Hello,
I have a peculiar problem I would like some thoughts about.
Several months ago--mid-September--I tested my water and the chlorine was non-existent. CCs were also low--0.5. The water was staying clear but there was algae growing in some of the waterline tile grout which has been pitted and cracked in some places since we moved here 4 years ago. In some places the pitting has created holes in the grout leading to recesses behind the tiles. And I was lax about scrubbing it this year because I knew we were getting it redone soon. This was around the time we were getting estimates
When I got the no chlorine result, I thought something had gone wrong with my SWG. So my husband cleaned the thing real good and I was looking at the user guide and it said high phosphates could be a reason for no chlorine. I took a sample to a pool store and he said my phosphates were more than 4000. I think that's the highest his test strip would read. (He was using strips that day because they were having trouble getting supplies for their testing system.)
I decided not to treat the phosphates since I knew we would be draining the pool in January. That first day, I put the SWG on super-chlorinate and within a few hours the FC increased to about 2ppm. So I thought the SWG was working fine. I scrubbed the waterline real good and starting that night, I shocked the pool with LC until it had no overnight chlorine loss. Then it took many weeks for the level to naturally drop down to maintenance level, but when it did, I tested and balanced everything else. All this was about the time we were not swimming much anymore.
Ever since then, though, my chlorine levels have been very low all the time. Much lower than what I would expect from where I have the SWG set. So I guess my question is… does this sound like something that the high phosphates would be causing? I don't know what else to think. There's no visible algae now, but there could be stuff I am not seeing behind the waterline tiles.
Besides the tile issue, there are also several places from when we moved here where the Diamondbrite coating was scraped away showing the concrete underneath. We think either something fell in the pool at one time, or it was used as a skate park! Could something be leeching in through these unsurfaced places? We are having the entire pool resurfaced including replacing the tile starting January 12.
I guess I should get my tap water tested before they refill it in case it's the source of the high phosphates. Any other thoughts?
I have a peculiar problem I would like some thoughts about.
Several months ago--mid-September--I tested my water and the chlorine was non-existent. CCs were also low--0.5. The water was staying clear but there was algae growing in some of the waterline tile grout which has been pitted and cracked in some places since we moved here 4 years ago. In some places the pitting has created holes in the grout leading to recesses behind the tiles. And I was lax about scrubbing it this year because I knew we were getting it redone soon. This was around the time we were getting estimates
When I got the no chlorine result, I thought something had gone wrong with my SWG. So my husband cleaned the thing real good and I was looking at the user guide and it said high phosphates could be a reason for no chlorine. I took a sample to a pool store and he said my phosphates were more than 4000. I think that's the highest his test strip would read. (He was using strips that day because they were having trouble getting supplies for their testing system.)
I decided not to treat the phosphates since I knew we would be draining the pool in January. That first day, I put the SWG on super-chlorinate and within a few hours the FC increased to about 2ppm. So I thought the SWG was working fine. I scrubbed the waterline real good and starting that night, I shocked the pool with LC until it had no overnight chlorine loss. Then it took many weeks for the level to naturally drop down to maintenance level, but when it did, I tested and balanced everything else. All this was about the time we were not swimming much anymore.
Ever since then, though, my chlorine levels have been very low all the time. Much lower than what I would expect from where I have the SWG set. So I guess my question is… does this sound like something that the high phosphates would be causing? I don't know what else to think. There's no visible algae now, but there could be stuff I am not seeing behind the waterline tiles.
Besides the tile issue, there are also several places from when we moved here where the Diamondbrite coating was scraped away showing the concrete underneath. We think either something fell in the pool at one time, or it was used as a skate park! Could something be leeching in through these unsurfaced places? We are having the entire pool resurfaced including replacing the tile starting January 12.
I guess I should get my tap water tested before they refill it in case it's the source of the high phosphates. Any other thoughts?
levels of 
So it has not been running at all. New pump arrived and got installed yesterday, but we're just waiting until after resurfacing to have a fresh start with everything. Resurface is on schedule to start in about a week and then the pool company does the first 10 days of chemicals, brushing, and maintenance. SWG can't be used for 30 days after.