Hey there!
Long time lurker, new to posting here! I made a comment on a post that had to be approved so figured I should do the new guy stuff too!
Long story, longer -
Short background - I don't own a pool nor have I ever. I have kept saltwater reef tanks throughout my life, I have set up an automated hydroponics system in my basement, I took a few chemistry classes in college and I'm a fan of automating/tinkering with things.
I joined last year because the in-laws pool was always cloudy or green and it disgusted me. As you can see, I joined in June of last year, so it looks like the pool was pretty bad from the beginning of the season and never got better. I spent the rest of that summer reading/following/researching and soaking in as much information as I could - from the sidelines. Probably a bad habit I have when I set my mind to something, I kind of fall into a blackhole of research where I stay up later than I should and can't stop googling new questions. I attempted to assist taking care of the pool with little success last year. I don't own a pool and they have had it for >15 years, but for some reason the last couple seasons have just been Crud. So without stepping on anyone's toes, I got new test kits, tried to get them to use it, printed a few things out and nothing really stuck for them. I gave up for the year and just stopped swimming in the "swamp". Pretty sure they tossed the test kits, went to the pool store, replaced their filter and blamed everything but themselves and their process.
Fast forward to this season - they had their chance to fix it last year! No more Mr. nice guy! I'm on the TFP pool care system. I opened the pool, I bought the chemicals, I bought new test kits and all they have to do is keep the water level up and send me the PH and FC a few times a week. They can't and don't add anything to the water - not that they need to since it's crystal clear this year. But so far, the TFP way has been a great success. Opening the pool was a little slower than I anticipated as the pool ate the living Darn out of a few bottles of chlorine - I just wasn't really expecting that to happen but looking back, I really should have been prepared for it. The pool was cloudy while we tried to slam it for a bout a week or so. Mainly because I don't live there and the filter/pump wasn't on all day, so I couldn't test/add chlorine more than once a day and then provided instructions for the in-laws to add some in the morning too. We got it figured out though, just took a little bit of time because I couldn't micro manage it from 30 minutes away. And we did it without any clarifiers/algaecides or help from the pool store, thank you again TFP.
Present day - No more pucks, no other additives outside of using the pool math app and adjusting where needed. My Alk is a little high but I'm slowly bringing that down each week when the PH floats up. I can't take all the credit as I'm not there doing the daily testing so the father in law does get credit as this is more of a teamwork setup. He seems to enjoy taking readings daily now (just FC and PH) that the pool is in basically pristine condition. I try to tell him I just need a reading every other day or so, but like clockwork, I get it every morning. Can't really complain about that. I do the rest of the testing on weekends when Im over there. I set up an old hydroponics pump to auto dose liquid chlorine throughout the day. Seems to be working pretty good with minor adjustments here and there.
Weekends still get me a little nervous. There is usually a bare minimum of 6 kids and 4 adults that use the pool as long as outside temps are above 80 and the pool water is 80+ as well - above 90 out and those numbers can double with friends and all adults wanting to be in the pool. Some of the kids brag they peed in the pool and the "dye didn't turn blue around them", so there's that too. I've just been bumping the chlorine up in the morning to somewhere in between highest daily recommended and SLAM. Super helpful that I can do it from my phone without having to go there. It's irritating but I usually get my swimming/relaxing in before the kids show up, so not the end of the world and still not my pool so I can't kick anyone out, I'm just the Poolboi.
So far, so good! I'm more of a lurker here but will pop out and comment if I feel like I have enough knowledge to do so. Doubt I'll ask many questions because 99% of the time, it seems like it's been asked and answered, just need to google/search.
Happy the site is here and glad I stumbled on it - well kind of, it seemed like no matter where I looked last year TFP would somehow be added to the conversation, so why not just join myself and stick to the proven process! So thank you for existing TFP!
Long time lurker, new to posting here! I made a comment on a post that had to be approved so figured I should do the new guy stuff too!
Long story, longer -
Short background - I don't own a pool nor have I ever. I have kept saltwater reef tanks throughout my life, I have set up an automated hydroponics system in my basement, I took a few chemistry classes in college and I'm a fan of automating/tinkering with things.
I joined last year because the in-laws pool was always cloudy or green and it disgusted me. As you can see, I joined in June of last year, so it looks like the pool was pretty bad from the beginning of the season and never got better. I spent the rest of that summer reading/following/researching and soaking in as much information as I could - from the sidelines. Probably a bad habit I have when I set my mind to something, I kind of fall into a blackhole of research where I stay up later than I should and can't stop googling new questions. I attempted to assist taking care of the pool with little success last year. I don't own a pool and they have had it for >15 years, but for some reason the last couple seasons have just been Crud. So without stepping on anyone's toes, I got new test kits, tried to get them to use it, printed a few things out and nothing really stuck for them. I gave up for the year and just stopped swimming in the "swamp". Pretty sure they tossed the test kits, went to the pool store, replaced their filter and blamed everything but themselves and their process.
Fast forward to this season - they had their chance to fix it last year! No more Mr. nice guy! I'm on the TFP pool care system. I opened the pool, I bought the chemicals, I bought new test kits and all they have to do is keep the water level up and send me the PH and FC a few times a week. They can't and don't add anything to the water - not that they need to since it's crystal clear this year. But so far, the TFP way has been a great success. Opening the pool was a little slower than I anticipated as the pool ate the living Darn out of a few bottles of chlorine - I just wasn't really expecting that to happen but looking back, I really should have been prepared for it. The pool was cloudy while we tried to slam it for a bout a week or so. Mainly because I don't live there and the filter/pump wasn't on all day, so I couldn't test/add chlorine more than once a day and then provided instructions for the in-laws to add some in the morning too. We got it figured out though, just took a little bit of time because I couldn't micro manage it from 30 minutes away. And we did it without any clarifiers/algaecides or help from the pool store, thank you again TFP.
Present day - No more pucks, no other additives outside of using the pool math app and adjusting where needed. My Alk is a little high but I'm slowly bringing that down each week when the PH floats up. I can't take all the credit as I'm not there doing the daily testing so the father in law does get credit as this is more of a teamwork setup. He seems to enjoy taking readings daily now (just FC and PH) that the pool is in basically pristine condition. I try to tell him I just need a reading every other day or so, but like clockwork, I get it every morning. Can't really complain about that. I do the rest of the testing on weekends when Im over there. I set up an old hydroponics pump to auto dose liquid chlorine throughout the day. Seems to be working pretty good with minor adjustments here and there.
Weekends still get me a little nervous. There is usually a bare minimum of 6 kids and 4 adults that use the pool as long as outside temps are above 80 and the pool water is 80+ as well - above 90 out and those numbers can double with friends and all adults wanting to be in the pool. Some of the kids brag they peed in the pool and the "dye didn't turn blue around them", so there's that too. I've just been bumping the chlorine up in the morning to somewhere in between highest daily recommended and SLAM. Super helpful that I can do it from my phone without having to go there. It's irritating but I usually get my swimming/relaxing in before the kids show up, so not the end of the world and still not my pool so I can't kick anyone out, I'm just the Poolboi.
So far, so good! I'm more of a lurker here but will pop out and comment if I feel like I have enough knowledge to do so. Doubt I'll ask many questions because 99% of the time, it seems like it's been asked and answered, just need to google/search.
Happy the site is here and glad I stumbled on it - well kind of, it seemed like no matter where I looked last year TFP would somehow be added to the conversation, so why not just join myself and stick to the proven process! So thank you for existing TFP!
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