Hello again, everyone.
Soooooooooooo...............
I got my kit and got things pretty well balanced. Whomever suggested the stir-stick, you were right!!! It made the job super easy. In the first week or two of testing, I killed every bottle to test the calcium levels. I had numbers that just didn't make sense. Frankly, the solution would never change color, ha!, so no actual numbers, just guessed. At first I thought something was wrong with the reagent, however, in the ensuing weeks the white clouds at the bottom began to clear up. Living in Tucson, we already have very high minerals in the water. Add to that, my unknowingly purchasing a cheapo-Ca-based "shock". All before TFP.
This lead me to think that maybe the excessive precipitate was being sucked up, over time, and that levels would eventually drop to where I could get a 'real' reading. As you will soon see, I never made it that far. *sigh*
I monitored and used my kit for most of June and July. Things looked pretty good and I was even able to get in a few times! YEAY>
However, all that was short lived.
I was going to share more on this forum, back in June, including all of my test results. Then all heck broke loose around this place. It's been a LONG couple of months. My MIL died, kids had to travel, car issues, and then came the record breaking Tucson Monsoon. All my numbers, by now, are pretty meaningless, I guess. I must have been doing something right, though, as the pool stayed pretty good looking for about two weeks post the pump finally dying. Yes......the monsoon not only wrecked my roof, **sigh**, it killed my apparently old and lousy pump. So, now the pool is a green swampy mess. It seemed to go from not so great, just last week, to full on swamp, within about three days. I am super sad.
I was
so proud of myself for rebuilding my creepy-crawlie, learning to do the chemical tests, and keeping things limping along with an iffy pump. a mess of leaking pipes (Bucket brigade during running hours), and a sand filter I could no longer get open. It all just needed to last for another couple of months!! Unfortunately, the ongoing storms were just too much for the pump.
I have now learned that this most certainly was
not the pump that should have been on this pool. As a matter of fact, it was probably bordering on dangerous. It was a small pump, I don't know the HP, and only running on 110. I am guessing it was not designed for use on a 33K pool. It literally rusted through on one side of the housing, too. It was plugged into a rickety GFCI outlet. I learned all this was not sufficient or done correctly, from the pool guy who came out to give me a quote. I'm sure glad our home inspector from when we bought the place, saw all of the Mickey Mouse things here before we signed off. LOL
NOT!!! But I digress.
Here is the main point of my long winded post..................
Are you still there???
The guy who came out has quoted me $3800 to do the work to fix all this. Two of my neighbors have used him, and he was recommended to them by a third neighbor. I guess all of these people use this guy for all of their pool work. From how the work was "quoted", I will assume he is someone who works for a "proper" pool company, by day, and does his own thing on evenings and weekends. The quote was verbal and I cannot seem to get details. When I asked more questions, I was told it would be a "Superflow variable speed Pentair". That is literally it. No model numbers. He says he will redo the sand filter, new sand, fix the interior fins, fix the pvc piping so it is all new around the equipment, install a new circuit breaker in a box we found on that end of the house, install the pump, and obviously make sure it all runs. He tells me the pump itself will be $1200 of this price.
This still seems like a TON of money for this project. It also seems that legally I would need to have an electrician out to do the new circuit breaker at the box and install 220 to the area where the new pump will reside. Seems I would need a permit to do all of this work, as well. I was told none of that is necessary and he's done it all before. I have been told this guy is good at what he does, honest, and will do it right. However, I am nervous and hesitant to move forward.
BUT........I now have a swamp.
The roof and interior water damage, amongst other things, has taken precedence, but I really cannot put this off too much longer.
I would love to get some feedback from the knowledgeable TFP people here. You guys helped me with my early learning curve and gave me insight into how to better maintain my pool. I was motivated to take on that rebuild and maintain my own chemicals and cleaning! However, this is well and truly beyond what I want to tackle.
I will go and see if I can get some photos.
Thanks for any input!! Please be gentle with me, it's been a LONG summer.
Cheers,
Stacy
We look forward to helping you and seeing posts of your crystal clear pool on the thread below one day. Keep us posted. Have a nice weekend. 
With all the issues you've had, accurate water testing won't be one of them. We'll watch for those results once it arrives.