Ok, things are looking great today. I am going to post all the pics, from the start up until today here in this post, but first here's today's update:
I added 1 gallon of bleach on 5/5 and another on 5/6 to get the FC up and also a little Borax to increase the PH just a bit. Here's todays numbers:
FC - 20.5
CC - 1
CH - 75
TA - 60
CYA - 50
PH - 7.4
Borate - 35
I am going to check the overnight loss of FC tonight and see how it goes.
Here's the pics:
I wish we took a picture of the whole pool area before we started...it was a mess. You could barely see concrete in some areas and there was grass and debris everywhere. The cover had leaves, sticks and debris all over it too...but it was pretty tight. Here's an early pic though, it was after we raked and picked up the area and were getting ready to pressure wash first time.
Here's my first peak under the cover...it was black. The algae on the walls was like slime about 1/8 thick in some places. This was mid week, just wanted to see what I was in for on the weekend!
And so it begins...
DAY 1
Here it is after I pulled the cover. Not much floating as you can see (other than a Frisbee there in the middle!).
The inside of the DE filter when I removed the cover for the first time.
Here it is after I hosed it down. It cleaned up good, I did not have to disassemble it, which was nice as I have watched those videos and that looks like a pain.
So after a lot of scooping with the leaf basket, skimmer type leaf thing (not sure what its called, the flat net) and two half wheel barrows of the this junk here in this pic, we were ready to start vacuuming.
Since I can't vacuum to waste (only a two position valve on my filter) I left the filter elements out and put the top back on the filter...then switched to backwash and started vacuuming. This drained the pool fast though...here's a pic after that first vacuum escapade. I had to empty the skimmer basket and pump basket a boatload of times of course, which once the level dropped below the skimmer was a real pain to get the pump to prime again and the vacuum sucking. I put the garden hose in, and had to wait for it to fill...
One thing to note, is that I decided to not brush the sidewalls until after I did the vacuuming of the bottom. It was so thick on the walls, that I figured it would stay put until I got the bottom and water a bit clearer...so once I got to that point, we just scrapped the walls "up" with the brush and removed it (into wheel barrow) rather than mix it into the water. While the pool was filling (the above picture) I pulled weeds and grass and dug out the cracks...that was a blast!
Once I got the water back to the skimmer, I decided I was tired of vacuuming blind, so I dumped in a couple gallons of bleach and let the pump run (no filter element in, just recirculating) while the water filled up as high as I could get it (so I could vacuum to waste again in the morning). It was the end of the day and since my PH was pretty low, I added Borax and left the pump running over night to circulate in the borax and bleach (nothing floating, so I was not at risk of plugging a basket).
DAY 2
I forgot to get a pic at the start of the day, the water was a little clearer in the morning...the bleach had done its job...enough so that I could see the bottom fairly well in the shallow end and down the slope quite a bit...but still to black to see the deep end. Still a lot to get off the bottom.
I vacuumed to waste (with the garden hose in and running to give me as much time as possible). Here we are towards the end of day 2...you can see the deep end is still heavy here in this pic.
I still vacuumed a bit more on the deep end after this but I did not want to get below the skimmer again, so I shut down the pump, put the elements in and charged it with DE. I then vacuumed to filter. It filled up fairly quickly the first time, so I backwashed and went again, recharged about half of my DE and then did it one more time. I then took off the pump lid and cleaned the filter completely. Then fired it back up, charged it with DE, added 2 gallons of bleach and let the pump run for the night.
DAY 3
I had to work, so here's a picture first thing in the morning. Not to bad! I did pretty good getting the bottom clean, considering I could not see well. The bleach really did its job over the night. The filter was full, so I gave it a quick backwash and headed to work. I had my wife brush down the walls during the day (filter was running all the time) to help get that cleaner and try to get some of the black stain off.
After work, it was looking a bit better yet...so I setup to do some vacuuming!
I vacuumed to filter, so I had to backwash halfway through and recharge with DE. Then, when I was done for the night, I took the cover off the filter and hosed it down real good and then recharged with DE, dumped in 2 gallons of bleach and let it run for the night. Here's how it looked before calling it a night.
DAY 4
Had to work and did not get a pic in the morning (stayed up to late, so running late for work). It was looking real good though. Pretty clear. After work, I vacuumed it (not a lot there, but enough in the corners, etc.). I then did a backwash and recharge with DE. PH was high at 7.9 (I overshot on the Borax the other day) so I wanted to adjust it down, 15oz of muriatic acid and also I thought it was time for a little CYA...so 48oz of stabilizer was added too. Then 2 gallons of bleach and let it run for the night.
DAY 5
Here it is before I head to work, looking pretty good!
Had my wife do the walls again with the brush while I was at work, not much coming off. I did it again after work and then vacuumed up what debris there was. Did a full cleaning of the filter and recharged with DE. Added 2 gallons of bleach and let it run for the night.
Figured a pic at night might be cool...so here it is
:
DAY 6
Work day, no pictures...things are just clearing up a little more. Some debris on the bottom and in the corners after work (I think the sides are slowly clearing up, so it collects in the edge), so I vacuumed again. Added 1 gallon of bleach and let it run for the night.
DAY 7
Work day, no pictures....things are about the same. No vacuuming today after work. Just added a gallon of bleach and let it run for the night.
DAY 8 (today)
Finally, Saturday again! Filter is looking good still, pressure is barely up from last full cleaning. Vacuumed real well and did water checks (see beginning of post for numbers). Here's how it looks now:
And one more after dark pic, just because I think its cool!
So looking pretty darn good after 8 days I would say. If it was warmer I would swim in it (except for the FC of 20.5 I mean!). I am going to test FC in the morning and see where it is. I suspect it wont go down much over night...which means I might be close be done!? Not bad for a weeks worth of effort.
At some point I have to charge up the salt and see if the generator works. The lights blink and it says add salt and low salt, etc. so I hope it does!
