First Pool - Details/Pics/Story Inside

[wakasm]

Hello all.

I just purchased a house with an in-ground pool, got the keys just a few days ago.

I am still in the process of moving, working, and trying to troubleshoot/learn about this pool in order to see how much I can do on my own before relying on professionals. The previous homeowners definitely outsourced all their pool work to a 3rd party, but the prices have seemed really high (to me anyway) and I didn't have a great impression with them starting out (could be my misunderstanding on prices and overall, don't want to complain really about them) so I figured before I sign on with anyone, I would do as much research as I can, see how much I can learn myself to both save and understand what I now own. My main issue is I am doing this while moving so there has been minor delays in some of the steps taken so far. In about a week I can spend 100% of my time on the pool, but am afraid I am delaying too much.

I have never owned a pool before and did not grow up with them. ​ Everything below is what I know from just spending time on the internet over the last 4 days, so please be easy with me if I get stuff very wrong!

Before purchasing the pool I had to pay to open the pool about 21 days ago. Other than the company opening the pool, doing a quick clean, shocking it, and adding the needed chemicals - the pool company has not done any other maintenance after the first day this year.

About the Pool:

• Size of Pool In Gallons: Using an online calculator I estimate this to be 35000 - ?? - If anyone has an idea on how to get the exact number, that would be great (it wasn't given to me anywhere)
• Pool is made of Gunite (?) (I was told Cement, not sure what the difference is)
• Not sure when pool was built, but there were updates made in 2015 (Brick Coping, Tiles, Plaster, Sealed)

• The pool is a 20' x 40' cement pool. (3.3' deep to 8.2' deep)
• One Skimmer
• Two Returns
• Two Handrails

Equipment

• Jandy DEV 48 DE Filter with a multi-port
• Pentair Intelli Chlor (I-20) Salt-Water/Chlorine System
• 1.0 HP Hayward Super pump and motor
• 3/4 HP Polaris Booster Pump and motor

I have taken some video of everything, which maybe someone can see if I missed anything. All of this that I have came with an inspection report and through researching everything over the internet.


My issues:

Potential Low/No Salt:
The first thing I noticed was the IntelliChlor was blinking red and green and the "flow light" was a stead red. Researching this told me that this meant the Salt Levels were low and this was confirmed in my Pool Inspection report as well.

Dirty Pool Floor:
The pool owned did not own a Vacuum Head, Hose, or Pole, so I bought these locally at a Leslies and Vacuumed the Pool first using Youtube Videos as a guide.

I am still partially confused on the actual mechanics of how Vacuuming works, since the way I did it was to plug the hose directly into one of the skimmer holes and suck it all up. However, I am unsure why you need a Skimmer Basket if the goal for Vacuuming is to suck it directly into that as well. I don't know if this was wrong or not, but I wanted to try and vacuum first before taking any other steps. If anyone can explain mechanically how this works - I would be greatful. I assume the Filter System handles this somehow... but... wouldn't I need to empty something when done? No youtube videos covered this and they all basically said - "It's Easy, do this!".

The Skimmer Basket at this time was very very dirty, with lots of stuff in it, dead bugs + algea + etc. I cleaned that too obviously.

The only piece of equipment that was suggested that I didn't own was the Vacuum Suction Cup thing.

I have no clue how to deal with stains.

No Chlorine:
First and foremost - I just ordered a TF100 kit and it'll be on it's way. I can't do a full test until I have this, which should be in two days. (I am also moving all my furniture during these days, but hopefully next week I'll have all the time in world to work on the pool!) The previous owner had a kit as well, but parts of it are missing, and the only bottles in their kit was the Chlorine and PH tests. Using what I inherited, The Chlorine Test and PH test (assuming I did them correctly, followed youtube videos instructions) showed No Chlorine and a High Dark Red PH (8.0+)

Salting and Shocking The Pool

Based on some Youtube/Google research - it seemed that it might be a good start to Salt + Shock the pool again. (The last shock had happened about 21 days ago with no maintenance).

Since at this time it was the 4th of July (the only day I fully had off and it being a holiday), I went to Leslies as it was the only thing open. I did ask the Leslie store people if you could oversalt and shock as well if there was no Chlorine, and they said no, it wouldn't do any harm other than having too much Chlorine, which you can fix by emptying some of the pool. (I hope was given and read good information).

I don't know how to test salt - but they did for me as well and they said the Salt level was too low (which confirmed the Intelliclors Lights).

IntelliChlor Flow Issues:

After Salting The Pool, Nothing changed. However, I noticed that both pool pumps were running, and I shut one off, and all of a sudden the IntelliChlor started getting green lights across the board. If I turn on the second pump, all of a sudden the IntelliChlor Cell gets bad flow again. I don't know the mechanics of this and this is normal or not. I am also not 100% sure if the Pump/Filter settings are even correct - they are still how they were left by the pool people.

I tried leaving the single pump running over night, but the next day, the IntelliChlor was reading low salt again and I could see the salt in the bottom of the pool. So I took a Brush and started moving all the salt around in hopes it would disolve better, and I can check on the pool again tomorrow to see if any of this worked.

I ran the Chlorine test again and it still shows 0 Chlorine.

Questions:

• What is the best way to really learn everything about your pool? I am reading up on all the resources here, but I am afraid I won't learn everything fast enough. Specifically I am worried about exactly how the Equipment is set up and what I SHOULD or NEED to know. I've done enough homework to identify everything, but I don't fully understand how it's set up, how the flows/pipes work, the filter, etc.
• Should I hire professionals for the rest of the summer just to get the pool moving, and worry about doing it myself later? Or is there still enough time before it has to close for me to really learn everything I need. (I'll have a LOT more time towards the end of July + August once I am fully moved).
• I don't know what proper circulation looks like when staring at my pool. If I turn on the second pump, I see the water circle a little bit towards the middle... but other than that, I don't really notice anything directly.
• Can someone explain why I have two pumps?
• Can someone explain the different settings (or maybe post a resource) of the Filter?
• Do I need to clean the Intelli Chlor somehow? (I tried googling videos for this but almost all of them seem to focus on the functions of it, at least in my initial searches).
• Am I taking the right steps? Wrong Obvious Newbie Steps? Anything obvious I am missing?

Thank you for your time. Sorry if this is TOO much info. Any advice is appreciated.

Here is a static Image of all the Equipment. I took this when the Intellichlor was just blinking green + red + red flow, before I added the Salt.

Here is a video of everything, me turning on the second pump (and the IntelliChlor going from green to red when I do).

 

[DeanP66]

Hello wakasm, and welcome to Trouble Free Pool. You've come to the right place. You already made the best decision you can make by ordering the TF-100 test kit. You won't regret it. It is a quality test kit that will have you in full control of your pool sooner rather than later.

To start with, I see you have a SWG on your pool. Unfortunately, it's way undersized for the size of your pool. Usually we recommend a SWG that is sized for double the amount of gallons of your pool. You really should have an IC 60 instead of the IC20. An IC20 is rated to properly chlorinate a 20,000 gallon pool when run at 100% for 24 hours a day. Since most people don't run their pumps 24/7, you can understand why we recommend sizing the SWG's for double the size. It allows you to run the SWG at less than full capacity so it will last longer. Generally, the units last between 5-7 years depending on wear and tear.

Also, SWG's are not meant to raise FC up to a high level. They are meant for slow and steady dispersal. So, for instance, if you FC is 0 and you're trying to get it up to 5 PPM, you don't want to use the SWG to do it. It will just put more stress on the unit. You should use liquid chlorine to raise your FC level to where you want it and then use the SWG to maintain that level by adjusting the run time and the output percentage.

All that being said, to get your pool in tip top shape to start with, I would turn off your SWG completely and get the chemicals balanced with liquid chlorine. As soon as you get your TF-100, run all the tests and post them here and we'll give you the right advice. Post them like this, so we can read them easily.

FC
CC
pH
TA
CH
CYA

Regarding vacuuming, the purpose of the skimmer basket is to catch large debris like big leaves so they don't get stuck in the pipes and clog up your equipment. There is also another basket in the main pump that catches anything the first basket missed. When vacuuming, you want to make sure and submerge the hose fully in water before connecting to your skimmer pipe. I usually attach my hose to the vacuum head first with the pole attached and submerge the head all the way to the bottom of the deep end. After submerging the entire hose full of water, I pass the open end under the deck into the skimmer opening and attach to the pipe. You can vacuum straight to your filter, or even vacuum to waste (if you have a multi valve like you have). If you see a lot of big leaves and debris on the bottom, you're better off scooping them out with a leaf net so you don't clog up the vacuum. Use the vacuum to catch the little stuff and dirt.

Don't worry about the stains for now. Chances are, they are from metals in your water like iron or copper. Iron stains can be treated quite well. We'll come back to the stains when your water is perfectly clear and balanced.

If your pH is as high with your new kit as it was with the kit that was left over, you really want to get some muriatic acid in the pool right away to lower the pH down to 7.2-7.4. There is a great tool at the top of this page (Pool Math) that lets you input your pool info and it tells you how much to add. Just enter your gallons at the top left and put in 8.0 in the now box (left) and 7.2 in the target box (right). It will tell you how much muriatic acid to add to lower your pH.

Since you probably have no FC in the pool, there's a good chance that something is growing in the water. Once you get your kit, you'll need to do what we call a SLAM, which is a process of bringing your FC up to shock level (based on your CYA number), and keeping it there by testing and redosing FC until your water is crystal clear, and you pass the 3 criteria for ending the SLAM. Make sure you use only liquid chlorine for this.

Regarding your pumps, the Hayward super pump is your main pool pump. The other pump is a booster pump for the Polaris. It must be run with the main pump on as well. Never run it by itself.

You can definitely do this by yourself. In fact, I would advise it if you want to use Trouble Free Pool methods. If you hire a service to come out once a week, they will surely treat your pool with chlorine tablets which is a recipe for disaster when using them for long term chlorination.

Read as much as you can in "Pool School" and ask as many questions as you need. There's never a dumb question. You'll find many, many people here willing to help you with fast responses.

The best piece of advice is stay out of the pool store and DO NOT let them test your water. Their tests are generally very unreliable. It's been proven over and over again. Trust your test kit. No one at a pool store will care for your pool like you will.

Once we get your pool balanced, we'll worry about the SWG and trying to figure out what's going on with it. You may be right in that it probably needs to be cleaned out. The unit can build up calcium deposits very easily, especially if the water is not balanced for long periods of time.

Don't do anything with the salt for now, and please don't dump in any powdered or granular shock. If your CYA is high, you'll be making the problem worse. I would dump in a gallon of 10% liquid chlorine daily until your kit arrives and you can run all the test. This will just keep your pool in a holding pattern so things don't get worse (like turn green). Then we'll see where you stand.

I know I said to ignore the SWG for now, but until your kit comes, you may want to unscrew the unions and take the body out and look inside it to see if it needs cleaning. You'll see metal plates inside and chances are you'll see lots of calcium deposits on them if it's dirty. To clean it, you generally hold it on either end upright, and screw on a lid on the bottom to keep it from leaking when you clean it. I'm not sure if you have that part or not. You then pour a solution of water and muriatic acid in to it and leave for 15 to 30 minutes. I believe it's supposed to be a 4/1 solution of water/muriatic acid. Then you hose it out really good and hopefully you're done. If it's really dirty, you can repeat the process a second time.

 

[sarahp1957]

Hi Wakasm: I'm a new pool owner too...so I will be of no help to you...except to say hello and tell you that this is the best place to get information. They will not steer you wrong.

I was where you're at a month ago and came here for info. There's a LOT of stuff to digest here. But it's do-able. It'll make way more sense when you've got time to devote to it. [Wait until you start using the test kit!! Like high school chemistry lab. Super fun and interesting]. I had no choice: there are no pool maintenance services where I live...so it was just this site and You Tube!

FYI: I had read and re-read Pool School and Pool Math a bunch of times. It took a while for it to sink in. Be patient.

 

[wakasm]

Don't do anything with the salt for now, and please don't dump in any powdered or granular shock. If your CYA is high, you'll be making the problem worse. I would dump in a gallon of 10% liquid chlorine daily until your kit arrives and you can run all the test. This will just keep your pool in a holding pattern so things don't get worse (like turn green). Then we'll see where you stand.

I know I said to ignore the SWG for now, but until your kit comes, you may want to unscrew the unions and take the body out and look inside it to see if it needs cleaning. You'll see metal plates inside and chances are you'll see lots of calcium deposits on them if it's dirty. To clean it, you generally hold it on either end upright, and screw on a lid on the bottom to keep it from leaking when you clean it. I'm not sure if you have that part or not. You then pour a solution of water and muriatic acid in to it and leave for 15 to 30 minutes. I believe it's supposed to be a 4/1 solution of water/muriatic acid. Then you hose it out really good and hopefully you're done. If it's really dirty, you can repeat the process a second time.

Thank you for the advice. The test kit should come soon, so until then, I will do the liquid chlorine for now (I found some 10% by me at Lowes).

As for the SWG - I am perfectly happy upgrading to something stronger if that is what I need to do. However, atm, the mechanical stuff of the pool is what I am more afraid of than the cleaning + chemical side. Even just taking that off, I'm a little worried i won't be able to get it back on tight enough, etc. I assume this stuff is covered somewhere in the pool school?

Also - is there any really good method to tell if the circulation of the pool is good? I only have vague memories of being a kid and watching the water get pushed and sucked into a skimmer of an overground pool, and as far as I can tell, the skimmer is somewhat doing it's thing (I am not sure how much it's supposed to catch, etc). i still have a hard time visually seeing water movement though unless I turn on the second pump.

I also still don't know all the different settings on mine (Backwash, Filter, etc - see pic or video). I don't know if I should be doing anything with these for now.

I guess I'll wait for the test and report back when I have that, but would love some other homework for Monday. I guess reading will have to do for now. (really itching to try out this pool!)

 

[Jimrahbe]

W,

Welcome to TFP... A great place to find the answers to all of your pool maintenance questions, whether your "Field" has "Blooms" in it or not...

Your pool has two pumps.. a big main pump and a small booster pump, which is used to run a pressure side cleaner. Unless you have a pressure side cleaner in your pool, which would be quite obvious, just leave the small pump off.

The main reason that the SWCG has a low flow light is most likely because the filter is a dirty mess... The main pump sucks water from the pool and then pushes it through the filter, then SWCG and then back into the pool... When there is not enough water flowing through the SWCG, it will show an low flow light and will not work.

The very first thing you need to fix is the low flow light.

I would suggest you have someone come out and take the filter apart and clean the grids, put everything back together and then add more DE... This is something that is very easy to do if you have seen it done once before... To me it would be worth the money for the training it will provide. You just have to pay attention when the tech is doing it and ask questions...

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[SpringPool]

Welcome

Since you have the kit from the previous owner and the salt cell was not working. I would do two things while waiting for the tf-100 kit

Turn off the salt cell. If you can get liquid chlorine or bleach ( non scented, can’t be splashless, just regular bleach). Walmart has 10% chlorinating liquid right now.

Accroding to your your pool size of 35k you can add 364oz of 6% chlorine or 224oz of 10% chlorine to your pool to get it up to 5ppm. If after adding and letting the pump run for 30 min you test again and get zero your probably have algae growing in the pool. If it indicated chlorine then wait another hour and test again if it shows zero or changes significantly than you have algae. Since you won’t have a full kit you can’t slam yet but at least you can be ready to.

https://www.troublefreepool.com/calc.html

 

[ajw22]

However, I noticed that both pool pumps were running, and I shut one off, and all of a sudden the IntelliChlor started getting green lights across the board. If I turn on the second pump, all of a sudden the IntelliChlor Cell gets bad flow again. I don't know the mechanics of this and this is normal or not. I am also not 100% sure if the Pump/Filter settings are even correct - they are still how they were left by the pool people.

You have a lot going on. Let's deal with one issue at a time. I annotated your plumbing for you to see how the water flows within it.

As other people have said you have two pumps, a main pump and a cleaner pump. The cleaner pump uses water pressure to power a pool cleaner like a Polaris 380 cleaner. You don't have one so that pump should always be off.

The red arrows show the main pool water flow from the skimmers through the main pump into the filter and then through your SWG and back into the pool. Look at where they picked off the water for the Cleaner Pump, shown by the green arrows. They are pulling water before the SWG. This is an incorrect installation and explains why your SWG gets a low flow when the cleaner pump is on. It is also bypassing your SWG and its chlorination function when the cleaner pump is on.

The cleaner pump should be teed into the pool water return line after the SWG.

For now don't run the cleaner pump and if you get all green on the SWG then you are good to go. Eventually the cleaner line should be fixed or removed if you get a robot cleaner.

As others have noted if your pool is 35,000 gallons and you have an IC20 cell then it is undersized for the pool and cannot generate sufficient chlorine. Until you get your SWG fully functional you should treat your pool as a non-SWG pool and give it regular doses of bleach/liquid chlorine to keep the FC level up. Then you can see how much you need to supplement your SWG with occasional doses of bleach until you replace the IC20 cell with an IC60.

This should get you in the right direction with your SWG. Once you get your test kit and results we can help you with chemical balance.

 

[ajw22]

Your pool has two pumps.. a big main pump and a small booster pump, which is used to run a pressure side cleaner. Unless you have a pressure side cleaner in your pool, which would be quite obvious, just leave the small pump off.

The main reason that the SWCG has a low flow light is most likely because the filter is a dirty mess... The main pump sucks water from the pool and then pushes it through the filter, then SWCG and then back into the pool... When there is not enough water flowing through the SWCG, it will show an low flow light and will not work.

The very first thing you need to fix is the low flow light.

I would suggest you have someone come out and take the filter apart and clean the grids, put everything back together and then add more DE... This is something that is very easy to do if you have seen it done once before... To me it would be worth the money for the training it will provide. You just have to pay attention when the tech is doing it and ask questions...

Thanks,

Jim R.

Please look at the annotated plumbing pic I posted above and see if you agree that the cleaner pick-off is incorrectly installed and is causing the low flow to the SWG when the cleaner pump is on. The OP said when the cleaner pump is off the SWG has all green lights.

The filter may or may not need to be cleaned but is probably not the cause of the SWG low flow.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Please look at the annotated plumbing pic I posted above and see if you agree that the cleaner pick-off is incorrectly installed and is causing the low flow to the SWG when the cleaner pump is on. The OP said when the cleaner pump is off the SWG has all green lights.

The filter may or may not need to be cleaned but is probably not the cause of the SWG low flow.

ajw,

I would think with a single speed pump, that there would be plenty of water to power the cleaner and the SWCG. I agree with you that when the cleaner comes on it reduces the flow to the SWCG and that is why the flow light comes on, but I suspect the flow is already way too low to begin with.

My comment about cleaning the filter was more of making sure it was clean before moving forward and based upon the OP's lack of pool experience, I thought it made more sense to have it done the first time by a pool service.

I am not sure that is the only approach, but it is what I would do if this were my pool.

Great job on annotating the pics...

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[wakasm]

Man, you guys have been so great so far. I'm still waiting for the kit to come in, so I have been doing the liquid chlorine every day (my local lowes has the 10% so I have been using that). I've been slowly reading through pool school on my lunch breaks at work, there is a lot! We just finished the big move so now after work I have more time to focus on the pool, and on the weekend.

I am already ready to go premium in the app as soon as i can take the proper readings.

That annotation -wow - super helpful! I am guessing that the pool company has the equipment to use the cleaner pump, but it is strange that it was installed that way but there exists no equipment to actually use it in the pool shed.

After turning off that second pump and using the liquid chlorine, the SWG has been green for 2-3 days. (Started staying green after the first liquid chlorine).

Some more questions from this thread while I wait for water readings I'll edit these to solved once I feel more confident in them since I keep asking so much stuff.

Question One: How do I accurately get the pool size? [solved]
Is this calculator enough? (I originally used my pool inspection report... but I guess I should measure myself. It's an Oblong Pool. I want to get this right before purchasing a stronger salt cell (if that ends up being a goto recommendation)

Question Two: Can I over chlorine using the 1 gallon liquid chlorine [unsolved]
a day method while I wait for the whole test? With the little stuff I do have to test, it does show chlorine now after 2-3 days of liquid.

Question Three: Should I be worrying about these stains at all right now?[unsolved] [advice given to me]
while I wait - and - is there anything that can easily be done about them? I have been vacuuming the pool, but these stains don't move with a vacuum or a brush.

Question Four: Cleaning the SWG [unsolved] [advice given to me]
As per the suggestion, I was going to attempt to clean the SWG as both a learning experience and maybe to see if it would improve anything (although, the flow light has now been green for 2-3 days now, see above). . The two black unions - the ones on mine are super tight. Is there any trick to these? Is there a specialized tool to tighten them? The videos I've seen show people doing it with hands like it's nothing but mine was super tight, and the one I did loosen, I now can't get tight enough without a little drip/leak happening.

 

[Jimrahbe]

W,

You can loosen or tighten the IC40 union using a strap wrench or in a pinch a belt.

You can use pool math PoolMath to help determine your pool volume.. It does not have to be perfect.. Look near the bottom for an estimator..

Jim R.

 

[DeanP66]

Regarding the stains, there's a good chance that those are iron stains. To find out for sure, you can put some vitamin c tablets in a sock and tie the end of it. Place the sock on the stains and agitate it back and forth for a few minutes. If the stains start to fade or clear, they are definitely iron stains. If you can't reach all the way down to the bottom, you might try putting a pool brush on the end of your pool pole and then tying the sock around the neck. Then take your pole and submerge it all the way to the bottom and use it to agitate the sock full of vitamin c.

If it turns out that those are indeed iron stains, you can treat them with an AA (ascorbic acid) treatment. It consists of:

1) lowering pH down to 7.2 with muriatic acid
2) letting FC drift down near 0
3) adding AA powder around the perimeter of your pool and also on the spot in the deep end
4) adding metal sequesterant (Metal Magic) to your pool to keep the metals in solution
5) slowly raise FC back up by adding many small doses to neutralize the remaining AA in the pool
6) adding a monthly maintenance dose of sequesterant (Metal Magic) to keep the stains from coming back.

You can do this after you have your pool chemistry balanced nicely, or in case your CYA level is very high to begin with, you can do the stain treatment and then empty some of your pool water to lower cya down and lower your concentration of metals with the partial drain in one shot. It's up to you. I did an AA treatment last August and had great results. Here's a couple of pics.
Before treatment:




After treatment:

 

[wakasm]

OK - the first results are in!

FC 1.0
CC 0.5
pH 8.2
TA 110
CH 300
CYA 0?


For the CYA, I ran the test multplie times and I never had cloudy water to the point where I couldn't see the black dot. Not sure what that means. I logged it as 0.

I am slightly confused on the FC + CC = TC part since the last daily test also seems to test TC, as the daily test seemed to indicate lower chlorine as far as I could tell.

Not sure what's next - I suppose I have to get reading now.

 

[ajw22]

OK - the first results are in!

FC 1.0
CC 0.5
pH 8.2
TA 110
CH 300
CYA 0?


For the CYA, I ran the test multplie times and I never had cloudy water to the point where I couldn't see the black dot. Not sure what that means. I logged it as 0.

I am slightly confused on the FC + CC = TC part since the last daily test also seems to test TC, as the daily test seemed to indicate lower chlorine as far as I could tell.

Not sure what's next - I suppose I have to get reading now.

Add CYA stabilizer up to 70 since you have a SWG. Use PoolMath for the amount. Add half the amount, check your CYA after 48 hours, if your test shows 30 - 40 CYA then add the other half.

Use the sock method of putting the CYA in a sock and dangling it with some string in front of a return to dissolve it. Shake and squeeze the sock every once in a while.

Add bleach/liquid chlorine to raise your FC level to about 8 and check your FC regularly and add bleach as necessary until your CYA gets in the pool and your SWG maintains the FC.

Add some Muratic Acid to lower your PH to around 7.4. Don't add MA and bleach at the same time. Wait about half an hour between them.

 

[wakasm]

So based on your recommendation - am I doing the calculations correct? Link to Screenshot ->>>> https://imgur.com/Ai0zesd (it's really big so figured linking would be better).

That would mean I need about 6 of something like this? Link to Lowes Pool Stableizer

Just making sure I did things correctly here. Also not sure the best place to buy this stuff. I have a lowes and a lesslies near me, the home depot that is closer to me doesn't seem to have as much pool stuff.

 

[ajw22]

So based on your recommendation - am I doing the calculations correct? Link to Screenshot ->>>> https://imgur.com/Ai0zesd (it's really big so figured linking would be better).

That would mean I need about 6 of something like this? Link to Lowes Pool Stableizer

Just making sure I did things correctly here. Also not sure the best place to buy this stuff. I have a lowes and a lesslies near me, the home depot that is closer to me doesn't seem to have as much pool stuff.

PM says you need 316 oz. 4lbs = 64 oz. So you need 5 4lb bottle.



If you ever drive by Tenafly, NJ I can tell you a pool store that sells this 8 lbs stabilizer for $20. You might want to check your local pool stores for it. That Clorox stuff is no bargain.

 

[wakasm]

PM says you need 316 oz. 4lbs = 64 oz. So you need 5 4lb bottle.

View attachment 82674

If you ever drive by Tenafly, NJ I can tell you a pool store that sells this 8 lbs stabilizer for $20. You might want to check your local pool stores for it. That Clorox stuff is no bargain.

Please do. Anything in 30 minutes of me at this point is fair game and long-term, I would like to build up relationships with local pool places. My problem is the scheduling, by the time I am done with work, all the local stuff is closed most days. I am pretty sure Tenafly is about that range. I'll still look around locally to see what exists. I just wasn't sure if I really needed 20 lbs or if I input the data incorrectly.

I did find a similar one at walmart for a bit cheaper. Still not as cheap as your Tenafly pool rates though. I might go with the walmart one just because I can start immediately vs waiting for tomorrow.

 

[wakasm]

I was able to get ahold of some stabalizer to raise CYA - 8 lbs to start - it was significantly cheaper at Walmart, but I wanted to start the process asap and they were open.

However, I tried the sock method, left it in overnight - about 14 hours so far, and it's not even close to being fully dissolved. I see bubbles as the stream jet hits it, seems likes it's working... but... Obviously could only do a small amount. No idea how I could do 20lbs in any meaningful amount of time. I read around the forums a bit and keep reading that doing it all at once is a bad idea - any thoughts?

I found this in the shed as well - is this used for CYA as well? Could I double my efforts with this?



Should I also be putting some in the skimmer as well?

Any thoughts on how I could use this faster?

Thanks again.

 

[ajw22]

Dont put CYA in your skimmer. It can clog your filter and you may lose it if you backwash before it dissolves.

I have 3 returns and put a sock in front of each of them to speed the process. I think it took about 3 days for the CYA to totally dissolve through the sock. Be patient. It is the best way.

 

[JimMarshall]

You can knead the sock like you’re kneading a ball of dough every so often if you want, this will help the stabilizer dissolve much faster. Give it’s a good kneading every 20 minutes or so is what I do.