Just joined the forum

[Frazzled]

Hi,

Frazz here, I live just north of St. Paul, MN and I put an 18x36 vinyl-lined pool in our backyard 7 years ago. Average depth is 5.5 feet so doing the math means I have 26,700 gallons of water in my pool. I have a sand filter, a 1.5 horse pump, and a Jandy Lite2 heater. I have been a slave to the pool store for too long and am determined to try the BBB method.

I have a chlorine generator that accepts 3" pucks - i generally purchase the ones sold at Sam's Club.

I have had some issues with algae in the past, but that may have been simple lack of vigilance on my part. I do have parts of my pool in the shallow end that seem to collect "dirt" or a similar substance. I used to frequently use a solar cover but am somewhat skeptical of them - I've had bad luck where they seem to help cause bad water conditions (cloudiness, algae, general unhappiness by the pool boy - me). The one I have now is clear and seems to have caused more problems than not. The pool is heavily used - almost every day - by two adults and sometimes a 13-year old (my son on weekends I have him). The wife likes the pool temp at 86, but I keep is "down" at 84. Still too warm for me, but I am adjusting.

I am ordering the K-2006 test kit this week.

Generally I have used pool store chlorine to start my pool in Spring, and then use a burnout 3 product for weekly maintenance. My chlorine is usually high, and that may been a factor of putting too much junk in it based on what the pool store says. They have the evil computer with the test strips and I have used them for years.

What I hope to get from this forum - knowledge on how to get the most from my pool without running to the pool store during their inconvenient hours of operation.

What I hope to add to this forum - experience I gain along the way that could help others.

Looking forward to posting with you all soon.

~Frazz

[AnnaK]

Welcome Frazz!

It's much easier to answer questions when we know something about your pool. We often spend the first few posts back and forth collecting information. So, please complete our new Pool Chart form -- it takes about 30 seconds, but will save much more than that.

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

Is your chlorinator inline or is it a floating device? Be sure you keep an eye on the pH. It tends to drop when you use the trichlor pucks.

Until your K2006 arrives you could get a cheap OTO (yellow drops) / phenol test kit, or if available at YOUR Walmart, get the HTH 6-way DROPS test kit, which is compatible with the Taylor K2006. Test the pool as soon and you can, and post the results. If you get the 6-way kit, ALSO test the water you FILL the pool with, especially if it's a well, and post THOSE results as well.

[Frazzled]

Here's the info from the Pool Chart:

Pool type: IG
Pool finish: Vinyl
Summer cover: Sometimes use a solar cover
Winter cover: Mesh
Pool length: 36'
Pool width: 18'
Shallow depth: 3.5'
Deep depth: 8.5'
Pool volume: 26,700 gallons
Pool shape: Rectangle
Year: 2005
Sanitizer source: In-line chlorinator (using 3" pucks I buy at Sam's Club)
Water: Utility water
Filter type: Sand
Filter make/model: Hayward Pro
Pump: A.O. Smith 1.5 hp
Pump hrs: 24
Additional equipment: Jandy Lite II Gast Heater, Pool Light
What test kit: HTH 6-way drops

I had cloudy water this past week - could have been a result of the last two bags of calcium hypochlorite-based shock I put in. We have hard water here, so I am skeptical if that is the right solution for me. Anyway, the "guess strips" showed 1-3 ppm chlorine, which seemed low, the HTH was showing about 10. I didn't believe the HTH at the time and gave the pool 4 96oz bottles of store-brand bleach. Here are my current readings as of now - and the chlorine is a guess, since it is too high to register a decent value right now so I diluted by four but could only use tap water that adds .5 ppm chlorine (best I can tell):

Chlorine: 20 ppm
pH: 7.6 or 7.7 (weird, it was 7.5 yesterday - no pucks in the chlorinator right now)
CYA: 80 ppm
TA: 130
Temp: 85

Water is crystal clear, swam in it yesterday, was not terribly irritating though you could definitely smell the chlorine.

Anything I need to do right now other than maybe bring the pH down, or should I leave that for now since the chlorine is so high?

~Frazz

[AnnaK]

Crystal clear water is always a joy to swim in.

I wouldn't do anything with the pH right now. Test it again after the chlorine has drifted down below 10 since the pH measurements aren't reliable when FC is >10 ppm. Are you planning on getting the Taylor K2006 test kit? It gives you better testing capabilities.

Your CYA is high. You might want to stop using the inline chlorinator with the trichlor pucks and switch to plain bleach because you really don't want to add any more CYA. And, since your vinyl pool doesn't need any calcium, you might want to stop using cal-hypo. That probably was the reason for the cloudiness.

Check the Best Guess chart for the level of chlorine you need to maintain at 80 ppm CYA. Test for that (chlorine) daily. Test for pH daily once the chlorine is down to 10 ppm or less and adjust, if necessary.

Have fun swimming!

[Watermom]

Hey Frazz! Welcome to the Pool Forum. Thanks for supplying all the information about your pool, but..... could you enter it into the Pool Chart. You can click on the blue link that Anna posted above and just enter your info in the correct cells in the spreadsheet. After you do so, you can click on the other blue link and see the results listed.

Thanks!

[AnnaK]

Frazzled is on line 95 in the Chart, Watermom, entered on 06/13.

[Watermom]

OK. Good. When I saw he had entered it all above, I thought maybe it had been put here instead of in the chart. I shoulda looked! Thanks, Anna.

[Frazzled]

I promise, I did do my homework.

K2006 will be here soon. We were out in the pool today, and my wife commented on the fact that she could tell I used "store brand" chlorine because it smells different from Clorox or the stuff I used to get at the pool store. I told her I was only doing as instructed and once the level goes down, she won't smell it at all.

It didn't keep us from swimming for 2 hours, so it couldn't have been that big of a deal.

[Watermom]

You really shouldn't be able to smell the chlorine at all. Usually when someone is smelling that chlorine smell it means they have a CC reading and actually need more chlorine to break it down. When you get the kit, post a full set of numbers and we'll have a look and see if anything needs tweaked.

Glad you had a good day in the pool. That is what it is all about!

(By the way -- reassure your wife that the store brand chlorine is fine. I don't think my pool has ever had anything but Walmart's generic bleach in it.)

[Frazzled]

You really shouldn't be able to smell the chlorine at all. Usually when someone is smelling that chlorine smell it means they have a CC reading and actually need more chlorine to break it down.

(By the way -- reassure your wife that the store brand chlorine is fine. I don't think my pool has ever had anything but Walmart's generic bleach in it.)

I can't smell it at all...I think she's just paranoid that we're changing the way the pool is maintained. We'll be fine...

[Frazzled]

So we've had a boatload of rain here the last few days - I have had to empty water out of the pool several times to keep it from going above the skimmers. Chlorine this morning is <1.0 ppm and pH is around 7.8. Clearly I need to add bleach, but how much? And what to do about the pH at this point? I did not test the TA as I am running a tad late this morning.

[AnnaK]

1 gallon of 6% bleach adds 6 ppm FC to 10,000 gallons. Calculate that out for your volume. Don't worry about the pH. It's still in range and may drift down again. What's your CYA these days?

[Frazzled]

1 gallon of 6% bleach adds 6 ppm FC to 10,000 gallons. Calculate that out for your volume. Don't worry about the pH. It's still in range and may drift down again. What's your CYA these days?

CYA = 90
TA = 140

I've not added any pucks, so there should be nothing adding CYA anymore. I added 3 jugs of 6% 96oz chlorine. And removed 7-8 frogs or parts of frogs from the skimmers.

I'll retest in the morning and if need be can add another jug. Should be swimmable by afternoon I would think.

[Watermom]

You've got to keep your chlorine level up between 5-10 all the time or you're going to have algae! Test your pool this evening after the sun is off the pool and then in the morning within two hours of sunrise. Note how much chlorine you lose overnight and post the results here. Did you get your K-2006 yet? If you did, also test your CC reading in the morning and report that, too.