Starting year 3 with our pool. Details in sig. Got the initial iron out of the fill water, well runs about 3ppm iron. First year was great, no problems till I got lazy in the fall and busy with harvest and didn't winterize till late october. Pool was green and stayed green all winter with no cover.
Year 2 was a constant battle with green water. Switched from traditional pool maintenance to TFP method and got myself a TF-100 kit. Tried to treat it like it was iron because that was the symptoms I thought were present. By the end of the summer I was starting to think mustard algae. Unless I maintained slam levels it would begin to develop algae at the coping and in the steps of the ladder. If allowed to remain at normal chlorine levels the entire pool would be green in a few days. So I pretty much spent the entire summer trying to slam repeatedly. Not fun, no time for that and too costly. I probably went through 150 gallons of 12.5 bleach. Even when not slamming, chlorine was consumed at about a gallon a day. I also could not maintain cya levels. Closed it out with clear water, Shock level of chlorine and installed winter cover.
Today we are in year 3. Opened it up about a week ago. The water was clear with a few scoops of leaves in the bottom and a tinge of green on the coping and a slimy liner. Immediately dumped in a gallon of 12.5 and started to fill. CYA was low so I added some. Like usual, anytime I add water, it turned brown from the iron. I got that cleared up with 24/7 filtration of the sand system and a polyfill bucket filter powered by a harbor freight pond pump. Took about 3 days to go from brown to clear.
Now I have not tried a slam yet this year. I am re-engineering my solar heater system so it is mounted on a rack instead of laying on the ground. I want to get that installed before slamming all the way to mustard levels. I also run high CH and TA levels due to my water source.
Levels as of this morning were:
FC 1.0
CC 0
PH 7.3
TA 220
Cya Barely 20
CH 275
Borates 0
I want to get the algae under control permanently, add borates for nicer water plus algae prevention, get solar reconnected, and should I worry about TA?
I don't have much PH drift. Maybe a gallon of acid a month. Should I worry about the TA or just leave it alone?
So I think I need to do things in this order:
1. Re-connect solar
2. Slam and finish out at mustard levels.
3. Add Cya
4. Adjust TA if thought to be important
5. Add Borates.
6. Hopefully enjoy a TFP!!
Fire away any thoughts.
Thanks in advance
David
Year 2 was a constant battle with green water. Switched from traditional pool maintenance to TFP method and got myself a TF-100 kit. Tried to treat it like it was iron because that was the symptoms I thought were present. By the end of the summer I was starting to think mustard algae. Unless I maintained slam levels it would begin to develop algae at the coping and in the steps of the ladder. If allowed to remain at normal chlorine levels the entire pool would be green in a few days. So I pretty much spent the entire summer trying to slam repeatedly. Not fun, no time for that and too costly. I probably went through 150 gallons of 12.5 bleach. Even when not slamming, chlorine was consumed at about a gallon a day. I also could not maintain cya levels. Closed it out with clear water, Shock level of chlorine and installed winter cover.
Today we are in year 3. Opened it up about a week ago. The water was clear with a few scoops of leaves in the bottom and a tinge of green on the coping and a slimy liner. Immediately dumped in a gallon of 12.5 and started to fill. CYA was low so I added some. Like usual, anytime I add water, it turned brown from the iron. I got that cleared up with 24/7 filtration of the sand system and a polyfill bucket filter powered by a harbor freight pond pump. Took about 3 days to go from brown to clear.
Now I have not tried a slam yet this year. I am re-engineering my solar heater system so it is mounted on a rack instead of laying on the ground. I want to get that installed before slamming all the way to mustard levels. I also run high CH and TA levels due to my water source.
Levels as of this morning were:
FC 1.0
CC 0
PH 7.3
TA 220
Cya Barely 20
CH 275
Borates 0
I want to get the algae under control permanently, add borates for nicer water plus algae prevention, get solar reconnected, and should I worry about TA?
I don't have much PH drift. Maybe a gallon of acid a month. Should I worry about the TA or just leave it alone?
So I think I need to do things in this order:
1. Re-connect solar
2. Slam and finish out at mustard levels.
3. Add Cya
4. Adjust TA if thought to be important
5. Add Borates.
6. Hopefully enjoy a TFP!!
Fire away any thoughts.
Thanks in advance
David
