Hello Friends,
I am so happy to have found this forum.
Just a couple of months ago my wife and I bought a little soft sided pool for our little girl - a Bestway 12 x 22’ x 48” oval. On the cheap side, I know. Again, I can’t overstate how educational this forum has proved to be.
I have religiously followed what i have learned. Brush and vacuum once a week, keeping CYA at 40ppm, daily maintaining FC at 5ppm. (FC is generally at 3ppm in the evening when i test and add bleach). TAlk at 130, CH at 250 (that’s the water we get here in S Cal), testing with Taylor test kit.
HOWEVER… I’ve had to SLAM every two weeks. Not cool. Starts looking hazy, then develops a green tint. Even though I keep chlorine at proper level. It’s lately been very hot here in socal.
I know I’m new at this, but here’s my hypothesis: I think the tiny “1/2 hp” pump and 9” sand filter that came with the pool are so grossly undersized even for this little pool that circulation is very poor, causing dead spots with no circulation, and that even though FC levels are generally proper, in these dead spots FC falls low enough for algae to get started. Not to mention the dismal lack of meaningful filtration. Started out running pump 6 hrs a day, have upped it to 13 hrs with no improvement.
On the bright side, the pool itself is nice. So i am very willing to spend some money upfront to make caring for it possible. Based on my own thinking, I am thinking of getting a proper pump and filter, also plumbing in more than the one return it has now.
But i know that if i go and spend more money without asking anyone with experience I will probably just suffer another failure.
So if you happen to see this post please help me know if I’m doing something wrong, missing something, or what you would do to make this pool work.
THANK YOU!
I am so happy to have found this forum.
Just a couple of months ago my wife and I bought a little soft sided pool for our little girl - a Bestway 12 x 22’ x 48” oval. On the cheap side, I know. Again, I can’t overstate how educational this forum has proved to be.
I have religiously followed what i have learned. Brush and vacuum once a week, keeping CYA at 40ppm, daily maintaining FC at 5ppm. (FC is generally at 3ppm in the evening when i test and add bleach). TAlk at 130, CH at 250 (that’s the water we get here in S Cal), testing with Taylor test kit.
HOWEVER… I’ve had to SLAM every two weeks. Not cool. Starts looking hazy, then develops a green tint. Even though I keep chlorine at proper level. It’s lately been very hot here in socal.
I know I’m new at this, but here’s my hypothesis: I think the tiny “1/2 hp” pump and 9” sand filter that came with the pool are so grossly undersized even for this little pool that circulation is very poor, causing dead spots with no circulation, and that even though FC levels are generally proper, in these dead spots FC falls low enough for algae to get started. Not to mention the dismal lack of meaningful filtration. Started out running pump 6 hrs a day, have upped it to 13 hrs with no improvement.
On the bright side, the pool itself is nice. So i am very willing to spend some money upfront to make caring for it possible. Based on my own thinking, I am thinking of getting a proper pump and filter, also plumbing in more than the one return it has now.
But i know that if i go and spend more money without asking anyone with experience I will probably just suffer another failure.
So if you happen to see this post please help me know if I’m doing something wrong, missing something, or what you would do to make this pool work.
THANK YOU!
