Hi Everyone! So I tried to research as much as possible before coming here for help but I am feeling more overwhelmed than ever. This will probably be long, thank you if you make it to the end
Within 3 months I have gone from having a pool service, to relying on the pool store to buying my own Taylor test kit. Here are the issues I'm struggling with; I went out of town a few weeks ago for 4 days and while I was gone no one attended to the pool (vacuumed, skimmed, tested etc). I came back to algae growth. Went to the pool store followed their instructions to shock it (5 of those little bags) and for the most part it cleared up with the exception of some stuck in the pebbles. I got mixed advice from the pool store based on whoever was working there that day. I used a wire brush to scrub the spots where algae remained but otherwise just vacuumed, brushed the surface etc. The next week my pool store water results were fine. The following week there was still algae in the pebbles (I'm scared a patch it is black algae!) and pool store test results showed lower CYA and low total alkalinity. One more confounding factor is that the flow over feature from the hot tub/spa to the pool was temporarily off and green algae really started to grow in there. Maybe a dumb move but I turned the flow feature back on so I'm sure some algae is getting from the hot tub to the main pool. At this point I was not getting clear advice from the pool store so I researched here, read the Pool School articles and bought the Taylor Kit.
I did my first Taylor kit test yesterday and no surprise here were my results:
FC 2.6
TA 80
CYA 35
pH 7.5
CH 400
Pool math said to add 8.6 pounds of stablizier and soda ash. I started yesterday afternoon with the powder stabilizer (via the method of dissolving it in a bucket and putting in skimmer) but it was a lot so so far I have only added half. I was going to wait at least 48 hours to re-test the CYA. *I wasn't able to add the 24 hour SWG output in the Pool Math calculator because I can't figure out the make of my SWG or what the output is*
This morning I tested the FC and the it was down to 1.8 so that freaked me out and I came straight here to type this before finishing the other tests. I assume the free chlorine is low because of the algae and the low CYA?
I guess my questions are:
- when should I add the soda ash when all the stabilizer has been added?
- how should I proceed to try to treat for this algae that's sticking around (again, it's mostly in between the pebbles)
If you made it this far and followed at all - thank you!!! I am making it my mission to learn how to do this but am not feeling very confident at the moment.
Within 3 months I have gone from having a pool service, to relying on the pool store to buying my own Taylor test kit. Here are the issues I'm struggling with; I went out of town a few weeks ago for 4 days and while I was gone no one attended to the pool (vacuumed, skimmed, tested etc). I came back to algae growth. Went to the pool store followed their instructions to shock it (5 of those little bags) and for the most part it cleared up with the exception of some stuck in the pebbles. I got mixed advice from the pool store based on whoever was working there that day. I used a wire brush to scrub the spots where algae remained but otherwise just vacuumed, brushed the surface etc. The next week my pool store water results were fine. The following week there was still algae in the pebbles (I'm scared a patch it is black algae!) and pool store test results showed lower CYA and low total alkalinity. One more confounding factor is that the flow over feature from the hot tub/spa to the pool was temporarily off and green algae really started to grow in there. Maybe a dumb move but I turned the flow feature back on so I'm sure some algae is getting from the hot tub to the main pool. At this point I was not getting clear advice from the pool store so I researched here, read the Pool School articles and bought the Taylor Kit.
I did my first Taylor kit test yesterday and no surprise here were my results:
FC 2.6
TA 80
CYA 35
pH 7.5
CH 400
Pool math said to add 8.6 pounds of stablizier and soda ash. I started yesterday afternoon with the powder stabilizer (via the method of dissolving it in a bucket and putting in skimmer) but it was a lot so so far I have only added half. I was going to wait at least 48 hours to re-test the CYA. *I wasn't able to add the 24 hour SWG output in the Pool Math calculator because I can't figure out the make of my SWG or what the output is*
This morning I tested the FC and the it was down to 1.8 so that freaked me out and I came straight here to type this before finishing the other tests. I assume the free chlorine is low because of the algae and the low CYA?
I guess my questions are:
- when should I add the soda ash when all the stabilizer has been added?
- how should I proceed to try to treat for this algae that's sticking around (again, it's mostly in between the pebbles)
If you made it this far and followed at all - thank you!!! I am making it my mission to learn how to do this but am not feeling very confident at the moment.
). I am running the filter all night. The pool water looks REALLY good but I have one stubborn spot under the waterfall that I am becoming more convinced is black algae. I will do all tests in the am and then keep up my levels. I figured i’d get in there tomorrow with the wire brush and attack the trouble spot. The problem is that it’s over my head and staying down long enough to brush is hard. Is it too early to try the light pressure washer treatment? Also at what point should we shut off the filter to clean the cartridges?
