I'm sure many have asked all the same questions and I will dig into forums after work today and this weekend.
I am new to pools and this is a bit of background on my pandemic pool situation.
We moved into our new built home march 21, 2020. I live in minnesota. Weather in March hovers around 30 to 50. Pandemic was just getting into full swing. I have always dreamed of having a pool and figured this was the time to get one put in as all of the yard still needed to be landscaped. We had a very tall hill in one of the back corners of our lot. We excavated about 12 ft off of the hill just to be able to mow it someday. Landscaper suggested we put a pool on this corner as it really wasn't good usable space with the slope still being 6 feet above house level. So we cut out for a round semi inground vinyl pool. The back side of the pool is completely underground (a retaining wall is in to hold earth from putting too much pressure on pool) and 6ft deep. The front is about 3ft above and 4 ft deep. Diameter is 30ft. According to calculations using 5ft average depth, it's approximately 26k gallons.
During the summer of 2020 it was very difficult to even find a pool let alone contractors to install it. I ended up being a 'contractor' and hiring subs for each part of putting yard in. I found a guy to cut out and set up the pool. Pool finally went in late August 2020 (took quite a while to find an available pool). We had to fill pool to set liner. Unfortunately, I couldn't get the electrician out for the life of me! I contacted over 30 companies and all were either too busy or not operating. So there the pool sat WITH water in it. I used the pretty cheap pump that came with pool by plugging in with extension cord. The pump went out about end of Sept 2020. We cleaned the pool best we knew how, put some winterizing chemical and algeacide in at the direction of pool store and closed her down.
Spring 2021. Crud ton (excuse my language) of algea on bottom of pool. Now we have NO pump and still no electricity. The new 2hp pump and new cartridge filter (both hayward) sitting in garage waiting to be hardwired into 230v. Finally got an electrician out end of April. Pump installed, passed inspection and up and running 3rd week in May. It is now July and we still haven't been able to swim!
My questions:
I was told ph is first to balance. I have been trying to keep it balanced. It fluctuates as when I put muriatic in, it lowers it but then super shocking it raises it again. My alkalinity is too low (about 40) but the ph runs higher (7.6-8). I have been keeping my chlorine higher to help kill all of this algea (fc around 10). I was using liquid and just started using granulated shock in the evening the past 5 days as I have no stability in the pool either. I have been putting in 5 lbs of shock per night past 4 nights. Pump is running 24/7 We are vacuuming but it has been so darn hot that pool water is sitting at 78/79 degrees. The algea keeps coming back. We have seriously clogged up 4-6 filters nightly vacuuming Monday through Thursday this week. (We keep changing out filters and cleaning them out when clogged using 4 filters in rotation.) Don't know how much algea is left as I can't see to the bottom. The drainage port on filter housing isn't set up so I havent filtered to waste.
I am putting in baking soda today to get the alkalinity where it is supposed to be. Then I will again tweak the ph but if I have to put muriatic acid in to lower ph, won't that lower the alkalinity again?
Also my CYA is at 0. I know i need stabilizer but thought I am supposed to balance the alkalinity/ph first while making sure FC is available..
My hardness is at top of normal range.
All testing done with strips until my digital tester comes in monday.
Can someone please tell me what steps and in what order I should be doing?
I am new to pools and this is a bit of background on my pandemic pool situation.
We moved into our new built home march 21, 2020. I live in minnesota. Weather in March hovers around 30 to 50. Pandemic was just getting into full swing. I have always dreamed of having a pool and figured this was the time to get one put in as all of the yard still needed to be landscaped. We had a very tall hill in one of the back corners of our lot. We excavated about 12 ft off of the hill just to be able to mow it someday. Landscaper suggested we put a pool on this corner as it really wasn't good usable space with the slope still being 6 feet above house level. So we cut out for a round semi inground vinyl pool. The back side of the pool is completely underground (a retaining wall is in to hold earth from putting too much pressure on pool) and 6ft deep. The front is about 3ft above and 4 ft deep. Diameter is 30ft. According to calculations using 5ft average depth, it's approximately 26k gallons.
During the summer of 2020 it was very difficult to even find a pool let alone contractors to install it. I ended up being a 'contractor' and hiring subs for each part of putting yard in. I found a guy to cut out and set up the pool. Pool finally went in late August 2020 (took quite a while to find an available pool). We had to fill pool to set liner. Unfortunately, I couldn't get the electrician out for the life of me! I contacted over 30 companies and all were either too busy or not operating. So there the pool sat WITH water in it. I used the pretty cheap pump that came with pool by plugging in with extension cord. The pump went out about end of Sept 2020. We cleaned the pool best we knew how, put some winterizing chemical and algeacide in at the direction of pool store and closed her down.
Spring 2021. Crud ton (excuse my language) of algea on bottom of pool. Now we have NO pump and still no electricity. The new 2hp pump and new cartridge filter (both hayward) sitting in garage waiting to be hardwired into 230v. Finally got an electrician out end of April. Pump installed, passed inspection and up and running 3rd week in May. It is now July and we still haven't been able to swim!
My questions:
I was told ph is first to balance. I have been trying to keep it balanced. It fluctuates as when I put muriatic in, it lowers it but then super shocking it raises it again. My alkalinity is too low (about 40) but the ph runs higher (7.6-8). I have been keeping my chlorine higher to help kill all of this algea (fc around 10). I was using liquid and just started using granulated shock in the evening the past 5 days as I have no stability in the pool either. I have been putting in 5 lbs of shock per night past 4 nights. Pump is running 24/7 We are vacuuming but it has been so darn hot that pool water is sitting at 78/79 degrees. The algea keeps coming back. We have seriously clogged up 4-6 filters nightly vacuuming Monday through Thursday this week. (We keep changing out filters and cleaning them out when clogged using 4 filters in rotation.) Don't know how much algea is left as I can't see to the bottom. The drainage port on filter housing isn't set up so I havent filtered to waste.
I am putting in baking soda today to get the alkalinity where it is supposed to be. Then I will again tweak the ph but if I have to put muriatic acid in to lower ph, won't that lower the alkalinity again?
Also my CYA is at 0. I know i need stabilizer but thought I am supposed to balance the alkalinity/ph first while making sure FC is available..
My hardness is at top of normal range.
All testing done with strips until my digital tester comes in monday.
Can someone please tell me what steps and in what order I should be doing?
