New Pool Owner in Mesa, AZ

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Sounds great, Bonnie. Were you able to find a 400 Watt, or did you guys end up going with the 300 watt?

Just a reminder that tomorrow is my out of town surgery day. I have to leave out of here by 3AM to get to my surgery appt place on time, UGGGG, I'm sure dreading it too. I doubt when you do the later posts tonight that I'll still be on, but we'll see :). But you guys know what you're doing, and the numbers appear to be holding better.

Hopefully the one this afternoon, and tonight will show that your FC levels are still holding as well as they are now, and that your CC level has dropped down to 0.5ppm, or less. IF that's the case, you guys can attempt OCLT tonight if you want.

If you have a high FC fluctuation again, and the CC is still at 1.0ppm then hold off on OCLT for tonight, and we'll see what the numbers do tomorrow.

If you can do OCLT tonight, just check FC and CC levels at bedtime,

IF FC is at 24ppm (Your shock level), or higher then add NO CHLORINE, and just document this FC and CC as your Nighttime levels.

If, however, the FC is lower than 24ppm, then with the water circulating add enough chlorine to raise the pool to 24ppm per Pool Math, and recheck the level 30 mins after the add, and Document that FC/CC number as your nighttime levels.

Then in the Morning before the sun is hitting directly on the pool again recheck both the FC and CC levels to see if you had a

<1.0ppm FC loss overnight,

and

we also want to see that CC level at 0.5ppm or less. So keep us posted.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the levels hold, and the CC comes down to 0.5ppm throughout the day for you guys.

I'm sure Gene will be checking in on you too to see how things are going, so if I'm away, perhaps he can answer any questions you may have. I'll check back in you later tonight, and again tomorrow after my surgery to see how things are going. Wishing you guys the Best Of Luck. Have a wonderful day :)
 
4:15 pm FC 22, down 4 in the past 4 hours 15 minutes. This reading is probably not accurate though because Rusty decided to add water to the pool this afternoon. He probably added about an inch of water to the pool. We are bumping it back up to 26.

We did find a 400 watt bulb at NPS pool store, so we bought that one and returned the 500 watt bulb to Leslie's. The guy at NPS also said we could use the 500 watt bulb, but it would just burn out faster. I don't know why the guys working at the pool stores give people this kind of advice.

I did remember you are going into surgery tomorrow. I would hate having to get up at 3 a.m. to go to have surgery. I've had several hernia repair surgeries and was a nervous wreck before each one. I was supposed to have another one done this year when the last one failed, but we had to cancel our insurance because we couldn't afford the monthly payment right now. We are wishing you well and a speedy recovery.

We feel like we have a pretty good understanding of what we need to do. Does anyone know how much chlorine, on average, a pool in our dry AZ climate should be losing over the course of an hour or a day?
 
Yeah the water add can cause more of a loss because of the dilution, but regardless it does Not look like you guys are ready to test OCLT yet tonight. We will see what tomorrow brings.

I don't know why the PS tell people that either, but it's crazy. Like I said I'd much rather be safe than sorry for sure because there is precious cargo swimming in that pool.

On the pool chlorine average loss I can't say for certain in AZ, but Gene might be able to answer that for you because he's in AZ too.

I'm sorry to hear about your insurance, but completely understand. My hubby didn't have insurance for Years, and he has bleeding behind his eyes from his diabetes that is causing him to go blind, so he Has to have surgery every 3 months to stop the bleeding, and get shots in his eyes to decrease the inflammation. The eye specialist said these surgeries will run in the 1000s of dollars. The Dr was nice enough to work on him without insurance to try to save what vision of his he could, which was a true blessing for us.

Well now my X-hubby has a Medical Card, but not after us already oweing 1000s of dollars to his eye specialist, but at least now Everything is paid for which we couldn't be happier. Sometimes you have to do what you have to do.

I also understand about the hernia surgery I have had a double hernia surgery, (That was a tough one for me too. I had a friend who said it was the easiest surgery he ever had). LOL I couldn't stand up, sit down, lay down, etc. without feeling like it was ripping my guts out after the surgery. I stood in the middle of my hospital room after going to the bathroom, just stood there, and cried like a baby LOL. Dave freaked because that's not me at all. Generally after surgery I bounce right back, but that one was tough.

I'm like you because I too now have 2 hernias again that need repaired (I'm not sure if they are the same 2 or not, but I ain't doing a thing until it is absolutely necessary, or my guts are laying on the floor. LOL NOPE).

Anyway thanks for the well wishes, and I'll catch up with you after surgery tomorrow. I hope You and Rusty have a Wonderful night. :)
 
How did the numbers look this morning?

I'm about 15 miles southwest of you. My pool is close in size to yours - if no one uses it I lose about 2 ppm chlorine per day this time of year. It's in full sun most all day - gets some afternoon shade. But every pool is different - although 4 or more with zero bather load seems a bit high to me.

I'm not overly surprised that two pool stores said you could use the 500 watt bulb. Most aren't even able to provide correct and consistent water test results (among other things) - so I can't expect them to know much about electricity either. :p

Keep at it. This is probably the hardest part of the SLAM - so close, yet so far away (or so it seems). You'll get there! And, after you get there, you'll be surprised at how easy it is to maintain your pool on a daily basis.

Were you able to take any pics of the equipment and timer? Have a look at photobucket or one of the other free image upload sites when you have a chance - uploading there and sharing it here is easy.

- - - Updated - - -

I see we were posting at the same time. :D
 
At your 10:45 PM test, did you test again 30 minutes after adding? And your next test at 9:00 AM was after the sun was up for a while. How much sun was on the water at 9AM?

If at all possible, tonight - test, add, test again in 30 minutes after dark. Tomorrow morning - test before the sun hits the pool. This will give you a truer overnight comparison.

Did you have a chance to test out the light?
 
No we didn't retest in 30 minutes last night. We had decided to not do the OCLT because we were starting to lose more FC again. There was full sun at 9:00 a.m. The only shade we ever get on our pool is less than 1/4 of it after 5 p.m. In the evening from one of the palm trees planted by it.

I just got my Ipad back from getting the screen replaced. I will go out and take some pictures of the pool and equipment and check out those free sites. If I can get it figured out I'll post a link.

11 am FC 24.5 down 2.5 in 2 hours bumped back up to 26.5

- - - Updated - - -

We tested the light last night and it did not come on. We think the switch is bad and need to get it replaced.
 
Rusty just brushed down the walls of the pool. He is seeing a lot if white flakes floating around in the water. This is something he has never seen before when brushing the pool. Any idea of what this could be? He went back out to brush the bottom. If he sees anything more, we will post it.

Still working on figuring out the pictures. I'll post a link once I figure it out. I'm using photo bucket but nothing seems to be working. Maybe it's just because I don't have a computer and I am trying to do it on an ipad.
 

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When he brushed the bottom of the pool there was a little cloud of dust swirling up behind the brush that just looked like brown dirt. It was just a little bit swirling around like dust.

5:20pm FC 25, down 2 in 3 hours 20 minutes. Bumping back up to 27.
FC has been going down all day.
 
The white you are seeing is most likely bleached out algae. Once all the rest of the algae and organics your seeing in there is killed off or depleted Then the numbers are dropping because it is fighting the stuff Rusty stirred up in there today. Keep up the great job and have wonderful night. Surgery went well today, but I'm sicker than a dog every time I stand up, I get sick. As you say, It's always something :)
 
I noticed the link I inserted earlier with our pool and equipment pictures didn't work. I think the problem is the way I named the album. I went back into photo bucket and changed it. I think you should be able to use this link instead: Pool by rustyandbonnie | Photobucket I can't figure out how to make this link clickable, so I guess you will have to copy it and paste it in your browse

We're glad to hear the surgery went well. Take care of yourself and don't overdo it. Wishing you a speedy recovery.
 
The link for the pictures came through just fine, nice job. I see you have an actual subpanel for your electical setup, which is good. Yes, the light switch is probably bad, but I'd check the wiring and power in the lighting circuit just to be sure. The rest of your setup looks good too - well expect for the timer cogs you presently can't remove. ;)

As CJ said, that's most likely dead algae - and may be a little dust/dirt also. This is the point in a SLAM that usually gets the most frustrating, because you're seeing very slow progress as you near the completion. Patience at this point really pays off. There is no way to know for sure how long this completion process will take. For some it's only a day or two, for others it stretches out longer - just hang in there.

The reason I asked if you had tested 30 minutes after the add was to see if the level of chlorine went up the expected amount. There are a few variables that may affect the expected level - pool volume may be off a little and the chlorine percentage in one particular jug may be less (or more) than advertised. So, if you've added the amount required to raise the level 3 ppm and you test after 30 minutes and see it only went up 2ppm there is an error somewhere that may need to be taken into account. While the need to test 30 minutes after an add during the start of the SLAM process each and every time may not be necessary, it may be prudent nearer the end to do it once a day or every other day to be sure you are getting the expected level. If you do it once or twice and get the expected result, you don't need to continue the practice - until you are ready for your OCLT. And for the OCLT, make sure you take the AM reading before sun up to get an accurate overnight loss number.

Keep up the good work!
 
6:15 am FC 24 down 3 overnight. We bumped it back up to 30 because Rusty is working until 5:00 tonight. We are waiting on the mail to come. Our R0871 is supposed to come today. Not sure if we have enough left to do another test before it arrives. We have used up 2 bottles since we started the SLAM. We will hopefully be able to post more numbers later.
 
Hi Bonnie, just post them when you get them. If your reagents don't arrive today, and you can't check the levels just continue to add approximately the same amount of chlorine you've been adding to try to remain above shock level until you can recheck the levels again.

Bless your hearts. You both have been working so hard to get all that algae and yuck cleared up out of there so you can just enjoy the pool. Your pool is sure not going to make it easy on your fine folks, is it? I can't believe you guys are still having an overnight loss of 3ppm. :(.

I personally hope it's that the chlorine is still fighting what came out from behind the light the other day, and not more still in there hiding. The levels and chlorine drops have not stabilized much since the algae and yuck from behind the light was removed, so it still could be that still causing the drops. You guys just continue to remain in search mode, and scope out any areas that something could be hiding in.

You and Rusty both are doing an excellent job on getting it cleaned out of there, Now if we could just get the pool, and the levels to cooperate accordingly, we'd be in good shape. Keep up the great job, and have a wonderful night. :)
 
What a messed up day! I got a chance to test at 3pm and came up with only FC 17. I help Rusty every time he tests and know exactly how he does it so I knew this number had to be wrong. I didn't think there was enough drops to retest, and not wanting to leave the pool that low, I added a gallon of chlorine to bring it back up to 25.4 since he was still going to be gone for a while. I went for the odd .4 so I could just add the full gallon.

well, then we tested it at 5:30 and the results were FC 35. Just like I thought, the test I did was way off or else my pool is making chlorine again...lol...wishful thinking.

we then put the hose in the water and added water for a half hour, made sure it was thoroughly stirred up and a half hour later 6:30 pm FC 32.

so our numbers don't tell us a clear picture of what went on today. We will test again later and I'll leave it up to rusty to do all the testing from now on. If he's going to be gone for a long time, I'll have him bump it up really high.

have a wonderful night!
 
Bless your heart stuff like that happens sometimes it's no biggy. I wish it was making it's own chlorine for you too. He won't need to bump it "really high", just slightly higher than Shock level, or just slightly higher than what you've been doing already should be fine, if he's going to be away for a while. Hopefully those chlorine levels are going to start holding soon, so you won't have to worry about the drastic chlorine drops anyway.

Hang in there. You guys are doing great. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day. Have a wonderful night. :)
 

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