Hey guys - I guess this is my first post although I have been reading the site for about a year now (GREAT information here!). This is year 2 with my 10,000 gal above-ground and I've had it open about 6 weeks now. Its finally starting to get warm enough to use!
When opening this year I followed the SLAM process and turned my swamp into an amazingly clear pool in less than 5 days. It has stayed that way for about a month - testing and adjusting chlorine every day or 2. Everything looked good except I started the year with very LOW CYA levels. It last tested between 10 and 20 (so low it was inaccurate) so I added some [old] CYA. Enough to raise it by about 20 ppm according to the calculator. I haven't tested since then because I ran out of CYA tests in my kit. Because I sometimes travel a few days at a time for work I bought a floater and supplement my bleach with a few tablets if I am going to be away for a few days. I have probably used 4-6 trichlor tablets so far this year.
Everything has been pretty easy except that I have 2 large trees next to my pool (one with acorns and one with walnuts I think). Other than getting stuck in my vaccum and generally being annoying they weren't too much of a problem, but when I got back from a weekend at the lake the entire bottom of my pool was green. I ran the vaccum which starting sucking up a lot of it and also brushed the bottom, which only turned the entire pool green for several days. Keep in mind when I got home from the lake my FC was still over 3 and CC less than 0.5. I brought it up to at least 9-10 ppm before leaving.
I have been running the pump 24/7 for almost 4 days and it still hasn't cleared up. The water is no longer green but it is still cloudy. FC testing 4-5 and CC still less than 0.5.
Do I have an algae problem or could these trees just be dropping stuff into the pool? I know I may still have low CYA but I didn't want to add too much so I could use up my $100 worth of pool-store tablets this summer. If it is just stuff from the trees, should I add a solar cover or something? Currently it isn't covered. Oh, and I have my pump on a timer to run about 6-7 hours a day (it is a huge 1.5 hp pump for this tiny pool).
Any suggestions?
When opening this year I followed the SLAM process and turned my swamp into an amazingly clear pool in less than 5 days. It has stayed that way for about a month - testing and adjusting chlorine every day or 2. Everything looked good except I started the year with very LOW CYA levels. It last tested between 10 and 20 (so low it was inaccurate) so I added some [old] CYA. Enough to raise it by about 20 ppm according to the calculator. I haven't tested since then because I ran out of CYA tests in my kit. Because I sometimes travel a few days at a time for work I bought a floater and supplement my bleach with a few tablets if I am going to be away for a few days. I have probably used 4-6 trichlor tablets so far this year.
Everything has been pretty easy except that I have 2 large trees next to my pool (one with acorns and one with walnuts I think). Other than getting stuck in my vaccum and generally being annoying they weren't too much of a problem, but when I got back from a weekend at the lake the entire bottom of my pool was green. I ran the vaccum which starting sucking up a lot of it and also brushed the bottom, which only turned the entire pool green for several days. Keep in mind when I got home from the lake my FC was still over 3 and CC less than 0.5. I brought it up to at least 9-10 ppm before leaving.
I have been running the pump 24/7 for almost 4 days and it still hasn't cleared up. The water is no longer green but it is still cloudy. FC testing 4-5 and CC still less than 0.5.
Do I have an algae problem or could these trees just be dropping stuff into the pool? I know I may still have low CYA but I didn't want to add too much so I could use up my $100 worth of pool-store tablets this summer. If it is just stuff from the trees, should I add a solar cover or something? Currently it isn't covered. Oh, and I have my pump on a timer to run about 6-7 hours a day (it is a huge 1.5 hp pump for this tiny pool).
Any suggestions?