Flying Tivo
TFP Guide
- Jan 24, 2017
- 3,100
- Pool Size
- 7500
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
Thank you for making me feel young!
Pond Pool
- Thread starter Dunkinpool
- Start date
If you follow the dump and refill advice, call a friend at the local fire dept. Being a small town, I'm sure you know someone. They might be willing to bring you a tanker of water to fill back up with. Never hurts to ask, right?
what's paper and pencil. Where do you get those.
LoneWolfArcher
Bronze Supporter
Dunkin, just wanted to weigh in to encourage you a bit. I came here completely frustrated with my pool. It came with the house when we bought it. Between the previous owners instructions and pool store instructions I was at my wit's end. Fought algae due to high CYA. And then uses algaecide so added copper. By the end of year one with the pool I had copper cyanurate (copper from the algaecide combined with high CYA) turning things in my pool purple. Then I opened up the pool last year to a swamp, including 1 1/2" algae on the walls and floor! And after getting more bad advice from the pool store I was ready to fill the pool in with dirt and be done with it.
Then I found TFP! I followed the advice. Got a real test kit. Switched to liquid chlorine. The results were that last year I had a trouble free pool!! I seriously enjoyed owning my pool thanks to the people here, and look forward to the same this year.
So hang in there. Last year at this time my head was spinning from all I was learning. But now my upkeep is down to a science!
Then I found TFP! I followed the advice. Got a real test kit. Switched to liquid chlorine. The results were that last year I had a trouble free pool!! I seriously enjoyed owning my pool thanks to the people here, and look forward to the same this year.
So hang in there. Last year at this time my head was spinning from all I was learning. But now my upkeep is down to a science!
We are on a cistern so that is not an option. We have a 1,000 gal holding tank on our cistern to feed our house. If we have to dump, we will be trucking water from my parents who are on city water. I see a lot of trips in our future.
Wobblerlorri
Bronze Supporter
- Apr 16, 2019
- 2,010
- Pool Size
- 4024
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Liquid Chlorine
Another vote for pencil and paper! I have a composition book and I write down what my results are and PoolMath 's recommended actions. I also log what I did to the pool (brushed, vacuumed, patched, shot pool with a .22, that sort of thing) that day.
Oh...let me tell ya! I do have the pool calculator but I still keep hard copies. I do that at school with my grades. I keep a grade book and computerized grades. Lol It's a trust issue between me and technology!?
My husband is actually a captain in Little Rock and on the local volunteer. However they quit doing that around here. Trust me...I wish it were that easy. I would love for that to happen.
Last edited:
I want to thank everyone on here for their advice. My TF100 will be here Thursday. ? I sent this link to my husband to read while at the fire station today. However, he wants to give it a little more time and see what happens after we get the test kit before dumping it. He doesn't understand why I am so frustrated...it's just a pool. A brand new stinking pool with brown water! I could have saved a lot of $$ and just swim in the pond...no thanks. So I will check the water when the kit gets here (hopefully I can follow the directions). I will post the results. Then we will make a decision. I do have a question though...should I leave my pump running 24/7 right now? I took the suggestion of just adding a gal of liquid chlorine in 1 time a day until my kit comes in. I feel like turning it off would set us back, but I am not a mechanical person so I don't know if they are made to run like that.
Wobblerlorri
Bronze Supporter
- Apr 16, 2019
- 2,010
- Pool Size
- 4024
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Liquid Chlorine
Yes, you can run your pump 24/7 if you like. You'll have to do that during the SLAM anyway. After your water is clear and blue (and it will be!) you can back down to running the pump just a few hours a day.
We have videos in Pool School on how to do testing, and there are videos on YouTube if you want to see more of them. If you're worried about doing the testing, just watch those. Also, don't forget to view your results against a white background. Makes it easier to see the color changes.
Before you know it your pool will be a beautiful sparkling blue!
We have videos in Pool School on how to do testing, and there are videos on YouTube if you want to see more of them. If you're worried about doing the testing, just watch those. Also, don't forget to view your results against a white background. Makes it easier to see the color changes.
Before you know it your pool will be a beautiful sparkling blue!
@LoneWolfArcher is on the same kind of water system!!! He really help you out!!!
- Jun 1, 2018
- 16,227
- Pool Size
- 26000
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Aqua Rite (T-15)
While waiting on your kit to arrive you could definitely get your water tested for metals.
They test it for free @ the pool store in the hopes of selling u products. Metals tests are pretty much the only test we advise using from a pool store. Earlier in the thread someone mentioned the test for iron was expensive- they meant for a person to administer on their own. If you want to buy something from them because they went through the trouble of testing your water you could get some liquid chlorine. Our mom & pop shop here has 12% for a pretty good price.
For what it’s worth I keep a little notebook in my test kit too as my log then i add the info to the poolmath log . I just upgraded to the paid poolmath app so I could add my spa & I’m enjoying it.
Here@ TFP everyone’s advice is based off of the same basic principles of pool care & chemistry with some extra experience thrown in. Pool store & package instructions are kinda like telling u how to bake a cake without actually giving u the recipe which leaves people feeling lost. Stick with it & keep reading in PoolSchool & before long you’ll feel empowered & have a beautiful pool too! ?
They test it for free @ the pool store in the hopes of selling u products. Metals tests are pretty much the only test we advise using from a pool store. Earlier in the thread someone mentioned the test for iron was expensive- they meant for a person to administer on their own. If you want to buy something from them because they went through the trouble of testing your water you could get some liquid chlorine. Our mom & pop shop here has 12% for a pretty good price.
For what it’s worth I keep a little notebook in my test kit too as my log then i add the info to the poolmath log . I just upgraded to the paid poolmath app so I could add my spa & I’m enjoying it.
Here@ TFP everyone’s advice is based off of the same basic principles of pool care & chemistry with some extra experience thrown in. Pool store & package instructions are kinda like telling u how to bake a cake without actually giving u the recipe which leaves people feeling lost. Stick with it & keep reading in PoolSchool & before long you’ll feel empowered & have a beautiful pool too! ?
LoneWolfArcher
Bronze Supporter
Yes. My water issues are well documented! Dunkin, you might want to look into having water trucked in. Fortunately, in my area, due to ground water issues, most people around here get their water trucked in and stored in tanks for local usage. So I have a plethora of options for having water trucked in. But it would be well worth it to get stable water trucked in and start fresh. Just a thought. Not without a cost associated, but definitely will reduce your headaches.
DoubleEcho
Bronze Supporter
I often wonder how well a pool store would do if they just used TFP's methods. Without selling a bunch of chemicals and only the basic things (equipment, filters, chlorine, CYA etc) and telling people just to use liquid chlorine would they even make money? ? Especially when people would realize how easy it is to do on their own.
Wobblerlorri
Bronze Supporter
- Apr 16, 2019
- 2,010
- Pool Size
- 4024
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Liquid Chlorine
I second outside water. Even here in NW GA we have a company that will truck in water for pools, I guess because so many people are on wells.
I have checked around me within 50 miles. I have not found a company to provide water service. My parents live about 4 miles and we have plasic 500 gal. water tanks that we may resort to. That's our only option. I wish though!!!
I started keeping samples yesterday. My daughter suggested it. Someday...that water is going to be crystal clear and inviting. 
DoubleEcho
Bronze Supporter
If all else fails you could bottle it up and sell it to some gullible people as "raw water" for $5 a pop!
Ok. Here are my numbers.
FC = 4
CC = 0.5
Calcium Hardness = 150
CYA = 0 (I could still see the black dot)
Alkalinity = 30
Ph= 6.2 (Color was lighter than 6.8 and it has been testing on strip at 6.2)
Total Chlorine & Bromine = orange...not yellow (see pic)
I am testing iron tomorrow. I have been putting 1 gal of bleach in each day for last 3 days. That's it whole waiting on test kit to arrive.
FC = 4
CC = 0.5
Calcium Hardness = 150
CYA = 0 (I could still see the black dot)
Alkalinity = 30
Ph= 6.2 (Color was lighter than 6.8 and it has been testing on strip at 6.2)
Total Chlorine & Bromine = orange...not yellow (see pic)
I am testing iron tomorrow. I have been putting 1 gal of bleach in each day for last 3 days. That's it whole waiting on test kit to arrive.
- Jun 8, 2019
- 4,581
- Pool Size
- 20000
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
So, if you want to keep the water:
- Use PoolMath to figure out how much baking soda to add to get the TA up to 50 or so. This will also raise the pH. You might have to aerate or use borax to raise the pH if the baking soda doesn’t do it. You want the TA about 50 to keep the pH from crashing.
- You will want to add enough CYA to get to 30ppm with the sock method (put it in an old sock, tie it off, hang it in front of a return - squeeze it every now and then to get it to dissolve and dissipate). It won’t show up on the CYA test for about 24 hours but it will be in the pool.
- Add enough FC to get it to 12ppm. After 30 mins or so check it and add whatever you need to to get to 12 again. Repeat as often as you can the first few days - at least 3-4 times a day, as often as every 30 minutes.
- Backwash the filter when the pressure goes 25% over the “clean” pressure.
- Brush the walls and vacuum the floor of the pool often!
- Use PoolMath to figure out how much baking soda to add to get the TA up to 50 or so. This will also raise the pH. You might have to aerate or use borax to raise the pH if the baking soda doesn’t do it. You want the TA about 50 to keep the pH from crashing.
- You will want to add enough CYA to get to 30ppm with the sock method (put it in an old sock, tie it off, hang it in front of a return - squeeze it every now and then to get it to dissolve and dissipate). It won’t show up on the CYA test for about 24 hours but it will be in the pool.
- Add enough FC to get it to 12ppm. After 30 mins or so check it and add whatever you need to to get to 12 again. Repeat as often as you can the first few days - at least 3-4 times a day, as often as every 30 minutes.
- Backwash the filter when the pressure goes 25% over the “clean” pressure.
- Brush the walls and vacuum the floor of the pool often!