Clowdy Pool - jumping ship from the pool store to TFP

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HotSaucePoolGuy

Member
May 1, 2020
8
Louisville ky
Hello TFP community. I've been lurking for a while and have finally decided to jump ship from my local pool store to TFP after much frustration. I have a 20k gallon vinyl inground pool with a SWG. When I removed my safety cover to open the pool two weeks ago, I had quite a bit of Algae on the bottom. I vacuumed to waste like any other year, added twice the amount of shock, and headed to the pool stool where I have had quite the run around getting my water balanced. Needless to say, its been two weeks, and my water is still cloudy and I'm seeing foam on the top of my pool especially in the morning. I can barley see the bottom of the liner in the 4ft section, however, cannot see the drain in the 5ft section.

I know this site doesn't trust pool store water tests, so I've ordered my Taylor kit, but wanted to see if anyone recommended that I take any action in the meantime. I got the numbers below from getting my water tested at two different pool stores (the numbers were very close in both stores).

PH 7.3
TA 86
CH 95
Salt 2900
FC 5.4
TC 5.5
CYA 39 - I added 3 lb of Stabilizer after this reading, and this seemed to make the foam situation worse.

Thanks in advance for your help.
 

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Welcome! :wave: I wouldn't add anymore stabilizer right now. The higher the CYA the higher you will have to increase the FC per the SLAM Process. That chart is used not only for normal daily levels, but also for the SLAM Process elevated levels to remove algae. That's what you will follow once your test kit arrives, so you should start reading up on that for now.

At this point, I would keep the FC in the 8-10 range. You can use our PoolMath APP to help you with those numbers. Once your kit arrives, post a full set of results and we'll coach you through the next steps. Great to have you with us.

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Good choice on abandoning the pool store. The "Here are your (inaccurate) test results. Give us $100s of dollars for these products and go dump them in!" doesn't work. We've all been there until we find TFP! Been there done that myself! This is the third year I've followed TFP methods and I now love my pool. The first year I owned it I hated it!
 
Thanks for the reply's. I've been reading up on the SLAM process in preparation for my testing kit. I am getting ready to deep clean my sand filter tonight as well.

I know this site strongly recommends using liquid chlorine, and I plan to moving forward; however, I have a case of Cal-Hypo 73% shock. Assuming my test kit confirms my CH is low (around 100), is there any downside to using some of this up in the SLAM process or would you recommend I keep it on the shelf and proceed with buying all liquid chlorine? Thanks for all the help!
 
I would recommend you save that cal hypo until after you are done with the SLAM. Cal hypo can tend to make even a clean pool a little cloudy, so save it for later. You can always add it in slowly once everything is good. Also, nothing beats liquid chlorine for changing the FC level quickly without any side effects (like added CYA or CH).
 
Hi TFP- My test kit arrived today. I cant believe how easy it was to test my own water. Results are below.

FC 7.2
CC .6
PH 7.4
CH 100
CYA 60
TA 90
Salt 2800
Temp 81

I deep cleaned my sand filter yesterday evening, and my water is looking better; however, its not crystal clear yet, and I am still getting a small amount of foam on the surface in the mornings.

Given my results, can you advise if I need to SLAM or would it be best to do an overnight chlorine loss test to determine if I need to SLAM? I appreciate the help from the community.

Thanks,
 
You can skip the 25 mL sample for the FC test. Use the 10 mL size and count each drop as .5. That's good enough for our purposes. If we kept our chlorine way down in the 1 to 2 range like traditional thinking, it might be more critical, but for us, .5 per drop is close enough and it saves a lot of reagent, especially if you have to SLAM.

How does your water look? Is is crystal clear? Can you see the bottom clearly? If not, do the SLAM at least for 1 day and then do the OCLT. If it looks great, go ahead and run the OCLT. Just remember to shut off your SWG when you do or you'll get a false reading.
 
Thanks DeanP66- I checked the water this morning, and its looking a lot better in terms of clearness; however, I'm still getting some foam in the morning that seems to dissipate. I plan to do the OCLT tonight to see how things go.

Outside of that, from my test yesterday, my Calcium Hardness seems to be pretty low. Is this something I need to worry about given I have a Vinyl pool?
 

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HotSaucePoolGuy said:
I cant believe how easy it was to test my own water
Click to expand...
Riiiiiiiiiight ?????

Hey hot sauce !!!! I like you already for that alone :) Welcome

Unclear water needs a SLAM Process. So does failing an Overnight Chlorine Loss Test, which we expect you will based on the unclear water. But either way it’s called for.

Hang tight. We got you now. Unlike the pool store, we have nothing to sell you but a GREAT pool experience.
 
This morning the water looked the best I've seen it this season. There was no foam on the surface and the water is very close to crystal clear. My OCLT resulted in the loss of 1ppm of FC, and the CC is very low at less than .5.

Given these results are right on the edge, do you guys think I'm ok not to SLAM?
 
You are close, and may be able to let FC fall. I would suggest at least one more day --- crystal clear water is your goal.
 
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