New Pool Owner in Mesa, AZ

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Yes Bonnie, I agree it has seemed that every time we think we're getting close another big AZ dust storm will blow in, and start sucking up all your chlorine. Only this time that AZ dust has been hidden algae. :(.

I saw another comment in a post yesterday where they kept getting close to passing OCLT only to again not pass over and over, and their problem was again hidden algae behind their light. I've seen this multiple times with ladders too. Once they got the algae cleaned out, they passed OCLT the same night. It's crazy how just a little hidden algae can cause a person so many problems.

That's why it's so important to focus on all those little spots because more often then not that's where the problem will be. (I know you all don't have a ladder, or removable steps, but anywhere that stuff can hide in i.e. lights, returns, skimmers, removable steps, ladders, etc. it certainly will hide in there, and set up home, IF the chlorine level has ever been allowed to drop below the minimum for their CYA level to allow it to grow.

There's no doubt in my mind that you will get yours cleaned out too. Also when he's got the hose in there tell him to spray around every opening in the pool that he sees that there could be algae hiding in ie) return, drains, skimmer, lights, etc. If it's hiding in one spot it could definitely be hiding in several.

Just stick with it, and I promise you it will get out of there. I'm so proud of you guys though. You and Rusty are working so hard, and have done, and are doing an excellent job at trying to eliminate this problem. Our goal is for you to be able to enjoy your pool, and be able to easily, and quickly Maintain it, without having to deal with recurring algae over, and over again, and I know that's your goal as well.

Once it's all cleaned out Maintaining your chlorine levels 1-2ppm above the minimum for your CYA level, At all times, never allowing it to drop below Minimum, will be the key to helping prevent a reoccurrence in the future.

(Anytime you need the link to the TFtestkit site it is in my Signature below, and a lot of other folks also have it in their Signatures as well).
Keep up the great job. Have a wonderful day. :)
 
Thanks for all of the advice. The problem with the light is that the previous owner put an oversized wood screw in a hole for a metal screw. Rusty forgot to buy a vice grip yesterday, but we are heading to the store to buy one right now. He is a carpenter and a very handy man, so I'm sure he will get that screw out one way or another.

There are a lot of places for that algae to hide in our pool. There are 5 returns and it has an automatic cleaning system with several things in the floor of the pool that pop up to clean the pool. It is also a pebble tec pool so I would guess that having that textured finish would give algae more hiding places. It seems like everyone around here thinks that pebble tec is the best kind of pool to have. We don't know anything about pools, but it seems to us like that's not the best option. Some spots in the pool look like it has missing pebbles which I'm sure would be the case over the years.

Rusty just said that the pool is on a timer and he's not sure how to bypass it. The pump has been turning off around 2 or 3 in the morning and he has been turning it back on first thing in the morning. I think I remember the pool guy who repaired our equipment saying that the timer is rusted and the dials wouldn't move to reset the times, so I don't know we'd hat we can do about the timer, other than get up in the middle if the night to turn it back on.

Almost forgot to post our morning numbers.
9:00 am FC 25, down 2 overnight. Bumping it back up to 27.
CC 1

- - - Updated - - -

Proavia, I forgot to answer your other question: yes the sample is taken from the same area and he goes down elbow length every time.
 
Yeah, there's not a lot you can do if the timer can't be reset. Just try to continue to run it as often as you can. Mine was actually down several days for repairs during my SLAM. I had use a broom to stir in my chlorine adds, and all turned out alright.

I'm not surprised to see the CC go up a bit with all that got washed out the other day. I actually expected it to do just that.

The FC drop overnight all in all isn't too bad, definitely better then what we've been seeing, and what they were when you guys 1st started, so hopefully you guys are catching up with the problem, and can soon get ahead of it.

Keep up the great job. Oh, how's the new grandbaby, and momma doing, fine I hope. You guys have a wonderful day :).
 
Rusty finally got the screw out but some if it is still in there as it broke in half. We got the light out. There was a pile if brown dirt in the box and a little bit of black under the dirt. Also some black on the electrical wire that isn't coming off. He vacuumed up the dirt and scrubbed out the box (all from outside the pool by lying down and leaning over the pool). He then opened up the light unit and poured out a bunch of slightly dirty water. He found some black staining in the bottom of the bulb unit which scrubbed out for the most part. There is calcium buildup on the rubber gasket. We are going to go to the pool store to buy a new gasket and bulb, keeping our fingers crossed that they have one that fits.

We were surprised that we saw a lot of dirt but not a lot of anything that looked like algae.

I would post pictures but I can't do it in this thread. I get error messages stating that I've used up my space. I guess the pictures I posted earlier were too big.

Aiden and Mom are doing great. Just wish I was in Chicago to hold him.
 
I'm glad he got it loose, but not glad the screw broke off. The previous owners probably loaded it down with something to keep it in place. They should have never put a wood screw in there to start with though.

Hopefully what was in there though was the entire culprit. Chlorine should fight it too, so keeping my fingers crossed this solves the issue from here on out. It will take the chlorine a bit to remove anything that got into the water, when the light was removed, and during the cleaning, but after that we should start seeing the FC levels begin to hold better, and that CC level begin to drop back down. Letting us know it's out of there.

Oh, I hope they have the right bulb. If he gets a new bulb will he be able to get it to stay in there with the broken screw in the hole?

LOL I bet you do wish you were there to hold that little feller. I love his name too. My youngest grandson just turned 1, and his name is Cayden.-(Pretty close there ). Well you guys have a great day, and good luck on the light. :)
 
I'm not sure why it double posted your last post. I've had some do it too, but not sure why? You can either edit it, and put Double post in the comment instead, or just leave it double posted. Either way will be fine.
 
Sorry for posting that twice. When I got back on it was still in the area where you type your message so I thought it didn't send out the first time...lol.

12:45 FC 23.5, down 3.5 in 3 hours 45 minutes.

Rusty backwashed again taking the pressure from 25 back down to 15. When he vacuumed the dirt it went up to 30. When he removed the vacuum hose from the pool a handful of brown dirt spilled out into the pool.

He got the light put back together with the new seal and bulb. He submerged it and didn't see any air bubbles so the seal must be holding. We haven't turned the power back on to test the bulb yet. He got the rest of the screw out and now we need to go to the store to get the right one to replace it. He has the bulb unit sitting up on the sidewalk wrapped in a towel. Hope that's okay and won't hurt the seal will all the sun and heat out here in AZ.

He is bumping the pool back up to 25.5 and will recheck FC level in about 1 1/2 hours so he can bump it up higher before he goes to work.

We like his name too. Our daughter and son-in-law surprised us by using my husband's name for his middle name - Aiden Russell Stickelmaier. With this last name we told our daughter she must love Joe a lot to change her name from Wilson to Stickelmaier when she married him last September...lol.
 
LOL Bonnie, you're a mess. LOL My biggest issue would be I'd need a spell check to make sure I spelled it correctly.

I think as long as the light isn't sitting out in the direct sun it should be fine. If it appear to be getting too hot or the direct sun is hitting it, perhaps set a lawn chair, or something, over top of it to help shade it a bit, and hopefully it will be fine anyway. I'm so glad he got the broken screw out, and was able to pick up a lot of stuff with the vac.:whoot: Keep us posted, and Have a wonderful day :).
 
Great name for the baby! And extra special using Rusty's name for his middle name.

You can just leave the pool light floating in the pool until the SLAM is done if you want. That will also help test the new seal integrity.
I bet the bulb and seal was a heck of a lot less than the $400 the pool guy was going to soak you for, even buying it locally (instead of online). And now Rusty knows how to change it if needed - saving addition $$ in the future. Don't turn it on until it's reinstalled in the niche though.

For posting pictures you can use photobucket, google photos or another free image hosting site to upload your pictures to. Then get a link to the pic and include in your post here. I'd love to see a pic of your equipment , timer and pool.

Gene
 

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I'm always posting from my cell phone and the keyboard is way too small so I'm always hitting the wrong letters and/or the phone auto corrects sometimes and can completely change what I'm writing. And to think years ago I used to be a secretary...lol. I got hurried by my husband so I didn't proofread before sending. He was in a hurry to go to the store to get what we needed to fix the light. I'll try to do better...lol.

3:00 pm FC 24 down 1.5 in 2 hours 15 minutes. Rusty bumped it back up to 26 since he won't be able to check it again until around 9:30 tonight.

When Rusty went to put the light bulb in the socket he noticed it said maximum 400 watts. Leslie pool sold us a 500 watt bulb. Do you think that will be fine to use or should we return it for a 300 watt bulb. They said they only carry 300 and 500 watt bulbs.
 
I'd hate for you guys to have to return it, but If it were me, I would personally return it to avoid being over on the wattage because I don't know if it could throw a breaker, or get too hot, or what in there? I certainly don't want you guys getting hurt. I'm all about better safe than sorry, and safety first. But I would return it and get the appropriate watt bulb.

LOL on the typing it's not a problem at all. I completely understand about those little key boards. I'm always hitting the wrong buttons. You can just say, I wanted to repost it in case they didn't hear me the 1st time around. LOL. I just mentioned it to let you know how you could get rid of it if you wanted to. I've had a couple do it too, and it's not a biggy at all.

I really had to laugh on the Autocorrect comment. Seriously, what the heck is up with autocorrect, and where the heck does it come up with its words? I texted my sis the other night and wrote I suspect you're sleeping. After it sent it I looked down and autocorrect had changed it to I suspect you're annoying. (Well she is annoying, but I wasn't planning on telling her she was just then lol). Then my hubby had a Cat scan the other day, and I was suppose to be sending a text to my daughter that said, David is at his Cat scan, lol yet dear ole autocorrect changed it to, David is at his Vatican???? LOL What the heck?

You guys keep up the great job, and have an awesome night. :)
 
Thanks for the laugh... Those are great examples of crazy autocorrect problems. I loved the sis being annoying...lol.

I called Leslie's when we found out they gave us the wrong wattage bulb. We took the old bulb in with us for reference when we bought the new one, but didn't look at it so we have no idea how many watts it was. We also told them to throw it away. When I called they said everyone uses the 500 watt and it shouldn't be a problem, but then this is a Leslie's pool employee telling us this, the same people who kept selling us algaecide, from green to clean, pool shock, etc, etc, etc...lol.

Have a wonderful night!
 
Exactly, I will find out for sure, and get back with you because I don't think that's a good idea at all.

UPDATE: Ok Bonnie, I spoke with Jason, one of our experts here on the site, and he confirmed exactly what I had said.

His response was "Why would it ever be safe to put in a higher power bulb than the fixture was designed for, whether in the pool or in your house? They have a rating for a reason."

The clerk should not be telling people it shouldn't be a problem when in fact it most likely will be a problem. So your instincts to not trust his opinion was right on the money because he going to end up getting someone hurt.


I hope this helps, and I hope you take the 500 watt back and replace it with an appropriate watt bulb cause I kind of like you and Rusty and would like to keep you both around a while. :) Have a wonderful night.
 
10:30pm FC 25, down only 1 in 7 1/2 hours. We are bumping it back up to 27 for the night.

We are feeling good about the numbers today. It dropped 2 overnight, then 3.5, 1.5, and 1. No big drops of 5 or more today...yay! Maybe we are finally getting that algae out of there!

Aiden and his Mommy came home from the hospital today, so all is well in Chicago.

Have a great night and we will post more results tomorrow.
 
I would guess the 500 watt might be brighter than a 300 watt - but I think the bigger issue is heat. A 500 watt bulb will not only use more electricity than a 300 watt bulb, but it will generate more heat. This may shorten bulb life, cause the fixture to overheat, melt the bulb socket and cause the wiring to overheat.

IMHO, use at or less than rated wattage. The 300 watt bulb will be slightly dimmer than a 400 watt bulb. I have a 300 watt bulb in my 400 watt rated fixture - and since I don't like the pool to be overly brightly lit, I even installed a heavy-duty dimmer (rated at 600 watts) at the equipment pad. Dimming creates a nice subtle look in my opinion and possibly extends bulb life too.

Here's hoping you have minimal overnight loss.
 
Wonderful on all Accounts: The FC holding, Mom and Baby coming home, and the whole shebang. :)

Bonnie I did an Update in Comment #134 that I will move down here too. I don't know what the heck is going on tonight with me not being able to see posts, siggys ect. ???? Because yours or Gene's neither one was visible on mine when I did the update above.

Anyway here's the: UPDATE: Ok Bonnie, Jason, one of our experts here on the site, confirmed exactly what I had said.

His response was "Why would it ever be safe to put in a higher power bulb than the fixture was designed for, whether in the pool or in your house? They have a rating for a reason."

The clerk should not be telling people it shouldn't be a problem when in fact it most likely will be a problem. So your instincts to not trust his opinion was right on the money because he's going to end up getting someone hurt telling them that.

I hope this helps, and I hope you take the 500 watt back and replace it with an appropriate watt bulb tomorrow cause I kind of like you and Rusty and would like to keep you both around a while. :smile: Have a wonderful night.
 
JVtrain, Another of our experts here at TFP also said to check at other Pool stores in your area too, as they may have the actual 400 watt bulb available there where you can replace it with the exact wattage for your holder. If none of your local pool stores have them you can also order a 400 watt online at "1000bulbs.com or even amazon" and they would most likely be "cheaper than the pool store prices."
 
Not sure where in Mesa you are .... Check with Corson's A&M pool supply. There's one on Southern & Val Vista and another on McKellips & Center.

As an aside, they also carry 12.5% chlorine in a four pack for $14.99 (31.45 acid too for a little more). There's a one time $6 deposit on the carrier and jugs. I get mine at their Gilbert store - and so far, it's always fresh.

Or NPS on University and Greenfield. There are several others (besides Leslies) around too. And online is also another viable option.
 
7:30am FC 21, down 4 overnight. He ended up leaving it at 25 last night.

Thanks for everyone's input and looking out for us. We are on our way to NPS to see what bulbs they have and going to Leslies to return the 500 watt bulb.

We are at Signal Butte and Southern in Mesa.

We will check back in later. Have a wonderful day everyone!
 

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