Hello,
I joined here back in 2017 and got some excellent help and ordered the large test kit. Since that time life has gotten in the way and time has gone on. Things had been going fairly well for years and I was occupied doing life things. Last year things started not going so well and I had failed to keep up on my testing practices and although was keeping the chlorinator floater filled and shocking I was continuing to get algae growth weekly. Made it through the season but it was with a lot of scrubbing and plugging up my D.E. Filters which I ended up having to break down and clean up several times last season.
Well here we are again at the beginning of a new year and new season for our pool. It had gotten so bad that after taking a water sample in to Leslies Pool Supply, I was being advised that I needed well over $500 in pool chemicals to get things under control
I purchased a gas powered 2' water pump and adapted my pool vacuum hose to it. After a couple days of scrubbing the sides and bottom the best I could blindly due to the green pond like looking water that I could not see through, vacuumed the entire pool while discharging the water into the back yard. I then switched over to the 2" suction line and completely drained the entire pool all but a couple inches that remained at the bottom. Used a broom and dustpan to sweep up and get out the remaining leaves and debris and refilled the pool. I figured this would be the best avenue and would rather spend the money on the water bill than adding lots of chemicals to try and get our water right again.
I then did a complete tear down of our D.E. 80 Filter system and got it filtering right away. Got the floater full of 3" tabs and also added about 2 lbs. of shock 3 days in a row for a total of 6 lbs. of shock.
I took a sample in to Leslies for analysis, and I will post the results here. I am looking for any and all help from you generous folks here in hopes of getting my brain back on track and my pool water correctly adjusted so we can have a great season this year as well as many years to follow. I will follow your guidance to a T. Thank you in advance for the help, I really appreciate it.
Our inground pool is 23K gallons
Pebble Tech
Pool sweep powered by secondary pump
Pool Pump runs 4 hours a day, and pool sweep 2 hours a day during the time main pump is running
Leslies ACCUBLUE test completed 04/14/2025
1. Sanitize: Maintain 1-4 ppm of Free Chlorine using Leslie's tablets.
2. Shock: add 1 lbs. 6 oz. of any leslies shock weekly
3. Prevent: Add 10 Fl. Oz. of Leslies Perfect Weekly every week
TEST IDEAL RANGE RESULT
Free Chlorine: 1-4 ppm 0.34 (!)
Total Chlorine: Within 0.2 of FAC 0.35
pH 7.2-7.8 7 (!)
Total Alkalinity 80-120 ppm 99
Calcium Hardness 200-400 ppm 60 (!)
Cyanuric Acid 30-100 ppm 5 (!)
Iron 0-0.2 ppm 0.1
Copper 0-0.2 ppm 0.2
Phosphates 0-100 ppb 462 (!)
TDS 0-2500 ppm 200
PROBLEM PRODUCT SOLUTION
1. Low pH Leslies Soda Ash Add 2 Lbs. 10 Oz. of Soda Ash
2. Low FAC Leslies Add: 11 oz. of Power Powder plus 73,
Leslies OR 13 oz. of Chlor Brite, OR
Leslies 69 Fl. oz. of Sodium Hypochlorite
3. Low Calcium Hardness: Leslies Hardness Plus Add 47 lbs. 8 oz. of Leslies Hardness Plus (But no more than 20 lbs. at a time (Wait 4 Hours between ea. 20 lbs.)
4. Low Cya Instant pool water conditioner, Add 2 gl. 24 oz. of Instant Pool Water Conditioner, OR
OR Leslies Conditioner Add 5 lbs. 14 oz of Leslies Conditioner (in two separate doses)
5. High Phosphates: Leslies NoPHOS Add 49 Fl oz. of Leslies NoPHOS (Do not add more than 48 fl. oz. at any one time)
So that is my latest Leslies water test results and advisements. Granted it is now May 6'th but not much has changed and I have been trying to get to this site to see what suggestions I could get before doing anything at all. There is some algae starting to grow on the east side of our pool wall so that was my reminder I need to get some help with this ASAP
Thank you one and all and I look forward to your advice and recommendation's as well as promise to jump right on the actions you deem appropriate and necessary in the order you prescribe.
Any questions you may have, please feel free to ask and I will get you the answers.
Chuck Roberson
I joined here back in 2017 and got some excellent help and ordered the large test kit. Since that time life has gotten in the way and time has gone on. Things had been going fairly well for years and I was occupied doing life things. Last year things started not going so well and I had failed to keep up on my testing practices and although was keeping the chlorinator floater filled and shocking I was continuing to get algae growth weekly. Made it through the season but it was with a lot of scrubbing and plugging up my D.E. Filters which I ended up having to break down and clean up several times last season.
Well here we are again at the beginning of a new year and new season for our pool. It had gotten so bad that after taking a water sample in to Leslies Pool Supply, I was being advised that I needed well over $500 in pool chemicals to get things under control
I purchased a gas powered 2' water pump and adapted my pool vacuum hose to it. After a couple days of scrubbing the sides and bottom the best I could blindly due to the green pond like looking water that I could not see through, vacuumed the entire pool while discharging the water into the back yard. I then switched over to the 2" suction line and completely drained the entire pool all but a couple inches that remained at the bottom. Used a broom and dustpan to sweep up and get out the remaining leaves and debris and refilled the pool. I figured this would be the best avenue and would rather spend the money on the water bill than adding lots of chemicals to try and get our water right again.
I then did a complete tear down of our D.E. 80 Filter system and got it filtering right away. Got the floater full of 3" tabs and also added about 2 lbs. of shock 3 days in a row for a total of 6 lbs. of shock.
I took a sample in to Leslies for analysis, and I will post the results here. I am looking for any and all help from you generous folks here in hopes of getting my brain back on track and my pool water correctly adjusted so we can have a great season this year as well as many years to follow. I will follow your guidance to a T. Thank you in advance for the help, I really appreciate it.
Our inground pool is 23K gallons
Pebble Tech
Pool sweep powered by secondary pump
Pool Pump runs 4 hours a day, and pool sweep 2 hours a day during the time main pump is running
Leslies ACCUBLUE test completed 04/14/2025
1. Sanitize: Maintain 1-4 ppm of Free Chlorine using Leslie's tablets.
2. Shock: add 1 lbs. 6 oz. of any leslies shock weekly
3. Prevent: Add 10 Fl. Oz. of Leslies Perfect Weekly every week
TEST IDEAL RANGE RESULT
Free Chlorine: 1-4 ppm 0.34 (!)
Total Chlorine: Within 0.2 of FAC 0.35
pH 7.2-7.8 7 (!)
Total Alkalinity 80-120 ppm 99
Calcium Hardness 200-400 ppm 60 (!)
Cyanuric Acid 30-100 ppm 5 (!)
Iron 0-0.2 ppm 0.1
Copper 0-0.2 ppm 0.2
Phosphates 0-100 ppb 462 (!)
TDS 0-2500 ppm 200
PROBLEM PRODUCT SOLUTION
1. Low pH Leslies Soda Ash Add 2 Lbs. 10 Oz. of Soda Ash
2. Low FAC Leslies Add: 11 oz. of Power Powder plus 73,
Leslies OR 13 oz. of Chlor Brite, OR
Leslies 69 Fl. oz. of Sodium Hypochlorite
3. Low Calcium Hardness: Leslies Hardness Plus Add 47 lbs. 8 oz. of Leslies Hardness Plus (But no more than 20 lbs. at a time (Wait 4 Hours between ea. 20 lbs.)
4. Low Cya Instant pool water conditioner, Add 2 gl. 24 oz. of Instant Pool Water Conditioner, OR
OR Leslies Conditioner Add 5 lbs. 14 oz of Leslies Conditioner (in two separate doses)
5. High Phosphates: Leslies NoPHOS Add 49 Fl oz. of Leslies NoPHOS (Do not add more than 48 fl. oz. at any one time)
So that is my latest Leslies water test results and advisements. Granted it is now May 6'th but not much has changed and I have been trying to get to this site to see what suggestions I could get before doing anything at all. There is some algae starting to grow on the east side of our pool wall so that was my reminder I need to get some help with this ASAP
Thank you one and all and I look forward to your advice and recommendation's as well as promise to jump right on the actions you deem appropriate and necessary in the order you prescribe.
Any questions you may have, please feel free to ask and I will get you the answers.
Chuck Roberson
