Thread: pool water calculations

Originally Posted by loanrangie

Dam water be fine, let it settle so all the heavy particles drop to the bottom and then vacuum to waste (not thru filter but out of pool) i use a liquid dropout chemical which makes all the crap sink to the bottom them vacuum out, about 3 weeks ago i turned my pool from swamp to clear swimmable in about 3 hours. If you are in a leafy heavily treed area then a cover and a auto pool cleaner will help to keep it clean.

you are talking about flocking

aluminum sulfite

My above ground pool is about one metre from the edge of my dam. When I put the pool in nine years ago, me being a bit of a tight arse I thought I would fill it with water from the dam even though I have a town water supply.

I then took a sample to the pool shop to find out what I needed to get it clean. They told me it would be cheaper to drain it and fill it with town water.

I drained the pool and I then had a big layer of silt on the bottom which we then had to clean. All this to save $8 although at the time did not know the cost of town water.

In my town a semi full of drinking water costs $150 which if I did not have access to town water I would pay it to have clean water to start with, as chemical and filter cleaning, let alone the time factor could end up near this cost.

When you go to the pool shop with a water sample they will tell you that you need this and that to get your water right.

Some of the expensive stuff they will try to sell you are for total alkalinity and for Ph. I use for total alkalinity sodium bicarbonate which is cheap from supermarket and for Ph I use hydrochloric acid. Just be very careful when using the acid.

Someone else posted that they let their pool go during winter and when summer came they then got it right. I tried this and I found it cheaper to keep it right all year. Come summer when the water was green it cost me more to get it right than to keep it that way.

Dave.

Originally Posted by Mr Whippy

Some of the expensive stuff they will try to sell you are for total alkalinity and for Ph. I use for total alkalinity sodium bicarbonate which is cheap from supermarket

Ok a lot of people get this wrong. total Alkalinity up add sodium bicarbonate. but its more often you have to bring your TA down to do this use hydrochloric acid, BUT add it from a jug undiluted and tipped ( not pored) into the middle of the pool. as the acid is heaver then water you want it to form a bubble and sink to the bottom of the pool and do it thing.

Originally Posted by Mr Whippy

for Ph I use hydrochloric acid. Just be very careful when using the acid.

you should add it to a bucket of pool water first. and then dribble it around the pool for best effect. IF when adding it to the bucket you get a lot of fizzing or worse a yellow color you total dissolved solids are way to high. cheapest way it to change water, ( common in spars)

Originally Posted by Mr Whippy

else posted that they let their pool go during winter and when summer came they then got it right. I tried this and I found it cheaper to keep it right all year. Come summer when the water was green it cost me more to get it right than to keep it that way.

Dave.

a 50 000 lter green pool with a good sand filter easyly $ 150 in purchases.

a RAAF Green pool last year 1/2 a million liters, i did it in 2 1/2 days to standards, but it cost over 2K

thanks for all the advice.
it's going to cost around $1,200 to get the water trucked in - unfortunately we have no town water. i think i'll take a cupfull of dam water down to the pool guy and see what he thinks and go from there

Originally Posted by taff

thanks for all the advice.
it's going to cost around $1,200 to get the water trucked in - unfortunately we have no town water. i think i'll take a cupfull of dam water down to the pool guy and see what he thinks and go from there

make sure you get the following

PH
TDS
Alk
Phosphates
copper

post you results here.

Originally Posted by clean32

you are talking about flocking

aluminum sulfite

No, i have used the powder flocking ( AS ) this is a liquid i used for the first time, i was sceptical but it worked perfectly.

Originally Posted by loanrangie

No, i have used the powder flocking ( AS ) this is a liquid i used for the first time, i was sceptical but it worked perfectly.

same stuff

Originally Posted by Mr Whippy

Someone else posted that they let their pool go during winter and when summer came they then got it right. I tried this and I found it cheaper to keep it right all year. Come summer when the water was green it cost me more to get it right than to keep it that way.

Dave.

That was me, no word of a lie, last weekend of October i bought 1 x 15 litre drum of liquid chlorine and a 1ltr bottle of liquid dropout (flocking agent ). After removing all the leaves and branches that had fallen in the pool over the previous 6 months and as much other chunky algae etc i ran the filter overnight about 12 hours or so, poured in the flocking liquid and ran the filter for 6 hours. Let the pool sit for 48 hours and then vacuumed the pool to waste, poured in about 5-6 litres of chlorine and within 3 hours it was crystal clear. Now the reason i let my pool go over winter is we are surrounded by tall trees and it is pointless trying to keep it clean during winter when storms are constantly dropping debri in the pool. Over the last 5 years this system works well for me and costs me bugger all - 1x drum of chlorine $13.50, 2 of 10x 200g chlorine tablets @ $19.95 each and 1 x 1 litre bottle of dropout.