First pool and I have sunk too much money into pool stores!

[littlejuicer]

Hello fellow pool enthusiasts! I just found this site and figured I should jump in! I bought my first home back in June and have been on the ever-growing learning curve there is for pools. I have perused the site a bit and have started doing a few things to get my pool back to where it needs to be. I am doing a SLAM right now on the pool and am waiting for my tf-100 klt to come in the mail. I really wrestled with the tf-100 vs the taylor 2006, but seeing as how I am a small business owner I went ahead and bought from the little guy! Once it comes in I will post my readings and see what I need to do to clean up my pool. I just fixed a cracked manifold which I did not know I had, and am now trying to clean the mess up.

Question for those who know. As far as I was able to tell I do not have any tears in my grids, and I just replaced my manifold in my filter, but still saw some DE going back in the pool. Is this normal? Could it be residual left in the pipes? (EDIT I just backwashed my filter cause of poor circulation and refreshed with DE. Did not see any coming out of the pipes!) I have a pentair FNS plus and a 10k pool. The numbers the pool company gave me are:

TC:1
FC:0
CC:1
pH:7.2
TA:75
CH:350
CYA (they labeled it stabilizer):100
TDS:1400

These numbers are from a pool store (i know, I know, but hey, its the best I got right now ) and since then I put in about 6.5 gallons of 10.5% liquid chlorine. That shot my chlorine to about 6-10 ppm (doing the slam thing). Once I get my TF-100 in the mail ill post those numbers for you and get some advice from you!

Thanks in advace for all the help! I have learned how little I know about pool care and am happy to have found a forum like this to learn from!

 

[ajw22]

Welcome to TFP.

You are off to a good start ordering the TF-100. Please put details of your pool in your signature. How many gallons in your pool?

While you are waiting for the test kit download PoolMath and read ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry

When you get the kit post your test results and we can figure out next steps.

I suggest you stop SLAMMING with CYA 100. You are just wasting chlorine and money. Your CYA is probably higher. The store test only goes to 100. You will need to drain half the water or more to get your CYA to 30-50 before you can follow the SLAM Process

When you get your test kit follow step 8 in CYA - Cyanuric Acid Test - Trouble Free Pool to determine your CYA level.

Watch...

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Hey there LittleJuicer, welcome to TFP! You're on the right track by getting the test kit ordered.

One example of how limiting pool store results are is that they don't do the CYA test properly in the first place (outside, sun to your back, holding the vial waist high)....and when they say 100 its because on initial read that's the highest the test goes! But TFP knows you can do a diluted test (equal parts pool water and tap water, well mixed, and use that to test again for your pool sample. Double the results) and get a better idea of your CYA level.

We're all volunteer pool owners, pool builders, pool techs, pool lovers, whatever (!) here and are happy to help you. We even have some science folks who can make sense of the chemistry stuff and teach us all about it.

So put your seatbelt on and get ready! WELCOME to TFPPPPPPPPP!

Maddie