What did you do to your pool today?

[Mdragger88]

Frogs are one thing I never get, and we have loads of tree frogs around here. Japanese beetles are my insect of choice apparently.

I have never had a frog in my pool until this year!
Now I’m pulling out 2 or 3 a day from the skimmer. Its those long legged jokers too!

 

[Dirk]

I have never had a frog in my pool until this year!
Now I’m pulling out 2 or 3 a day from the skimmer. Its those long legged jokers too!

You all know about Frog Logs, right?

 

[Mdragger88]

You all know about Frog Logs, right?

View attachment 596580

I feel like that would just give them more ways in!
I think the ultimate answer is to eliminate the frog breeding holes my son has created with his 4wheeler. I treat them with mosquito dunks but until recently I hadn’t considered the booming frog population

 

[Turbo1Ton]

You all know about Frog Logs, right?

View attachment 596580

I had issues with these growing algae on them. Was weird because the pool never showed elevated CC's or anything but when I pulled them out, along the backside where they laid against the tile, was covered in algae. I switched to Critter Skimmers instead. Home Page - Critter Skimmer

--Jeff

 

[Mdragger88]

I had issues with these growing algae on them. Was weird because the pool never showed elevated CC's or anything but when I pulled them out, along the backside where they laid against the tile, was covered in algae. I switched to Critter Skimmers instead. Home Page - Critter Skimmer

--Jeff

Interesting
Won’t fit on my above ground skimmer but I may try just leaving the lid off & wedging a paint stir stick in there as a ramp? I’ll report back with results!

 

[JamesW]

I had issues with these growing algae on them. Was weird because the pool never showed elevated CC's or anything

Algae usually does not create CCs.

CC means Combined Chlorine, which is where a chlorine atom joins a molecule without oxidizing it.

Many people assume that algae should create CCs, but it mostly does not happen.

If algae reacts, it is usually oxidation and not a combination.

For example chlorine can combine with ammonia or methane to create CCs.

Algae is created by photosynthesis, which produces glucose.

Chlorine will not typically combine with the Glucose molecule; it will usually oxidize the carbon to carbon dioxide, which produces no combined products.

_____________________________________________________________________________



6CO₂ + 6H₂O --> C₆H₁₂O₆ + 6O₂

Carbon Dioxide + Water--> Glucose + Oxygen.

_____________________________________________________________________________

C₆H₁₂O₆ + 6OCl^- + 6HOCl --> 6CO₂ + 6H₂O + 6H⁺ + 12Cl^-

Glucose + Chlorine --> Carbon Dioxide + Water + Hydrogen ions + Chloride ions.

 

[Dirk]

I feel like that would just give them more ways in!

I would worry about that, too! Creating an easily accessible swimming hole for every local creature!! Have we ever gotten feedback from Frog Log users regarding this?

I've never used one, as I don't have critters in my pool. I've just read about them here.

 

[JamesW]

Chlorine can react with organic materials in water to form disinfection byproducts (DBPs).

The formation of DBPs is usually a greater concern for water systems that use surface water, such as rivers, lakes, and streams, as their source.

Surface water sources are more likely to contain the organic materials that combine with chlorine to form DBPs.

Scientists have identified hundreds of DBPs.

Several types of DBPs have limits set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA): trihalomethanes (THMs), haloacetic acids (HAAs), chlorite, and bromate.

Algae is a type of organic matter that can form disinfection byproducts (DBPs).

However, the types of organic matter that typically create disinfection byproducts (DBPs) tend to be leaves and other more solid organics.

Chlorine can combine with methane or ammonia by substituting for a hydrogen.

Chlorine is +1 and the central atom is -3 or -4, which make the chlorine attracted but the central atom holds onto the electrons and the chlorine cannot easily oxidize the central atom (Carbon or nitrogen).

 

[JamesW]

I feel like that would just give them more ways in!

Getting in is easy, getting out is difficult.

 

[Turbo1Ton]

I would worry about that, too! Creating an easily accessible swimming hole for every local creature!! Have we ever gotten feedback from Frog Log users regarding this?

I've never used one, as I don't have critters in my pool. I've just read about them here.

If the frog logs did give them easier access, they clearly used them equally as egress points since I never found them in the skimmers after installing them.

I would occasionally find one that would get sucked into the skimmer before they found the frog log.

I think both the frog log and critter skimmer are good options for critters to escape, the critter skimmer gives them a chance though, if they get sucked into the skimmer. I have found a couple frogs over the last couple years that I'm assuming just hadn't made it to the ramp yet. Those were quickly rescued and relocated to the yard.

The only other thing I have found since putting them in is an occasional mole. So weird.

--Jeff

 

[Dirk]

The only other thing I have found since putting them in is an occasional mole.

I think that's what I had, a couple times. Or gophers. I think I did find a frog once or twice, alive and then rescued. The moles/gophers were dead.

 

[Dirk]

Then there was this guy:



Which I photoshopped and sent to friends and family as an April Fool's gag. Heh, heh, heh...

 

[TinFoilHat]

You mean that wasn't scary enough?

 

[Dirk]

You mean that wasn't scary enough?

Ha, ha, fooled another one. There never was a snake. The whole thing is photoshopped!

 

[dreaming nomad]

Well, not mine, but I was cleaning this pool that turned green because the skimmer got clogged up real bad with a ton of plastic fibers and these kids came and asked me when it would be ready to swim in, i said Saturday or Sunday, so they said ok and took off running. And one of them hollered "i just got the worst news of my entire life!" I never gave someone the worst news of their entire life before.

 

[Homebrewale]

I installed an Intellichlor IC40 SWG. I've been nursing along an Ichlor 30 for the last few months. It would show Cold on the display. I would look to replacing it. Then it would work again. Sometimes it would go days/weeks without an issue. Then go Cold for a day or two. I would see it when testing. The FC would stay between 6 to 7 ppm then one day be 3 or 4. I thought about trying to making it to the end of the season but there are still 2.5 months and I'll be out of town for 8 days. I didn't need it to flake out right after I left and come back to a green pool.

Hardest part of any install is cutting the PVC. It's not hard to cut. It's the nervousness of not screwing up the measurements so it fits correctly. The install went flawlessly. Everything is back up and running. I checked to see if I could lower the RPMs on my pump. I was running 2000 RPMs with the Ichlor 30. The light on the IC40 didn't go out until 1750. Since I like to run about 200 RPMs above where the SWG with a clean filter, I just left the pump at 2000 RPMs. Running at 1950 RPMs only lowers the electricity usage by 50W.

According to PoolMath, the main thing I may not like about the IC40 is that at 40% it produces 3.4 ppm/day and at 60% it produces 5.2 ppm/day. I was running the Ichlor 30 at 70% which produces 4.3 ppm/day. I could run the IC for 20 hours per day to produce 4.3 ppm but I prefer to run the pump 24/7. So it looks like I'll be testing FC more and adjusting between 40% and 60%.

 

[jwiegley]

Today I put in a missing O-ring for the skimmer diverter on the shallow end.

When I bought this house and this pool it had no diverters, even though the main drain is only plumbed through the skimmer pots. So I put in two diverters (shallow and deep) to protect against a low water level dead-heading the pump.

However, I didn't know how critical the O-rings are to how these diverters work. So, as I was doing a bucket test at one point I let the water level drop below the skimmers, thinking this would just re-route the flow through the main drain. But no! The shallow end had no O-ring at all, and thus dead-heading resulted each time I ran the equipment.

Today I was able to fully close both diverters with no change in the flow through the system, and used some falling debris to check that water flow was going through the main drain. It sure doesn't have a strong pull, even though it's 40 GPM coming out of the return; but now the diverters positively stick to the bottom of the skimmer pot while the pump is running, which leads me to believe it's now going to provide the protection I'd hoped for. At some point, I'll have to try shutting off the auto-fill and give it a real-world test.

 

[Dirk]

Today I put in a missing O-ring for the skimmer diverter on the shallow end.

When I bought this house and this pool, it has no diverters, even though the main drain is only plumbed through the skimmer pots. So I put in two diverters (shallow and deep) to protect against a low water level dead-heading the pump.

However, I didn't know how critical the O-rings are to how these diverters work. So I was doing a bucket test at one point, and let the water level drop below the skimmers, thinking this would just re-route the flow through the main drain. But no! The shallow end had no O-ring at all, and thus dead-heading resulted each time I run the equipment.

Today I was able to fully close both diverters with no change in the flow through the system, and use some falling debris to check that water flow was going through the drain. It sure doesn't have a strong pull, even though it's 40 GPM coming out of the return. But now the diverters positively stick to the bottom of the skimmer pot while the pump is running, so I believe it's now going to provide the protection I'd hoped for. At some point, I'll have to try shutting off the auto-fill and give it a real-world test.

Glad to hear you got yours working. Mine never did. Why do they build pools this way? To save the couple hundred dollars it might cost to home-run the drain to the pad? Crazy. Or maybe its for what you describe, to safeguard the pump, but I think that can be better done with a dedicated equalizer pipe from skimmer to pool, instead of involving the drain. No matter. Yours works now. I plugged mine after I plastered over the drains. They never worked anyway. My only protection now is my auto-leveling system and my pool cam, watching my water level.

 

[Dirk]

After using my filter cartridge cleaning station this year, I discovered a flaw. The height I decided on is just right for the top half of the cartridge, but too low for these old bones when working on the bottom half. I solved for that by using two seats of different heights, but squatting on a step stool wasn't all that great either. The solution hit me after I was done and the filter was reassembled, so I decided to modify it next year, as I would need to get at a cartridge for the measurements. But yesterday I had cause to open the filter, so I decided to pull out a cartridge and do the retrofit now, before I forgot my idea!

Here's the stool next to the original empty stand:



And then loaded with a cartridge. It's a good height for the top half, but the bottom half is too low! Yes, I could lower the stool, or use a second foot stool like I did, but then the top half would be too hard to reach! I need two levels, not two stools.



So I found a reducer at Lowe's and some scraps I had laying around. I fabricated this out of 2" and 3" ABS:



I notched out the bottom to fit snug to the tee that holds the cartridge up at "level 1." The reducer holds the cartridge in place at "level 2."



Level 2. Much better for the ol' sacroiliac:



So I'll clean the top two or three rows at level 1, then pull off the cartridge, slip on the "second stage booster,"* and put the cartridge back on that. Then I'll only need the one stool and I can quickly adjust the levels back and forth for each cartridge. Of course, it'll be next year before I can know for sure this works.

*Who said pool maintenance isn't rocket science!?

 

[JamesW]

Make it horizontal.