New to trouble free, need advice

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M

myers2115

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May 15, 2015
119
Chandler
I have owned this home and maintained pool for 4 years now. After reading through this website, I want to switch over from pool store to trouble free. I found a rather large dead bird in my basket this morning (pigeon I think?). My pool is cloudy and after taking water to pool store for testing, they said my "phosphates" were incredibly high (2500 I think) and that I had 0 fc. They attributed the high phosphates to the bird, since my water is pretty new. I resurfaced this last October. I told them it was cloudy and they recommended this super shock, three pounds of it since the algae was forming. Here's the product: http://www.lesliespool.com/leslies-...tor-multipack-bags/power-powder-plus-bags.htm. So I dumped that in and have the pump running 24 hours. After that, he said to dump a whole gallon of the phos-free in there over the course of three days. After reading much of this website, I am now skeptical. The only thing I've done is the 3 lbs of power powder shock they told me to do. I ordered one of the test kits from this site tonight but don't have it in hand to run my own tests. What would you guys do? Thanks for any advice, can't wait to get my kit and go legit!
Matt
 
Good job! The test kit will save you SO much money AND your pool will look better than it ever has before!

For right now take the phos-free stuff back to get your money back.

Shop around and find your best place to get bleach/chlorine. Some find Walmart greater value is the their best bet. Other get it at their pool store. It needs to be easy and current. Lowes and Homedepot do NOT tend to have newer stuff so avoid them. Oh and Sam/costco tend to have good prices as well.

Get some bleach and add 1/2 gal a day for right now.

When your test kit gets here let us know and we can go from there!

WELCOME! to the best pool place on the internet!

Kim
 
HI Meyers,
welcome to TFP!

You came to the right place.

While you're waiting for your test kit, make youself familiar with a couple of articles in Pool School. Click the big button at top of the page and start with the ABCs of pool chemistry.

also, play around with Pool Math tool a little bit and learn how to use it.
http://www.troublefreepool.com/calc.html

The TFP recommended levels are tried and proven. If you will maintain your water to these parameters, you wont have any problems
http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/134-recommended-levels

To keep your pool free of algae, the of course you have to have some FC. The question is how much? Right? not to worry. The FC is based upon how much CYA you have. Here is the FC/CYA chart
http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/128-chlorine-cya-chart-slam-shock

Once you get your test kit, post up a full set of test results and we'll go from there.
 

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Don't worry about rain. It will not impact the balance that much.

Rain can increase your PH due to the aeration of the water and of course adding "fresh" water will dilute the water a tiny bit but not really enough to worry about.

When you get your test kit you will be able to see for yourself how your pools acts in the rain. Every pool is different!

Kim
 
In addition to,the reading Dave gave you, I'm going to give you an additional article - how to SLAM your pool.

http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/125-slam-shock-level-and-maintain-shockingl

A SLAM is how we handle things like yours, algae, cloudy water and the like. We raise the pool chlorine to shock level until by accurate testing we verify that everything I the water is dead. That is the basis of our system, accurate testing and only adding what your pool needs, when it needs it.

When you take the PhosFree back I probably wouldn't get into a discussion with them about the TFP methods. It is so,contrary to how they are trained that they really don't understand.

There is almost always someone here to answer questions, so don't be afraid to ask.
 
You will see how this works when you start running your own tests. We have a recommended range for your pool derived from your test results, and as long as you stay within that range everything should be fine. For example, lets say your range for FC is 4-8ppm. Day 1 you test at 4ppm so you use PoolMath and add enough bleach to hit the top of your range, 8ppm. Next day you test 6ppm Still within range so you choose not to add any bleach. Day 3 you are back at 4ppm so you bump up to 8ppm again. Depending on your pool you may not have to add bleach every day, but you do need to test FC and pH every day until you really know your pool's habits.
 
Update: still waiting on my test kit I took everyone's advice and return the phos 0remover and just added liquid chlorine in my pool looks great now. So thank you! What is your advice about letting your dog swim in the pool occasionally?


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