Ellen, if you are able to buy the K1515 kit I mentioned above, that will give you the ability to test accurately and we will be able to help you clear your pool up. Let us know.
Your choice, of course.
I handled it badly, and should have checked with my mods, etc first.
I can certainly see how my response came across as rude -- I have tendency to 'think out loud' at times, and that's what I was doing. But the simple fact remains that, if you have problems with a small pool, the 3 options I gave you are really the ones you have -- not because I'm being mean or rude, but just because those are the facts.
Test it accurately -- and then fix it -OR- drain and refill it and then use the SSR (which avoids some of the need to test -OR- give it up.
Of course, there's a 4th option the pool chemicals companies hope you'll take, and that's to keep buying useless pool chemicals OR using bad test methods (strips or pool dealers) so they can keep selling you stuff, as the problems continue.
Sorry I didn't say it better. Good luck.
Last edited by PoolDoc; 08-02-2014 at 06:48 PM.
PoolDoc / Ben
Ellen, if you are able to buy the K1515 kit I mentioned above, that will give you the ability to test accurately and we will be able to help you clear your pool up. Let us know.
My first pool was an Intex donut, 15' diameter, 15 years ago we used for three years.
I went thru many of the same problems you did...wasting money on "How To Tame The Pool Monster" and other useless, expensive industry advice. I put in the wrong chemicals, the wrong algaecide, but nothing worked.
Then, in the 2nd season, I found the Pool Forum. I was one of the first members to have an Intex anything, and Ben knew little about it and was highly skeptical I'd be able to make it work with the as-yet-unamed BBB system in a 3500 gallon fish bowl with a lousy undersized cartridge filter. But I bought the equivalent of the K-2006, and it was the best investment I ever made! My water troubles with the Intex were over, and after the 3rd season I built my current pool and managing it was easy.
But here is the thing: We can only give you our best advice. You can take it or not take it, because it is your pool, not ours. We hope you will take it because most of our members are able to enjoy their pools with minimum effort and expense because our advice is the simplest, most logical, and effective you can get.
Carl
Thank you all. I DO understand that you can only give me your advice and can't read my total chlorine without the K2006. I never asked you to find a way around it or guess. What I just didn't appreciate was a moderator coming down hard on me (or changing the name of the thread). This pool has been a good intro to the whole process. I especially never knew that places like Leslie's were like when I'd take my car to Jiffy Lube for an oil change and they'd try to flush my radiator for $300.
I'm going to agree with CarlD too. I have an Intex. I'm here to tell you, it takes a LONG time to filter out remnants of an algae infestation, weeks, AND, that's IF you REPLACE the filter every time it stops up (the filters from walmart, Home Depot, Lowes, etc will not stand up to being cleaned). I'll also tell you that the advice I got here was once the algae is dead and the pool is clear enough to see the bottom, it's ok to go swimming. We all hope you get to enjoy your pool for lots of years. I'll also say, we had a constant fight on our hands til we got the K2006 kit and were able to accurately test the chlorine levels. That kit has saved us BUNCHES of money in chemicals we didn't need to buy.
Good luck and ENJOY your pool!
Pappy
Intex 15ftx4ft 4500 gal. 3/4 HP Pentair WhisperFlo pump. Hayward 21" sand filter. Taylor K-2006 & K-1106 kits. PF=27
26K gal 20x40 rectangular IG vinyl pool; Apr 2014: New pump, liner, auto-cover, & water; Pentair Whisperflo 1HP pump; Pentair Trition sand filter; Cover/Star CS-500 auto cover; Taylor K-2006C; OTO
If you already have the HTH 6-way drop kit and really have to squeeze bucks, the K-1515 FAS-DPD add-on test for $19. will give you the same essential capability as the K-2006. The key tests of FC, CC, pH, CYA, plus TA and CH are how we address 99% of the problems people face here.
When I had my Intex, I used their filters which could be hosed down several times before being discarded. There were no others that fit at the time. I made my own vacuum-to-filter by forcing a 3/4" PVC double-female connector into the end of an 18' length of 1 1/4" vacuum hose and attaching to a vacuum head that could take both a 1.5 and 1 1/4" hose. I plugged it into the drain where it fit perfectly, and even with the weak pump, was able to fully vacuum it.
These days, I swear by the Pool Blaster, but they are a little pricey.
Carl
Thanks. I did read on one of the links here that the Unicel filter was a better option so I've had one of those in for a couple of days. The water looks great the past 2 days. And once it cleared there was no visible residue on the bottom, just a few leaves that I couldn't see before.
I'm pretty much set. It was a week straight of shocking and rinsing that stupid paper filter, but it did work.
All my numbers are in line (chlorine is still a bit high but I expected that).
One last question: Can anyone supply a link to using the Walmart Bleach for every day maintenance instead of the chlorine tablets? Unless of course you think that's a bad idea.
I can't remember if I saw a post on here of someone maintaining their pool with 2 cups every night. I'd love to learn that method if it works.
Thanks!
You can most certainly just use plain, unscented bleach as your source for chlorine. Many of us do -- me included. But, there is more to it than just adding a couple of cups per night.
Needed chlorine levels are based on your CYA reading. With a CYA of 50 that you reported above, you need to keep your chlorine between 3-6ppm ALL the time. So, you test your pool each evening to get the chlorine reading and then add however much bleach you need to get your chlorine level back up to around 6ppm. For reference, in your pool each cup of 8.25% bleach should add around 0.7ppm of chlorine and each quart would add around 3ppm.
More info about the CYA and chlorine connection can be found here:> http://pool9.net/cl-cya/
Hope this helps.
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