Pool Guys?

[Concrete Helmet]

Anyone here take care of their own pool with a DE filter? I finally could take no more of Javier the Idiot screwing up my pool and not following the instructions I left for him several times on hand written notes. I didn't mind paying for someone to do next to nothing as long as they did what I told them needed to be done.....poor girl at their office had to listen to me berate her and their company for next to 30 minutes a week and a half ago(I can be a huge obnoxious condescending on another level d !ck when I get pissed) after their moron did a full phosphate treatment on the pool when I told him not to.....

Anyway I've gotten used to buying and putting my own salt and DE in the poll as well as brushing and vacuuming also to keep it in decent shape. I've shocked it several times since then and did a metal treatment, algae treatment, hardness adjustment, added conditioner.....long story short the pool scored a 10% when I took a sample to Leslie's last Saturday and they told me everything that was wrong with it(phosphates wasn't one of them and rarely has much effect on pool chemistry)

Anyway the water quality is really coming around.....clarity is excellent, much less if any algae and it scored a "70" when I took a sample back to the pool store, They said it needed a little more stabilizer and that the free chlorine was low, but salt, total chlorine, PH, alky and everything else was good. I bought some test strips while I as there along with a few other of their massively marked up products and have been doing some follow up treatments.

The only problem s I'm having are keeping the free chlorine levels up. I added 3 bags of shock today and about 3/4 of a gallon of liquid bleach......went to the movies came home 3 hours later and according to the strips it hadn't come up at all???

Other than that the water looks great but I'm having some pressure creep in the filter too. Will start up around 10-12psi and over about 3-4 hours creep up to 20 or so psi. I've backwashed it a half dozen times and the water is coming out clean so I recharge with 3-4 scoops of DE and it keeps doing the same....?
Any ideas with these 2 problems or tips in general would be helpful. BTW it's a 36K gallon salt water with pebble finish.

 

[AlexDaGator]

Anyone here take care of their own pool with a DE filter? I finally could take no more of Javier the Idiot screwing up my pool and not following the instructions I left for him several times on hand written notes. I didn't mind paying for someone to do next to nothing as long as they did what I told them needed to be done.....poor girl at their office had to listen to me berate her and their company for next to 30 minutes a week and a half ago(I can be a huge obnoxious condescending on another level d !ck when I get pissed) after their moron did a full phosphate treatment on the pool when I told him not to.....

Anyway I've gotten used to buying and putting my own salt and DE in the poll as well as brushing and vacuuming also to keep it in decent shape. I've shocked it several times since then and did a metal treatment, algae treatment, hardness adjustment, added conditioner.....long story short the pool scored a 10% when I took a sample to Leslie's last Saturday and they told me everything that was wrong with it(phosphates wasn't one of them and rarely has much effect on pool chemistry)

Anyway the water quality is really coming around.....clarity is excellent, much less if any algae and it scored a "70" when I took a sample back to the pool store, They said it needed a little more stabilizer and that the free chlorine was low, but salt, total chlorine, PH, alky and everything else was good. I bought some test strips while I as there along with a few other of their massively marked up products and have been doing some follow up treatments.

The only problem s I'm having are keeping the free chlorine levels up. I added 3 bags of shock today and about 3/4 of a gallon of liquid bleach......went to the movies came home 3 hours later and according to the strips it hadn't come up at all???

Other than that the water looks great but I'm having some pressure creep in the filter too. Will start up around 10-12psi and over about 3-4 hours creep up to 20 or so psi. I've backwashed it a half dozen times and the water is coming out clean so I recharge with 3-4 scoops of DE and it keeps doing the same....?
Any ideas with these 2 problems or tips in general would be helpful. BTW it's a 36K salt water with pebble finish.

Stop peeing in it.


Alex.

 

[Concrete Helmet]

Stop peeing in it.


Alex.

You're outta your mind if you think I'm walking all the way in the house everytime I gotta let 4 or 5 16oz Bud Lights go downstream...

 

[Concrete Helmet]

Guys this thing is really coming around. So clear you can you can count the hairs on your big toe....in the deep end. Still have a little pressure creep on the filter as it's going from 10-12 to 15-16psi but that's after 6 or more hours of running. I'm thinking it was a combination of the conditioner treatment and metals treatment along with running the filter an extra 2-3 hours a day for 4 days in a row. I reset the timer to come on at it's normal time yesterday and when I came home it was up to about 18-19psi. Today came home at the same time and it was hovering at 15-16psi.

No plumes of sediment at the bottom and not even a lick of algae around the stairs or corners.

 

[Alumni Guy]

Glad to hear you found the solution. I’m a bit of a pool nazi, and can’t stand when it’s not balanced.

Right now I’m dealing with black algae, which is THE WORST. My pool is concrete bottom and has original surface from 1991. As a result, there’s tons of imperfections for the black algae to take root.

Only cure I’ve read online is to scrub, and you gotta scrub HARD to expose roots of algae, then Shock the $hit out of pool. Repeat until there no black spots.

Anyone had experience with it, I’m getting pretty tired of scrubbing the pool?

 

[Concrete Helmet]

Glad to hear you found the solution. I’m a bit of a pool nazi, and can’t stand when it’s not balanced.

Right now I’m dealing with black algae, which is THE WORST. My pool is concrete bottom and has original surface from 1991. As a result, there’s tons of imperfections for the black algae to take root.

Only cure I’ve read online is to scrub, and you gotta scrub HARD to expose roots of algae, then Shock the $hit out of pool. Repeat until there no black spots.

Anyone had experience with it, I’m getting pretty tired of scrubbing the pool?

We have it from the faux stone pool deck which laps over and down to the waterline. I pressure wash 2x a year but when it starts raining there is no stopping it. We also have plant beds built into the pool deck and they ran irrigation under the deck into the beds which feed from the lake....very difficult enviro for a pool.

Maybe you can spot treat some of the spots with a 3-5 gallon pump sprayer with a strong bleach and water solution.? That's what I do between pressure cleaning.
This picture was taken last Friday after "Javier" had screwed it up the day before.

 

[Alumni Guy]

Hitting the deck with bleach ain’t a bad idea. We bought our home 2.5 years ago. It’s an older home and the previous owners treated it worse than renters. I’ve dumped way more money curing their negligence than I budgeted for.

One area they neglected was drainage on the patio. Rain water pools up, and funk forms. Probably source of my algae. Until I can spend the big bucks to redo the deck, bleaching it may be the way to go.

Great looking pool by the way. The stone looks great, and the water view sure doesn’t hurt. Here’s my little slice of heaven. Can’t wait to get rid of safety fence

 

[Concrete Helmet]

Hitting the deck with bleach ain’t a bad idea. We bought our home 2.5 years ago. It’s an older home and the previous owners treated it worse than renters. I’ve dumped way more money curing their negligence than I budgeted for.

One area they neglected was drainage on the patio. Rain water pools up, and funk forms. Probably source of my algae. Until I can spend the big bucks to redo the deck, bleaching it may be the way to go.

Great looking pool by the way. The stone looks great, and the water view sure doesn’t hurt. Here’s my little slice of heaven. Can’t wait to get rid of safety fence
View attachment 44663

Nice. We have the same drainage problem too. When the veneer was installed it went over the old pool decking.....including the drains meaning we have several spots where the water pools too. The plant debris combined with the pooling water is a non stop challenge then in the summertime the Robellini palms drop their little yellow seeds all over the place and the rains washes them right into the pool. Do you have small children?

 

[Alumni Guy]

I don’t know if they are the same seeds, but I have them too and they irritate me worse than watching Nuss call plays. They are pretty hard and have “barbs” that fit perfectly into the holes of my skimmer basket. I basically have to hand pick them out of the basket because a hose can’t get them out.

I have a 3 1/2 old son, who has recently learned to unlock and open our sliders out to the deck. I’m pretty diligent about the safety gate.

My yard also backs up to park owned by an HOA. They use some pretty harsh chemicals to maintain that park and I think it screws with my pool’s balance/chemicals. For example, I rarely have to add Muriatic because my pool is always a touch acidic. I don’t know if it’s from their weed killers/fertilizers.

Guess it’s a nice problem to have, but I don’t want to think about what cancer causing agent may be causing it.

 

[Concrete Helmet]

I don’t know if they are the same seeds, but I have them too and they irritate me worse than watching Nuss call plays. They are pretty hard and have “barbs” that fit perfectly into the holes of my skimmer basket. I basically have to hand pick them out of the basket because a hose can’t get them out.

yup that's them. They turn brownish black and if not removed turn almost tannic and discolor the basket filters in the skimmer and pump.

 

[MidwestChomp]

We just bought a home with an in ground pool. The first few weeks it was cloudy and green and I was getting frustrated using algaecide and pool clarifier because it wasn't working as well as I hoped. I got the alkalinity up finally and have dumped some liquid chlorine in daily and it's coming around finally.

I read that these are pretty good test strips instead of the traditional water testing drop kits.

Amazon product

How often do you put in cyanuric acid to stabilize?

 

[Alumni Guy]

Congrats on the home! Hope that rate hike didn’t hit you too hard.

I find that I don’t add the Cyanuric acid as often as I need to add chlorine or muriatic.

I can get away with every other week. If you can’t seem to get the chemicals right in your pool. you can bring a sample of pool water to pinch a penny where they will analyze it for free. They try to sell you the chemicals to fix it, but their analysis is pretty detailed.

You should look into phosphate removal, available on line or at any pool store. The green algae loves to consume phosphate. That stuff will really helps remove some green/cloudy issues, especially during the hot summer months

 

[Concrete Helmet]

How often do you put in cyanuric acid to stabilize?

Great question. The cyanuric acid is supposed to keep the UV from depleting the chlorine so I would imagine more often in the summer. I think 50-100 is recommended but be careful of adding too much at one time especially if you add it directly to the skimmer. I buy the liquid and dilute it with water in a small bucket and put it in the pool.

What kind of filter do you have? Have you cleaned it or at least backwashed it ? That may help clear the water. Have you shocked it? If not I'd shock it first then clean/backwash the filter, recharge the filter if it's a DE filter, wait one day then work on getting the "chemistry" right.

Also is your pool a salt pool? If so make sure your Chlorinator is functioning, turned all the way up in summer, and you have enough salt in the water.

 

[MidwestChomp]

Great question. The cyanuric acid is supposed to keep the UV from depleting the chlorine so I would imagine more often in the summer. I think 50-100 is recommended but be careful of adding too much at one time especially if you add it directly to the skimmer. I buy the liquid and dilute it with water in a small bucket and put it in the pool.

What kind of filter do you have? Have you cleaned it or at least backwashed it ? That may help clear the water. Have you shocked it? If not I'd shock it first then clean/backwash the filter, recharge the filter if it's a DE filter, wait one day then work on getting the "chemistry" right.

Also is your pool a salt pool? If so make sure your Chlorinator is functioning and you have enough salt in the water.

We have a sand filter and I've backwashed a few times since moving in about a month ago. I shocked it with gallons of chlorine. I watched a clip on youtube from a professional pool guy, and he said don't make it complicated. Dump about 2 gallons of chlorine to clear it. Since doing that it has looked great. It was crystal clear this morning.

We are considering the salt water conversion. Is that what you have? I'd be interested in hearing about salt water from anyone who has one.

 

[Concrete Helmet]

We have a sand filter and I've backwashed a few times since moving in about a month ago. I shocked it with gallons of chlorine. I watched a clip on youtube from a professional pool guy, and he said don't make it complicated. Dump about 2 gallons of chlorine to clear it. Since doing that it has looked great. It was crystal clear this morning.

We are considering the salt water conversion. Is that what you have? I'd be interested in hearing about salt water from anyone who has one.

Yup that liquid chlorine is the bomb and seems to work faster and better than the powdered 1# "shock bags" at a lower price....Although I screwed up and bought some scented bleach(I just use regular bleach)....it made cool bubbles from the fountain and waterfall for about 1.5 days though.

Salt is nice but it is another expense since the bags of salt are up to around $10ea. now plus the cost of the equipment. It's been a while since we had ours converted but I think it was around $1500-$2k then.

 

[MidwestChomp]

Yup that liquid chlorine is the bomb and seems to work faster and better than the powdered 1# "shock bags" at a lower price....Although I screwed up and bought some scented bleach(I just use regular bleach)....it made cool bubbles from the fountain and waterfall for about 1.5 days though.

Salt is nice but it is another expense since the bags of salt are up to around $10ea. now plus the cost of the equipment. It's been a while since we had ours converted but I think it was around $1500-$2k then.

Hmmmm. Lavender scented bleach would make for a nice smelling pool!

 

[Alumni Guy]

I moved into my home 2.5 years ago and the seller threw in all his pool gear, including the robot vacuum.

It just died and replacements are close to $850. I must admit I liked the robot, but I would like to spend the $850 elsewhere (like a tank of gas)

Hate to ask, but the robot is all I know. How do y’all vacuum bottom of pool.

 

[Detroitgator]

I moved into my home 2.5 years ago and the seller threw in all his pool gear, including the robot vacuum.

It just died and replacements are close to $850. I must admit I liked the robot, but I would like to spend the $850 elsewhere (like a tank of gas)

Hate to ask, but the robot is all I know. How do y’all vacuum bottom of pool.

I have a Polaris, I think 360, might be the 280.

 

[Concrete Helmet]

I moved into my home 2.5 years ago and the seller threw in all his pool gear, including the robot vacuum.

It just died and replacements are close to $850. I must admit I liked the robot, but I would like to spend the $850 elsewhere (like a tank of gas)
.
Hate to ask, but the robot is all I know. How do y’all vacuum bottom of pool.

You put an attachment on the end of your extension pole then put a vacuum hose into the attachment and the other end into your skimmer hole....turn your valve control to skimmer only and depending on how dirty your pool is you can vacuum into your filter(not recommended if there is a lot of debris)or turn that multi valve setting to waste and run a hose from the end of your bashwash/waste pipe.....you will probably have to add water to the pool after vacuuming to waste......If you vacuum to the filter be prepared to backwash the filter and recharge with DE if you have a DE filter......I prefer to have at least 2-3 16oz Bud Lights in my pouch cooler when doing this.

 

[Alumni Guy]

You put an attachment on the end of your extension pole then put a vacuum hose into the attachment and the other end into your skimmer hole....turn your valve control to skimmer only and depending on how dirty your pool is you can vacuum into your filter(not recommended if there is a lot of debris)or turn that multi valve setting to waste and run a hose from the end of your bashwash/waste pipe.....you will probably have to add water to the pool after vacuuming to waste......If you vacuum to the filter be prepared to backwash the filter and recharge with DE if you have a DE filter......I prefer to have at least 2-3 16oz Bud Lights in my pouch cooler when I’m ordering a robot. I’d rather spend the $850 than have to drink bud light.

That’s how I used to do it as a kid.

I’ll spend the dough on a robot, even though I don’t want to. I was hoping for a cheaper way for me to be lazy.