Hi everyone-
This is a bit of a long story, but I'll try to cut to the chase. I was getting the pool ready for the season back in April and was struggling to keep up with the algae growth. I found that when I cleaned my filter and re-charged the DE, most of it was getting dumped back into the pool. That led to discovering that the filter had a cracked manifold. I replaced the manifold, and now the DE stays where its supposed to, but I was still struggling to keep up with the algae growth. I was shocking once a day or so, and the algae on the floors was pretty well cleared up, but I couldn't get it off the walls. Eventually I found this forum and learned a lot in a short period of time. It turns out that I may have been doing everything wrong over the past few years.
I've been using a few pucks per week of Tri-Chlor to keep a baseline chlorine level, and then shocking with Cal-Hypo once a week.
When I got my Taylor K-2006C, I ran a full set of tests
FC: 0
CC: 0
pH: 7.4
TA: 110
CYA: 160
CH: 1125
So my theory was that the pucks caused the CYA to climb over the past few years, which was rendering the chlorine ineffective, but not realizing that, I kept dumping Cal-Hypo in which increased the Calcium level to where it is.
This past week, I drained the pool to fix the CYA and CH levels with plans to re-fill and use liquid chlorine only once the CYA levels were where they should be. Now that the pool is drained, I'm a little worried about what I'm seeing. The surface is pebble, but it's like there's a coating of white dust caked onto everything that doesn't really come off. The pebble cement base used to be a bluish color, but now everything is a grayish-white. I've hit a section with a power washer for a little while, and there isn't a noticeable difference. It's on all of the walls, the floor, the light lens and bezel. I included a photo of the light bezel because it's most clear on that surface (I think). I'm not quite sure what to do next at this point and could use some advice. If it's calcium all over everything, should I have the surface cleaned before refilling? Should I refill and then do something? If so, what? I'd hate to re-fill, and then find that I have to drain it again to have the surface cleaned.
Thanks in advance for any advice and guidance.
This is a bit of a long story, but I'll try to cut to the chase. I was getting the pool ready for the season back in April and was struggling to keep up with the algae growth. I found that when I cleaned my filter and re-charged the DE, most of it was getting dumped back into the pool. That led to discovering that the filter had a cracked manifold. I replaced the manifold, and now the DE stays where its supposed to, but I was still struggling to keep up with the algae growth. I was shocking once a day or so, and the algae on the floors was pretty well cleared up, but I couldn't get it off the walls. Eventually I found this forum and learned a lot in a short period of time. It turns out that I may have been doing everything wrong over the past few years.
I've been using a few pucks per week of Tri-Chlor to keep a baseline chlorine level, and then shocking with Cal-Hypo once a week.
When I got my Taylor K-2006C, I ran a full set of tests
FC: 0
CC: 0
pH: 7.4
TA: 110
CYA: 160
CH: 1125
So my theory was that the pucks caused the CYA to climb over the past few years, which was rendering the chlorine ineffective, but not realizing that, I kept dumping Cal-Hypo in which increased the Calcium level to where it is.
This past week, I drained the pool to fix the CYA and CH levels with plans to re-fill and use liquid chlorine only once the CYA levels were where they should be. Now that the pool is drained, I'm a little worried about what I'm seeing. The surface is pebble, but it's like there's a coating of white dust caked onto everything that doesn't really come off. The pebble cement base used to be a bluish color, but now everything is a grayish-white. I've hit a section with a power washer for a little while, and there isn't a noticeable difference. It's on all of the walls, the floor, the light lens and bezel. I included a photo of the light bezel because it's most clear on that surface (I think). I'm not quite sure what to do next at this point and could use some advice. If it's calcium all over everything, should I have the surface cleaned before refilling? Should I refill and then do something? If so, what? I'd hate to re-fill, and then find that I have to drain it again to have the surface cleaned.
Thanks in advance for any advice and guidance.