Where do we go from here?

[linen]

Another question, since I failed miserably at properly maintaining the pool last year. Is there some kind of "standard" when it comes to how often to shock for maintenance?

That is the great thing about the methods taught on this site. When followed properly, there is no need of maintenance shocking. Bottom line, know your cya level (and have it at an appropriate level) then keep the FC at the appropriate level for that cya level. Either use the pool calculatorto suggest the appropriate FC level, or use the Chlorine/CYA chart.

 

[jblizzle]

WOW busy thread ... not enough happening on the boards :lol:

Follow this (or adjust it to your needs) and you should easily maintain the pool and never have to shock again:
pool-school/basic_pool_care_schedule

 

[RobbieH]

Here's a funny story. I was at a friend's house, he had other friends over that I'd never met. I was in the process of helping my friend get his pool under control, and his friend asked how I maintained mine (I had just installed my old Liquidator on my friend's pool, he was intrigued). I told him salt water chlorine generator, he said "oh man, you'll be shocking 5 times a year!" Haven't shocked my pool since I moved in the house. Just follow along here and shocking should be a thing of the past.

 

[RobbieH]

an entire 25lb bucket when we started this "pond to pool" transformation

If you used 25 lbs, your CH was way too low for your plaster pool! I admit it, I got lucky in the same way. I didn't know how to recover my pool when I first moved in here and I picked up the PPP myself. I used 25 lbs and it got me to 300 ppm. I was very lucky I did not overdo it.

 

[JulieS1007]

I am so close to real "maintenance" time now! Filter ran for 5 hours yesterday and only went up about 2psi. And I had even brushed a big chunk of the floor area too! Ran the full range of tests this morning and here's where I am:

Ph: looked to be between the 7.2 and 7.5 colors
FC: 3
CC: 0
TA: 110
CH: 250
CYA: 20

Based on the recommended levels page, I thought these goals should be good:
Ph: 7.5
FC: 4
CC: 0
TA: ??
CH: ?? 250 should be a fine level and since our well water has a CH around 160 I shouldn't use anything else to up the level right?
CYA: 40

Should I try to adjust any of my current levels for this week (besides FC of course...with my low CYA I know I still need to check that daily)? Or wait until next week's readings since I should have the filter back to running regularly by then and not just when we're home to keep checking up on it.

And y'all are so right. I thought it was going to be a complete nightmare trying to get that brown nasty water back to a pretty pool, but following all the recommendations on here, it has really been super easy and not taken near as much time and effort that I thought it would. AND it's been a lot cheaper than buying all the different chemicals I know the people at the pool store would have been pushing at me!! And only two weeks later we have a clear blue pool again!

 

[JulieS1007]

Follow this (or adjust it to your needs) and you should easily maintain the pool and never have to shock again:
pool-school/basic_pool_care_schedule

I'm going to print this out and start marking my calendar so I don't start falling behind like I did last year!

 

[JulieS1007]

I am so close to real "maintenance" time now! Filter ran for 5 hours yesterday and only went up about 2psi. And I had even brushed a big chunk of the floor area too! Ran the full range of tests this morning and here's where I am:

Ph: looked to be between the 7.2 and 7.5 colors
FC: 3
CC: 0
TA: 110
CH: 250
CYA: 20

Based on the recommended levels page, I thought these goals should be good:
Ph: 7.5
FC: 4
CC: 0
TA: ??
CH: ?? 250 should be a fine level and since our well water has a CH around 160 I shouldn't use anything else to up the level right?
CYA: 40

Should I try to adjust any of my current levels for this week (besides FC of course...with my low CYA I know I still need to check that daily)? Or wait until next week's readings since I should have the filter back to running regularly by then and not just when we're home to keep checking up on it.

And y'all are so right. I thought it was going to be a complete nightmare trying to get that brown nasty water back to a pretty pool, but following all the recommendations on here, it has really been super easy and not taken near as much time and effort that I thought it would. AND it's been a lot cheaper than buying all the different chemicals I know the people at the pool store would have been pushing at me!! And only two weeks later we have a clear blue pool again!

Anyone??

Btw, the filter is now running on regular schedule with no rise in pressure!! WOOHOO!! Currently set to run from 7am-6pm. Is that too long, too short, just fine?

 

[Smykowski]

Those number targets look pretty good. Here are my thoughts.....

pH - You'll have to see how your pH behaves. Some pools naturally settle at 7.5, others work really hard to stay at 7.7 or 7.8, you'll have to see how it goes.

TA - TA will be related to that. A high TA will drive the pH up, but too low of a TA can cause problems for concrete/plaster. 110 is a touch on the high side, but if you maintain a pH of 7.5, the TA will gradually drift down as well. It's probably fine for now.

FC - Remember with a CYA of 40, FC of 3 is an absolute minimum. If you're shooting for 4, you're starting from lower, and that's probably too low. If it was me, I'd aim for 5 or 6, and add chlorine when it gets to 4. This way if you screw up/forget, you give yourself a buffer before algae gets a toe hold.

As for pump run time, it needs what it needs. If the water stays crystal clear, trying dropping the run time by an hour for a couple days. If it stays crystal clear, drop it further. If you notice it starts to get a little dull, bump it back up. (All of this assumes that your FC is maintained properly,of course, and the only reason the water is getting dull is filtration.)

 

[JulieS1007]

Those number targets look pretty good. Here are my thoughts.....

pH - You'll have to see how your pH behaves. Some pools naturally settle at 7.5, others work really hard to stay at 7.7 or 7.8, you'll have to see how it goes.

TA - TA will be related to that. A high TA will drive the pH up, but too low of a TA can cause problems for concrete/plaster. 110 is a touch on the high side, but if you maintain a pH of 7.5, the TA will gradually drift down as well. It's probably fine for now.

FC - Remember with a CYA of 40, FC of 3 is an absolute minimum. If you're shooting for 4, you're starting from lower, and that's probably too low. If it was me, I'd aim for 5 or 6, and add chlorine when it gets to 4. This way if you screw up/forget, you give yourself a buffer before algae gets a toe hold.

As for pump run time, it needs what it needs. If the water stays crystal clear, trying dropping the run time by an hour for a couple days. If it stays crystal clear, drop it further. If you notice it starts to get a little dull, bump it back up. (All of this assumes that your FC is maintained properly,of course, and the only reason the water is getting dull is filtration.)

Awesome info!! You're right, I totally forgot to factor in that I will be upping my CYA when figuring where I should keep FC. Good point. The pool has been pretty steady at a pH of 7.5 so far all week. I'll test TA again on Saturday to see if it's changed at all. Great idea on the pump run time, I'll try that out! It has definitely been staying crystal clear all week. The water is so pretty I want to jump right in! Until I feel the temperature! :lol:

Also, we have a guy scheduled to come out next Wednesday to start work on leveling the concrete deck around the pool and replacing the tile and coping. I want to say it came out to about $3300-3400 for all of that so we thought that was a pretty good deal. Too bad we just don't have the money for the replaster right now. Now that the water is so clear you can really see how bad it's getting. Definitely worse than it was last summer. At least now I have the knowledge of this site to keep the water in better shape so as not to make the plaster any worse until we can redo it! Thanks y'all!!