a few questions

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shadylady23

shadylady23

Well-known member
Jul 18, 2007
94
Southwest NH
Pool Size
8000
Surface
Vinyl
Hi everyone,

I am a new pool owner, this is my first year ever having one. I've been reading quite a bit on your posts and I must say that you have helped me learn alot about how to maintain my pool. ( I think I'm catching on...lol) I did have a question about vacuuming. If I just shocked my pool to clear up some algae, and now it's all settled on the bottom, do I vacuum it out then shock again, or is it going to be okay to just vacuum? Is all of the stuff on the bottom just "dead algae" and will eventually get sucked out by my filter once I vacuum and stir it up? Does it matter if you vacuum before or after shocking? When would I vacuum to waste rather than to filter or recirculate? (I don't really know what to do) Also, I read a post mentioning to keep my solar cover off during the day, does my solar cover basically just hold in the heat during the night then? I was under the assumption that I would leave it on during the day. (but what do I know...)

Thanks!
Mary :wink:
 
To really get rid of algae, it usually takes sustained shock-level chlorine for several days. Go ahead and vacuum out what you can. Whether to vac to waste or not depends largely on what kind of filter you have, and how plentiful and what quality your fill water is. Usually when you start vacuuming the water will cloud pretty quickly, so go slowly. Start on filter, but if you can't make any progress because of your filter getting dirty, then consider switching to waste if refilling the pool isn't a big issue.
 
What kind of pool do you have? And what kind of pump/filter? I also have algae and am treating with shocking/vacuuming. I have to rotate my filters out every few minutes and clean them when vacuuming. The other problem is you stir a lot of it up so you have to wait several hours to for everything to settle before you can vac again. Also my experience so far is that it takes more than one shocking to get rid of algae.
 
Its a 25' round pool (I know it's an weird size, but it's old and I guess they did make them that size years ago) vinyl liner, sand filter. Could I just vacuum under filter, and backwash it afterwards? My fill water I suppose it good, after I filled the pool the pool store told me to just add clorine. (But after reading several posts here, I'm not too confident that they always know what they are talking about) I think I understand the aspect of the chemicals for the most part now, now I just want to make sure I'm doing the other things right as it usually doesn't come up as a topic. Maybe most people know how to do everything else and have trouble with the chems.

Also, I wondered how high the FC can be to swim? Does it depend on the CYA? Because I know the more CYA you have the more Cl you need. Yesterday my FC was around 10 (I have a really bad test kit though so who knows if that's accurate) my CYA is like 30. It was so high because I shocked two days before, I wanted to go swimming, but thought it was too high.

Thanks again :wink:
 
Ok... somebody else who knows more can chime in any time but...

CYA (cyanauric acid) is a stabilizer. It prevents chlorine loss due to sun (among other things). A CYA of 30 is actually a little low and shoud be increased. Having more CYA means needing more chlorine is true only if the CYA levels get too high. A chlorine level of 10 is too high to swim. 3 or 4 is ok for swimming. If you are fighting algae you want to keep your chlorine up at shock level for a few days anyway. As for knowing how to do everything else except for chemicals, chemicals are about 99% of maintaining a pool. :)
 
crokett said:
Ok... somebody else who knows more can chime in any time but...

CYA (cyanauric acid) is a stabilizer. It prevents chlorine loss due to sun (among other things). A CYA of 30 is actually a little low and shoud be increased. Having more CYA means needing more chlorine is true only if the CYA levels get too high. A chlorine level of 10 is too high to swim. 3 or 4 is ok for swimming. If you are fighting algae you want to keep your chlorine up at shock level for a few days anyway. As for knowing how to do everything else except for chemicals, chemicals are about 99% of maintaining a pool. :)
Click to expand...

actually, some here would say swimming in a pool with FC as high as maybe 15 should be ok, and my children have.

just the other day, they were swimming in FC as high as 8.

I maintain a CYA of 35.
 
So I guess about the FC level on weather or not I should swim in it is up to me....? Maybe if I just rinsed off afterwards..

What about vacuuming? Do I have to do it before or after shocking? Or just when it's dirty? Also, how often should I brush the sides and stuff? Should I do this when I vacuum? Thanks again for all your help.. And new to my list of questions would be about the pool floater, I read on a post that it should not be near my vinyl liner? Should I try to keep it in the middle? Does it hurt the liner?

Thanks again! :)
 
shadylady23 said:
So I guess about the FC level on weather or not I should swim in it is up to me....? Maybe if I just rinsed off afterwards..

What about vacuuming? Do I have to do it before or after shocking? Or just when it's dirty? Also, how often should I brush the sides and stuff? Should I do this when I vacuum? Thanks again for all your help.. And new to my list of questions would be about the pool floater, I read on a post that it should not be near my vinyl liner? Should I try to keep it in the middle? Does it hurt the liner?

Thanks again! :)
Click to expand...

you should brush the sides as often as possible and vacuum it right up...daily would be great, but when I had algae last year, I brushed/vacuumed morning and late afternoon until it cleared.
 
We swim in our pool every day with chlorine levels in the 9 to 11 range.
And it's a public pool so it's not just me swimming.
OUr CYA levels are around 80 so we have to keep our levels that high.....and yes, I learned that all here.
This group has been far more informative than any class I have taken thus far.
 

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If you have algae or new plaster you should brush all the time, but under normal conditions once a week is fine. Likewise, vacuum when it looks like it needs it, typically about once a week.

It is best to keep floaters away from everything. If they sit in one place for a very long time they might discolor or damage the liner or corrode ladders. But nothing will happen right away, just keep it moving around or tied in the middle.

There is some debate about what chlorine levels are safe for swimming. Many people say it doesn't matter, any level you will find in a pool is going to be fine. Others say to not swim above the max column in Ben's Best Guess chart based on your CYA level.

You vacuum to waste if there is a large amount of crud that you want to get rid of, typically when cleaning up major algae attacks. You lose water fairly quickly this way, so you can't do it very often.

You want any solar cover off at least occasionally to allow the pool to breathe. It isn't clear if leaving the cover on during the day increases or decreases the rate at which the pool heats up. Having a cover on at night dramatically helps keep the heat in.
 
Thanks again for the info. You'll probably see more of me as more questions come up.. :wink: After learning what I have, I definately need to get a good test kit. the one that everyone speaks of on here, is that one good for more than a year? Most test kits I read are only good for a year. It seems like alot of money, I haven't decided it I want to spend that much on a test kit. I know it's important though. ...Maybe I'll wait and see if I get alot of problems.

Thanks!
Mary
 
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