Frog habitat

Jump to latest Follow Reply
FrogParadise75

FrogParadise75

0
May 17, 2018
34
Arlington, TX
I also have a lovely habitat of frogs living in my pool. My pool was in great shape until about 2 years ago when I had some pretty traumatic life things happen and the pool was forgotten about. A few weeks ago my teenagers asked if we were going to try to get it running this summer or just fill it with dirt. It's a beautiful pool that would be a waste to demolish so I decided I can do this even though I know nothing about chemistry or pool care (it was all done by my now ex-husband). I had a pool company come out today and they quoted me $12,500 and it was basically them wanting to fully renovate my pool.
I just purchased a Taylor K-2006 kit. I will post pictures of my before pool when I have time but it is an in-ground, concrete pool. I need to do all the mathing in the calculator to figure out how much water is in her. I'll update my signature and everything later this evening.
 
HI and WELCOME!! Good for you for getting it going again!

Now hand each kid a net and tell them to start scooping all of the "stuff" up and out!!! Nothing like a tired kid to appreciate the fruit of their labors!

Kim:kim:
 
Hello and welcome! :wave: Having the K-2006 is a great start. Now keep in mind the regular 2006 has smaller bottles than the K-2006"C", so you may need more reagents, but we'll get to that later. First thing is a full set of water results when you get a chance. Unlike the basic Taylor instructions for FC tests, please do the following:
For FC:
10 ML water sample with one heaping scoop of powder (R-0870) & mix (might turn Barbie Pink); Mix and count drops of R-0871 until clear and divide by 2. Example: 10 drops = FC of 5.
Click to expand...
Next we need the CYA test....

CYA Testing:
Proper lighting is critical for the CYA test, so you want to test for CYA outside on a bright sunny day. Taylor recommends standing outside with your back to the sun and the view tube in the shade of your body. Use the mixing bottle to combine/gently mix the required amounts of pool water and R-0013 reagent, let sit for 30 seconds, then gently mix again. Then, while holding the skinny tube with the black dot at waist level, begin squirting the mixed solution into the skinny tube. Watch the black dot until it completely disappears. If it helps, pour a little, look away, then look back and pour some more. Once it disappears, record the CYA reading. After the first test, you can pour the mixed solution from the skinny view tube back to the mixing bottle, shake, and do the same test a second, third, or fourth time to instill consistency in your technique, become more comfortable with the testing, and validate the CYA reading. If you are still questioning your own results, have a friend or two do the same test 2-3 times. Share your results only after everyone is done to see if you came up with the same average results.
Click to expand...
 
Oh boy. Sounds like a resurrection from the dead. This ought to be fun. I had frogs in my skimmer once. It was princess charming.....ribbit....

Get as much debris out of the pool as humanly possible, and drag the bottoms with the leaf net. Even if the kids have to do it blind. Have them cover sections at a time at making their first pass. Let's get that pool topped off with water, get that test kit, make an initial anaylisis, and start tweaking some water chemistry first. We will talk filtration later and getting crystal clear.

If I can get water to turn from black to green to clear with 3 months of leaves and 3 frogs because of these guys at TFP, so can you. You are in good hands.
 
I vote your user name the best in the land!

Please do post a photo of how it looks now. Then when we compare the after to the before, you will be amazed!
 
Quick question....
Is there anything I can be doing right now while waiting for my testing kit? I'm going to start scooping out the leaves and stuff this evening when I get home. Saturday I'm out of the house all day but Sunday I'm going to devote a couple hours just to removing debris. Amazon says my testing kit won't be here until the 23rd but I hate just doing nothing.
I should probably measure my pool tonight to get a good idea of how big it is and take some pictures.
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
2ff244cd39a1898de05a8dbe5185f947.jpg
 
Looking at the pic I wonder if a better approach is to pump out the water/muck and drain the pool, get down into the pool and clean the bottom and walls, then fill with fresh water. It sounds like a lot of work but in the long run it may be easier and faster.

What type of pool filter do you have? You are going to put a big load on your filter and be adding lots of chemicals to get that water clean.
 
I'm going to do some measuring tonight to get some correct numbers on size.
I agree with the draining and cleaning. It would also allow us to switch out the deep end light for an LED. My ex has agreed to help out with this as well and has electrical skills. That way we can give it a good pressure washing and scrub before refilling.
I contacted the City today and they said I have 3 options for pumping out the water. I can do it to my yard (bad idea because we sit higher than the neighboring houses so I'm afraid we will flood them out), into our clean catch drain outside the house, or since the pool has zero chlorine in it we can drain to the street. I'm worried if the pump goes to fast it will back water into my house so I am leaning towards the driveway/street option.
First things first...I have to start scooping and draw up some eviction notices for the Frog family.

Edit: It has a DE filter, I will post a proper signature this evening with all of my hardware details. I just put new cartridges in it before "closing" the pool 2 years ago (not last season but the season before), we also did all new PVC piping, and replaced the pump motor.
 
Well, I've now done enough research on draining pools to scare the heck out of me...add in the many pictures on Google I looked at when I searched "floating pool".
I'm wondering if I can do a partial drain, basically keep about 2 feet in the deep end so I can still get the muck out but not totally drain the pool? I wonder how pool companies do it when they are replastering?
 
FrogParadise75 said:
Well, I've now done enough research on draining pools to scare the heck out of me...add in the many pictures on Google I looked at when I searched "floating pool".
I'm wondering if I can do a partial drain, basically keep about 2 feet in the deep end so I can still get the muck out but not totally drain the pool? I wonder how pool companies do it when they are replastering?
Click to expand...

My pool was drained for replastering. It stayed drained for 4 days while the work was done. I would not leave the pool drained for weeks. My guess is, unless you know you have a high water table under the pool, you drain, get in there and get it cleaned up in a few days, and refill with water. It took about 38 hours with 2 hoses running to refill my 35,000 gallon pool.
 
That is such a pretty pool! I am so glad you are going to get it going again!

How high is your water table? One way to find out is this-dig a hole as far down as you can. It does not have to be wide, just deep. If you find water in the hole your water table is high and there would be a risk of floating your pool. If you do not find water once you get to about the depth of your pool then you are good to go. You can also look at the area you are in. Are you kind of high compared to your "wide out" neighbors? Do you have any creeks, streams, rivers, lakes by you?

Where you there when they built the pool?

You could do a partial drain and refill a couple, few times if you want. I would make sure to rent a "trash" pump so it does not clog with all of the stuff left from the critters.

Kim:kim:
 
I also vote for a full drain and Power Washing, you can also test all your drains and returns. The DE filter is going to be a handful if you dont drain, thats other reason to drain.
Pictures of your equipment pad will also be helpful.

Felipe
 
Welcome! You just found a strong support group!!

FrogParadise75 said:
Well, I've now done enough research on draining pools to scare the heck out of me...add in the many pictures on Google I looked at when I searched "floating pool".
I'm wondering if I can do a partial drain, basically keep about 2 feet in the deep end so I can still get the muck out but not totally drain the pool? I wonder how pool companies do it when they are replastering?
Click to expand...

You don't *have* to drain the pool, just know you will go through LOTS of Liquid Chlorine (and chlorine testing reagents) to get this Paradise sparkling! (It's completely doable) It's called SLAM Process

Pool School - SLAM - Shock Level And Maintain



I don't know how you feel about research, and I don't want to overwhelm you, BUT if you like finding deals:
These are some things you can do while you wait for your test kit:
..) I would start by contacting all the pool stores and hardware stores in your area and finding the best price on bulk liquid chlorine purchase(s) (ask them the Sodium Hypchlorite percentage, jug size and if it's a case, how many are in there)
..) Find and buy the best price for FAS-DPD chlorine test REFILL bottles, you will need a few =) (we can get those reagents numbers for you)
..) Take progress pictures! =) You will look back with amazement at what you guys were able to accomplish!!
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply