bbb convert

[85gtr]

hi everyone ,great site! the pool at our home has been a swamp for two years now,until I found this site.we have a 20x40 nground,vinyl liner,hayward sand filter.i have been shocking at orange with an oto kit for three days now,from 12 am to 8 am it falls back to dark yellow...:(.it has cleared up a huge amount.i have brushed daily and vacummed 2 x .i now have very cloudy water so i cant c the bottom. i went to the dreaded pool store today and here are my results:fc 5.56,tc 6.22,cc.66,alk 129,ph 6.8,cya 14,copper 0,iron 0 which is unbelievable bcause we filled from 1 of the wells on our property.tds 1000....yikes.i did buy 5lbs of ph reducer being they did test my water electronically. i have added algaecide 2 weeks ago ,approx 120 oz. aquachem,and another 32 oz of aquabrite brand per the pool store.32 oz of floc.they tried to sell a ton of other stuff and i just walked per my BS filter.thats when i found this site and started bbb.i have since purchased an oto kit and only used bleach,a ton (65 gallons)seriously!i also have a sock with cya hanging by the skimmer.any and all help is greatly appreciated!almost forgot i added 8lbs of borax and 12 lbs of baking soda last week.i just checke water (7 pm est) and resding is at 5ppm (yellow).

[aylad]

Hi, and welcome to the forum!!

You can take the pH reducer back--your pH needs to be in the 7.0 - 7.8 range, so it does NOT need to be reduced. Don't worry about TDS--that's mostly just a scare tactic to get you to buy something to reduce it. Ignore it. I would stay away from any algaecide that they try to sell you, unless it's polyquat 60--and even then you really don't need it unless you have a metals problem, are closing the pool for winter, or have some other reason that you have to keep chlorine low. Any other algaecide will just foam up your pool and create more problems. Honestly, chlorine in proper levels is the only algaecide you need for regular use. Your alk is fine, you have CYA being added now, so it looks like you just need to let your filter do the work. As you're filtering, do you see your pressure rising? Don't backwash it until you see an 8-10 psi rise--but if your pressure isn't rising at all, you need to let us know that, too.

What size pump and filter do you have? Do yourself a HUGE favor and get your own drop-based test kit....we very highly recommend the K-2006 kit that can be found online at the link in my sig. Other than metals, it will test most everything you could need, and will keep you away from the pool store scare tactics!! :)

Looks like you're doing a great job so far, just stay the course and add a big dose of POPP--pool owner patience and persistence!! :cool:

[85gtr]

thanks aylad for the quick response.

my filter is a 300lb. hayward sand ,i will check the pump in a few and reply about that later .i changed the sand this weekend ,100 lb very coarse,almost like pea gravel and 200lb fine, pool specific.that was another 80 bucks ,dang i should have went into the pool bizz....lol.i have read here about adding a couple cups of de to help the sand filter out,is this a good idea?iwill get a better test kit maybe next week.ive spent alot and just cant do it right now.also should i keep on shocking at orange until it doesnt drop at nite?

I can see the second step now but the water is milkyblue,but at least its not green!!

[PoolDoc]

Please try to punctuate your posts, with periods (.) and spaces ( ) after your periods. Capitals would be nice, too. We're buried in new traffic and are reading similar posts for hours. Trying to make out what someone's typed in a hurry on a phone or an iGizmo is a PITE (pain in the eye).

(You'll also get more answers that way. People with tired eyes, who've had a long day tend to react with, "Hmm. Somebody else can answer that one!).

[aylad]

You really didn't need to change the sand, unless you've been through a Baq conversion or added something that gunked it up. The other three mods on this site have over 10 years on their sand apiece, and is still working fine. I've got 3 years on mine, but would be approaching 10 years had I not decided to try zeo.

You can use a cup of DE to help the sand filter. First you need to test and make sure the filter's not passing stuff through--take a couple of cupfuls of DE and add it through the skimmer, then watch the returns to make sure it doesn't blow back into the pool. If not, add enough DE to raise your pressure by 1 psi (that pressure change comes slowly, sometimes up to 30 minutes or so), and it will coat the sand, helping to pick up smaller particles.

You want to continue to hold your pool at shock level until you're no longer losing any chlorine overnight, but that's going to be hard to tell when you don't have the appropriate test for it, which is the best feature of the test kit I described above. It's good that there's no green left--make sure you brush the pool really well and don't have ANY green before you start letting the chlorine come down.

[PBLsQuad450]

The Taylor K2006 will be the best investment you make in your pool. trust me. It will not only save you a few grand over the next 2 or 3 years, it will be that one thing that finally liberates you and gives you the information you need to understand and manage your pool. That plus reading everything you can here and at pool solutions.

I have 30 years on 2 filters. I have never added or changed sand. The first filter, after 20 years was fine, it was replaced because the pool was moved/rebuilt in the wake major home (re) construction, including dramatic changes to the footprint.

Ben, I post on an iGizmo all the time. I make a few catastrophic auto-correct errors but using punctuation is a decision not a technology limitation. No snarky intended, I have writing issues, I teach graduate students as part of my job and the informal tendencies are shocking. The mantra I try to instill is, "never negatively predispose your reader," which is exactly the lesson you just posted! Thanks! I'd love to use your reply in class!

[PoolDoc]

Feel free, but my favorite version of that was Sheridan's "easy writing's vile hard reading".

I'd recalled that as being a quote of Johnson by Boswell, but when I tried to confirm it, I got pointed to Sheridan's "Clio's Protest (http://books.google.com/books?id=JEkVAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA27#v=onepage&q&f=false)", a poem that at first glance seems to have little to offer besides that quote. I know I never read that poem: I think I would have remembered such felicities as

"Shall he whose soul perspires with feeling,
Be interrupted by the spelling?
Or when enraptur'd, stop to hammer
Those raptures into dirty grammar?"

Of course, now I wonder, did Sheridan's peers say 'felling' for "feeling", or was it 'speeling' for "spelling"?

[aylad]

Umm Ben, I think you've had enough for the night..... ;)

[PoolDoc]

Ahh-h. Are you sure? I know lots and lots about literature!

Wanna 'compare and contrast' TS Eliot's Wasteland and his Four Quartets??

In 4 words: Wasteland sux; Quartets rox!

In 77 words: TS Eliot's Wasteland exhibits the puerile intellectual braggadocio of a young man with far more knowledge than wisdom, in a text which two generations of ill-educated English teachers have exhibited with the voyeuristic glee of a barely post pubertal boy; the Quartets reveal the epistemological modesty of a mature thinker who has rejected the earlier nihilism of a foolish young man, but who struggles sincerely to reckon the actual cost of honest and meaningful speech.

I can do more, can I, can I? Please? (This is fun, and I'm kinda tired of pools, right now!)

[Watermom]

I can do more, can I, can I? Please? (This is fun, and I'm kinda tired of pools, right now!)

I think you might be getting a little 'slap-happy!'

[PoolDoc]

I know, I know.

But think how confused all those not-so-innocent AP English students will be, when they Google for the Wasteland . . . and end up at the PoolForum. It just makes me grin.

[Watermom]

That would be pretty funny!

[CarlD]

Never read ts elliot. I liked some of the modern Spanish poets like Nicanor Parra, and was a HUGE fan of David Ignatow--to me the epitome of a mid to late 20th century poet who didn't off himself/herself at a young age. (I had a friend who was corresponding with Ann Sexton and had heard from her a week before Sexton self-terminated...friend was broken up.) But was never really much of a poetry fan or maven.

[85gtr]

Thanks for the info .The pump is a 1hp on a 300lb hayward sand filter

[85gtr]

My pool was built in 1981 and has never had the sand changed.The sand was kinda nasty and when i vacuumed it , the closer i got to the laterals the more it looked like masonry sand.i installed new pool spec.sand,coarse in the bottom and fine on top. I got 5lbs of de that i plan on puttig in tomorrow.Today i vacuumed to waste until i got below the skimmers. I am now filtering from the bottom until it refills above the skimmers again.this is a great site and thanks again for the info.Oh yea ,thanks for the english lesson too.... :)

[Watermom]

Oh yea ,thanks for the english lesson too.... :)
You never know what all you'll learn here. Depends on what kind of mood we are in! :p:p:cool:

[aylad]

I got 5lbs of de that i plan on puttig in tomorrow.)

Don't forget you only want your pressure to rise by1 psi, and that rises happens slowly-- it can take up to 30 minutes or so. I wouldn't start with the whole 5 pounds at once-- I'd start with a couple of cupfulls and then go from there. :)

[PBLsQuad450]

I know, I know.

But think how confused all those not-so-innocent AP English students will be, when they Google for the Wasteland . . . and end up at the PoolForum. It just makes me grin.

Too funny!

[PoolDoc]

Sorry for hijacking your thread, 85gtr. Did you get your questions answered?

[85gtr]

Thanks for the answers everyone.Today we had thunderstorms so i couldnt add the de and watch it closely. I just said floc it! I added 8 oz of floc , ran in the house while it ran on recirc. for a couple of hours and shut it down. My pump has ran nonstop for over 2 weeks. I am gonna let this settle until sat. morning. My plan is to vac. to waste ,backwash, rinse and then add the d.e. I havent added any bleach in approx. 24 hrs. now, my levels are still around 5ppm after a hot sunny day. I did add 4 3in. chlorine pucks i had to the skimmers . I can now make out the third step in the pool entrance.

Edit: hit the edit button by accident, didn't change anything in the post... Sorry!

[85gtr]

Once i establish good levels and clear water , how much bleach is my pool gonna require weekly ? How often will i need to shock ? I also noticed some foam on top of the water and in the skimmer when i shut the pump off , any ideas whats up with that? T hanks again for the help.

[BigDave]

How much bleach depends on too many factors to guess. CYA level, sunlight (intensity and time), number of swimmers, swimmers with suntan lotion, swimmers who think your pool is a potty, weather. Every pool is different.

You will get a good feel for it by testing daily and adjusting as necessary. Keep your FC in the normal range of Ben's Best Guess Chart (http://poolsolutions.com/gd/best-guess-swimming-pool-chlorine-chart.html) for your CYA level and always above the minimum. If you're a little heavy handed one day, you'll see it when you test the next day and use a little less. Test and adjust more often when usage changes (like when you have a big pool party).

You don't need to shock on a schedule, only when you persistently have CC reading of 0.5ppm, or when there's a gastro-intestinal accident, or if there's algae(but you won't 'cause youve cleaned it all up and kept your FC high enough).

[Watermom]

Foaming is usually the result of adding a cheap algaecide. Have you added anything like that lately?

[85gtr]

Thanks Dave. Yes watermom I have added over 100 oz of algaecide per the pool store. I had no clue , just did as told. Its been about 3 weeks since that was added. Is there anything I can do ?

[85gtr]

Just updating everyone! Our pool is clean again for around $200 . It was a swamp approximately 1 month ago and now its ready to swim,THANK YOU !!! pool forum peeps! Im adding 1 gallon of 6% wal mart bleach every other day. AWESOME!!!!!!

[Watermom]

Thanks for the update!

[85gtr]

Hi everyone ,just updating . Our pool is perfectly crystal clear using the bbb method . 1 gallon of bleach every other day and NOTHING ELSE!!!! I would have never believed it until i saw it. Thanks again to all those who make this forum possible!!!!!

[Watermom]

Great to hear!

I don't think we have asked you to add your information to our pool chart. If you don't mind, can you take a few seconds and do so, please?

Pool Chart Entry Form (http://goo.gl/cNPUO)
Pool Chart Results (http://goo.gl/PXaLu)

I would also encourage you to go ahead and post a current set of water testing results for us to take a look at for a quick check. Please tell us what kind of kit you are you using.

Thanks and keep up the good work!