What did you do to your pool today?

[kimkats]

CaptChill! I am so glad we were able to help you. I wish you had done a build thread. You know how much I like to help people spend save money!

What test kit are you using? If you are still cloudy then you know the SLAM is not quite done. Do you need any help with it?

Kim

 

[needsajet]

Nice job on your new pad setup!

 

[pooldv]

Sad day indeed, Dom! We got a lucky last swim day today. But, its all over now. Time to move to the hot tub.

 

[bmoreswim]

Closed it at 57 degrees. Brought pump inside for the first time this year. It hasn't fared well outside previously.

 

[mrcarcrazy]

I went fishing!

We’re getting a new roof...I don’t usually store my nails in the pool.

 

[kimkats]

OH adult word NO! Got of love a strong magnet!

 

[Dodger]

Today I hooked up my Aquapure so that the SWG can be viewed and programmed from my phone or my in-house panel! I am so stoked!!
(Technically, I got it working yesterday, but today I swapped out the individual wires with a properly gauged, 4-conductor shielded cable.)

I wasn't even thinking about this automation until reading other posts here at TFP. I was especially intrigued by the ability to set different percentage outputs for Pool versus Spa. I assumed my existing equipment needed upgrading, so I spent 3 days researching and reading online manuals. Turned out to just need simple RS485 to RS485 wiring. I can't believe the guy we paid to install iAqualink 3 years ago didn't do this part! Another item on the list of items that he messed up.

 

[kk_isme]

Watered the plants on the deck and checked the pool cover. Sadly. Come on, May!

 

[Larryh86GT]

It is 62 degrees here today which is rare for us this time of the year. I got the winter pool cover drained. No ice - nice!

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Ran a short series of test using my "high quality" test kit and got 6.3ppm FC with 0 CCs...holy cow my FC is high. The water is cold here (62F) and my SWG is still set to 20% so it's not surprising my FC spiked up. It will hit cold water cutoff soon and I backed my chlorine-production pump runtime down to 2 hours/day. Waterfall will be winterized tomorrow in expectation of cooler weather rolling in (it was 90F yesterday....WTH?!?!?!).

And, I recorded it all using my PoolMath App...I love that App!!!

 

[Dodger]

Found a storage box to fit my needs for all the test stuff! I prefer to store the reagents upright, so instead of a tackle box, I found an art supplies box at Michaels with enough depth for 2oz reagent bottles. I added a few plastic dividers, and voila!

View attachment 71052

I still have some duplicate reagent bottles from my kluge kit (many pieces purchased separately before I knew about TFP), so some space will free up when those are used up or expire. I will fill those spots with my other test blocks and/or my pH meter.

I tucked the instruction sheets into ziplock snack bags so that they are protected and I can still see both the front and the back of them (will probably laminate someday). And I’ve got a sticker inside the cover with the TFP website and target values for this pool!

p.s. This really is "for our pool" and not for its obsessive owner!

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Found a storage box to fit my needs for all the test stuff! I prefer to store the reagents upright, so instead of a tackle box, I found an art supplies box at Michaels with enough depth for 2oz reagent bottles. I added a few plastic dividers, and voila!

View attachment 71052

I still have some duplicate reagent bottles from my kluge kit (many pieces purchased separately before I knew about TFP), so some space will free up when those are used up or expire. I will fill those spots with my other test blocks and/or my pH meter.

I tucked the instruction sheets into ziplock snack bags so that they are protected and I can still see both the front and the back of them (will probably laminate someday). And I’ve got a sticker inside the cover with the TFP website and target values for this pool!

p.s. This really is "for our pool" and not for its obsessive owner!

Nice job

 

[pooldv]

That test kit looks like a good candidate for this thread.
Let's See Your Test Kit! - Page 7

Took hundreds of leaves out of my pool again. I already switched to bleach.

I did drain the hot tub and give it some fresh water, lowered TA to 50, added 50 ppm of borates and pH is like a rock. It was stuck at 7.4 and that is a little too low for my skin. I figured aeration would raise it but it didn't move after a week so I added some borax to raise it to 7.8. For some reason water with pH at 7.8 feels a lot better to me. Less drying or something. It could be the lack of salt too though. We add epsom salts pretty regularly to the tub and of course all the bleach adds salt too. I think i went a year or more since the last water change.

 

[Brentr]

Ran a short series of test using my "high quality" test kit and got 6.3ppm FC with 0 CCs...holy cow my FC is high. The water is cold here (62F) and my SWG is still set to 20% so it's not surprising my FC spiked up. It will hit cold water cutoff soon and I backed my chlorine-production pump runtime down to 2 hours/day. Waterfall will be winterized tomorrow in expectation of cooler weather rolling in (it was 90F yesterday....WTH?!?!?!).

And, I recorded it all using my PoolMath App...I love that App!!!

90 degrees? We have not had that in weeks [emoji30]

 

[JoyfulNoise]

90 degrees? We have not had that in weeks [emoji30]

The Thanksgiving break saw some unusually high temps in this part of the country. It’s not supposed to be that warm at all but it won’t last. By the weekend our daytime temps should go down into the low 60’s and the nights should get considerably cooler. Normally I would have picked all the oranges off of my orange tree by the pool but they are still struggling to stay green. The turn orange once the air temps get cold and I have to keep an eye on the weather and pick them before the first freeze.

Anyway, pool is sparkly clean and completely not swimmable unless you like doing that polar bear club thing :splash:

 

[Brentr]

That is unbelievable if I knew that a day time temp was going to be in the 90’s I would turn on the solar and crank on the heat pump and get this baby nice and warm. [emoji2]

 

[needsajet]

Cleaned the pool cover, rolled it up and put it away for the summer. One of the better pool care feelings... taking the ugly cover far away from the otherwise pretty pool, haha

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Speaking of covers - I chopped up and threw my 2 year old cover in the trash. It was totally destroyed by the sun and was full of popped bubbles and trapped water. Given that they cost about $120 for my pool size and the unwieldy nature of my freeform pool design, I will not be buying anymore covers. Too much hassle. As a side project, I plan to repurpose the DWV foam-core ABS pipes I used to make the DIY Solar Roller reel to see how well they work at diverting rainwater from my downspouts into the pool. I plan on dumping the pool water this spring but I want to see if I can capture some rain water off the roof, get a feel for how "dirty" it is, how many inches I can collect, etc, etc.

As for extending the swim season...someday solar panels are going up on the casita roof....some day....

 

[mknauss]

I plan on dumping the pool water this spring but I want to see if I can capture some rain water off the roof, get a feel for how "dirty" it is, how many inches I can collect, etc, etc.

I do that! My wife calls it my 'hillbilly' bucket! I have one spot off our roof near the pool that dumps a huge amount of water during our rainstorms, that can be epic. So I took a 30 gallon trash can, cut a hole about a foot off the bottom, put a PVC adapter with a 10' piece of pipe that gets to the pool. I can take it down when we are not going to get any rain (last rain we had here was early September). Also when we have guests -- my wife says it is too ugly to leave out!

It works really well. I do not leave it up when we are gone for very long as I am afraid of getting one our epic storms and overflowing the pool. I get no visible dirt (probably because with our storms is typically wind and we get more dirt in the pool from that vs the runoff from the roof). I use it to defray from evaporation. Have added 3 inches to the pool volume one time. Of course that evaporated over the next few days --

Good luck!

 

[salty87]

^ we collect rainwater too. It's our water source for the entire house, 25k gallons. No city water out here. Well water has too many minerals, etc. Bring on the rain!

This is our dedicated pool tank. It's only 1k. Wish it were bigger, lots of evaporation and dogs. It collects water from the pergola as evidenced by the attached gutter. Water quality is fine. As mknauss observed, lots of other sources of bigger debris than what's on the roof.