Hello:
I am in Plano (suburb just north of Dallas) and I am going into my 12th season with a pool - still learning and found this site when I decided to try liquid chlorine. As you all seem to already know, and I finally realized, there is a better way. I am still trying to get accustomed to having to check chlorine so often though.
When I first acquired the pool, I was told just keep the floater full of pucks and throw 2 lbs of shock in every Sunday. I have had to do three drain and fills (100% drains) in 12 years. It is 13,600 gallons for the pool and another 800 for the spa (yes, huge spa addition) and constantly chasing green away. The only smart thing I have done is simply ignore the kids at the local pool store whose heads almost explode when I refuse to pour 2+quarts of PhosFree in the pool. Well, actually I did buy the $50 jug once, followed the pool store employee's suggestions and added more every week until it was gone. Then decided there was some voodoo science being performed and switched stores (same company brand, different location) and two different chemical reports on the same day showed vastly different information. Chlorine, Alkalinity, and PH were all reasonably close but dissolved solids, phosphates, calcium and CYA were all different some notably. Of course the second store says my phosphates are off the chart and I need to drain 2 or 3 feet of water and top off then add 2 qts of PhosFree . . .
This year when spring arrived, my pool went deep green. I have learned through trial and error, that there is a temperature range where algae forms faster, so still not realizing the CYA problem, I was dumping WAY TOO MUCH powder in the pool. Suffice it to say, when the pool was far more green than my yard, I had to learn a new way. The kid at the pool store had no clue, he said it was because "you must be using cheap chlorine". I responded, "Yes, your chlorine is cheap, it is not inexpensive, but it is obviously the cheap stuff in an expensive bucket." Non-plused, he merely suggested I try using calcium based shock instead from now on. Then the most stupid advice I ever heard - "drain about 10 inches of water and top off, bring us a sample and see if that gets the CYA down enough to make this stuff (holding up some little packet of chemical that supposedly lowers CYA) work for you." This from a kid that just told me the CYA was 100.
So, I started looking for options and found this forum. Based on what I read here, prior experience, and a desire to just start over, I drained the pool and refilled. Apparently I am not too smart, kid at the pool store tried to sell me "stabilizer" - luckily I had some, about half the amount they told me to add, which I used but no idea what the CYA level is. Most recent test from the pool store said 40 but the one the week before said 15 and I did not add any CYA in between, despite being told to do so. Makes me wonder if that niftily little computer at the store assumes I actually followed the prior instructions and adjust accordingly.
I have lots of questions BTW.
I am in Plano (suburb just north of Dallas) and I am going into my 12th season with a pool - still learning and found this site when I decided to try liquid chlorine. As you all seem to already know, and I finally realized, there is a better way. I am still trying to get accustomed to having to check chlorine so often though.
When I first acquired the pool, I was told just keep the floater full of pucks and throw 2 lbs of shock in every Sunday. I have had to do three drain and fills (100% drains) in 12 years. It is 13,600 gallons for the pool and another 800 for the spa (yes, huge spa addition) and constantly chasing green away. The only smart thing I have done is simply ignore the kids at the local pool store whose heads almost explode when I refuse to pour 2+quarts of PhosFree in the pool. Well, actually I did buy the $50 jug once, followed the pool store employee's suggestions and added more every week until it was gone. Then decided there was some voodoo science being performed and switched stores (same company brand, different location) and two different chemical reports on the same day showed vastly different information. Chlorine, Alkalinity, and PH were all reasonably close but dissolved solids, phosphates, calcium and CYA were all different some notably. Of course the second store says my phosphates are off the chart and I need to drain 2 or 3 feet of water and top off then add 2 qts of PhosFree . . .
This year when spring arrived, my pool went deep green. I have learned through trial and error, that there is a temperature range where algae forms faster, so still not realizing the CYA problem, I was dumping WAY TOO MUCH powder in the pool. Suffice it to say, when the pool was far more green than my yard, I had to learn a new way. The kid at the pool store had no clue, he said it was because "you must be using cheap chlorine". I responded, "Yes, your chlorine is cheap, it is not inexpensive, but it is obviously the cheap stuff in an expensive bucket." Non-plused, he merely suggested I try using calcium based shock instead from now on. Then the most stupid advice I ever heard - "drain about 10 inches of water and top off, bring us a sample and see if that gets the CYA down enough to make this stuff (holding up some little packet of chemical that supposedly lowers CYA) work for you." This from a kid that just told me the CYA was 100.
So, I started looking for options and found this forum. Based on what I read here, prior experience, and a desire to just start over, I drained the pool and refilled. Apparently I am not too smart, kid at the pool store tried to sell me "stabilizer" - luckily I had some, about half the amount they told me to add, which I used but no idea what the CYA level is. Most recent test from the pool store said 40 but the one the week before said 15 and I did not add any CYA in between, despite being told to do so. Makes me wonder if that niftily little computer at the store assumes I actually followed the prior instructions and adjust accordingly.
I have lots of questions BTW.
Great to have you with us.
