First time pool owner startup - MD

[dukie564]

Thanks!!!

 

[cowboycasey]

i should add that my wife has sensitive skin (eczema) and is concerned that high chlorine levels will affect her negatively... Please help me not mess this up or she won't trust me to take care of the pool myself lol. She's already concerned i chose not to consult with the local pool stores

Hi there

So, I have psoriasis, that is way worse than eczema.. I actually changed from Bromine to chlorine because the bromine was making my skin worse.. (this was in my hot tub)

Fast forward 2 years and I live eat and breath TFP.. I do have a salt water generator and the salt really helps my skin, it's like natural tears.. I started adding salt to my hot tub also once I switched to bleach/liquid chlorine and that really helped and then switched it to a SWG..

My favorite thing to do for people that have concerns is a test, this is an easy test though..

Run a warm bath, about 50 gallons..
add 1 tablespoon of bleach
add 1/2 cup salt

This is a SWG chlorine pool at about 1.5ppm chlorine and 3500 ppm salt

See if it bothers her

You don't have to have salt or a SWG, just letting you know what helps me, also you can have salt water without a generator..

Let us know, I bet it will help

 

[dukie564]

Thanks for the reply. I'll have to look into a SWG if she has issues. Looks like I'd need 380 lbs to get to 3500ppm...is that the levels you keep your pool at?? Can I add salt to the water just like any other chemical without a SWG? And if so how would my chemistry need to change?

We just moved to this house in March and she is having some issues with the tap/shower water that went away when we lived at our last place. We have a tester for that stopping by Wednesday to help us pinpoint what could be causing it. Do you use home water treatment at all?

 

[cowboycasey]

No change to how you do anything other than adding salt in the pool, as for the water in the house I added a water softener system (salt) and it has helped also

The stress of moving and everything new will have some part of it, once everything calms down it will get better..

 

[jblizzle]

If you don't have an swg you don't need to raise the salt that much to get the effect usually people just go to 2000ppm.

 

[dukie564]

Is that kind of a one time thing or something that disappears over time and you need to monitor?

 

[jblizzle]

You only lose salt if the water is physically removed.

 

[dukie564]

Thanks


New numbers this morning:

FC: 9.0
CC: 0.2
pH: 7.2

too cloudy to test CYA yet. Maybe this evening or tomorrow morning

 

[jblizzle]

Cloudy water will have a near negligible effect on the cya test do it now or you don't know what FC to be maintaining.

 

[dukie564]

Not cloudy water...cloudy sky

There has been no change in the water clarity - still crystal clear.

 

[jblizzle]

Ah

 

[dukie564]

Opened (uncovered for good) the pool this morning!

Opening numbers:
FC: 8.5
CC: 0.4
pH: 7.1
TA: 70
CH: 40
CYA: 43

I added about 18 oz of bleach this morning to bring the FC back to 10. I'll let it fall back to my target of 5ppm over the next couple days. Looking at a solid 5-6 days of sun and 80* temps coming up, so it should pack some heat into the water quickly. Plan is to wash off the solar cover and get that on the pool tonight.


So what now? Looks like i need to raise my pH a bit, so...borax and/or aeration? How often do i need to worry about bringing the water back up to shock levels?



Here's the setup by the way. Needs some work (additional fencing and cover roller supports), but it's coming along.

 

[dukie564]

So what now? Looks like i need to raise my pH a bit, so...borax and/or aeration? How often do i need to worry about bringing the water back up to shock levels?

Bueller?


FC: 6.0 (~7.0 after adding some chlorine this morning)
CC: 0
pH: 7.2
Temp: 65*

 

[jblizzle]

There is no need to raise the FC to the shock level unless you are following the slam process

 

[dukie564]

Ok so no shocking unless I see green. Got it.

Re-tested my CYA this morning and it was below 25. Where does it go / how often should I be testing/adding stabilizer??

 

[Texas Splash]

CYA typically stays-put unless there is a lot of backwashing or water replacement. It's possible that your CYA just never reached your intended target. Plus, the CYA test only goes to 30, so anything estimated below that is tough to confirm. Hard to tell, and the CYA test is the trickiest. If you're sure about it being below 30, you can add just enough stabilizer for a 10 ppm increase. So even if you went to 35 for example, you're still in really great shape. But below 30 you risk losing lots of FC to the sun.

 

[jblizzle]

Ok so no shocking unless I see green. Got it.

Almost.
No need for the SLAM process unless you see algae, water gets cloudy, CC are high, or FC consumption seems abnormally high. The OCLT can help determine if a SLAM is in order if you have a suspicion.

 

[dukie564]

Pool is offically open! Vacuumed and swam 3x yesterday. It was glorious. Water is up to 75*.

Thanks for all your help getting me going!

Picked up some borax to bump my pH up now that it stabilized so I'll do that this evening when I pull the solar cover back off.

 

[kimkats]

Dukie! That is pretty pool and set up! You are ready for the long weekend for sure! I hear ya on the jumping in ahhhhhhhhhhh so nice!

Did you know you can become a supporting member and help us keep the lights on to help you and others as needed? Here is the link:

CLICK HERE to Become a TroubleFreePool.com Supporter!!

It gets you more photo storage, a discount of the test kits, AND it helps us keep the lights on LOL

Kim:cat:

 

[dukie564]

I might just do that! Once my bank account recovers a bit from buying the house that is...

Water hit 80* today. Added 3# of borax to bring up the pH.