in the water? do i need to bring FC level up to shock level? liquid chlorine? Should I wait until my tf100 kit arrives?

Thanks again.

Han

 

[Bama Rambler]

I would add about 4 ppm FC each evening until your kit gets there and you're able to properly test.

 

[neuronpool]

for the past four days, i have poured in about 350 oz of bleach 6% (some clorox and some generic bleach from home depot) of about 4ppm a day and saw some evidence of chlorine as per the test strips.

got the tf100 test kit in the mail today. when i got it out of the shipping box, i noticed that the plastic package was a bit wet. it smelled a bit "chemical". i noticed that the CYA test agent cap was slightly loose and was leaking fluid in the plastic box. i rinsed everything off with water and did my testing according to the directions.

pH 7.5
FC 2.5
CC 0
TA 180
CH 300
CYA 50-60 (very difficult test)

1. I have added enough 6% bleach last few days to raise the FC to about 16. but tonight's reading is only 2.5 (more than expected loss from sunlight, swimming etc). does this mean that i am losing FC to algae? do i need to shock the pool? should i wait till morning and retest FC to see amount of loss before i shock?

2. TA level seems to be way high again. it was reading 90 as per Leslie's testing after dry acid. see above readings. does plain bleach increase TA level in the pool?

Han

 

[Bama Rambler]

I'd bring it to shock level tonight and run the OCLT.

Bleach doesn't affect the TA.

 

[neuronpool]

Good Morning.

I did not shock the pool last night as it was too late and my eyes would not stay open.

Repeated the test this morning and it showed

pH 7.5
FC 2.0
CC 0.5
TA 190
CYA 50ish
I skipped the CH test today to save on the agents.
This was with the SWCG setting turned off to 00% last night.

1. Does this mean that my pool is relatively free of algae at this point? Do I need to shock at this point?

2. If bleach does not increase TA, could Leslie's testing be so off that theirs shows 90 while it is actually 190? Or, could there be "impurities" in generic 6% bleach that increases TA? With the dipstick, it looks more like 90-100 range. Could the leak of CYA test agent in the kit box somehow affecting the TA testing?

I put the SWCG back to 50% this morning to keep up with the normal FC loss.

Please advise.

Thanks.

 

[Bama Rambler]

I would bring it to shock level for 50 ppm CYA and run the OCLT tonight simply because it's been below the normal range for that CYA now for a while. If you pass tonight you're good and just let the FC drop back down to normal.

Yes, Leslies testing can be that far off and we know the strips can be. Trust the TF-100 tests more than all the others.

The only way the R-0013 leaking could affect the TA test was if it leaked into the TA test reagent bottles and then I don't know if it would affect it like that.

Did you wipe the tip of the R-0009 bottle with a damp cloth every few drops. There have been reports of static affecting the test. Once the test is a few weeks old that won't be a problem any more.

 

[neuronpool]

Update:
It had rained pretty heavy since the above posts so I could not really do much with the pool. Two days later, with the SWCG running at 50%, repeat FC showed 2.5. Pretty good, i say. Knowing that the pool is in pretty good shape, as per Bama Rambler's suggestion, I "shocked" the pool anyways last night with the SWCG off. Brought the FC level up to about 16 (not quite shock level as per the CYA/FC chart but close). As of this morning, the FC level is holding up without significant drop, as suspected. The water is "crystal clear". I could see the floor drains (9 feet deep) as if they are at the surface. I even took a swim this evening. The water looked even clearer inside the water.

I am going to keep the SWCG off until FC level drops to about 3 or so and see if my SWCG can keep up with the "normal" loss. I should post a picture of my pool here soon.

Thanks all for help. I feel much better equipped now to take care of the pool on my own. Matter of fact, when I went back to the local Leslie's (to check their reading of my TA again), there was a customer who walked in and asking about how to keep his FC up in his pool with SWCG. How timely. I took a few minutes and gave him my two cents (earned from this site). The clerk at Leslie's was listening in with an incredulous look on his face while I was explaining the "shocking method".

This is a great site. May many more be helped by all of you here.

Han

P.S.: Oh, I posted another thread about the TA testing with TF100 and how important it is to swirl as much as possible and to hold the reagent bottle vertically to get consistent drop volume. My true TA level seems to be 100 -110, not 190 as I initially tested with suboptimum swirling and inconsistent drops with the reagent bottle held obliquely.

 

[march2012]

Update:
It had rained pretty heavy since the above posts so I could not really do much with the pool. Two days later, with the SWCG running at 50%, repeat FC showed 2.5. Pretty good, i say. Knowing that the pool is in pretty good shape, as per Bama Rambler's suggestion, I "shocked" the pool anyways last night with the SWCG off. Brought the FC level up to about 16 (not quite shock level as per the CYA/FC chart but close). As of this morning, the FC level is holding up without significant drop, as suspected. The water is "crystal clear". I could see the floor drains (9 feet deep) as if they are at the surface. I even took a swim this evening. The water looked even clearer inside the water.

I am going to keep the SWCG off until FC level drops to about 3 or so and see if my SWCG can keep up with the "normal" loss. I should post a picture of my pool here soon.

Thanks all for help. I feel much better equipped now to take care of the pool on my own. Matter of fact, when I went back to the local Leslie's (to check their reading of my TA again), there was a customer who walked in and asking about how to keep his FC up in his pool with SWCG. How timely. I took a few minutes and gave him my two cents (earned from this site). The clerk at Leslie's was listening in with an incredulous look on his face while I was explaining the "shocking method".

This is a great site. May many more be helped by all of you here.

Han

P.S.: Oh, I posted another thread about the TA testing with TF100 and how important it is to swirl as much as possible and to hold the reagent bottle vertically to get consistent drop volume. My true TA level seems to be 100 -110, not 190 as I initially tested with suboptimum swirling and inconsistent drops with the reagent bottle held obliquely.

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