I have been reading Pool School all day! I have a few questions on how to get by for the next week until the test kit arrives.
Bought this house in Aug '20 and we were pretty sure we'd have to have the pool resurfaced. It has an aggregate or pebble surface -- at least parts of it -- but it's hard to tell the real condition of it. Some parts seem bleached out, other parts splotchy, other parts dark black. It was stable over the winter but turned green a few weeks ago. We blamed the mallard ducks who adopted us for their nesting season.
Found TFP and really dug in today, and now I suspect there's more to it than the ducks (although I'm sure they didn't help). Now I know we have both green AND black algae, the black algae was here before we moved in, and I'm guessing the CYA levels are way out of whack from using tablets (per the former owner). But I feel hopeful!
Recent history: We've been keeping the chlorine level high with dry shock, sweeping daily, and running the pump 24/7 (and cleaned out the cart filter 2x) but we're literally dumping money down the drain and not seeing much change. It's better than it was 3 weeks ago, but not fixed. Our basic test kit only indicates that the chlorine level is more than 3.0, but after all that I've read today, I understand that there is SO much more to it than that!
We were on the verge of draining the pool so we could really get in there and scrub the black algae (without donning a diving suit). But I got a little scared of that approach after reading some horror stories, so now I'm thinking we'll try a SLAM first along with all the black algae recommendations. I have a steel brush on the way and a Taylor K-2006 test kit due next Saturday.
So now to my questions....
We can't officially start the SLAM until the test kit arrives, so in the meantime, should we...keep the filter running 24/7? keep adding dry shock or start using liquid chlorine? keep brushing daily? do anything about the pH? (it's on the high side, around 8.0) start scrubbing on the black algae? (steel brush due to arrive Monday)? Anything else I should or should not do this week?
Thanks in advance! I look forward to learning a lot more.
Bought this house in Aug '20 and we were pretty sure we'd have to have the pool resurfaced. It has an aggregate or pebble surface -- at least parts of it -- but it's hard to tell the real condition of it. Some parts seem bleached out, other parts splotchy, other parts dark black. It was stable over the winter but turned green a few weeks ago. We blamed the mallard ducks who adopted us for their nesting season.
Found TFP and really dug in today, and now I suspect there's more to it than the ducks (although I'm sure they didn't help). Now I know we have both green AND black algae, the black algae was here before we moved in, and I'm guessing the CYA levels are way out of whack from using tablets (per the former owner). But I feel hopeful!
Recent history: We've been keeping the chlorine level high with dry shock, sweeping daily, and running the pump 24/7 (and cleaned out the cart filter 2x) but we're literally dumping money down the drain and not seeing much change. It's better than it was 3 weeks ago, but not fixed. Our basic test kit only indicates that the chlorine level is more than 3.0, but after all that I've read today, I understand that there is SO much more to it than that!
We were on the verge of draining the pool so we could really get in there and scrub the black algae (without donning a diving suit). But I got a little scared of that approach after reading some horror stories, so now I'm thinking we'll try a SLAM first along with all the black algae recommendations. I have a steel brush on the way and a Taylor K-2006 test kit due next Saturday.
So now to my questions....
We can't officially start the SLAM until the test kit arrives, so in the meantime, should we...keep the filter running 24/7? keep adding dry shock or start using liquid chlorine? keep brushing daily? do anything about the pH? (it's on the high side, around 8.0) start scrubbing on the black algae? (steel brush due to arrive Monday)? Anything else I should or should not do this week?
Thanks in advance! I look forward to learning a lot more.