Bought a home with 9 yr old inground pool/spa. Never owned a pool before so came to this site looking for an education. This has been a great place to get the info I needed to feel like I can manage the pool myself rather than use the pool service that the previous owner had used. I have a test kit (BioGuard 1200V) and recently bought some "dip strip'" test strips to test the water. My results are all on the high side, as follows:
FC 10
pH 7.6 - 7.8
TA 180
TH 800
CYA 300
Checked with previous owner and pool has never been drained, which is why I think my TH and CYA are so high. Had a lot of scale on the pool tiles which we cleaned up with pumice stone. Pool filter has a "frog" setup that dispenses Cl tabs. I've let the tabs run out and not introduced any more Cl thinking the level would decrease to a point where I would like it to be, i.e., 2-3 ppm per the test kit but it just stays high. The filter runs 7 hrs/day and the water is crystal clear and looks great but I'm worried that the chemistry of the water will degrade the plaster in the pool. Am I over-thinking this? Do not want to drain and refill the pool if not necessary but don't want to be faced with expensive repairs if I "don't know what I don't know". Would a RO filter system be able to bring down the CYA and TH levels or is this overkill? I appreciate your insight and suggestion in advance. Thank you, Jim H.
P.S The pool filter cartridges were recently cleaned and the filter pressure has been constant at about 30 psi. Haven't noticed any change in the pressure in the 2+ months that we've owned the home. I noticed comments in some posts about backwashing the filter. Do I need to do this with my system and how do I do that? If it matters, there is a solar hot water system attached as well.
FC 10
pH 7.6 - 7.8
TA 180
TH 800
CYA 300
Checked with previous owner and pool has never been drained, which is why I think my TH and CYA are so high. Had a lot of scale on the pool tiles which we cleaned up with pumice stone. Pool filter has a "frog" setup that dispenses Cl tabs. I've let the tabs run out and not introduced any more Cl thinking the level would decrease to a point where I would like it to be, i.e., 2-3 ppm per the test kit but it just stays high. The filter runs 7 hrs/day and the water is crystal clear and looks great but I'm worried that the chemistry of the water will degrade the plaster in the pool. Am I over-thinking this? Do not want to drain and refill the pool if not necessary but don't want to be faced with expensive repairs if I "don't know what I don't know". Would a RO filter system be able to bring down the CYA and TH levels or is this overkill? I appreciate your insight and suggestion in advance. Thank you, Jim H.
P.S The pool filter cartridges were recently cleaned and the filter pressure has been constant at about 30 psi. Haven't noticed any change in the pressure in the 2+ months that we've owned the home. I noticed comments in some posts about backwashing the filter. Do I need to do this with my system and how do I do that? If it matters, there is a solar hot water system attached as well.
