Just finished a gorgeous pool build on a new home about 2 months ago. Pool Builder advised the only maintenance we needed was to check and balance pH weekly, vacuum, and brush. Check the stabilizer and salt levels monthly. They gave this cute pentair test kit that tests pH and TC levels. My gut sent warning flags all over the place but my wife was committed to maintaining the pool and the info came from the "experts"... so I said, what the heck - can spend my focus elsewhere.
Fast forward 2 months and.....
We have been vacuuming up a ton of "dirt" that we thought was being blown in from the backyard which has no grass yet. So we kept vacuuming it up daily and put sod down.
No dice..... Then it dawned on us as we saw brown "stains" or "marks" that would not brush off that the dirt that kept "coming back" was Algae. I shocked with Yellow-Out and some Calcium Hypochlorite (yay pool supply stores). Water cleared up and dirt has mostly subsided - but stains remain and we have some bugs swimming in the pool now. Clear sign that we're not done.
Found this site and have been reading non-stop the past three days and just got my test kit in today.
So, here's where my numbers stand:
FC - 2.0
TC - 3.0
pH - 8.0
TA - 120
CYA - 58
CH - 600
I've added muriatic acid to address the pH.
I think my plan of attack is:
- Drain/Refill 25% of pool to address CH
- Add CYA to get back to 60+
- Balance pH to 7.2
- Shutoff salt cell and start my SLAM
Is there any way to address the CH without a drain/refill? I assume my high CH is from the Calcium Hypochlorite shock used and that my fill water is much better.
I'm starting to understand all of the chemistry for doing this but still quite overwhelmed.....
Fast forward 2 months and.....
We have been vacuuming up a ton of "dirt" that we thought was being blown in from the backyard which has no grass yet. So we kept vacuuming it up daily and put sod down.
No dice..... Then it dawned on us as we saw brown "stains" or "marks" that would not brush off that the dirt that kept "coming back" was Algae. I shocked with Yellow-Out and some Calcium Hypochlorite (yay pool supply stores). Water cleared up and dirt has mostly subsided - but stains remain and we have some bugs swimming in the pool now. Clear sign that we're not done.
Found this site and have been reading non-stop the past three days and just got my test kit in today.
So, here's where my numbers stand:
FC - 2.0
TC - 3.0
pH - 8.0
TA - 120
CYA - 58
CH - 600
I've added muriatic acid to address the pH.
I think my plan of attack is:
- Drain/Refill 25% of pool to address CH
- Add CYA to get back to 60+
- Balance pH to 7.2
- Shutoff salt cell and start my SLAM
Is there any way to address the CH without a drain/refill? I assume my high CH is from the Calcium Hypochlorite shock used and that my fill water is much better.
I'm starting to understand all of the chemistry for doing this but still quite overwhelmed.....