So I closed my pool myself (following TFP guidance!) last fall and opened it myself this spring. I used a standard closing kit in the fall and didn’t use any special chemicals this spring other than slamming it.
it’s been hard this spring to get the water to clear. It’s been cloudy and I haven’t been able to see the bottom. Each weekend I’ve opened it, checked the chlorine and raised it back up to slam levels. I have an automatic pool cover so it doesn’t usually get rain or much else that falls I to the pool, but our city water is very hard. We have a water softener on the house, but usually, I turn it off when I need to add water to the pool. (I think I read that somewhere in TFP). My filters don’t seem to be clearing much, and the pressure wasn’t going up much, but with the ongoing cloudiness I did swap in some clean filters and hosed off the old ones. There was a milky substance that hosed off of them which I’m assuming was calcium sediment? I’ve also noticed it when I change my skimmer sock and the robot is picking up some sand like white sediment as well.
At any rate, I bought a new brush and brushed the walls last week thinking may e it would help. To my chagrin, my pole is old and the brush fell off right at the end and I lost it - I couldn’t see the bottom. So it lay there in the bottom for a week.
Mid week, a friend came over to lay by the pool when I was at work and uncovered it. He told me later he felt the water was low, so he filled it for a few hours from the house (without turning off the softener). This weekend when I uncovered the pool the water is crystal clear and I can see the bottom (surprise!) but when I fish out my brush, it has all this calcium scale on it.
I’ve been cleaning the brush off with vinegar and a scrubber, but when I checked the pool pH it was 8.0 - much higher than it has been (full numbers in my signature). I added a couple cups of muriatic acid and the pH is back down and the water is a little cloudy - it sure if the robot is stirring it up or the pH change is why.
Part of my issue, I think, is that my calcium hardness is usually around 200 due to the hard water I put in it. Should I try leaving the pool open during a rainstorm to add water and then drain some off (I’m a litte loathe to give up the small amount of solar heat gain I’ve made so far this year, but I’ll do it if it will help with the hardness.
What would all you TFP experts recommend?
it’s been hard this spring to get the water to clear. It’s been cloudy and I haven’t been able to see the bottom. Each weekend I’ve opened it, checked the chlorine and raised it back up to slam levels. I have an automatic pool cover so it doesn’t usually get rain or much else that falls I to the pool, but our city water is very hard. We have a water softener on the house, but usually, I turn it off when I need to add water to the pool. (I think I read that somewhere in TFP). My filters don’t seem to be clearing much, and the pressure wasn’t going up much, but with the ongoing cloudiness I did swap in some clean filters and hosed off the old ones. There was a milky substance that hosed off of them which I’m assuming was calcium sediment? I’ve also noticed it when I change my skimmer sock and the robot is picking up some sand like white sediment as well.
At any rate, I bought a new brush and brushed the walls last week thinking may e it would help. To my chagrin, my pole is old and the brush fell off right at the end and I lost it - I couldn’t see the bottom. So it lay there in the bottom for a week.
Mid week, a friend came over to lay by the pool when I was at work and uncovered it. He told me later he felt the water was low, so he filled it for a few hours from the house (without turning off the softener). This weekend when I uncovered the pool the water is crystal clear and I can see the bottom (surprise!) but when I fish out my brush, it has all this calcium scale on it.
I’ve been cleaning the brush off with vinegar and a scrubber, but when I checked the pool pH it was 8.0 - much higher than it has been (full numbers in my signature). I added a couple cups of muriatic acid and the pH is back down and the water is a little cloudy - it sure if the robot is stirring it up or the pH change is why.
Part of my issue, I think, is that my calcium hardness is usually around 200 due to the hard water I put in it. Should I try leaving the pool open during a rainstorm to add water and then drain some off (I’m a litte loathe to give up the small amount of solar heat gain I’ve made so far this year, but I’ll do it if it will help with the hardness.
What would all you TFP experts recommend?
