From Mexico

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Yucateco

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Nov 16, 2016
18
Merida, Yucatan - Mexico
Dear all

I would like to introduce myself to the forum. I recently purchased a house and it has a pool.
I have oilfield experience and have operated industrial pumps, cartridge and DE filters, handled chemicals etc. So a pool, a frac tank filled with water, how hard can it be? Right? :D

My goal is to show off a sparkling clean pool, while commenting on how I got it done.

I am grateful to be a new member of this community.
 
Re: From Mexico -

A little more details of my current situation and challenges

1- Hard Water. In the Yucatan Peninsula, all the municipal water comes from wells. Hardness is above 350, sometimes as high as 400. The authorities are "happy to report" that they are well under the maximum level mandated by the law. I understand the limit is 500 ppm (MODIFICACION a la Norma Oficial Mexicana NOM) The Hard water stains everything.
2- Nearby construction. A new shopping mall is being built across my fence. The dust, sand and cement flying in the air for the last 3 months has left visible solids in the pool bottom every day. Now that the construction is coming to an end, I expect this to improve. But for the very near future the workers are now on the roof of a six story building and their trash is getting blown to my pool overnight. It is surreal to find a bag of chips in the pool in the morning, all stained with plaster and cement.
3- CalHYPO addiction So the guy that used to maintain the pool insisted on using CalHypo every day. The additional Calcium worsens the hard water. A floater with pucks was also running free in the pool.
4- No pump, no filter The previous owner failed to maintain the filter and the sand clumped and got hard. Also the pool pump electric motor was corroded to the point of being seized in the rotor by the corrosion.
5- Weekly vacuum to waste and refills Given 3 and 4, the previous pool guy used a portable pump to vacuum the bottom of the pool, throwing the water on the lawn (grass did not like this). He "shocked" the pool weekly with lots and lots of CALHYPO, forced the particles to settle using flocculant, but missed the AM part of the SLAM. This was a waste of chemicals, water, damaging my lawn, and may have compromised the foundation of the house. Really ugly calcium stains in the pool also
6- CYA high So with weekly addition of CALHYPO the CYA levels are beyond what I can measure. I am now on my third partial drain and it is still way over 140
7- Algae. With the good sunny days, the sand from the construction, and the Chlorine being every day more ineffective by the higher and higher CYA...the algae never goes away and always clouds the water just so that you notice.
8 - Poor skimmer setup. One of the "reasons" of item 5 is that the skimmer is poorly installed, there is no suction port. I will expand on this later

So yes... like a said.... how hard can it be? :D
 
Re: From Mexico -

Hi, welcome to TFP! So it looks like your pool is under a patio. Is it closed in on 3 sides?
Considering the problems you have listed it doesn't look like the water is in too bad a shape. Is liquid chlorine, either laundry or pool store variety available in your area?
 
Re: From Mexico -

zea3 and all
The pool is 21 ft long, and about a third is covered by an overhang of the 2nd floor. That is what I tried to show in the picture.
The patio is fully enclosed, and there is a little patch of grass (20ftx15ft) in front of the pool

The water is in *fair* shape after a week of fighting the algae.
I switched from pucks/CalHypo to laundry bleach (5.25%) monday the 14th. I am never looking back.
 
WOW! What an adventure!! Seems as if you have already overcome some of the problems.

I would love to see an overall picture of the pool and area so we can really see what you are dealing with.

The skimmer-lets see it and what you mean when you say skimmer problems. Maybe one of us can help you figure it out.

Do you have a test kit? If so please add it to your siggy as THAT is the biggest tool in your pool toolbox.

Kim:kim:
 

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Kim and all

The Test kit is my next big thing.
There are none available to purchase locally. Even via internet the K2006 is going for USD90, plus taxes, shipping and it is a two week delivery time.
I have visited three local pool stores, none have anything that looks like a water testing lab. When I asked for a test of CYA they looked at me and asked why would I want to know that.

If anybody knows of a Taylor distributor in Mexico DF I would greatly appreciate any contacts.

As for what I am doing.

All the FC numbers I have are obtained by
Diluting with bottled water in a 4to1 and sometimes in a 8to1 ratio.
Free Chlorine Eyeballing (strong emphasis on the eyeballing) the OTO test beyond 3 ppm using the chart below

pH I take undiluted samples and use a standard pool kit. But the high Cl make me suspicious of the numbers I get. Until I get the FC down to 20 I am not adjusting pH (probably going to have to do one more drain/fill to lower the CYA to the point where 20 FC is acceptable)

Calcium Hardness I am not tracking yet. As I said, until I can get some rain water system working and stop using city water there is little I can do for the Calcium. I do think removing the pucks was a step in the positive direction

Alkalinity I am still not versed enough to understand it.

CYA All I know is a have too much of it. I use the 4:1 diluted samples and the aquachek strips. This tells me I am way over 100. It doesn't matter if the number is 160 or 210​

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-...AAAAAAAAG04/sx8Yadz6s6E/s389/OTO-rev%2001.jpg
OTO-rev%252001.jpg



I am completely sold on the idea of the testing kit. I know I need it. I also know that everything I am doing is hamfisted and inaccurate. For this reason I refrain from posting much numbers. Or wasting your goodwill reviewing my inaccurate numbers. But what I can tell you is that the TFPC method is so solid and easy that even with my awkward testing IT IMPROVED MY POOL. I am sure they are not the best results... but going from total noob to "I know I need this kits" in less than a quarter and after a single algae bloom is valuable.
 
better view

a better view of the pool. We are having guests tonight.


The little patch of grass is in the foreground. The pool is surrounded by walls on all sides. You can see the overhang above the pool.

The pool is roughly oriented north-south, so I get at least 7 solid hours of direct sunlight even in the winter months

My assumption is that I get enough sunlight to keep the chloreamines near zero.

- - - Updated - - -

This is my measure of how good my pool is. The deep end drain. If you cannot see it..it is bad. If you can see where it is is not good enough. When you can see the individual openings in the grating...I call it good



mind you...this is all artificial light and the drain is in 5ft of water
 
Wow, you're doing extremely well. If you can get a Taylor K-2006C (emphasis on C) it will probably be enough for a couple of years of testing. After that, you'll need to order extra FC and pH testing reagents, along with some more CYA detection reagent. Once you have it, you'll wonder how you got along without it, but it's impressive what you have achieved already.
 
I really like your way of thinking. You are trying. I do have to tell you that your pool is not clear as it could get if you were able to pull off getting a good test kit.

So what about draining some of your water and refilling it? I saw where your local water is high CH but that high CYA is what is stopping your FC from working.

Have you looked at and played with Pool Math? Look up at the top of the page. There is a slight learning curve but so worth it to learn how to use it. It will tell you how much water to drain to lower your CYA.

Let us know what your thoughts are on asking Santa for a good test kit :)

Kim:kim:
 
All I want for Xmas

Dear all

Your comments are very encouraging.
Yes...I am asking santa for a K2006C kit... I wanted a BB gun, but my wife says I would shoot my eye out. :D


Today we are getting a little rain. I noticed much improved water delivery (rate) from the hose on the weekends after 2000hrs. (roughly 600 lts/hr, up from 360 los/hr on a weekday at noon) So I will drain and fill about 20% of the pool tonight. That should bring me CYA down to 70~80

Shooting for 20~30 Free Chlorine until the next two flushes are completed. Once I have a couple of days with CYA at 40~60 and no algae, I will risk 10~20 FC

I am using pool math and the tool is really helpful.

Last night the FC was somewhere between 25 and 35, and this morning it was still above 30. Water looks great. << This is NOT an OCLT

I am measuring at 0730 just before sunshine hits the pool, at 12 noon, and at 1600 hrs when the shadows of the walls cover the pool. My FC is slowly coming down as planned, my biggest challenge is to keep it above 20. I added 1lt of 5.25% for a 2ppm FC gain this morning.
I will use the Pool Math again tonight to add chlorine to the *new* refill water. I measured FC on the tap water at 0.5ppm as a starting point.
I use a graduated bucket, time the fill up to 10 lts, and the use that to estimate how much water I take in. All that data goes into PoolMath

Pump pressure is steady at 12 psi, last backwash left me with 11 psi.

Tomorrow is a full brush scrub vacuum day... today I plan a lazy afternoon.
 
the skimmer post

without any more delay, the post about the skimmer.

Both the skimmer cover and basket are marked Hayward 1096. How and why cement got to the basket is a great conversation opener.



I have a new basket on order. I am extra careful when cleaning it. The plastic is brittle.

It catches the expected hairs and bugs during the day. After vacuuming I also find small rocks and little Calcium carbonate flakes that are slowly coming out of the piping.

Now the interesting picture. I understand the Hayward 1096 is an enclosed skimmer, the weir has a roof so to speak. But my actual seems to have had the roof removed and a gap made with cement.

 
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