Hi! I am a new pool owner and I have a couple questions!
Some backstory (skip this paragraph if this is too much information): We bought a house with a pool in August of last year. Used it for a few weeks and then decided to close it early because I was 9 months pregnant and not going to be able to use it for the rest of the season anyway. We live in a VERY rural area and the nearest pool store is over an hour away, so we had a lot of trouble getting someone out to close it. Eventually found a company willing to make the drive and they came and closed it for us the first week of September. While here the pool guy told us our pump was on its last legs and we needed a new one (it had been very loudwe could hear it from the other side of the house on the second floor.) Fast forward to April of this year, we try to get the company back out to replace the pump and open the pool. After weeks of unanswered voicemails and texts saying that they were going to come and didn’t, it was now the end of May and our pool still wasn’t open. I got fed up and told my husband we should do it ourselves. He said that as long as I did the research and ordered the pump, he would help me. So I commenced a week and a half of reading articles, taking notes and watching YouTube videos. This is when I discovered TFP and I scoured the whole site, filling a notebook full of notes on opening, slamming and general pool care. I ordered my Taylor 2006 test kit and a new pump and picked up a bunch of bleach, and on 6/9/21 we decided we were ready to open the pool. My husband did an awesome job replacing the pump, it works great and is SO quiet!! We removed the mesh safety cover and revealed our black green swamp! (I wish I had taken a photo but you guys can imagine worst case scenario.)
Beginning the SLAM!
Initial testing:
FC: 0
CC: 0
CYA: 0
TA: 100
PH: 7.2-7.4
I chose not to adjust pH before beginning SLAM. Since my CYA was 0, using PoolMath I added enough bleach to bring FC to 10 and then tested after about 10min and the FC was 10. I then added 7lbs of stabilizer (enough to bring my CYA up to 30) in 2 socks (one in front of each return) and proceeded with my SLAM at a FC level of 12.
Commence 5 days of adjusting FC as often as I could, trying to brush and vacuum at least once a day. And our pool was a milky blue! Yay!
Now on days 5-7 the CC was testing at 0 and we are just waiting for the cloudiness to clear. Attached is the photo from today.
Okay so I have 2 problems/questions.
1. My husband is pressuring me to add some clarifier. “How do you know that these people on the internet even know what they are talking about? We can’t just keep adding that much chlorine forever” So I just need some reassurance that we are doing the right thing and just need to hold the course a little longer. We have a sand filter which we backwash rinse any time the pressure rises from the normal 20 to 24 or above
2. That leads me to problem 2, I realized that the last day or two we have been having to add a ton of chlorine, even though our CC is 0 and our CYA is testing at 30. I’ve only been able to test FC twice a day because I am almost out of R-0871 (I realized I bought the Taylor 2006 not 2006c so I ordered more reagent, it is going to be here today but I’ve had to ration to make it through.) I figured it would be okay to test 2x a day since we are on the downside of the SLAM. I have been testing at 6am before I leave for work and 6pm when I get back and get the baby all settled for the night. On Monday evening the FC was 8 so added bleach, then Tuesday morning it was 6, so added more, then last evening it was 3 so I added even more (5 gallons of 6% to get it up to 12FC) and then this morning FC was down to 1!!!!Our pool gets full sun and it’s been hot so I initially thought maybe I was just losing a lot to the sun. Then we looked for a hidden algae source, our light has been out of the housing this whole time and we haven’t installed the ladders or rails yet so we didn’t find anything. This morning after the FC had dropped to 1 (CC has been 0 the past two days) I realized that the past day and a half we have been exclusively using 6% bleach from ACE hardware. Like I said before we live in a rural area so the only stores that are not over an hour away are Walmart, ACE and Tractor Supply. During the heart of the SLAM we were using a combination of 10% liquid chlorine from Walmart and ACE, 7.5% great value bleach from Walmart and the 6% from ACE. But now we have completely depleted all of the GV bleach from Walmart and the LC from both stores. So this morning I added 6 gallons of the 6% from ACE which should have been plenty to get FC up to 12, but then I tested after 20min or so and the FC was 6. So I am assuming that this bleach is old or something.
So now I have 3 options:
Use the 6% bleach but double the amount ($4 a gallon
)
Use 7.5% Clorox performance bleach with Cloromax, I had a friend of my husbands who was coming to visit from the city pick up some bleach for us. I told my husband to tell him to get generic brand, no frills bleach with nothing fancy and he showed up with 10 cases from Costco of Clorox Performance, which this forum says not to use
Or drive 1hr 15min after work today and hope that there are some stores still open at 7pm to buy bleach/LC
If you read this whole thread I thank you so much! I am open to any suggestions, comments, criticisms etc. I just really want to take the baby in the pool sometime soon!
Thanks!
Katie
Some backstory (skip this paragraph if this is too much information): We bought a house with a pool in August of last year. Used it for a few weeks and then decided to close it early because I was 9 months pregnant and not going to be able to use it for the rest of the season anyway. We live in a VERY rural area and the nearest pool store is over an hour away, so we had a lot of trouble getting someone out to close it. Eventually found a company willing to make the drive and they came and closed it for us the first week of September. While here the pool guy told us our pump was on its last legs and we needed a new one (it had been very loudwe could hear it from the other side of the house on the second floor.) Fast forward to April of this year, we try to get the company back out to replace the pump and open the pool. After weeks of unanswered voicemails and texts saying that they were going to come and didn’t, it was now the end of May and our pool still wasn’t open. I got fed up and told my husband we should do it ourselves. He said that as long as I did the research and ordered the pump, he would help me. So I commenced a week and a half of reading articles, taking notes and watching YouTube videos. This is when I discovered TFP and I scoured the whole site, filling a notebook full of notes on opening, slamming and general pool care. I ordered my Taylor 2006 test kit and a new pump and picked up a bunch of bleach, and on 6/9/21 we decided we were ready to open the pool. My husband did an awesome job replacing the pump, it works great and is SO quiet!! We removed the mesh safety cover and revealed our black green swamp! (I wish I had taken a photo but you guys can imagine worst case scenario.)
Beginning the SLAM!
Initial testing:
FC: 0
CC: 0
CYA: 0
TA: 100
PH: 7.2-7.4
I chose not to adjust pH before beginning SLAM. Since my CYA was 0, using PoolMath I added enough bleach to bring FC to 10 and then tested after about 10min and the FC was 10. I then added 7lbs of stabilizer (enough to bring my CYA up to 30) in 2 socks (one in front of each return) and proceeded with my SLAM at a FC level of 12.
Commence 5 days of adjusting FC as often as I could, trying to brush and vacuum at least once a day. And our pool was a milky blue! Yay!
Now on days 5-7 the CC was testing at 0 and we are just waiting for the cloudiness to clear. Attached is the photo from today.
Okay so I have 2 problems/questions.
1. My husband is pressuring me to add some clarifier. “How do you know that these people on the internet even know what they are talking about? We can’t just keep adding that much chlorine forever” So I just need some reassurance that we are doing the right thing and just need to hold the course a little longer. We have a sand filter which we backwash rinse any time the pressure rises from the normal 20 to 24 or above
2. That leads me to problem 2, I realized that the last day or two we have been having to add a ton of chlorine, even though our CC is 0 and our CYA is testing at 30. I’ve only been able to test FC twice a day because I am almost out of R-0871 (I realized I bought the Taylor 2006 not 2006c so I ordered more reagent, it is going to be here today but I’ve had to ration to make it through.) I figured it would be okay to test 2x a day since we are on the downside of the SLAM. I have been testing at 6am before I leave for work and 6pm when I get back and get the baby all settled for the night. On Monday evening the FC was 8 so added bleach, then Tuesday morning it was 6, so added more, then last evening it was 3 so I added even more (5 gallons of 6% to get it up to 12FC) and then this morning FC was down to 1!!!!Our pool gets full sun and it’s been hot so I initially thought maybe I was just losing a lot to the sun. Then we looked for a hidden algae source, our light has been out of the housing this whole time and we haven’t installed the ladders or rails yet so we didn’t find anything. This morning after the FC had dropped to 1 (CC has been 0 the past two days) I realized that the past day and a half we have been exclusively using 6% bleach from ACE hardware. Like I said before we live in a rural area so the only stores that are not over an hour away are Walmart, ACE and Tractor Supply. During the heart of the SLAM we were using a combination of 10% liquid chlorine from Walmart and ACE, 7.5% great value bleach from Walmart and the 6% from ACE. But now we have completely depleted all of the GV bleach from Walmart and the LC from both stores. So this morning I added 6 gallons of the 6% from ACE which should have been plenty to get FC up to 12, but then I tested after 20min or so and the FC was 6. So I am assuming that this bleach is old or something.
So now I have 3 options:
Use the 6% bleach but double the amount ($4 a gallon
) Use 7.5% Clorox performance bleach with Cloromax, I had a friend of my husbands who was coming to visit from the city pick up some bleach for us. I told my husband to tell him to get generic brand, no frills bleach with nothing fancy and he showed up with 10 cases from Costco of Clorox Performance, which this forum says not to use
Or drive 1hr 15min after work today and hope that there are some stores still open at 7pm to buy bleach/LC
If you read this whole thread I thank you so much! I am open to any suggestions, comments, criticisms etc. I just really want to take the baby in the pool sometime soon!
Thanks!
Katie
