Hello! I bought a home that's been in our family 55 years; the pool, below, is about 45 years old! My understanding is that it has a fiberglass finish, but I am not entirely sure. Along with the house, we inherited a pool service that has been taking care of the pool for years. When grandma was still alive, at least in her later years, she really didn't do anything to maintain the pool beyond the weekly service. So when we took over, we came in totally ignorant to pool maintenance and continued with the "set it and forget it" mentality, just leaving it to the weekly service. Probably not a great approach, but luckily, we seem to have been well taken care of. The only change we made was to add a SWG.
How did I wind up here? I took some time off work, which happened to coincide with our "pool guy" taking a weeklong vacation. Over the past few weeks, we'd started to see some algae growth and weren't really sure what it was (remember, our MO was just to let the weekly service do its thing). During my week off, it started to proliferate widely and some research suggested it was the dreaded "black algae!" I was pretty worked up at first, but this turned into the perfect opportunity to learn more about pool maintenance and make some overdue changes. With a couple trips to the local pool store and some time on the web, I've:
Current numbers are a bit off – but I'm also new to testing and interpretation so some could be "mad scientist" error:
How did I wind up here? I took some time off work, which happened to coincide with our "pool guy" taking a weeklong vacation. Over the past few weeks, we'd started to see some algae growth and weren't really sure what it was (remember, our MO was just to let the weekly service do its thing). During my week off, it started to proliferate widely and some research suggested it was the dreaded "black algae!" I was pretty worked up at first, but this turned into the perfect opportunity to learn more about pool maintenance and make some overdue changes. With a couple trips to the local pool store and some time on the web, I've:
- Gotten the bearings replaced in our Hayward pool vac (I was impressed when the tech at Leslie Pool didn't let me replace the vac and convinced me it just needed a few parts) – I'd previously only replaced its fins and cork feet.
- Got test kits so we can do our own testing – for the first time in at least 15 years!! (You read that right.)
- Got a great mitt to tackle the algae. Upgraded my brush head and brushed like mad. Got a manual vacuum head when I need to get ahead of the pool vac.
- Shocked the pool with 4 lb simple chlorine.
- Learned all sorts of pool hygiene considerations I'd never thought of (sweat; cleanliness of pool toys; etc.).
Current numbers are a bit off – but I'm also new to testing and interpretation so some could be "mad scientist" error:
FC: 5+ (18 hours post-shock)
pH: 7.8
TA: 140
CH: 750 (I have yet to test the water at the spigot, but I expect it is quite hard and so draining and refilling wouldn't help)
CYA: 30+ (I probably took the disappearance of the black dot too seriously. I'm guessing this is really around 60.)
Salt: 5180 (This seems very high, but result is consistent with test strips. Reading on SWG is much lower. Think the generator needs service and will talk to "pool guy." Likely the SWG needing cleaning/service is at the root of the algae issue.)
Make sure to add the FAS-DPD to your DPD Test Kit. The FAS-DPD is critical for testing FC at accurate levels over 5 ppm. Leslie's kit won't do that, but the FAS-DPD essentially converts your kit to a Taylor K-2006. TFTestkits.net may be out right now, but it may still be available on Amazon.
