Hi...this may be a little off topic but still deals with home maintenance. I am looking for a Newsgroup that discusses spas and swimming pools. We have a swimming pool and I want to learn about water maintenance from some others that have swimming pools..I googled some of the stuff, but the majority of "help" I find are from people that just want to sell you chemicals etc.... Any newsgroup suggestions out there? Thanks... Jim
Do you have any specific questions?
Hi Jimi,
I've looked but nothing vcame about. Usually I refer to poolsolutions.com
Well I am trying to balance Ph and Alkalinity right now and I am trying to get crystal clear water... (sparkly)...my wife always looked after the pool but she is not well now and I am needing a crash course... I have a pool spa retail outlet that will read water samples for me and tell me what chemicles to add to the pool , but I am not learning anything and wonder if half the chemicals are actually needed... so being able to arm myself with knowledge is a good thing... No I have no specific questions...Just looking for a pool NG...Thanks... Jim
One key for those new at this is to take things very slowly. Water doesn't react the instant you add a chemical. You need to add small quantities at a time and WAIT in between before using another test strip. Forget even trying to get the Ph stable until you get the alkalinity right. You can't do them both at the same time, and if Alkalinity is off, you will never get the Ph stable, or even get a correct readiing on a test strip.
That's just for starters...
Remember... add a little of ONE chemical and wait an hour or two before trying to find out if it was enough with a test strip. It will be a long a tedious chore the first times you do it, but after you have been at it a while, you will have a feel for how much of a chemical to add to raise or lower a reading by a certain amount. It is always better to add less than needed, as you can always add a little more, but you can't take a chemical back out once you dump it in.
If the chemistry is wildly out of balance because you have been desperately throwing in large doses of stuff, then you may have to partially drain the pool and add fresh water to dilute the problem. With a hot tub, you would simply drain the whole thing and start over. That's not practical with a pool. The good news is that because a pool is so much bigger, getting things balanced is actually easier.
Can you provide a little background of what you have done so far and what exactly is too high or too low, and by how much?
I really prefer Usenet- but for the second time today I'm going to recommend a web-forum.
I've been keeping mine in perfect balance with daily 4oz doses of plain Clorox- and an occasional boost with shock. [after starting off with some borax and muriatic acid] Sound simple enough?
Jim
There are probably plenty of people here that can help.
What is your pool's setup: Chlorine?, Filter, Controls? How long do you keep the filter running? Above ground?
I have a chlorine pool with a sand filter and have no problem keeping it "sparkling". But I don't have much experience other types of filter media.
PH balance is pretty simple. Figure out how big your pool is and measure your PH level and adjust with your base or acid. Mine I usually throw in about 2 quarts of muriatic acid every 6 months.
A real simple way is to get your pool dimensions and take a sample to a pool warehouse supply place and have them test the water. They usually will tell you what you need.
You're right about "selling" as some will steer you to use floc but it usually isn't necessary. It can clear up a pool real fast.
PH can cause a pool to cloud but you need to look carefully at your filter media too.
Jim
I have been doing a lot of pool research as I am in the process of designing a small swim in place pool for our basement. The following link is for a pool forum as you requested.
The link below is a nice book as it says in the title.
The link below is a consulting firm that has a nice set of handy pool tips and related info.
I have been doing a lot of pool research as I am in the process of designing a small swim in place pool for our basement. The following link is for a pool forum as you requested.
The link below is a nice book as it says in the title.
The link below is a consulting firm that has a nice set of handy pool tips and related info.
I have been doing a lot of pool research as I am in the process of designing a small swim in place pool for our basement. The following link is for a pool forum as you requested.
The link below is a nice book as it says in the title.
The link below is a consulting firm that has a nice set of handy pool tips and related info.
In news:05qdnR7gWc4pPK_WnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@posted.sasktel, Jimi spewed forth:
vinyl or gunite? differernt pools take different chemicals I highly recommend for any pool for clarity Pool Perfect and or Phosfree
Normally i quit using chemicals in the winter when it gets cold, run the filter, thats it. It turns green, then shock it into submission in the spring. This year i've been using PhosFree, it's now Dec 23 and the water is as clear as it was in July. I put acouple of capfulls every week and haven't added any chlorine since September Amazing stuff
Hello, yes we have a swim spa... It's a 17 ft spa and like a lap pool...it holds 2100 Imperial Gallons and we usually keep it at 87 degrees F...I run test strips and put them into a hand held readter that gives me a CL reading, Ph reading and ALK reading...today it read that my CL was okay...Ph was acceptable but Alk was way too high...today I called the pool place and they said use a product called 'Low'n slow" and I said that it read on the side of the jug that is said "To lower PH".....well my PH was fine...it was my ALK that was too high...they said they use the same product to lower both....Tomorrow after I have dumped "low"n slow" it'll probably say my PH is low and my ALK is okay...so I am like a bouncing ball in this....and we have been for the past three years... adding chemicals every freaking day...towards the end of the year we have to dump the pool and restart cause we are saturated with chemicals...I am trying to learn now that my wife is not well...knowledge is definately power here...I need to learn... any positive help would be appreciated... >y pool looks like this...
OOPS...so sorry...this is what I have ...hadn't realized that a simple miss of the keyboard would lead to a different place...So sorry and thanks for your patience...try this...
The smaller the pool the harder it is to keep the PH correct. That was why I got rid of my spa. Now I have a spa/pool and it's simple to care for.Since it's kind of a small pool why don't you do weekly water changes of say 15%? As long as your supply is PH correct. Sounds like you're getting a lot of use. Go to a garden place and get a PH meter. Those strips get expensive.
AS I advised earlier, you need to get the alkalinity right first and then worry about the Ph. Yes, lowering the alkalinity will lower the Ph. That was to be expected, and is the correct result. You can't adjust everything at once. They have to be done systematically in proper order. Go SLOW and be patient. Each time you add the sanitizer, it will raise the Ph. a bit. Allow for that, too. Don't forget that you need to WAIT TWO HOURS after adding anything, before you take a reading top see what it did.
Two problems here. One is an hour or two is fine for a spa or maybe a small above ground pool. But for any reasonable size inground pool it takes a lot longer than that to circulate the water and distribute the chemicals. I'd wait a minimum of 6 hours of pump RUN time, which is around the minimum amount of time the pump should be run each day.
Second is the strip test products are so far from being accurate that they are just about worthless. I've tried a variety of them over the years on both pools and spas and would never trust them. Even the cheapest liquid test kits are far more accurate and readable.
To the OP, I've found good info at the PoolSpaForum website:
Since it's actually a swim spa and holds only 2100 gallons, my recommendation would be to drain it and start over. That amount of water is almost certainly going to be cheaper than buying chemicals. Plus factor in the time spent and the fact that new water usually has a cure rate approaching 100% and it's a no brainer.
With cloudy water and an alkalinity that is way high, it's not a problem that is easy to solve. As you know, total alkalinity and PH are linked so it's not easy to fix one without moving the other. If the alkalinity was just moderately high and you had clear water, no evidence of scaling, then I'd say don't worry about it.
The best procedure to lower alkalinity would be to add acid in a relatively localized area of the pool, ie one area, to get the PH in the entire pool down to 7, wait 8 hours, then turn on the aerators for a couple hours. Even that is not that effective and may have to be repeated many times.
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