Having a pool built and need advice

[Texas Splash]

I agree. ^^ Depending on the time of year and your surroundings though, you "might" see if someone can check the skimmer(s) if leaves and debris are a potential issue. If not, go enjoy your vacation, but don't expect a hotel pool to be as TFP clean & clear as yours.

 

[voidpointer]

I do nothing. You do not need to test daily once your pool is dialed in. A properly balanced and managed pool with a SWG should be able to go a week or 2 with no attention at all. I have done it with mine for over a week never had any issues. I check Aqualink remotely to make sure everything looks good while gone and also have a camera on the pool for a visual inspection.

I thought you had to at least check the pH daily. That's what the card says at least.

 

[Newdude]

I thought you had to at least check the pH daily. That's what the card says at least.

Yes. You're learning. You'll know how your pool is responding fairly quick.

 

[PoolGate]

I thought you had to at least check the pH daily. That's what the card says at least.

Once you are familiar with your pool you'll be fine not checking it daily. If I was going out for a week or so I might add extra acid knowing my pool needs weekly acid. The beauty of TFP is your pool will become very consistent and predictable. Even when I am home I don't check every day anymore. I might go a week before checking anything. I am not saying you should do that, but I am going on my 7th season with TFP method and the pool is 100% predictable.

But yeah the skimmer would be my only real concern. I get animals in my pool every couple weeks usually mice or rabbits. I would not want that sitting dead in the skimmer for a week. But my chlorine level is such that it would not be a big deal even if it did happen.

 

[Texas Splash]

I thought you had to at least check the pH daily. That's what the card says at least.

I'll add it is true that you will find yourself watching FC and pH more closely that other levels, but as PoolGate noted above those should become stable and more predictable over time. Once dialed-in, the SWG should take care of your FC needs and your pH (rise) should not be something that requires acid quite as frequently. Your pool will almost be in cruise control mode. Even if your pH rises a bit during a week-long vacation your pool will be fine until you get back.

 

[voidpointer]

Once you are familiar with your pool you'll be fine not checking it daily. If I was going out for a week or so I might add extra acid knowing my pool needs weekly acid. The beauty of TFP is your pool will become very consistent and predictable. Even when I am home I don't check every day anymore. I might go a week before checking anything. I am not saying you should do that, but I am going on my 7th season with TFP method and the pool is 100% predictable.

But yeah the skimmer would be my only real concern. I get animals in my pool every couple weeks usually mice or rabbits. I would not want that sitting dead in the skimmer for a week. But my chlorine level is such that it would not be a big deal even if it did happen.

The skimmers are actually scary to clean, I'm learning. I hate spiders and there always seems to be a living one in there...

 

[voidpointer]

I'll add it is true that you will find yourself watching FC and pH more closely that other levels, but as PoolGate noted above those should become stable and more predictable over time. Once dialed-in, the SWG should take care of your FC needs and your pH (rise) should not be something that requires acid quite as frequently. Your pool will almost be in cruise control mode. Even if your pH rises a bit during a week-long vacation your pool will be fine until you get back.

Yeah I think because the pool is new, I feel like I'm adding 30oz MA at least once or twice a week. I'll be interested in seeing how it normalizes over the course of the summer.

 

[PoolGate]

Yeah I think because the pool is new, I feel like I'm adding 30oz MA at least once or twice a week. I'll be interested in seeing how it normalizes over the course of the summer.

You'll never stop adding MA. That is the primary consumable you'll be adding. Like I said, my 30k gallon pool in it's 7th season still uses around a gallon a week. You can get automated acid pumps but I have no experience with them.

 

[voidpointer]

I know we touched on pump run times a bit here. Now that the PB maintenance guy isn't coming anymore, and the chlorine tabs have completely dissolved, I no longer have a reason to let the filter pump run all day.

What is a good schedule to start with for run time? I've attached a picture of what I arbitrarily chose.

I also know that pump speed is something to experiment with. What speed should I start with, and should that also be on the schedule?

I know with pump speed to watch the skimmers to see if it's working well enough. Not sure if I should start low or high first and adjust in the opposite direction a little bit each day.

 

[PoolGate]

I know we touched on pump run times a bit here. Now that the PB maintenance guy isn't coming anymore, and the chlorine tabs have completely dissolved, I no longer have a reason to let the filter pump run all day.

What is a good schedule to start with for run time? I've attached a picture of what I arbitrarily chose.

I also know that pump speed is something to experiment with. What speed should I start with, and should that also be on the schedule?

I know with pump speed to watch the skimmers to see if it's working well enough. Not sure if I should start low or high first and adjust in the opposite direction a little bit each day.
View attachment 476939

I run mine 24x7 with SWG set at 50%. I could run it at 100% for 12 hours. You are 2/3rd that so you could go 100% for 8 hours. But I don't like running it at 100%. I would suggest 16 hours pump at 50% SWG and see how your chlorine stabilizes. You'll need to figure out what percent to run your SWG and times for that. Really you mostly run it for the SWG chlorine production. I do bump my pool to 3000 in the morning for 2 hours a day for the skimmers and also activate my waterfalls for 10 minutes to keep their lines fresh. (all automated)

 

[voidpointer]

I might be jumping the gun here since my SWG isn't running yet (or rather, they haven't dumped the bags of salt in the pool yet). I think that'll happen end of March / start of April. I was assuming pump wouldn't run that much, but I forgot about the SWG.

Does none of this matter really until I get past the first month after start up?

I do bump my pool to 3000 in the morning

I assume 3000 is RPM. At first glance I thought it was a salt level.

 

[PoolGate]

I might be jumping the gun here since my SWG isn't running yet (or rather, they haven't dumped the bags of salt in the pool yet). I think that'll happen end of March / start of April. I was assuming pump wouldn't run that much, but I forgot about the SWG.

Does none of this matter really until I get past the first month after start up?

I assume 3000 is RPM. At first glance I thought it was a salt level.

Yes until you are beyond startup and into maintenance phase your pool will require much more attention especially chlorine and acid. Daily checks for sure.

3k RPMS - correct. I have it scheduled every morning.

 

[voidpointer]

I only bought 1 jug of chlorine; I wasn't sure how much to get. As I'm testing daily and adding as needed, is it best to use liquid since so much is needed right now? Or should I get a floater and put chlorine tablets in it?

I know tablets have been discouraged in the past for a few reasons:
- Damages the heater if I put an inline tablet chlorinator (I accept this fact but don't understand "how" it damages it)
- They shouldn't be in the skimmer baskets if the pool isn't running 24/7

I don't recall anyone saying flat out that tabs are bad, but it does seem that liquid chlorine is preferred by most here. For *only* start up, what would folks recommend?

 

[mknauss]

You can use trichlor tablets in a floating dispenser if you like. Be sure you understand the amount of CYA they will add. They are also very acidic.

Also, it is unlikely the tablets will provide enough FC addition daily to maintain your FC/CYA ratio.

 

[voidpointer]

I was editing my schedule to be closer to what PoolGate suggested but forgot to hit the save button when I exited the AquaLink app. Now every time I go into the web view, it says this:

I get a never-ending "Connecting" page when I hit OK on this modal. Found a thread on the forum that said to reboot the wifi AP its connected to, which I did, but that didn't seem to unstick it.

Is there a different fix/workaround?

 

[PoolGate]

I was editing my schedule to be closer to what PoolGate suggested but forgot to hit the save button when I exited the AquaLink app. Now every time I go into the web view, it says this:
View attachment 476979
I get a never-ending "Connecting" page when I hit OK on this modal. Found a thread on the forum that said to reboot the wifi AP its connected to, which I did, but that didn't seem to unstick it.

Is there a different fix/workaround?

Go to the box and power cycle Aqualink.

 

[voidpointer]

Go to the box and power cycle Aqualink.

How do I power cycle it? I'll go check but I don't recall anything obvious

 

[PoolGate]

How do I power cycle it? I'll go check but I don't recall anything obvious

Flip the circuit breaker. I have to do this once in awhile as well. It is the only way to do a hard reboot.

 

[voidpointer]

Flip the circuit breaker. I have to do this once in awhile as well. It is the only way to do a hard reboot.

Which breaker? I have a "master" breaker at my house electrical panel that controls power to the entire equipment area. I also have breakers on the equipment itself. See attached pic. Most of these appear to be for pump equipment; not sure if they are what you intended me to use. But just want to be sure. I'm not an electrician

I also tested everything in the pool today. pH hit 8.2 again today despite having added acid just two days ago...

And chlorine is at 2.5. I decided to add some up to 6. The pool math app set my target to 3, but that didn't seem good enough considering that my SWG isn't operating yet. I set my target to 6 and it had me add 87oz of 10% liquid chlorine (which I did add). Did I make a good choice? If not, what should I know for next time?

Given that I just used over half my only bottle of chlorine, I'm wondering if I should buy tablets to last me the remainder of the month. I understand that they raise CYA and are acidic but fortunately my CYA is 50 (needs to be raised) and pH needs to be lowered. So I think it's a win on all 3 fronts, right? My line of thinking is that I don't want to have to keep dumping liquid chlorine in the pool until my SWG gets started.

Lastly, how soon after adding chlorine to the pool should I wait before adding MA to lower my pH?

 

[PoolGate]

Which breaker? I have a "master" breaker at my house electrical panel that controls power to the entire equipment area. I also have breakers on the equipment itself. See attached pic. Most of these appear to be for pump equipment; not sure if they are what you intended me to use. But just want to be sure. I'm not an electrician

I also tested everything in the pool today. pH hit 8.2 again today despite having added acid just two days ago...

And chlorine is at 2.5. I decided to add some up to 6. The pool math app set my target to 3, but that didn't seem good enough considering that my SWG isn't operating yet. I set my target to 6 and it had me add 87oz of 10% liquid chlorine (which I did add). Did I make a good choice? If not, what should I know for next time?

Given that I just used over half my only bottle of chlorine, I'm wondering if I should buy tablets to last me the remainder of the month. I understand that they raise CYA and are acidic but fortunately my CYA is 50 (needs to be raised) and pH needs to be lowered. So I think it's a win on all 3 fronts, right? My line of thinking is that I don't want to have to keep dumping liquid chlorine in the pool until my SWG gets started.

Lastly, how soon after adding chlorine to the pool should I wait before adding MA to lower my pH?

Try each breaker at the pool panel until Aqualink shuts down. Then label it. Aqualink is 110 volt so probably is sharing the breaker with the lights.

I target 10% of CYA for my Chlorine level. That would be 5 for you. You will need more liquid chlorine. 1 gallon is like 1 week. You'll need enough to get you through your SWG startup.

You can use a few tablets I think each one raises CYA by like 2 so you are good for awhile. They are slow to raise chlorine level though test daily.

You can add MA in the time it takes you to put the chlorine bottle away.

Are you swimming right now or just monitoring?