Hi all,
I haven't been on the forums in a while. I used to do the TFP method on my above ground pool, but then my wife talked me into getting an inground pool installed. I insisted that we get whatever equipment would make it maintenance free for me...or at least as close as can be.
So now I have a 22k gal pool. It's got a chlorine puck feeder, mineral cartridge and UV filter. It's got a large cartridge filter attached to it as well. It was pretty much maintenance free until this spring, the third year of ownership. Last fall, I noticed that even though it didn't seem like I was using that many pucks, my CYA had gone up to 120. I drained and refilled enough that I got it down to 50ppm. I then swore I would no longer use pucks unless it was an emergency.
I kept that promise over the winter and spring. At the same time we bought a solar blanket and started using it. It was amazing how well that worked. We swam in 80F water on April 19th and have been using the pool almost daily since. During the time the solar blanket was on, I did notice little spots of green algae popping up. I also noticed a bit more chlorine consumption than before, but nothing was ringing alarm bells since the water was very clear.
I started reading a site that talked about not needing much chlorine at all if you had a mineral cartridge and UV filter . It said you could just shock it weekly with bleach or cal-hypo and then between that and the mineral cartridge and UV filter, your water should remain clean. So I decided to try that. So I shocked my pool that first night with some 73% cal hypo and then tested the water then next morning and was surprised at how many ppm it had gone down. I think my initial ppm was 13 and by the next morning it was down to 7ppm. I also started noticing a 1ppm concentration of CC.
I got back on the forums and decided I needed to do a SLAM, but I'm a bit confused by it. My water looks really good. It tests fine for everything else, although Leslie's says that my phosphates are high..but surprisingly they didn't try to sell me the Phosphate free stuff.
I'm only on my 2nd day of the SLAM, but I've already gone through 9 gallons of 12.5%. I'm dipping into my cal-hypo and luckily my CH is a bit low right now at 175 so I think I should be able to continue to use cal-hypo to SLAM. Last night the OCLT went from 24 - 20ppm. During the day with the direct sun, I feel like I'm just constantly adding chlorine. Is there something else I should be looking at? I feel like there's something I'm missing. I just cleaned my filter cartridges in February. The gauge doesn't show any blockage. The water is really clear. Currently there's no green showing as far as I can see.
Here's the last test I did at Leslie's before I started the SLAM
FC - 0.14
TC - 0.14
pH - 7.9 --- I lowered this to 7.2 before I started
TA - 98
CH - 172
CYA - 51
Iron - 0.1
Copper - 0.1
Phosphates - 1735
TDS - 600
So I kind of feel silly for thinking this pool would be maintenance free, or close to it. I obviously let something go wildly out of control. I also wasn't as stringent at testing that I should have been. I was fooled by that clear water. I think that UV filter is what's fooling me. I think it does a decent job of sanitizing water that flows past it. It just can't sanitize the water that never gets to it.
I haven't been on the forums in a while. I used to do the TFP method on my above ground pool, but then my wife talked me into getting an inground pool installed. I insisted that we get whatever equipment would make it maintenance free for me...or at least as close as can be.
So now I have a 22k gal pool. It's got a chlorine puck feeder, mineral cartridge and UV filter. It's got a large cartridge filter attached to it as well. It was pretty much maintenance free until this spring, the third year of ownership. Last fall, I noticed that even though it didn't seem like I was using that many pucks, my CYA had gone up to 120. I drained and refilled enough that I got it down to 50ppm. I then swore I would no longer use pucks unless it was an emergency.
I kept that promise over the winter and spring. At the same time we bought a solar blanket and started using it. It was amazing how well that worked. We swam in 80F water on April 19th and have been using the pool almost daily since. During the time the solar blanket was on, I did notice little spots of green algae popping up. I also noticed a bit more chlorine consumption than before, but nothing was ringing alarm bells since the water was very clear.
I started reading a site that talked about not needing much chlorine at all if you had a mineral cartridge and UV filter . It said you could just shock it weekly with bleach or cal-hypo and then between that and the mineral cartridge and UV filter, your water should remain clean. So I decided to try that. So I shocked my pool that first night with some 73% cal hypo and then tested the water then next morning and was surprised at how many ppm it had gone down. I think my initial ppm was 13 and by the next morning it was down to 7ppm. I also started noticing a 1ppm concentration of CC.
I got back on the forums and decided I needed to do a SLAM, but I'm a bit confused by it. My water looks really good. It tests fine for everything else, although Leslie's says that my phosphates are high..but surprisingly they didn't try to sell me the Phosphate free stuff.
I'm only on my 2nd day of the SLAM, but I've already gone through 9 gallons of 12.5%. I'm dipping into my cal-hypo and luckily my CH is a bit low right now at 175 so I think I should be able to continue to use cal-hypo to SLAM. Last night the OCLT went from 24 - 20ppm. During the day with the direct sun, I feel like I'm just constantly adding chlorine. Is there something else I should be looking at? I feel like there's something I'm missing. I just cleaned my filter cartridges in February. The gauge doesn't show any blockage. The water is really clear. Currently there's no green showing as far as I can see.
Here's the last test I did at Leslie's before I started the SLAM
FC - 0.14
TC - 0.14
pH - 7.9 --- I lowered this to 7.2 before I started
TA - 98
CH - 172
CYA - 51
Iron - 0.1
Copper - 0.1
Phosphates - 1735
TDS - 600
So I kind of feel silly for thinking this pool would be maintenance free, or close to it. I obviously let something go wildly out of control. I also wasn't as stringent at testing that I should have been. I was fooled by that clear water. I think that UV filter is what's fooling me. I think it does a decent job of sanitizing water that flows past it. It just can't sanitize the water that never gets to it.