Swamp Opening (Helping the In-Laws)

[UnderWaterVanya]

Well… I have news. I had recently cleaned my sand filter for the first time. I had no idea how high the sand was supposed to be. It was quite low - perhaps half what should be there. I had also noticed that some I’d cleaned the sand I was having more sit intrusion in the system.

Yesterday I added 100lbs of Quickcrete pool sand from Home Depot to my S210T sand filter, and I liberally lubed the seal ring which I hadn’t done. I also carefully tightened the retaining ring with a better screwdriver. The result is a system with less air intrusion that isn’t having a priming issue after each time I shut off the pump. The post-backwash initial pressure is higher than it’s ever been (15 vs 13.5) but well within design specs. (I’ve seen the pressures in the past reach 23-24psi and drop to 13.5 after backwashing when loads of debris clogged the filter. )

I suspect this will improve the filtration of the cloudiness and reduce the opacity of the water. The sand and the line were dive yesterday at 6pm.

On a less positive note my father in law was forced to go to the ER for infection issues related to the wreck. He’s been admitted to the hospital and I’ll be even less able to babysit the pool than before… on top of which it’s cottonwood season. I dread those fluffy seeds. They clog the skimmer and drive me nuts. They’re so bad it’s like snow there this time of year.

 

[UnderWaterVanya]

Oh and FC is far less quickly going down and CC has been no higher than 1.0 lately, previously it was as high as 2.5. And I can barely see the top of the bag of the Polaris in the shallow end in bright light. That’sa clear improvement.

 

[Texas Splash]

No doubt family comes first. Hope all goes well for him. As for the work you have done, sounds like you made some progress. Hopefully that will help. Perhaps on those days when you are away you can ask a neighbor or someone to add x-amount of liquid chlorine to the pool each day or two just so that you don't loose all the progress you have made. Hang in there.

 

[Newdude]

On a less positive note

Best wishes for the side quest.

Pools take a back seat all the time when life gets in the way. Do the best you can and you likely only slow the progress versus losing ground in the battle.

We've also seen it when members get sidetracked during the filtering stage of the battle, that they see more progress with longer spans between peeks. Maybe you'll be pleasantly surprised.

 

[UnderWaterVanya]

Best wishes for the side quest.

Pools take a back seat all the time when life gets in the way. Do the best you can and you likely only slow the progress versus losing ground in the battle.

We've also seen it when members get sidetracked during the filtering stage of the battle, that they see more progress with longer spans between peeks. Maybe you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Lol. I’m sure

I’m able to get by at least 1-2 times a day most days. Last night on the way back from the hospital I stopped at 2am and checked things. The pump is showing a lot less air and it is behaving correctly again in that respect. Most of that I attribute to a better seal with o ring lube. The sand filter as I understand it is mostly a thin film filter - so surface area more than volume matters. The turbulence of the air intrusion seemed to mess up the ability of the filter to have any real progress - it would LOSE pressure over time. Not much a couple of psi max. That is fixed. I really wish I had a two stage pump motor right now. That would make this less of a nail biter. I hate leaving it unattended for fear it might lose suction or get the robot stuck spewing water out of the pool (yes both have happened in the past) and no one will be there to shut it down. Next year a flow meter and relay are going in series with the pumps’ power supplies.

 

[UnderWaterVanya]

A couple of additional facts:

1) my FC got too high. I haven’t always had time to fully check it and relied on the average use modeling during health crisis. It was FC 18 this morning CC 0.5.

2) Loads of rain and probably too much backwashing (needed to restore filtration suction when the air leak was present ) has dropped cya to 20! Measured today. I added some CYA but I need to add more. I obviously didn’t add more bleach today (so far). We haven’t had much sun so loss to sunlight has been low but this afternoon is sunny and I’ll check later.

Now for a confession…

The Foam really caused huge issues with skimming. Things were literally hanging in the foam and not making it into the skimmer at all or floating in the foam that came up and out of the basket. I caved and bought some Bioguard Anti-foam polydimethlysilicone. I researched it first and it seemed like a rational option. It worked but I’ve used a lot of it and it slowly comes back. This is despite maintaining SLAM. I’m hopeful that the filtration improves and the decrease in air infiltration will reduce the production of foam and the FC will break down the stuff making it (I can only assume the CalHypo had too much clarifier or something else in it or that my father-in-law and broth-in-law put some weird bleach in there before I opened the pool. (Both have cognitive issues - thus the switch to SWG).

So status Earlier today:
FC 18
CC 0.5
CYA 20 (put in enough to get to 25? Will retest tomorrow and does up to 30-35.
CH 130
TA not tested recently. Was 50, likely lower. Need to push back up to 60-70.
Salt was 1200, likely lower. Needs to be more like 3200. Will address as water clears.
pH not measured recently due to high CL. Last measured at 7.2 when FC was a little lower.
Temp 65-69
Borates are likely very very low. I never had them high - maybe 10 last year.

 

[UnderWaterVanya]

Best wishes for the side quest.

Thank you. He feels better and we are less frantic seeing the iv antibiotics making things improve.

 

[UnderWaterVanya]

Tonight:
FC 15 (still coming back down from SLAM with CYA = 40+)
CC 1.0
CYA (measured < 20 before I added dry stabilizer) estimated 25 goal 30. Will add more - trying to avoid overshooting 30.

Still cloudy… still cottonwood season.

 

[UnderWaterVanya]

I don’t know how I did it but I overshot my cya goal or mismeasured my cya I added. I’m at 50 or so! Grrrrr…

I’m backwashing frequently and adding water as needed so it will drift down.

Before adding bleach…
FC 13
CC 1.0
CYA 50
Temp 62

Sigh.

On the other hand… the pool is slowly looking better. Starting to see the lowest step and another rung on the ladder. The floor with the new liner is quite dark compared to the past so I’m not entirely clear how it should look at this stage but it’s clearly better. The pool cleaner (Polaris 380) doesn’t seem to find much anymore and leaf rake comes up empty.

 

[Mdragger88]

I don’t know how I did it but I overshot my cya goal or mismeasured my cya I added. I’m at 50 or so! Grrrrr…

I’m backwashing frequently and adding water as needed so it will drift down.

Before adding bleach…
FC 13
CC 1.0
CYA 50
Temp 62

Sigh.

On the other hand… the pool is slowly looking better. Starting to see the lowest step and another rung on the ladder. The floor with the new liner is quite dark compared to the past so I’m not entirely clear how it should look at this stage but it’s clearly better. The pool cleaner (Polaris 380) doesn’t seem to find much anymore and leaf rake comes up empty.

If you’re reading above 50 call it 60 & slam at the appropriate fc level
FC/CYA Levels
Which would be 24ppm

 

[UnderWaterVanya]

If you’re reading above 50 call it 60 & slam at the appropriate fc level
FC/CYA Levels
Which would be 24ppm

It’s likely 50. I’ve used the test solution before so I’m pretty clear what the result should look like. However, after my previous below 20 and now 50 after what I thought was dosing for 30 I’m not as confident of the 50 being the final number . I must have over dosed the pool by measuring wrong. And since I did that I want to double check cya in the next few days to make sure it isn’t still rising. Normally, I’d assume it was whatever calculated % it should be… and measure in a few days. That’s what I did and found it higher than the 30 I had planned. So clearly I mixed up my amounts somehow - it’s got to be measurement since I’ve had consistent results in the past. Anyway, I’m treating it as 50 until it shows otherwise. Will test cya again in a few days. Pool is still rather cool so there isn’t any rush to swim, so If cya is 60 and this stalls the cleanup a bit it isn’t a disaster as long as it doesn’t backslide.

 

[Mdragger88]

Good luck on your efforts! A long distance slam is tough!

 

[UnderWaterVanya]

Good luck on your efforts! A long distance slam is tough!

Lol. Not that long distance, 1.5 miles each way. But with all the work and healthcare chaos it is hard to stay on top of it. I can only get there 2-4 times a day depending on my schedule. Usually trending to two when work requires me at the office… 13 miles and 45 mins away.

 

[Mdragger88]

Lol. Not that long distance, 1.5 miles each way. But with all the work and healthcare chaos it is hard to stay on top of it. I can only get there 2-4 times a day depending on my schedule. Usually trending to two when work requires me at the office… 13 miles and 45 mins away.

Anything not in your backyard is long distance! Keep keeping on !

 

[UnderWaterVanya]

Latest update:
CYA 40
TEMP 72
FC 16
CC 0.5

Pool is cloudy but water is much clearer. Cottonwood is still falling (grrr).

 

[Mdragger88]

Getting there!
Maybe time to add a little de when you’re around to monitor filter pressure.

Add DE to a Sand Filter

A clean pool filter will increase the efficiency of your pool! ... your filter are to backwash it, clean the manifolds and grids, and add new DE.

www.google.com

Have you tried anything on those steps to see what the staining is? Vitamin c or chlorine?

 

[UnderWaterVanya]

Getting there!
Maybe time to add a little de when you’re around to monitor filter pressure.

Add DE to a Sand Filter

A clean pool filter will increase the efficiency of your pool! ... your filter are to backwash it, clean the manifolds and grids, and add new DE.

www.google.com

Have you tried anything on those steps to see what the staining is? Vitamin c or chlorine?

I think - based on last year’s liner replacement - that it is simply stained organically. Last year while the liner was out I used straight bleach on the steps and they cleaned up nicely. The water source is municipal and I doubt metals are involved. But I could be incorrect.

 

[PoolStored]

I think - based on last year’s liner replacement - that it is simply stained organically. Last year while the liner was out I used straight bleach on the steps and they cleaned up nicely. The water source is municipal and I doubt metals are involved. But I could be incorrect.

I had the same staining with the steps. This stuff is great!

STEP STUFF KITS | Jacks Magic

jacksmagic.com

 

[UnderWaterVanya]

I had the same staining with the steps. This stuff is great!

STEP STUFF KITS | Jacks Magic

jacksmagic.com

How do you use it? I can’t find enough info on their site.

 

[PoolStored]

How do you use it? I can’t find enough info on their site.

https://jacksmagic.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/FAQ-TheStepStuff.pdf