Hi folks,
Just bought my house at the end of last summer, and this is the first pool I've ever had. Fortunately TFP has been keeping me alive in the meantime. It's a 16x30 in-ground, vinyl liner. I'm running a Hawyard 1-HP single speed Superpump and a cartridge filter, with a Pentair inline chlorine feeder. I calculate about 15,000 gallons.
I've been using a $20 poolstore test kit, but I just bought a Taylor K-2006. Some of my problems being that I can't keep the pH above 7, and I've had two major algae blooms this spring already. I suspected the CYA was high, as the previous owner had been feeding trichlor pucks, plus I found a half-empty bucket of stabilizer among the supplies he'd left behind.
The water's been nice and clear for a few weeks now since the last bloom, and we've been swimming daily. My data as of yesterday is:
pH: 7.0
Alk: 110
CH: 440 (we have really hard water here)
FC: 3.0
CC: 0.5
CYA: Like I said... through the roof. The highest number the Taylor test kit will read is 100, and it's way higher than that. I'll have to try a dilution to see if I can pin it down closer.
So having been reading here for awhile, I guess I'm fixing to rent a pump and do a partial water change. I've got a 2,500 gallon rainwater storage tank in the garden I can fill up, and the rest will have to go on the grass - I'm on septic, so there's no pool drain to the sewer.
So, wish me luck... I don't see any other way to deal with it. And yeah, I'll have a pool store or someone verify my CYA numbers before I take action. Thanks for all the advice so far. I'll be hanging around!
Just bought my house at the end of last summer, and this is the first pool I've ever had. Fortunately TFP has been keeping me alive in the meantime. It's a 16x30 in-ground, vinyl liner. I'm running a Hawyard 1-HP single speed Superpump and a cartridge filter, with a Pentair inline chlorine feeder. I calculate about 15,000 gallons.
I've been using a $20 poolstore test kit, but I just bought a Taylor K-2006. Some of my problems being that I can't keep the pH above 7, and I've had two major algae blooms this spring already. I suspected the CYA was high, as the previous owner had been feeding trichlor pucks, plus I found a half-empty bucket of stabilizer among the supplies he'd left behind.
The water's been nice and clear for a few weeks now since the last bloom, and we've been swimming daily. My data as of yesterday is:
pH: 7.0
Alk: 110
CH: 440 (we have really hard water here)
FC: 3.0
CC: 0.5
CYA: Like I said... through the roof. The highest number the Taylor test kit will read is 100, and it's way higher than that. I'll have to try a dilution to see if I can pin it down closer.
So having been reading here for awhile, I guess I'm fixing to rent a pump and do a partial water change. I've got a 2,500 gallon rainwater storage tank in the garden I can fill up, and the rest will have to go on the grass - I'm on septic, so there's no pool drain to the sewer.
So, wish me luck... I don't see any other way to deal with it. And yeah, I'll have a pool store or someone verify my CYA numbers before I take action. Thanks for all the advice so far. I'll be hanging around!