Ninzy in Eastern Washinton

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ninzy

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Jun 19, 2015
4
clarkston, WA
Hi All! I'm excited for this adventure of owning a pool. We bought a home last fall that has a 14x28 salt water pool. This is our first summer in the home with the pool. We had a pool company come and close the pool, then open it just a couple weeks ago for us. We plan to maintain the pool on our own though... but we have no clue! I've been reading up online and read through pool school. I've ordered the K6000 kit and it should be here in a few days. We just bought a Dolphin Nautilus to help with the cleaning as the pool cleaner that hooks up to the plumbing just wasn't working. We have 3 kids 6 and under and they love the waterslide! Where we are it is hot in the summer with temps in the mid 90's - 100's most of July and August.

After 2 weeks of good use it started to look slightly cloudy and murky (think bright blue 2 weeks ago with a little hint of light green murky) No alge or anything though. I put in some bleach last night to give it a little boost and things look much better this morning.

I'm not sure if our salt cell is working properly however. It is not giving any sort of reading of the salt levels, the cell light isn't coming one at all, while the flow and power lights are green and good. And I can't change the setting from the 20% output (I press 'more' and it doesn't do anything). I checked the salt level b/c the users guide said the light may not come on if the salt is too low but the salt was 3150 ppm and the range is between 3000 and 3500, so that should be fine. So I really don't know how to figure out if the cell is dead/not working properly/or just fine. Any ideas?

We had the pool company come and replace some o rings and they ended up replacing the entire top handle portion of our filter right when we bought the house about 10 months ago b/c we noticed there was water leakage on the floor in the pool house. There is no more water dripping from the top of the filter but there is still a slight water leak on the ground around the filter and pump. So we have to figure out what is causing that as well.

We are excited to have the pool I just hope we can manage the chems and keep up with everything!
 
Welcome to TFP! As you may have read on our posts, the proper test kit is everything. I'm not personally aware of a K6000. Taylor K2006 perhaps? Your test kit hopefully has an FAD-DPD portion (small powder container and R-0871 drops) to test specifically Free Chlorine (FC) and Combined Chlorine (CC). In addition we need to know your CYA level (which is your stabilizer). From there we can get a better idea of your true water condition. So post us your FC, CC, CYA, PH, TA, and CH and we'll be glad to help.

Also feel free to review all the links below in my sig as they are you primary resources for pool questions. Nice to have you with us!
 
Thanks Texas Splash.. yes I meant the Taylor K2006. sorry! I know my CYA is super low based on my test strip tests (like under 10), I added 1.75 lbs of conditioner yesterday to start to bring it up but know I won't get an accurate reading for about a week. Numbers on my test strip kit right now are TH:100 FC:5 pH:7.5 TA:200 CYA: not quite 0 but close to it based on the color of the strip.
 
Since your CYA is low and you're waiting for it to increase, your FC is probably getting used-up quickly by the sun. So until your see that CYA increase, you'll probably want to augment your SWG a little bit with some liquid chlorine - especially if you are having problems with the SWG's output. I'm not a resident expert on the SWG or plumbing as you asked about earlier, so I'll have to let another TFP'er reply to that specific concern.

But I can say that if your water is beginning to change in color or texture, you probably have an algae bloom in the making. That's where the TFP "SLAM" is used. Have you read-up on SLAM yet (link below)?

SLAM is the term used when we “Shock” our pool to a higher “Level” of Free Chlorine (FC) and “Maintain” it that way until 3 objectives are met:
1. Water is clear
2. You do not lose any more than 1ppm of FC overnight (that's the OCLT)
3. CC (Combined Chlorine) is <.5
** You MUST meet ALL 3 items above to properly do a SLAM. Simply “spiking" the FC higher than normal isn't SLAMming, therefore there’s a good chance your algae will return.

Use the Chlorine/CYA chart (link in my sig) to bring your FC up to the proper SLAM level rating based on your current CYA and make sure it stays there (MAINTAIN) until you meet ALL 3 criteria listed above! That may take just a few days or even a week or two! That is absolutely critical for success.

At the same time, continue to run your pump 24/7. Remove any “muck” and debris, scrub all parts of your pool to expose any algae, and vacuum/clean (or backwash) filter as necessary. You may have to do this several times. It's a lot of babysitting, but with patience and consistency, you will succeed.

You ideally want CYA at 30 to SLAM, so it may be difficult to maintain the SLAM FC level on the chart, but you can try and let us know if you have any problems. SLAM works! You just have to be patient.
 
Thanks for the advice. I'll test everything again once I get the test in the mail and get better readings. For now I do not think we need to SLAM or Shock our pool, but just maintain the recommended FC levels. All levels were ideal 2 weeks ago and water is and always has been clear. So I think for the most part we are at the balance phase. We had a big pool party yesterday and I read several posters say that if it seems a little cloudy after then to pour in some bleach to just help the SWG out a bit. I think you are right on that the sun is eating the chlorine.. I just didn't realize it until yesterday :) I have read up on SLAM.. I think between yesterday and today I've spent about 8 hours on the site trying to figure everything out!

So far we don't have any texture change or real color change just looked a little cloudy.. so hopefully supplementing with liquid chlorine will keeps things in order until I get my test kit.

Thanks so much!
 
You're right about a pool party. It does consume FC much faster. Some folks will "spike" their FC a little before and/or after the party depending upon how many "little ones" were in the water, or how rowdy the "big ones" were that day as well. :) Good luck and let us know if you have any more questions. Enjoy your weekend! :snorkle:
 
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