New in Sarasota Florida

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LanierSpots

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Apr 22, 2024
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New pool guy here hoping to soak up some knowledge. I rented a home while they built my new one that had a chlorine pool
but someone else did the upkeep. I only cleaned it during the week. New pool is 7500gal salt water with spa. Had it about
3 months and have been cleaning 1-2 times per week. Having a few chemistry issues but Im taking them slow. PH always high, now
my alkalinity is a little low and calcium hardness is a little high. Hope you guys can guide me along and thanks for the add
 
Hi and welcome to TFP! We can teach you how to care for your pool using stuff bought from Walmart, Lowes, etc. How neat is that??

I have put together a set of links for new pool owners:
Pool care links:
Print these out:
Pool School - Basic Pool Care Schedule
Pool School - Recommended Levels

Bookmark these:
Pool School - Recommended Pool Chemicals
Trouble Free Pool
Pool School - ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry

The number one thing you need for good pool care is a good testing kit like one of these:
Test Kits Compared

Yeah you can get your water tested for free at the pool store but.................is it really free if you walk out of there with your hands full and wallet empty?
 
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kimkats said:
Hi and welcome to TFP! We can teach you how to care for your pool using stuff bought from Walmart, Lowes, etc. How neat is that??

I have put together a set of links for new pool owners:
Pool care links:
Print these out:
Pool School - Basic Pool Care Schedule
Pool School - Recommended Levels

Bookmark these:
Pool School - Recommended Pool Chemicals
Trouble Free Pool
Pool School - ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry

The number one thing you need for good pool care is a good testing kit like one of these:
Test Kits Compared

Yeah you can get your water tested for free at the pool store but.................is it really free if you walk out of there with your hands full and wallet empty?
Click to expand...

Thank you so much for the info. I currently have the Taylor K2006 test kit and have been using a few of the test for a few months. I have mostly been testing the PH, TA, calcium hardness and I also have a salt tester. For the most part, I have been having high PH a few times per week and have been adding muriatic acid to lower it. My PH has been going from the mid 7's to lower 8's every 3-4 days. Pool is concrete and brand new. I have added the Free Chlorine test the last month and it has been a little low. Around .8-1.0 so I clicked my percentage up on my salt water generator from 70% to 80% a few days ago and will retest today. I tried to test the CYA with my test kit but I must have done something wrong as it didnt
read at all. Black dot should disappear and it doesnt. LOL

When I tested on Thursday, the Total Alkalinity was low. Around 70ppm. This morning, I slowly added a little baking soda in my skimmer, around 1.5 pounds, and will retest that tomorrow. Pool is staying clean as I have a pool cage and no trees around. I use my vacuum a few times per month to pick up loose sand on the bottom as I have pavers. Cleaned the filter twice but honestly, it has had very little in it.
 
kimkats said:
If you saw the googly eye with the solution all the way to the top then you have very low CYA. Have you added any? It comes in powder and liquid form. Have you used any chlorine tablets or "shock" powder?
Click to expand...
Yea, I could see the black dot good from the top. When I mixed the solution with the pool sample, I assume it was suppose to get cloudy but mine did not. I am going to retest today. It was my first time doing the cya test. I added a little baking soda yesterday to help the acidity and I have increased my salt water chlorinator 10% in the last few days to get my free chlorine in the correct range so I want to retest today...

I haver never added any shock powder or chlorine tablets to my pool. It was one of the questions on my list. The last couple of weeks, we have been using the pool a lot. A couple of parties and family over plus we have used it almost every day. I assume I should do that as we increase the usage every so often?.
 
It will only get cloudy IF you added any CYA. It has to be added to the water as it is not something that is in water normally. I would get the powder kind as it works every bit as good as the liquid stuff for a lot less cost.
 
The CYA test is something I had not been doing and I think its part of my issues. Ive tested my CYA a few different ways and everytime it
comes up low. Im measuring 15-20. Today, I added one pound of stabilizer. I will retest tomorrow afternoon.

I could go on and on but we closed and moved into our new house in February. The pool was finished and up and running in November but we had tons of paver issues. I may be wrong but the people who were taking care of the pool until we moved in were not doing a good job. A few weeks after I moved it, I took the filter cartridge out and it was completely clogged with mud and sand. All that was from the paver rebuild that happened 3 times. When I moved it, I had decided to take care of the pool myself so they totally dropped it. I am just catching up on the chemistry stuff. The last house was a rental and had a pool but I just kept it clean. Someone else did the chemicals....

My free chlorine is constantly low and I guess the lack of stabilizer is part of the problem. I had my salt water generator running at 90% and the FC was still .5. I will see what adding the pound of stabilizer does. The calculation said I need 1.5 pounds but I am doing baby steps with this

My TA is still low even though I added 3 pounds of baking soda. IT came up some but not much. Its still around 70
 
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