Well, this should be interesting....

[Charlie_R]

It will become so easy you will start looking for something to do with it.

If you follow what we teach here, you will have a clear, sparkly pool soon.

 

[mjb62676]

Shock level attained! Long night. Supply of bleach is low in mid missouri. The kids and I have a mission today!

 

[Charlie_R]

Road trip! Jefferson City has Lowes, Home Depot, etc, if you want to drive that far. I'm sure you have a Dollar general or three there, they've got good prices on bleach.

Have you bought out Walmart's supply yet?

 

[Beens]

I really hope this thing is enjoyable at some point. Just a laborious money pit at this point.

It's going to get better! Keep SLAMming! It's hard when you start out with a swamp but it gets easier as you go. Just FYI I see that lovely foam and wanted to point out that's another side effect of some algaecides. (I had it too before I found TFP) Another reason to steer clear of those! It will go away along with the algae as you keep that chlorine at SLAM level.

Don't give up! This is the hardest part. Once you get through the SLAM daily maintenance is a breeze! It really honestly is. Hard to believe now but it's true!

 

[mjb62676]

Great success.

 

[Beens]

LOL Congratulations on your bleach success! I usually get mine from wal-mart, target or the grocery store that normally sells everything for at least $1 more than anyone else yet somehow sells their bleach for 2.69 when everyone else is at 2.99. (121oz 8.25%)

 

[RobbieH]

Be careful and read the label on the store brand stuff. I see some of that generic stuff down around 2.75% or even less sometimes.

 

[techguy]

A couple suggestions from the voice of experience.

1. Vacuum to WASTE as much "****" off the floor of pool. It will only make it harder if you keep it in the pool
2. Fill the pool back up
3. Test your water, write down your answers
4. Add two gallons of liquid chlorine in front of the water return with the pump running
5. Re-test your FC levels.
6. Using the Pool Math tab, set the chlorine setting for you chlorine strength and use the "Effects of adding chemicals" section to see if your gallons guess was close.

As an example, if enter 10,000 gallons at the op and enter that I poured in 128 oz (2 gallons) of 8.25% bleach, i should see an increase of 8.5FC. If my testing showed the FC went up 5, my gallons guess was low. Play with the gallons until you see the "Effects of adding chemicals" section gets close to your results. While this is slightly inaccurate, it will get you close enough to start a real SLAM.

7. SLAM using your new gallonage and the Pool Math calculator.
8. Watch you filter, if the pressure gauge doesn't change (increase) open the filter up anyway and look (and consider getting anew guage) . If the pressures do rise, clean or backwash as needed.

 

[JVTrain]

Looks like a Dollar General clean out! I've used the concentrated 8.25% for my spa quite a bit. It's usually very fresh and does a good job.

 

[mjb62676]

Baby steps.

 

[mjb62676]

Question. How often should CYA be checked? My FC is stayin up around 10 fairly well and cc appears to be less than 0.5. CYA continues to appear to be about 20.

 

[RobbieH]

I only check mine about every 2 months. It isn't going anywhere (hopefully).

I think you mean during the SLAM. Just ignore it until you are done.

 

[mjb62676]

yes during slam

 

[JVTrain]

Check and fine tune CYA level after SLAM is done and a week after it's dissolved if you add more again.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

 

[mjb62676]

OH....if anyone has any tips on what might be going on with my Fiberstars illuminator, I'm all ears. Ordered a new bulb and installed it today. Bulb lights up the box like a christmas tree...but from what I can tell, absolutely NO light is getting to the pool. ?


Takers?


FC is 13 after a bit of an overshoot tonight (was adding back a bunch of water so overcompensated a bit). Shock goal was 10, so I think I'll let it ride overnight.

 

[mjb62676]

Foam has moved from deep to shallow end. Still pretty hazy. Will that eventually correct itself? Tried vacuuming this am and that vacuum is horrible. Will need to replace it. Good news is I didn't seem to stir up much junk so letting Polaris do it's thing. It seems to be aerating the water a lot every time I use it. Not sure what to think about that.

Any suggestions?

 

[Richard320]

Skim the foam off and throw it on the weedpatch. Otherwise you'll be burning bleach breaking it down. Anything you can physically remove is faster than waiting for bleach to oxidize it.

 

[mjb62676]

Ok. Thank you.

The issue is the Polaris. I don't know if it just stirs up the algae and causes the foam or what, but that's where the foam seems to be originating from...

To be more clear...the foam isn't there, then I put in the polaris and turn it on, and the water gets much cloudier and it foams up. Possible it's just stirring things a little quicker and causing the reaction?

 

[Richard320]

It's probably the same phenomenon as a dishpan full of soapy water. Eventually all the bubbles pop and the surface is smooth, but as soon as you start scrubbing, it foams up again. Whatever it is that's foaming, you probably don't want it in the water. I suspect it's residual algaecide from the distant past.

 

[mjb62676]

Fiberoptics had been pulled out of the illuminator, or "displaced". There was one big strand that looked viable. The adjacent smaller strand wasn't shiny, and didn't look good. The ends of the big one were glowing while the other ones were dark.

Have the illuminator with color wheel working, but doesn't appear to be throwing much light and the only light I see is about 1 foot under the diving board. Anyone have experience with any other locations I should be looking for lenses?