Hello from Cypress, TX

[marianol]

Hi all!! and thanks for all the information, I have been a forum stalker for a year and change now, and learned all I know about pools here and you guys saved me a lot of money, so kudos to all of you.

Pool was officially opened this weekend and we had rain today
The Pic is from last summer it does not look too good now since the freeze wreaked havoc on my palms and if i post a picture form now I will cry!!

 

[kimkats]

Just keep looking at the pretty water and area! That will get you through cleaning it up.........the bad part of having trees and such around the pool. I SO feel your pain!

Is there anything you are not sure about? How does your water look right now?

Kim

 

[marianol]

Thanks!

After recovering from an algae bloom (I know, my fault...). My water is clear again and this is my first test

FC 8.4 --> This is high because we had a storm coming and last night I dropped 1lb of BioGuard Burnout 73 don't want my pool green again.
CC 0
PH 7.4
TA 180
CYA 70 --> at least is what I think

Salt
- 3500 (pool store)
- 3500ish (salt measuring Strip)
- 2650 (IC40 reading)

So it looks like I need to clean my SWG..

Some quick questions:
- I see some black round spots in 2 parts of the pool looks like back algae, is stainless brush/tablet trick the best method for this?
- Any comments on the numbers?

 

[Texas Splash]

Welcome! Nice looking pool. Tomorrow we should have much nicer weather. :sun: In the future, I would recommend increasing your FC with regular bleach from HEB or Wal-Mart. Easy at $2.94 per gallon when needed to augment your SWG. Those Burnout products tend to increase CH or other levels not needed in most pools, not to mention they cost more. Your TA is a bit high, but you can work on that at some point by following the TFP Pool School - Lower Total Alkalinity procedures.

As for the black spots, I'd recommend posting your CH level as well. That will be important to help readers know if there is a possible calcium issue, if it's algae, or perhaps something underneath the plaster. Perhaps post a pic if you can get a camera close enough to zoom-in on the spots. Before you try any scrubbing or wild tricks on those spots, you might want to contact the plaster/builder for your pool. It's so new, it should still be under warranty. Better to have them look just to be safe since your plaster might still be curing.

We'll watch for more info and try to help where we can. Enjoy that nice oasis.

 

[kimkats]

Salt-is your SWG happy? What is your water temp?

Your TA is high. How is your PH? Does it jump up fast or does it go up slow and steady?

Black spots-put a chlorine tablet on one for about 15 mins and see what happens. If nothing happens try a vitamin C tablet. Let us know what happens.

Kim

 

[MarkTX]

The Pic is from last summer it does not look too good now since the freeze wreaked havoc on my palms and if i post a picture form now I will cry!!

FWIW, you are not alone. We are feeling the havoc too.

 

[marianol]

Thanks for all the Tips.

@Texas Splash
- good one on the bleach will follow your advice. I forgot to test for CH yesterday, will post the level later today.

@kimkats
- Water temp when I did the test was 60F
- SWG has the Low Salt light on but the Green Cell light also on... so not really sure if is happy or not, remember I'm a noob
- Not too sure about PH jumpiness, how fast is too fast?. Last week it measured 8+ and brought it back to 7.2 in 2 days jumped to 7.4. I also noted some white scaling in the stone on the beach entry area.

What will be a target TA level?


I attached some pics of the spots

 

[marianol]

One more thing!! I bought the house with the poll already made (actually I wanted to buy a pool and came with a house

So I do not know who the builder is or who did the re-finishing. They told me that it was re-finished 3 years ago. The house was sold by a relocation company so they had absolutely no information whatsoever.

I'll call the HOA they may be able to get me the builder.

Excuse my ignorance but how is called finishing/floor material of the pool? Can you get that from the pics?

Thanks VERY much!

@MarkTX yes indeed, we can get together an cry!! By the way I saw build thread what an awesome pool, congrats!

 

[marianol]

Got the numbers for today.

Water Temp
FC 7
CC .4
PH 7.6
TA 180
CH 200

CH does not look that bad. Right?

Will get some more Acid Tomorrow and start lowering the TA


Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk

 

[Texas Splash]

Well, your CH is actually a bit low compared to the TFP Pool School - Recommended Levels page, however it is off-set by the elevated TA and good pH of 7.6. Those two together are keeping your CSI in a healthy area for your plaster, so I wouldn't get too aggressive right now with acid. Additional water refills this season will probably increase CH to the minimum mark of 350 for a SWG pool, so as long as you don't let the pH and TA drop, you should be okay. I would leave things alone for the moment and continue to check FC (for sanitation/algae) and pH (for acidy and plaster care) daily. Also keep tabs on your CSI by using the Poolmath calculator so you can see what effect the pH, TA, and CH have together on your CSI for plaster care.

 

[marianol]

I see what you say about the CSI now, punched the number in for my last test and got a CSI of -0.2

If understand you correctly I just need to keep my FC and PH and over time the CH will grow and adjust then TZ accordingly as CH raises.

Thanks all for the Help!!!

 

[pooldv]

Exactly right! Keep CSI between -0.3 and 0 for healthy plaster and it will also prevent scaling in your SWG cell.