"Jim" nospam@wherever wrote in message
el...
"Jim" nospam@wherever wrote in message
el...
wrote in message
...
On Wed, 23 Dec 2009 17:03:17 -0600, "Jimi"
wrote:
wrote in message
m...
On Wed, 23 Dec 2009 16:50:18 -0600, "Jimi"
wrote:
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?
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?
...
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... www.hydropools.com I have the 17 ft
aquatrainer ...
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...
http://hydropoolhottubsspas.com/Default.aspx
I have the 17 ft aquatrainer...great pool so far and they stand behind
any problems...just have this water learning curve I need to get my head
wrapped around... Thanks all for your patience and Hope you all have a
very Merry Christmas...
Jim
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.
http://www.covers4pools.co.uk/acatalog/hi98107.jpg