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Anyone??? No one out there knows of anyone or knows how to repair cracked pool stairs. Again, it isn't just the stair that is the issue it is also the support under the stair. Any help would be appreciated.

IG 22,000 gal, vinyl lined, built in stairs This was not a good weekend for the pool. I noticed the pool water level down about 3 inches on Sunday morning and found a crack in one of my pool stairs. It appears that there is no support under that one stair, all of the other three are solid as a rock where the cracked stair is sagging. I used some 2 part epoxy putty that cures under water to patch the crack so the pool will at least hold water, which it is now. Is it at all feasible to assume that at the end of the seasone when I lower my water level that I could pump cement/grout into the void under the stair through a small hole or two in the stair to give it some support? Or do I have to stay off the stairs and just use the ladder until I plan on replacing the stairs and liner? Thanks.

This past Saturday was 90°+ and we finally got to use the pool in my new house. I noticed the pump shutting off throughout the day. No GCFI or breakers were tripped so I assumed it was the thermal protection on the motor shutting itself off. I turned the pump off for 30 min then tried it again and it turned right on. This happened 3 times until I just left the motor off. I think the motor is the original from 1986 so I am guessing that it was at the end of its life. I went to my local pool store and got ripped off for a new replacement motor and shaft seal (only buy online unless you are in a bind). Took apart the pump and motor, cleaned the pump and impeller, hooked up the new motor to the pump and fired everything back up. I noticed that the pump housing is still very hot on the new motor. I know that motors will run hotter at 115VAC than 230VAC but just wanted to make sure. Is this normal? May I have another problem causing the pump to get hot? A.O. Smith USQ-1072 3/4 hp 115VAC Pac-Fab Challenger pump I read somewhere that on really hot days the power companies get bogged down with the power demand to keep everyone cool and sometimes drop voltage which will cause the motor to run hotter than normal. Thanks.

I am a pool newb too but I have been learning a lot from these forums. I have had the pool open for about a month and a half now and it is staying crystal clear and the water balance is good. I would add bleach/liquid chlorine to the pool to get the Cl level of the pool up as quickly as possible. The longer you have no FC in your pool the more time "stuff" has to grow in your pool. Dissolving tabs could take a while to get your Cl level up to where it needs to be. Think of the tabs as a way to maintain your Cl level as opposed to getting it up. Depending on your pool size and water chemistry I couldn't tell you how much bleach you will need. ChemGeek is good at doing the calc for you, hopefully he sees this post. Pretty much everyone will as for your water test numbers to give you accurate advice so get the water tested and post the numbers as soon as you can. When you say you found a dead bird in the filter what do you mean? Are you talking about the skimmer or pump basket? My only suggestion is to spend a few minutes every day to check the pool, you could save yourself a lot of time and money in the long run. I have seen too many posts where someone let the pool go for a few weeks and now they have green water and can't get it clean. Good luck, get that Cl level up and maintain it!

Pollen, it was pollen. I guess that answers why the treatments weren't working. Now that the trees in the area are done pollenating the yellow stuff has disappeared from my pool. Thanks to everyone for the help.

After reading a bit on this and other forums it seems that sodium hypo is a good alternative to tri-chlor tabs once your CYA level is up around 60-80ppm because it is not stabilized and will not add more CYA to your water. Now my pool store has sold me liquid shock which is also sodium hypo. Is shock just highly concentrated unstabilized chlorine? Can you use sodium hypo to maintain proper chlorine levels and also as a shock once every week or two? I am just a little confused that I would use the same product needed to maintain proper chlorine levels to shock the pool also. Anyone have some advice for a new pool owner?

As of this morning: Hardness - 200 FC - 10+ pH - 7.2 Alk - 120 CYA - 0 Phosphates - 900 I think I have mustard algae so I have tried treating twice with Swimtrine Plus copper algeacide. Both times I added approx. 7oz. diluted in pool water prior to application. Along with the Swimtrine I shocked the pool, the first treatment with 5 lbs. granule shock that I dissolved in pool water prior to application. The second treatment (1 week later) I used 5 gal. of sodium-hypo to shock. The last treatment was done on Saturday and on Sunday night I started to see what appeared to be the mustard algae coming back. Now Wednesday morning, I am seeing more and more little spots of what I assume is mustard algae showing up. So it appears that the Swimtrine is not working and now that I have added 14 oz. of the copper to my pool I am looking to something else to get rid of the algae. I have been told a bromine based algeacide will work better. I have been told that Yellow-Out works great. Any suggestions? Why didn't the copper algeacide work? How long does it typically take for the algae to stop coming back with the copper?

So I had a sample of my pool water tested for phosphates at the pool store this weekend and they said I was up around 900. Is this high? They told me that was a little on the high side but that I needed to kill the algae first before treating the pool for phosphates. So I came back home, vacuumed the pool and backwashed. Next I treated the water with a second treatment of Swimtrine (at the suggestion of my pool store), waited an hour or two and then added 5 gal. of liquid chlorine. My FC reading at the pool store was 5.3 and they told me I needed to get it higher to kill the algae. I checked the pool water after adding the chlorine and had a reading of 10+ (my strips only go to 10). After a day or so I checked the pool and there appears to be algae growing in one or two of the same spots it was growing before. It is a very small amount of algae but never the less it appears to be growing back. Do I need to get my FC level higher? How is this stuff growing back at these chlorine levels? I am going to check the pool tonight when I get home to see if I have any more new algae growth.

I followed the directions to the tee as suggested, 3oz per 10,000 gallons to treat algae that is present. I have a 22,000 gal pool so I added 7oz. after diluting it with some pool water in a clean bucket. I am going to get a sample using a clean turkey baster and try growing it in a bucket. If it spreads I will know it is algae, if it sits there then I know it is anything but. Good suggestion Chem Geek. As said before I am new to this but I have a funny feeling that what I am dealing with is algae. I'll give an update once I have some "bucket results".

It was recommended that I test my phosphate level also as high phosphate levels will "feed" algae and make it harder to rid your pool of it. True?

No real way to tell if it is dirt or algae though huh? Assuming that I can find out my exact CYA level if I shock the pool to get a FC level 60% of the CYA will the algae (if indeed it is) absolutely die? Will keeping my HC level 15% of the CYA level bother swimmers, assuming my CYA is around 30 (FC level around 5ppm)? As I said before I am new to pool ownership and am still figuring this all out. If the algae is dust-like in terms of sticking to pool surfaces then it will move around the pool like dirt/dust based on currents caused by the jets, no? It sounds to me like there is no positive way to know if you have algae or dirt. Thanks.

No real way to tell if it is dirt or algae though huh? Assuming that I can find out my exact CYA level if I shock the pool to get a FC level 60% of the CYA will the algae (if indeed it is) absolutely die? Will keeping my HC level 15% of the CYA level bother swimmers, assuming my CYA is around 30 (FC level around 5ppm)? As I said before I am new to pool ownership and am still figuring this all out. If the algae is dust-like in terms of sticking to pool surfaces then it will move around the pool like dirt/dust based on currents caused by the jets, no? It sounds to me like there is no positive way to know if you have algae or dirt. Thanks.

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I am a new pool owner (25,000 gal in ground) and am figuring things out as I go along with the help of my local pool store. Recently opened the pool (I live in new england) and had green/black water. The pool guy started up the filter (DE) and added 15 gallons of liquid shock. A day later the water was clear and the algae was gone. I vacuumed and backwashed 2 times and then balanced the water. About a week later I noticed this brownish/yellowish stuff accumulating in corners and along seams of the liner. Thought it might be mustard algae so I treated with a Swimtrine Plus (copper algecide) and shocked the pool with 5lbs of dry shock. Brushed all surfaces to get the supposed algae ready to be killed. Next day I had the brownish yellow stuff in the same spots. It vacuumed up very easily. I moved the position of one of my jets to see if the stuff showed up in different spots (to prove it might be dirt/pollen settling to the bottom) and it did show up in different spots. My question, is mustard algae easily brushed/disturbed or do you need to scrub it to get it off? Can algae even live in the pool with a FC level of 5-10ppm with a pH of 7.3 and a CYA level of 0-30? Do I have dirt or mustard algae? How can I tell? Thanks in advance.