Please help.

[mirisandland]

Hello everyone, we are the first time pool owners and are having hard time to maintain our pool. We live in North California (around Sacramento area)

we got results from LESLIE’s.

I am wondering if we can get your generous tips and knowledge.

Our pool is about 17000-18000 gallons.

we haven’t put much in besides shock and baking soda. We are first time pool owners. When we first got the pool/house we didn’t need to do much at all and the water was great for a long time without the need for shock (we just used the tablets). It must have been balanced properly. Eventually it became more and more difficult to keep it from turning green.

Many thanks

 

[HermanTX]

Welcome to TFP.
This is a great forum to provide you guidance and assistance with all aspects of pool ownership.

You indicate you have been using chlorine tablets. The 3inch Trichlor tablets not only have chlorine but also a lot of CYA. So I would have expected your CYA to be higher - much higher. Have you happened to drain and refill your pool recently?

The Sun is consuming your chlorine because you have no CYA to protect it - if I can believe the Leslie test. I am doubtful.

Are you willing to move away from tablets and go to Liquid Chlorine? You will need that and Muractic Acid for majority of chemical additions. You will not have to use granular shock. Did Leslie's sell you any products?

If you wish to follow the TFP methodology, a cornerstone of it is to have your own test kit and perform your own testing.
We have Test Kits Compared that are recommended that provide consistent results.

Also, suggest you read Pool Care Basics. The methodology can give you crystal clear water.

Suggest you purchase some liquid chlorine - can be purchased at WalMart or Home Deport or other similar stores in CA. It will go by names such as Pool Essentials Liquid Shock. IT is commonly referred to as bleach because the main ingredient is sodium hypochlorite but it will be in 10% mixture. Do not use common household bleach as it has additives.

Let us know how you wish to proceed.

 

[mirisandland]

Welcome to TFP.
This is a great forum to provide you guidance and assistance with all aspects of pool ownership.

You indicate you have been using chlorine tablets. The 3inch Trichlor tablets not only have chlorine but also a lot of CYA. So I would have expected your CYA to be higher - much higher. Have you happened to drain and refill your pool recently?

The Sun is consuming your chlorine because you have no CYA to protect it - if I can believe the Leslie test. I am doubtful.

Are you willing to move away from tablets and go to Liquid Chlorine? You will need that and Muractic Acid for majority of chemical additions. You will not have to use granular shock. Did Leslie's sell you any products?

If you wish to follow the TFP methodology, a cornerstone of it is to have your own test kit and perform your own testing.
We have Test Kits Compared that are recommended that provide consistent results.

Also, suggest you read Pool Care Basics. The methodology can give you crystal clear water.

Suggest you purchase some liquid chlorine - can be purchased at WalMart or Home Deport or other similar stores in CA. It will go by names such as Pool Essentials Liquid Shock. IT is commonly referred to as bleach because the main ingredient is sodium hypochlorite but it will be in 10% mixture. Do not use common household bleach as it has additives.

Let us know how you wish to proceed.

Thank you so much! We didn’t buy any products from Leslie’s (yet) I am curious why you think Leslie’s not accurate?

“Have you happened to drain and refill your pool recently?”- No, we didn’t drain and refill the pool. Although Leslie’s believes that we have a leak because of cyanuric acid is oddly low.

 

[jeffchap]

The accuracy of most pool store testing is dreadful, and CYA is usually the one they are the worst at. This is why we insist that you perform your own testing using one of our recommended kits. We simply cannot make recommendations based upon pool store tests. You might as well pick numbers at random.

If you care to see for yourself, take a water sample to three different pool stores then compare the results.

 

[mrm1682]

I also would stay away from pool store testing. I used to use it to “compare” to my home testing and it just added more confusion. Follow the TFP method and you’ll add a lot less chemicals and have a clear pool.

 

[duraleigh]

I am curious why you think Leslie’s not accurate?

Keep reading the thousands and thousands of posts on here from pool owners who have made the error of trusting pool stores. They just can't (nor do the care to) do the precision testing that you can do at home with your own VERY good kit.

 

[Newdude]

Forget the accuracy argument and the intent to fleece you argument altogether. Not every last pool store is out to get you (although most exist solely to sell you things), and not every last pool store has inaccurate testing.

You need to test your pool daily and the pool store only tests for free when you buy stuff. They won't send you home everyday to add from your own supply. On day 4 the tests will cost $15 or $25 each because you are wasting their test supplies. They will legit admit at that point that nothing about their free tests are free. They are a sales tool and nothing but.

To top that off, they simply won't be open many times when you need to test. If you suspect a problem you need to test at sundown and sunrise and they won't be there to help. If you do have a problem you need testing every couple of hours and they will not be helping unless you are buying their mystery potions.

 

[mrm1682]

Leslie’s was close to my testing but always tends to be off a bit. And each time they always wanted me to add buckets of chemicals to fix things. I’ve never bought anything from them and would’ve wasted a ton of money on things I didn’t need. I was naive about it at first but when my wife came home with a $40 bucket of alkalinity up that’s still sitting in my garage I’ll never trusted buying from them again. Plus most of their stuff is way overpriced.

 

[HermanTX]

Thank you so much! We didn’t buy any products from Leslie’s (yet) I am curious why you think Leslie’s not accurate?

“Have you happened to drain and refill your pool recently?”- No, we didn’t drain and refill the pool. Although Leslie’s believes that we have a leak because of cyanuric acid is oddly low.

My 3 concerns of pool store testing
Possible contamination between pool samples of previous customers
Was the electronic test device calibrated to provide accurate results?
The possible inexperience of the person performing the test - especially in summer when they hire temporary help

That said, I am impressed that the person also noticed that your CYA was unusually low for a pool that uses exclusively tablets.
A leak would imply that pool water (with CYA) is being lost and is being refilled with plain water (no CYA) thus diluting your CYA content. Do you have an autofill for your pool that keeps the pool at a certain level? If so, have you noticed that your water bill is higher than usual?

 

[jeffchap]

That said, I am impressed that the person also noticed that your CYA was unusually low for a pool that uses exclusively tablets.
A leak would imply that pool water (with CYA) is being lost and is being refilled with plain water (no CYA) thus diluting your CYA content. Do you have an autofill for your pool that keeps the pool at a certain level? If so, have you noticed that your water bill is higher than usual?

To the OP...

Before you get freaked out about the possibility of a leak, it's equally possible that Leslie's CYA test is totally wrong and you actually have too much CYA in your water.

This is the most common reason we see here for people that have been using tablets having a green pool. In fact, I'd bet money on this being the case. But we won't know for certain until you get your own test kit and post some results that we can trust.

 

[mirisandland]

My 3 concerns of pool store testing
Possible contamination between pool samples of previous customers
Was the electronic test device calibrated to provide accurate results?
The possible inexperience of the person performing the test - especially in summer when they hire temporary help

That said, I am impressed that the person also noticed that your CYA was unusually low for a pool that uses exclusively tablets.
A leak would imply that pool water (with CYA) is being lost and is being refilled with plain water (no CYA) thus diluting your CYA content. Do you have an autofill for your pool that keeps the pool at a certain level? If so, have you noticed that your water bill is higher than usual?

Yes, we have an auto fill for the pool. And yes, our water bill has been high. We just turned off the auto fill yesterday and started the bucket test.

 

[wireform]

Yes, we have an auto fill for the pool. And yes, our water bill has been high. We just turned off the auto fill yesterday and started the bucket test.