Thanks for having me 
Been a pool owner for nearly 20 yrs in both Quebec & New Brunswick, Canada. Started with an old 30ft kidney shaped all concrete pool that came with the house. It was a beautiful old pool, but especially difficult to maintain considering that it was surrounded by 6 centennially old maple trees. The only period that was free from debris was August and early September. You can only imaging what my spring cleanup was like.
After moving to a new city 5yrs ago, we decided to install a new 28ft above ground pool with a nice deck. Certainly not as beautiful as the in-ground kidney, but our current property only has coniferous trees and my maintenance has dropped dramatically.
I've never had a problem either opening my pool or maintaining it throughout the season. Two weeks ago the temperature shot up, we were away and I forget to maintain chlorine levels. Needless to say green algae appeared! I proceeded to check my readings and decided to use a strong algicide. Always worked in the past with little problems. Not this time. The water turned from a light green, to a dark green, then a brown. I couldn't understand it. Took the readings again, everything checked-out. Decided to SLAM the pool! That didn't work. Perhaps it's the water? I use well water, but my iron levels are really low. Had my pool guy take the readings, and agreed it must be the algae since I've never had this problem in the past.
He suggested I change the sand in the filter. I was on my 5th year and perhaps it was time. I decided to backwash on more time, but this time I decided to carefully watch the discharge. To my surprise, the water colour was clear (or at least not the massive "brownish colour in the pool). Then it hit me! You see, my valve descriptions on my pump have faded away. When I SLAMmed the pool, I put one gallon of liquid chlorine directly into the skimmer and I always run my skimmer at "recirculate" when adding liquid chemicals. Well, I left it at "recirculate". Even when I backwashed and rinsed, I returned to "recirculate".
As a pool owner for nearly 20 yrs, I should have known better! I was embarrassed beyond belief!
Well, I'm happy to report that my backwash water colour is a filthy brown and after 12hours of proper "filtering" & "backwashing" my pool is starting to recover.
Rule of thumb.
1)Look at your backwash colour
2)"Filter" is your friend
3)Pay attention
Been a pool owner for nearly 20 yrs in both Quebec & New Brunswick, Canada. Started with an old 30ft kidney shaped all concrete pool that came with the house. It was a beautiful old pool, but especially difficult to maintain considering that it was surrounded by 6 centennially old maple trees. The only period that was free from debris was August and early September. You can only imaging what my spring cleanup was like.
After moving to a new city 5yrs ago, we decided to install a new 28ft above ground pool with a nice deck. Certainly not as beautiful as the in-ground kidney, but our current property only has coniferous trees and my maintenance has dropped dramatically.
I've never had a problem either opening my pool or maintaining it throughout the season. Two weeks ago the temperature shot up, we were away and I forget to maintain chlorine levels. Needless to say green algae appeared! I proceeded to check my readings and decided to use a strong algicide. Always worked in the past with little problems. Not this time. The water turned from a light green, to a dark green, then a brown. I couldn't understand it. Took the readings again, everything checked-out. Decided to SLAM the pool! That didn't work. Perhaps it's the water? I use well water, but my iron levels are really low. Had my pool guy take the readings, and agreed it must be the algae since I've never had this problem in the past.
He suggested I change the sand in the filter. I was on my 5th year and perhaps it was time. I decided to backwash on more time, but this time I decided to carefully watch the discharge. To my surprise, the water colour was clear (or at least not the massive "brownish colour in the pool). Then it hit me! You see, my valve descriptions on my pump have faded away. When I SLAMmed the pool, I put one gallon of liquid chlorine directly into the skimmer and I always run my skimmer at "recirculate" when adding liquid chemicals. Well, I left it at "recirculate". Even when I backwashed and rinsed, I returned to "recirculate".
As a pool owner for nearly 20 yrs, I should have known better! I was embarrassed beyond belief!
Well, I'm happy to report that my backwash water colour is a filthy brown and after 12hours of proper "filtering" & "backwashing" my pool is starting to recover.
Rule of thumb.
1)Look at your backwash colour
2)"Filter" is your friend
3)Pay attention
