preparing for full water turn-over

[crackers8199]

that being said, there is a noticeable improvement in the water this morning...wondering if my late rising has cost me time in all of this. I put extra chlorine in last night at 330, so it started the day at a higher level. my first test was just now (1pm) and FC was at 9, which obviously is below where I need it to be.

I've been doing a good job of keeping it above SLAM level during the day, but I think it's dropping below in the mornings which is probably what the issue is.

 

[crackers8199]

another update: just went out to get a water sample to run my FC test to see where i'm at, and part of the new rock paint job is already flaking and discoloring below the waterline. my guess is that this is part of why this is taking so long to clear...because even though the paint that was spilled into the water has been filtered out, it's still continually mixing with all of the other paint along the waterline that continues to flake and chalk off.

at this point, i'm not sure what to do other than file a dispute with paypal to put a hold on the money we paid to the rock painter. this is a complete and unmitigated disaster. $5k down the drain to have our pool look brand new for exactly one week before the rocks started scaling and discoloring again...

 

[crackers8199]

made a ton of progress in the past two days since I started elevating the FC level just before going to bed. this is where we're at...have the filter apart right now for another cleaning too:

 

[Rancho Cost-a-Lotta]

Good to hear!

Beautiful pool...the rocks look great.

 

[crackers8199]

Good to hear!

Beautiful pool...the rocks look great.

thanks. he did a good job for the most part on the rocks themselves, the real issue was in his prep work. there is a significant amount of overspray and paint drips on the plaster that are visible now that the water has begun to clear...not sure how they're going to clean that up. I guess we'll see.

 

[wireform]

thanks. he did a good job for the most part on the rocks themselves, the real issue was in his prep work. there is a significant amount of overspray and paint drips on the plaster that are visible now that the water has begun to clear...not sure how they're going to clean that up. I guess we'll see.

I'm not convinced the adhesion is very solid under water by virtue dripping so a metal bristle brush ought to move it on its way bye bye.

 

[crackers8199]

I'm not convinced the adhesion is very solid under water by virtue dripping so a metal bristle brush ought to move it on its way bye bye.

hope you're right. i tried scrubbing with our metal brush without much success, but i haven't tried scrubbing very hard yet. i figure it's not my job to do so. let them come back and fix what they messed up...

 

[wireform]

hope you're right. i tried scrubbing with our metal brush without much success, but i haven't tried scrubbing very hard yet. i figure it's not my job to do so. let them come back and fix what they messed up...

You also need to make sure they don't ruin the plaster just for the sake of scrubbing the heck out it.

 

[crackers8199]

You also need to make sure they don't ruin the plaster just for the sake of scrubbing the heck out it.

this is why i was going to put the neighbor who did our acid wash in charge of getting this cleaned up (let him coordinate with the painter to get the spots taken care of)...it's so frustrating, because the surface was perfect when he finished the acid wash (just to have it all messed up in spots now).

i'm really at a crossroads as far as how to handle this if they can't get the paint off. the guy who did the acid wash mentioned wanting to drain the pool to use a pressure washer on it, but that means that i then wasted several hundred dollars in chlorine and god knows how much in electricity having the pump running 24/7 for the past week, in addition to having to pay for the re-fill again. not to mention if they do end up ruining the plaster, because if i were getting a new surface at this point we would have just had the rocks ripped out and gone to a more traditional coping right now rather than even having them painted to begin with.

our goal right now (i think i've said this earlier in the thread) is to try to get another 3-5 years out of this surface, and then when we have the pool resurfaced 4 or 5 years down the road we're going to contact a remodel company to get the coping changed so we don't have to deal with the faux rocks anymore. that is, of course, assuming we can get this fixed without them completely messing up the plaster in the process).

the rocks look great when freshly painted, but it's just not worth the hassle and extra maintenance IMO. i wish our pool builder had told us about how often they need to be cleaned and repainted when we had the pool built, because if he had i never would have gone with this coping in the first place.

 

[crackers8199]

this morning, no change in the water. it's still cloudy like it was yesterday (which was better than sunday, which was better than saturday)...but i still can't get rid of this last little bit of cloudiness.

 

[Rancho Cost-a-Lotta]

I'm guessing your cartridge filter may be holding you back a bit. It doesn't filter out smaller particles like a DE filter can. I don't think many of us had to filter out dissolved paint particles.

Not sure what the remedy is...just something to think about. With a sand filter you could add a bit of DE. Probably not a good idea with a cartridge filter. I looked at some previous posts that suggest the DE can get imbedded in the filter media.

 

[crackers8199]

I'm guessing your cartridge filter may be holding you back a bit. It doesn't filter out smaller particles like a DE filter can. I don't think many of us had to filter out dissolved paint particles.

Not sure what the remedy is...just something to think about. With a sand filter you could add a bit of DE. Probably not a good idea with a cartridge filter. I looked at some previous posts that suggest the DE can get imbedded in the filter media.

i'm going to do an OCLT test again tonight and tomorrow...assuming i pass both, i'm going to try a clarifier. i don't know what else to do at this point, my electric bill this month is going to be $1000 or more from running the pump 24/7 for over a week. i can't run it like this forever...

 

[crackers8199]

oh yeah, and then the rock painter is coming back thursday or friday to try to scrub off the paint splatters...so i'm sure that'll just cloud up the water again even if i do get it clear. good times.

 

[mknauss]

i'm going to try a clarifier

If you must use a clarifier, use a quality one. SeaKlear Chitosan is one of the best.

 

[crackers8199]

just pulled the lights again and scrubbed behind both, as well as inside the skimmer behind the door. no ladders in my pool. if there's any algae in there at this point I have no idea where it's hiding...

 

[wireform]

I have used some DE in a cartridge filter setup with decent results just don't overdo it.

 

[crackers8199]

OCLT failed. lost 1.5ppm overnight. ran it again with the same water sample just now, and got a 3ppm loss.

i don't know what to do at this point.

 

[crackers8199]

at the risk of jinxing myself, I *think* we are good now, or close to it. this morning the water looks crystal clear like (or at least extremely close to) how I remember it before all of this started.

next step: yet another OCLT tonight to see what happens. also, the joy of having the rock painter come back to fix the splatters and the part under the waterline that is already discoloring, when I'm sure he'll cloud the water again and we'll get to start this all over again...

 

[mknauss]

Thank you for the pictures. That is a maintenance mess. Pool builders that do that should leave the business. Pretty when new, then reality sets in.

The quicker you can demolish that the better.

 

[crackers8199]

Thank you for the pictures. That is a maintenance mess. Pool builders that do that should leave the business. Pretty when new, then reality sets in.

The quicker you can demolish that the better.

yup. i wish we had known better when we had the pool built, we never would have gone with faux rock.

the plan is to try to get another 3-4 years out of the current plaster, and then when we resurface the entire pool we are hoping to have the rocks taken out and a more traditional coping put in at the same time. aiming for the summer of 2025, should give us plenty of time to plan and budget for it. the only thing is that i've struggled to find ballpark estimates of what that kind of coping renovation is going to cost. the best guess i have right now is somewhere between 10-15k for the new plaster and a more traditional coping, but i have no clue if that's even anywhere close.