Hello all,
I wasn't too sure if this post belong in the algae section, but being that I'm also just getting started I thought maybe this is a better place. Apologies in advance for the long post!
We have had our pool installed for about six months now, since the install we've had some ups and downs with TPFC. I would really appreciate some feedback from you guys, I've spent only a few hours reading on this website and I absolutely love it!
(I went through Pool School, SLAM, and SWG)
Some additional info:
For starters I'm in Australia. Our climate is mostly hot and dry. Does my location make a difference for any of the levels mentioned on this website? For example my test kit recommends TA level of 120-150ppm for fiberglass pools, while this website recommends 60-80ppm?
So we have a medium sized fiberglass pool with total capacity 27,700 liters. The equipment is all brand new, and consists of the following components:
- Sand filter
- Variable speed pump (three speeds)
- Salt chlorinator
- Ph controller, self measuring and automatic dozing of acid
So far I have been running the pump on low speed for 7 hours a day (7-11am + 7-10pm), this should recycle the pool water 1.8 times/day according to my calculations. However because of recurring algae problems I have recently started running the pump on medium, this cycles 3.2 times the pool capacity which is way too much and we still get algae. So something is definitely wrong!
Some additional info on the settings of our pool with some questions:
- Ph is set to 7.6, and is normally maintained at that level by the Ph controller.
- Skimmer sock installed, hardly any debris that reach the pump basket.
- For that reason – no real need to backwash quite so often. Especially since the pump is running on low speed. Is that ok?
- Pump runs for 7 hours a day on low speed. As mentioned before this almost cycles twice the pool capacity, is that the only criteria? I've been told the low speed may not recycle all the water properly and a higher speed for say 1 hour/day is still required?
- We don't get a lot of debris and so I only vacuum the pool once a week (manually), by then there's some leaf and sand on the bottom but really nothing too major. Is once a week enough?
- We cover the pool with a blanket at night and take it during the day, mainly to prevent evaporation. For that reason I only need to top up with water once a week. Is that enough?
- Can it hurt having too much salt? The chlorinator does have a "low salt" indication but I assume no "high salt" indication. I'm just wondering if high salt levels can disturb the chlorinator? Would higher salt help minimising algae in any way? (my logic says that there's hardly any algae in the sea!)
I have received a test kit as part of the pool package, it's a 6-in-1 kit (by Magnor if that helps):
- My test kit doesn't include CYA, how do I test that?
- An earlier test from today showed FC between 1.0-1.5, how do I measure CC?
- Also the test kit showed TA is 90-100 ppm
Onc last question is about digital test kits, would you recommend them? Something like the ColorQ, how accurate is it?
I know it's been a very long post and I do appreciate your patience so far!!!
Thanks!
I wasn't too sure if this post belong in the algae section, but being that I'm also just getting started I thought maybe this is a better place. Apologies in advance for the long post!
We have had our pool installed for about six months now, since the install we've had some ups and downs with TPFC. I would really appreciate some feedback from you guys, I've spent only a few hours reading on this website and I absolutely love it!
(I went through Pool School, SLAM, and SWG)
Some additional info:
For starters I'm in Australia. Our climate is mostly hot and dry. Does my location make a difference for any of the levels mentioned on this website? For example my test kit recommends TA level of 120-150ppm for fiberglass pools, while this website recommends 60-80ppm?
So we have a medium sized fiberglass pool with total capacity 27,700 liters. The equipment is all brand new, and consists of the following components:
- Sand filter
- Variable speed pump (three speeds)
- Salt chlorinator
- Ph controller, self measuring and automatic dozing of acid
So far I have been running the pump on low speed for 7 hours a day (7-11am + 7-10pm), this should recycle the pool water 1.8 times/day according to my calculations. However because of recurring algae problems I have recently started running the pump on medium, this cycles 3.2 times the pool capacity which is way too much and we still get algae. So something is definitely wrong!
Some additional info on the settings of our pool with some questions:
- Ph is set to 7.6, and is normally maintained at that level by the Ph controller.
- Skimmer sock installed, hardly any debris that reach the pump basket.
- For that reason – no real need to backwash quite so often. Especially since the pump is running on low speed. Is that ok?
- Pump runs for 7 hours a day on low speed. As mentioned before this almost cycles twice the pool capacity, is that the only criteria? I've been told the low speed may not recycle all the water properly and a higher speed for say 1 hour/day is still required?
- We don't get a lot of debris and so I only vacuum the pool once a week (manually), by then there's some leaf and sand on the bottom but really nothing too major. Is once a week enough?
- We cover the pool with a blanket at night and take it during the day, mainly to prevent evaporation. For that reason I only need to top up with water once a week. Is that enough?
- Can it hurt having too much salt? The chlorinator does have a "low salt" indication but I assume no "high salt" indication. I'm just wondering if high salt levels can disturb the chlorinator? Would higher salt help minimising algae in any way? (my logic says that there's hardly any algae in the sea!)
I have received a test kit as part of the pool package, it's a 6-in-1 kit (by Magnor if that helps):
- My test kit doesn't include CYA, how do I test that?
- An earlier test from today showed FC between 1.0-1.5, how do I measure CC?
- Also the test kit showed TA is 90-100 ppm
Onc last question is about digital test kits, would you recommend them? Something like the ColorQ, how accurate is it?
I know it's been a very long post and I do appreciate your patience so far!!!
Thanks!
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