Hi all!
First off, I'd like to thank all of you for all of the great content on this forum. Hopefully this will make my life easier in the future!
A little back story: About 2-3 years ago, our pool began to leak, losing about 1" of water per day. After running some tests, we called in the "professionals" to replace the liner. They drained the pool, installed the liner, and refilled the pool. And it continued to leak. It turns out that they had neglected to pressure-check the lines, and most of the pipes had cracked over the time between the pool leaking and them fixing the liner (it kind of sat there for a while until we were in a position financially to do the repair). Another winter goes by, and this summer we finally got around to replacing all of the lines with 1.5" flex hose, losing the main drain in the process (too expensive/difficult to replace, although next season we plan on seeing if it can be salvaged). At this point, the water is already algae-laden. We finally get our pump at the time running (1 HP Hayward Super Pump) and begin to treat the pool. Of course, since that would be too easy, the pump dies after about a week or two of service (it ran dry for a day or two due to a valve being turned the wrong way and never really recovered). A couple days go by, then we order a new pump (a 1 HP Pentair SuperFlo). Another week goes by as we wait for the pump to arrive, and in the meantime I found this forum. Now the pump is installed and running, and we're ready to get rid of the algae.
Please note that I'm currently sitting on a stockpile of 73% cal-hypo, a bunch of 3" chlorine tabs, and a couple of bottles of copper-based algecide, all purchased before I found this forum. Therefore, I plan on chlorinating with cal-hypo until I run out, then I plan on switching to BBB. Chlorine tabs and algecide I'll slowly add over the coming years just to get rid of it (no blond hair here!).
Now, down to treatment. Since all I have in the way of test kits is a really old (3+ years) OTO two-way kit, and since none of the local pool stores (of which there are 5 or 6) have even heard of Taylor testing kits, I brought a water sample over to a local pool store (Tarson) to be tested. The important points are listed below:
The levels are largely accurate from what I can tell; the pool is mostly fill water without much treatment, which explains the CYA, and the higher PH, low FC, and a bit of CC is probably from the 1 dose of shock we put in before getting it tested. It's probably worth mentioning that it's a computerized test strip-based BioGuard-branded test. That, and the "expert" at the pool store was probably 15-18. :x
Anyway, I shocked it again and brushed it with the vacuum head (not plugged in, of course). I also added 6 lbs. of BioGuard stabilizer (100% CYA) in socks by the returns and one in the skimmer last night, which has mostly dissolved. Based on the label, this should bring the CYA up to about 20-30. The kid at the pool store also sold us a 25 lb. bag of "Balance Pak 100" to raise the alkalinity, which I didn't realize until it was too late that it was baking soda. Needless to say, I'm returning that if they let me.
Here's what it looks like now:
[attachment=1:2gv1lf7b]9-1-12 Deep.jpg[/attachment:2gv1lf7b]
[attachment=0:2gv1lf7b]9-1-12 Shallow.jpg[/attachment:2gv1lf7b]
At this point, I'm hoping to get a Taylor K-1005 test kit; the better kits are a little too expensive for us right now: http://www.amazon.com/Taylor-K-1005-iCare-Residential-Pool/dp/B003054WO2/
Any comments or suggestions are appreciated! Right now I'm trying to follow the getting rid of algae guide (http://www.troublefreepool.com/turning-your-green-swamp-back-into-a-sparkling-oasis-t4147.html) with what I have and hope I get a better test kit soon.
First off, I'd like to thank all of you for all of the great content on this forum. Hopefully this will make my life easier in the future!
A little back story: About 2-3 years ago, our pool began to leak, losing about 1" of water per day. After running some tests, we called in the "professionals" to replace the liner. They drained the pool, installed the liner, and refilled the pool. And it continued to leak. It turns out that they had neglected to pressure-check the lines, and most of the pipes had cracked over the time between the pool leaking and them fixing the liner (it kind of sat there for a while until we were in a position financially to do the repair). Another winter goes by, and this summer we finally got around to replacing all of the lines with 1.5" flex hose, losing the main drain in the process (too expensive/difficult to replace, although next season we plan on seeing if it can be salvaged). At this point, the water is already algae-laden. We finally get our pump at the time running (1 HP Hayward Super Pump) and begin to treat the pool. Of course, since that would be too easy, the pump dies after about a week or two of service (it ran dry for a day or two due to a valve being turned the wrong way and never really recovered). A couple days go by, then we order a new pump (a 1 HP Pentair SuperFlo). Another week goes by as we wait for the pump to arrive, and in the meantime I found this forum. Now the pump is installed and running, and we're ready to get rid of the algae.
Please note that I'm currently sitting on a stockpile of 73% cal-hypo, a bunch of 3" chlorine tabs, and a couple of bottles of copper-based algecide, all purchased before I found this forum. Therefore, I plan on chlorinating with cal-hypo until I run out, then I plan on switching to BBB. Chlorine tabs and algecide I'll slowly add over the coming years just to get rid of it (no blond hair here!).
Now, down to treatment. Since all I have in the way of test kits is a really old (3+ years) OTO two-way kit, and since none of the local pool stores (of which there are 5 or 6) have even heard of Taylor testing kits, I brought a water sample over to a local pool store (Tarson) to be tested. The important points are listed below:
- FC - 0[/*:m:2gv1lf7b]
- TC - 0.4[/*:m:2gv1lf7b]
- pH - 7.8[/*:m:2gv1lf7b]
- TA - 51[/*:m:2gv1lf7b]
- CH - 254 (listed as Total Hardness on the sheet)[/*:m:2gv1lf7b]
- CYA - 0[/*:m:2gv1lf7b]
The levels are largely accurate from what I can tell; the pool is mostly fill water without much treatment, which explains the CYA, and the higher PH, low FC, and a bit of CC is probably from the 1 dose of shock we put in before getting it tested. It's probably worth mentioning that it's a computerized test strip-based BioGuard-branded test. That, and the "expert" at the pool store was probably 15-18. :x
Anyway, I shocked it again and brushed it with the vacuum head (not plugged in, of course). I also added 6 lbs. of BioGuard stabilizer (100% CYA) in socks by the returns and one in the skimmer last night, which has mostly dissolved. Based on the label, this should bring the CYA up to about 20-30. The kid at the pool store also sold us a 25 lb. bag of "Balance Pak 100" to raise the alkalinity, which I didn't realize until it was too late that it was baking soda. Needless to say, I'm returning that if they let me.
Here's what it looks like now:
[attachment=1:2gv1lf7b]9-1-12 Deep.jpg[/attachment:2gv1lf7b]
[attachment=0:2gv1lf7b]9-1-12 Shallow.jpg[/attachment:2gv1lf7b]
At this point, I'm hoping to get a Taylor K-1005 test kit; the better kits are a little too expensive for us right now: http://www.amazon.com/Taylor-K-1005-iCare-Residential-Pool/dp/B003054WO2/
Any comments or suggestions are appreciated! Right now I'm trying to follow the getting rid of algae guide (http://www.troublefreepool.com/turning-your-green-swamp-back-into-a-sparkling-oasis-t4147.html) with what I have and hope I get a better test kit soon.
