Last Year
First a little background, I bought a house with a pool last august. Water looked great, I used it in August/September putting in Leslie's 3" Trichlor. I added some alkalinity up, and some hardness up, per Leslie's water tests.
Closing
When it came time to close, I scheduled a closing with them, bought their pool closing deluxe chemical kit, and followed those instructions. When they came out to close, the tech walked me through disassembling my DE filter and showed me how to clean it. They then unrolled the winter safety cover that was part of the pool equipment, and told me it was in rough shape and needed to be replaced. The cover was an Anchor Industries Classic Solid Safety Cover.
Winter
Since the provided cover was made to sit on the water, I didn't think anything of the sag in the middle at first. Unfortunately that sag got worse when it rained/snowed etc. I installed a cover pump on it, but it started to run constantly and my water levels dropped by about a foot and a half. I went into a pool store that sold these style covers and spoke with them and they surmised that due to the age it had a lot of micro holes in the vinyl, and it was basically filling with the normal pool water. I had to pull the pump off the cover to avoid pumping out my entire pool. As the weeks went on the amount of water on top of the pool began to increase. By January, there was a a good 2 feet of water on the top in the middle of the pool, freezing, and re-freezing. We had some very cold days and the water level dropped considerably due to evaporation, I ended up adding roughly 10,0000 gallons to the pool to compensate.
Spring Opening
I was wary about spring opening this year, as I knew I had to do something about all the water on the cover. The top was filled with 2-3 feet of water in places. It had ripped down on one side pulling away from the anchors. The water was dark and black and filled with debris. I scooped out as much as possible, spoke to some people at pool stores, and everyone was pretty much in agreement that all I could really do was get as much solids off the top as possible, then slide the cover through the water. So that is what I did. I ended up with silt, and small organics in the pool water but overall it was pretty clean considering!
(I can't attach any more photos unfortunately)
Post-Opening
Doing what I had known, I bought the same deluxe pool opening/closing kit from Leslie's, took in a sample of water, and followed their instructions. They found my FC level to be 0, CYA 10, pH 6.7, TH 120. They had me put in 45 lbs of Hardness Plus, 2 gallons of conditioner, some soda ash. I shocked the pool with a non-chlorinating shock, then shocked it again with a few lbs of chlor-brite. Every few days I took back another water sample, and then followed their instructions. My FC kept going back to 0. That is when I started looking at stuff online. I found this website, purchased a TF-100 kit, a speed stir, and started messing with the pool calculator. Needless to say, after reading through here I haven't been back to Leslies's.
My major annoyances are:
SLAMM
I went to BJ's and bought 9 cases of the Kemtek 10% pool bleach at 9.47$ a case. I used that to shock my pool the first time adding 4 gallons and taking the FC to 22 at night. The next morning it measured at 20ppm. By the afternoon it was down to 12.5ppm. I then added 2.2 gallons and took my FC to 26.5ppm at night. The morning after it had fallen to 23.5ppm, then by the afternoon went to 15.5ppm. Last night I added more bleach and brought it too 24ppm. This morning it was steady at 23.5 ppm. This afternoon when I got FC was 17ppm.
My CC has stayed steady at around .5 the entire time.
I assume I am now done with my SLAMM? Last night the chlorine did not drop much, only today in the sun (my new solar cover has not arrived yet). Should I let the FC level drop to a normal 6ppm, or raise it one more night?
Thanks!
(FULL LIST)
Currently
FC=17
CC=.5
TC=17.5
pH=7.5
CYA=60
TA=80
CH=450
First a little background, I bought a house with a pool last august. Water looked great, I used it in August/September putting in Leslie's 3" Trichlor. I added some alkalinity up, and some hardness up, per Leslie's water tests.
Closing
When it came time to close, I scheduled a closing with them, bought their pool closing deluxe chemical kit, and followed those instructions. When they came out to close, the tech walked me through disassembling my DE filter and showed me how to clean it. They then unrolled the winter safety cover that was part of the pool equipment, and told me it was in rough shape and needed to be replaced. The cover was an Anchor Industries Classic Solid Safety Cover.
Winter
Since the provided cover was made to sit on the water, I didn't think anything of the sag in the middle at first. Unfortunately that sag got worse when it rained/snowed etc. I installed a cover pump on it, but it started to run constantly and my water levels dropped by about a foot and a half. I went into a pool store that sold these style covers and spoke with them and they surmised that due to the age it had a lot of micro holes in the vinyl, and it was basically filling with the normal pool water. I had to pull the pump off the cover to avoid pumping out my entire pool. As the weeks went on the amount of water on top of the pool began to increase. By January, there was a a good 2 feet of water on the top in the middle of the pool, freezing, and re-freezing. We had some very cold days and the water level dropped considerably due to evaporation, I ended up adding roughly 10,0000 gallons to the pool to compensate.
Spring Opening
I was wary about spring opening this year, as I knew I had to do something about all the water on the cover. The top was filled with 2-3 feet of water in places. It had ripped down on one side pulling away from the anchors. The water was dark and black and filled with debris. I scooped out as much as possible, spoke to some people at pool stores, and everyone was pretty much in agreement that all I could really do was get as much solids off the top as possible, then slide the cover through the water. So that is what I did. I ended up with silt, and small organics in the pool water but overall it was pretty clean considering!
(I can't attach any more photos unfortunately)
Post-Opening
Doing what I had known, I bought the same deluxe pool opening/closing kit from Leslie's, took in a sample of water, and followed their instructions. They found my FC level to be 0, CYA 10, pH 6.7, TH 120. They had me put in 45 lbs of Hardness Plus, 2 gallons of conditioner, some soda ash. I shocked the pool with a non-chlorinating shock, then shocked it again with a few lbs of chlor-brite. Every few days I took back another water sample, and then followed their instructions. My FC kept going back to 0. That is when I started looking at stuff online. I found this website, purchased a TF-100 kit, a speed stir, and started messing with the pool calculator. Needless to say, after reading through here I haven't been back to Leslies's.
My major annoyances are:
- My CH is now 450. I have a vinyl pool, it was not necessary for me to spend money to put in 45 lbs of hardness plus.
- My CYA is 60, thanks to the two gallons of conditioner. I feel like this is a bit high before the summer has even begun, and will limit my use of Trichlor pucks this season (without a water change).
- They had me add conditioner + then chlor-brite which has additional conditioner in it.
SLAMM
I went to BJ's and bought 9 cases of the Kemtek 10% pool bleach at 9.47$ a case. I used that to shock my pool the first time adding 4 gallons and taking the FC to 22 at night. The next morning it measured at 20ppm. By the afternoon it was down to 12.5ppm. I then added 2.2 gallons and took my FC to 26.5ppm at night. The morning after it had fallen to 23.5ppm, then by the afternoon went to 15.5ppm. Last night I added more bleach and brought it too 24ppm. This morning it was steady at 23.5 ppm. This afternoon when I got FC was 17ppm.
My CC has stayed steady at around .5 the entire time.
I assume I am now done with my SLAMM? Last night the chlorine did not drop much, only today in the sun (my new solar cover has not arrived yet). Should I let the FC level drop to a normal 6ppm, or raise it one more night?
Thanks!
(FULL LIST)
Currently
FC=17
CC=.5
TC=17.5
pH=7.5
CYA=60
TA=80
CH=450
