New here - big pool, big problems!

[Gretchen]

Hi Janet - you're right, typo! Both FC and TC were at 20 this morning. I'll test again tonight but we've had a cloudy cool(er) day so I don't expect for it to have come down too far yet. I've let it settle since brushing it this morning and decided against the vac. The water is continuing to clear and I can't see anything down there that I should vac today. Not much stirred up with the brushing. I did backwash and rinse though and it looked pretty ugly even though the pressure hadn't risen. Fortunately it looked black for the first time in the viewer and not green so we must be killing the algae in the filter too.

I went out to search for DE and couldn't find any in town. Two managers at Wal-Mart didn't even know what it was. I didn't expect much - we live in a one horse town I sometimes refer to as "Lower Crapovia" and there are very few pool owners here. Wal-Mart also doesn't carry MA so I'm still going to have to return to the aloof pool dude at some point.

Thanks again for everything. I love this place!!

[aylad]

Our Walmart started carrying a small bag of DE in the pool section for the first time this year, but I haven't seen it in stock since the beginning of the summer. Lowe's and Home Depot carry it around here.

For MA, don't know if you have a Tractor Supply Company store near you, but they're the cheapest place around here. Many hardware stores also carry it in the paint department--Lowe's and Home Depot included, although they value theirs highly

Janet

[Gretchen]

Wednesday morning - totally clear pool!! I can clearly see everything on the floor of the deep end including the screw heads in the drain. No cloudy water, no milky water, no green patches. The water is uniformly clear from shallow to deep end!

I didn't have a chance to test the water last night but did so first thing this morning. I only checked for Ph and chlorine right now because I don't want to tempt myself to mess with the TA. And I already know the CYA is in the 50-60 range.

FC: 10
TC: 10
Ph: 7.6

Since the chlorine fell so much within 24 hours I'm planning on checking again at noon and again tonight so I can monitor how much it falls overnight. I was surprised at first that the chlorine level was so much lower than yesterday morning but I'm not panicking yet - the pool is SO much clearer just through the overnight period that I'm hoping the usage will level off through today. I've looked at the CYA/chlorine chart that Watermom has on a sticky and gather that I should keep my chlorine in the 6-10 range for maintenance? I'll keep an eye on the Ph as well since I've learned from other posts that I shouldn't let that fall below 7.2.

We're going to have a stinkin' hot day here today and for the first time this season I'm planning on spending it in the pool!!!

[Spensar]

Congrats on a great job! Enjoy the day.

[aylad]

Enjoy!!!!!

Janet