White flakes in pool. I think I know what the problem is...

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cablinaggie

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LifeTime Supporter
May 14, 2010
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...from researching the board, but I want to get verification from the experts. Here are results from my TFTkit a couple of days ago:

FC= 8.5
CC= .5
pH= 7.8
T/A= 130
CH= 750 (holy mother of god. and I tested it twice to make sure) :(
CYA= 70

From reading posts, I'm pretty sure it's a combination of the unbelievably high CH and TA. I've been putting acid in it religiously for the past few weeks to get the pH down (and subsequently, TA) but it's not working. TA has been in the 120-130 range since mid-May.

The water looks great, except for the flakes which are coming out of the returns when the SWG reverses. I had a local company repair my IC40 through the warranty and the guy (who was really helpful) mentioned something called Metal-Out which can help with the calcium, but not enough to get it down to respectable levels. He also mentioned replacing water by sticking my hose in it for 24 hours and letting water drain. Is this advisable, and how long would it take to replace the needed amount?

I'm thinking about getting it drained/refilled, is that what you all would recommend? Although my kids use the pool every day, they're not splashing out as much as I need them to. My fill water has a CH of about 120. How much does something like that cost in the Houston area?

Thanks in advance.
 
Bama,

We've had the pool since September of '08 but I just took over taking care of the pool myself in early May. It started out as SWG, but in May of '09 we noticed the white flakes in the pool. Our pool guy at the time told us to switch to a chlorinator and charged us to put one in. I assume he used a bunch of shock because he was only coming out once every two weeks. I never personally put anything into the pool until we fired the guy about two months ago (that's when I found out about TFP). It was going good with the bleach, but I switched back to SWG (from advice taken from the board). I still think it's a good idea (to switch back to salt) but now the flakes came back.

If I'm going to replace the water, can I do it by refilling it with my hose and letting it drain, or is it just easier to call someone to drain and refill? How much does something like that cost?
 
You can drain and then refill with your hose. I don't know what the water table is in your area but you need to be aware of that when draining the pool. You may want to do several partial drain/refills to get to where you need to be.

Depending on what water cost in your area it might be a viable option to have water trucked in and pay someone to drain/refill it for you. You'll just have to check around and see.
 
If you have an overflow drain you can simply turn the garden hose on, point it at the pool, and let the excess drain out. Doing it that way will use a little more more water than the more complex approaches, but it sure is simple.
 
cablinaggie - I'm in the same boat. See this link and my others regarding CH.http://www.troublefreepool.com/experimenting-with-calcium-reducer-t22331.html

So far some success with the Lo-Chlor calcium reducer (while keeping TA in the 7.3-7.5 range). CH this week at 370. Note: although I have a 17 k gal pool, I only used one bottle for 10 k gal. I was expected to see an increase in filter pressure, but nothing yet. Will clean and inspect the cartridges this weekend.

Good Luck
 
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