New owner of a older pool, tried Pool Store, now going TFPC

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J

JeromeM

0
May 22, 2014
69
Claremont, ON
**disclaimer, this somehow became a novel**

Hi all,

I moved into a new (to me) house this past December (I do not recommend moving into a house with a pool in Dec because there's no way to confirm the pool is working as it should, especially when it's frozen lol)

Anyways, I had a pool company come and open the pool, they vac'd it, shocked it, we re-did some of the plumbing in the pool house and I added a chlorinator. I decided I would use the pool store to help with chemicals which uses Bioguard since it was "easy", I give them water sample, they print a sheet with what I need, in what steps I need to add it, how to do it and how long to wait till the next step. Everything "was" great for probably a month the water was really clear. I spent probably if I had to guess well over $700 on chemicals and it's only July, for main sanitizer I bought their "Smart Sticks" which is $110 for 18lbs in my automatic chlorinator, not sure what I was thinking. I have been doing their shock weekly as well as I was supposed to and bringing in water samples weekly as I am OCD with water and following everything they told me to do.

I had been seeing some accumulation on the vinyl liner seams and folds on the bottom of the pool and just thought it was dirt, then after we went on vacation for a week with the solar blanket on and the chlorinator on everything went bad, the pool was green even after I shocked it and not only did I see accumulation as before now there were yellow trails on the bottom of the pool. From what I could tell it looked like Mustard Algea after reading up here so I took a water sample into the pool store and showed them pictures of my pool, my FC was 1 not good and the computer recommended 7 bags of their BurnOut shock which I can't find on their website but the 21yr old pool chemistry expert said that sounded high so only use 4.....I did and nothing happened to the water after 2 days so I took another sample in and FC was .03 this time it suggested 8 bags of BurnOut and a different "expert" said that was too much and to use 4. These bags cost $9 each so they are not cheap. After 2 days of that no changes so I started reading more on here and decided FU pool store I'm going to switch to the TFPC method and start to SLAM.

The main problem is I don't have a test kit that does FAS-DPD only total chlorine, so I ordered TFT-100 and will have it by the end of the week since I can't find a local one. In the meantime I'm just doing a blind SLAM using Bleach, I know, terrible, Saturday I had added 2 gallons of Clorox, Yesterday I went to have the water tested at the pool store and FC was 5.4 and CYA of 43 and PH was 7.5 so I new I was good to start SLAM, so I used Pool Math and added bleach in to get to my shock FC and then without a test have just been adding more and more every 3-4 hours during the day. I have my pump running and filtering at all times, one thing I am doing which I need to stop when I get home is the pool store said to put my chlorinator on full setting meaning it's adding likely a lot of CYA from those silk sticks so I will have the CYA tested in a week, I've added lots of water and it's rained lots but I might be around 50 now.

Also I changed the sand in my filter as it hadn't been done in probably 10+ years just in case this helped. I can see that the blind SLAM is helping, this morning I longer saw the larger accumulations on the bottom although when I'm brushing I see the yellow/orange stuff come off the bottom I assume this is normal at this stage of the SLAM. The pool is less green and almost normal color but still cloudy not sure if that just gets better as I keep slamming?

I will update as soon as I can get back to the pool store for another sample to see where I'm at, really hoping that I get this under control and then moving forward will be using the TFPC method exclusively and doing my own testing.

Also will look into something similar for my Hot Tub when I fire that back up in the fall as I'm sure similar methods are used.

Thanks for reading!
Jerome
 
Hello! Welcome to TFP!

You have already taken the perfect first step and that is ordering a test kit you can trust!

I'm on my way to work so I won't get too detailed here but definitely pull those sticks from the chlorinator and do not add any more solid forms of chlorine!

There is a good chance that your CYA is quite a bit higher than the pool store test is showing (they tend to be really inaccurate with cya tests!) especially with how many powders and things you've added so when your kit comes you may find out you need to replace some water.

Mainly right now you're in a holding pattern. Don't go too crazy with that bleach. You can't really SLAM until you know your CYA level for sure so for now just consider that you're holding it at bay until your kit arrives then you can start the SLAM process with the precision necessary to kick that algae to the curb!

Off to work for me... I'm sure there will be more replies!!

Welcome again! You're going to like this! :)
 
yeah, I agree that I'm more in a holding pattern, I'm not adding a crazy amount of bleach but I don't want to not add any until I get the test kit either. I went to a different pool store at lunch and all they had for test kits was this "Aquachek 7" at $37, looks like it tests everything but not really "Accurate" down to the 1ppm so I assume I still wait for the real test kit or should I get this as it might help me and I won't lose a precious week that I could use to SLAM?

Here's some pictures:
June 28th, water was nice and clear


July 4th, water really bad and this is the yellow staining and accumulations


 
Here's what the pool looks like after being away at work for 9 hours today, no visible staining which is a lot better than before, Color is back to blue although in the pic it looks a bit green might be the cedar hedges, sucks that I'm flying blind till Friday when I get my test kit.



P.S. will the moderator needing to approve my posts stop at some point when my post count goes up?
 
Welcome to TFP! Certain things like links and pictures can make more of the initial posts require approval, you should be good now I think.

Just one way we prevent spam from showing up in the forum, although slightly irritating for new members, but we try to and usually approve things very quickly before most members even realize.
 
Btw, I agree with the above to wait for the test kit (which one you get?) Before anything drastic. I would add 1-1.5 bottles of bleach each evening until you can test.
 

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Yeah I ordered the TF-100 XL + an extra XL kit as I'm sure I'll be OCD testing and since I'm in Canada this is the time now that my Wife is in the US for work.

I'm adding a total of 1-1.5 bottles of bleach over the course of a day, the pump and filter are running 24/7 and I'm brushing twice a day. The water keeps improving, this morning it was a lot more blue and was pretty clear in the shallow end and a bit clearer in the deep end. There was no yellow stains this morning and when I brushed I couldn't really see any cloudiness come off the floor compared to yesterday.

When I get the test kit Friday afternoon I'll do a full panel of tests, CYA should have hopefully stabilized by then since I turned off the Chlorinator yesterday and then will bring the FC up to shock level if it's not there already, I'm hoping to use the pool on the weekend so will see what I can get accomplished by then and will swim at just below Slam levels.
 
Welcome!

I thought I would chime in as well. As you wait for your test kit, you will want to read through Pool School; it has a wealth of knowledge and guidance. Read the forums and you will see that you are not alone. Most of us have been through an algae bloom at least once, and through the use of the TFPC method, we are working to not doing it again. Regular testing is key to preventing future problems. But we have to clear up your pool first before you can get there!

As you read through the forums, you will probably come across other references to various types and brands of solid chlorine. Virtually all of them will increase the CYA level of your pool, as do your Smart Sticks. You will read and learn that CYA does not evaporate from your pool, as a result, long term usage of these "convenient chlorinators" will usually lead to high CYA levels. There are problems associated with higher than recommended levels of CYA. Those problems will ultimately result in your inability to keep a clear pool because you wont be able to put enough CL into the pool to kill algae.

Don't confuse the effects of high CYA and your algae bloom today with your inability to kill and reverse it today, with the length of time it may take to clear your pool using the SLAM method (that you will read about in Pool School!). There are plenty of stories in the forum where it will take as much as a week or more, often with little or no visible signs of progress along the way. You can sense the frustration in new members posts, and you can also sense that they are sometimes slow to fully embrace the TFPC approach. Keep posting your questions or concerns and we will do our best to not only walk you through the process, but give you the encouragement you need along the way.

Take pictures daily and post them to the forum as they will allow all of us to see small changes / improvements that otherwise may go unnoticed.
 
Thanks for the advice, I've read a lot of stuff so far, such great info and it really just makes sense. I feel comfortable with the TFPC method, can't wait for the test kit to arrive.

I've been adding bleach twice daily, past two morning there were mice in my skimmer :S don't they know I'm trying to keep organics out of the pool lol

Here's what it looks like today, with the pump off I can see the lines in the deep end (8ft)

 
Looking better even just keeping things at bay. Likely you'll have a brief SLAM process unless there is something else lurking, which I doubt. You're well on your way.

Remember to remove and clean all fixtures during the SLAM process. Ladders, light niches, return eyeballs... anything you can think of that might hide algae. With your OCD tendencies that should be easy! ;)
 
OMG my wife is back from her business trip, so happy she's home......(really I'm a bit happier that she brought me my testing kit...lol)



Ok, so basically all week I have been "Blind Slamming" so I was anxious to see how this was going to turn out. I had watched the video's and started testing, here's how it went:

07/11 - 3pm
Slam Target: 20ppm
CYA: 50
PH: 7.5
TA: 120
CH: 325
FC: 13
CC: 0

I re-did the CYA a few times (using the same solution just re-pouring into the tube) and I went until I couldn't see any shadow of the black dot at all which gave me 50 both times. Is 50 too high? Let me know if I should drop it to 40, right now I have almost 2" extra water in the pool from the rain this past week.

The FC, I did it 5 times, lol the first time I went slow one drop at a time and got 13, the next 3 times I added 5-8 drops at a time and got 17, the last time I did one drop at a time again and got 13 (26 drops, 13ppm FC) so I imagine it's just better to take my time and add a drop at a time?

CC was zero each time, which is nice.

It's bright and sunny this afternoon so I am adding Bleach according to Pool Math and will double check the FC in an hour and compare.

The water looks really good, I will see how this goes and attempt the OCLT this evening.
 
07/11-4pm
Slam Target: 20ppm
FC: 25ppm
CC:0

Pool Math told me to add 5.1L of 10.8% Chlorine after my 3pm test, I only added 5L and now I'm at 25ppm so I assume either my pool volume is less (I'm using 86,700L as that is what the pool store had calculated, can't believe they would be wrong....lol) or I was really closer to 17 FC before.

Either way, I am not adding anything right now and will check at 5pm.
 
Now you need as SpeedStir ;)

The bleach may be stronger and/or the pool may be stronger.

It should not matter if you add multiple drops if you mix enough. Best to swirl and add drops at the same time.
 
The speedstir is definitely the cats meow. My wife said I was crazy getting it but once she saw it in action she agreed with me that it was awesome. It is really nice during a SLAM when you are testing several times a day and having to add so many drops.
This is a great thread. You are going to have sparklyicious water in no time and you will grow to enjoy the power that knowledge is. Nothing like knowing you can take care of your pool!!
 

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