YES! One of those or one like it. Get a long enough hose so you can get to the end of your pool. Don't forget the pole to attach to it. Good luck!
Kim
Kim
New to pools-how do I fix this mess
- Thread starter Tpow
- Start date
So we got a vaccuum and used it a few times so far. The amount of leaves that this thing sucks up is amazing. There's lots left though. My question now is about getting the water clear. We've let it rest for a couple of days, but it's really green now and we can't see down into it to tell where the leaves are. Can I just pour regular bleach into the pool like I would liquid shock, to help get it clear? It's a much cheaper alternative while we're still sucking out leaves.
Absolutely! Bleach is the same as liquid "shock" just a slightly lower concentration.
Have you read the instructions on how to SLAM your pool? You can find them in PoolSchool articles up at the top of this site page.
Have you read the instructions on how to SLAM your pool? You can find them in PoolSchool articles up at the top of this site page.
I havent, but I will go read it now. Thanks!
one more question: are we supposed to keep our pump running constantly? We have to refill the pool almost daily because the water level keeps going down. I'm wondering if it's because the pump is on 24/7.
- Jun 22, 2014
- 48,008
- Pool Size
- 17888
- Surface
- Fiberglass
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- CircuPool RJ-45 Plus
Yes, the pump must be on 24/7 to maintain good circulation for the bleach. Once the SLAM is complete, we can assist you with determining if any water loss is simply attributable to evaporation and backwashing, or if you have a pressure side leak somewhere. We'll cross that bridge a little later though. Once thing at a time. 
Ok so the chemicals were put in yesterday. When the water was tested, the ph and alkalinity were great. There was 0 chlorine though. I put in the shock, algaecite and crystal clear stuff. It went from looking like a dark green/black swamp to this. Did I do something wrong or does it just need to sit for another day before the water gets clear?
Edit: I can't get the pics to show up. The water is a blue color, but it is cloudy. It's like a turquoise color. It's definitely not green. I can see through the water by the steps, but that's it. It's very glassy looking, it's just not clear. I added 20 gallons of shock, 2 bottles of black algaecite and two bottles of crystal clear.
Edit: I can't get the pics to show up. The water is a blue color, but it is cloudy. It's like a turquoise color. It's definitely not green. I can see through the water by the steps, but that's it. It's very glassy looking, it's just not clear. I added 20 gallons of shock, 2 bottles of black algaecite and two bottles of crystal clear.
Ok so the chemicals were put in yesterday. When the water was tested, the ph and alkalinity were great. There was 0 chlorine though. I put in the shock, algaecite and crystal clear stuff. It went from looking like a dark green/black swamp to this. Did I do something wrong or does it just need to sit for another day before the water gets clear?
Edit: I can't get the pics to show up. The water is a blue color, but it is cloudy. It's like a turquoise color. It's definitely not green. I can see through the water by the steps, but that's it. It's very glassy looking, it's just not clear. I added 20 gallons of shock, 2 bottles of black algaecite and two bottles of crystal clear.
Did you read the procedure for the SLAM process?
Pool School - SLAM - Shock Level And Maintain
You may want to come here and ask before you add anything else...... Did you add all 20 gallons at once?
Edit: I can't get the pics to show up. The water is a blue color, but it is cloudy. It's like a turquoise color. It's definitely not green. I can see through the water by the steps, but that's it. It's very glassy looking, it's just not clear. I added 20 gallons of shock, 2 bottles of black algaecite and two bottles of crystal clear.
20 gallons at *once*?!? And why the other stuff?? Do NOT get in the water at this time. Are you able to test chlorine with a FAS-DPD test?
Algaecide does *not* kill algae, it works to *prevent* it. Save your money. It does occasionally have uses but this isn't one of them.
I don't know what Crystal Clear is but we don't believe in putting odd and assorted potions in that aren't needed.
She the water was tested, the pool guy said that we needed to add the algaecite to prevent more growth. The pool was almost black when we started this process. He added what was supposed to be enough chlorine to help kill the algae and then clear the water up. The crystal clear is something that they added that's supposed to drop to the bottom of the pool and we vaccuum it out once it's clear. So he added the shock, waited a while, added the algaecite, tested the water again, then brushed the sides of the pool and as much of the floor as he could and then added the crystal clear. We're supposed to brush and vaccuum again and test the water again tomorrow. I just don't know if we did something wrong adding that stuff because it was supposed to make the water cloudy, then clear and it's still cloudy. We had a serious frog infestation when I came back from being out of town too. Freaking frogs everywhere in the skimmer, pool, inlets and everything's. Crazy.
- Mar 24, 2014
- 2,455
- Pool Size
- 32000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- CircuPool SJ-55
The TFP method is about testing and adding chemicals ourselves, we don't have (or trust) "pool guys". It's up to you, but you can't mix methodologies
SkyKid
0
Mr Bruce is right
Don't trust the pool stores they make a living selling people chemicals they don't need
Don't trust the pool stores they make a living selling people chemicals they don't need
Did your pool guy clean your sand filter out? Teach you how to backwash when the pressure rises?? Can you vacuum to waste and then refill with fresh water what you lost during the vacuuming?
P.S. You can add pictures by downloading them to a host like Photobucket then copying the IMG link for the picture and pasting it into your post.
Yes, we were shown all of that except we can't vaccuum to waste because our filter is so old it doesn't have that option. Filter and pump replacement will happen next season. Ours are so old and they leak a little bit. We're not losing water anymore, which is good and the pressure stays between 10-15 instead of barely getting to 10 now, so that's good. At least it's clear enough so we can finish getting the leaves and debris out. Before it was so black and goopy that we couldn't make any progress.
Thanks, I'll try that next time.
- - - Updated - - -
I think you all are right...they're saying now that we need to shock it again, just like last time. There's no way that's right. I'm just going to follow the instructions here exactly and hope that we get it right. No way are we allowing the pool guy to put a total of 40 gallons of shock in our pool. That's just crazy.
Now a SLAM procedure might very well take 40 gallons but that is over time, as the level drops and you add some more to bring it back up again. But all at once? No way!
Test kit? Need a recommendation?? TFTestkits.net sells the 2 we trust: Taylor's K-2006 or TF-100. For swamps I believe the TF-100 is a better buy because it contains more of the particular reagents that you'll use more often during a SLAM.
Test kit? Need a recommendation?? TFTestkits.net sells the 2 we trust: Taylor's K-2006 or TF-100. For swamps I believe the TF-100 is a better buy because it contains more of the particular reagents that you'll use more often during a SLAM.
We have the test kit already. It's looking better out there today. I think that we need a pool cleaner now to clean the stuff off the bottom and sides of the pool that the lead vaccuum can't get.
The Pool Cleaner is more of an semi-automated maintenance tool than a heavy duty cleaning tool. If you are cleaning your pool using the manual vacuum it could take you the better part of an hour to thoroughly go over everything. The scum line and walls need to be brushed daily especially during the SLAM process, that will get any debris on the walls either into the water for the filter to get or it will fall onto the bottom so you can vacuum it out. Additionally the FC levels you will experience during the SLAM may be damaging to the pool cleaner, many of them only want you using them in somewhere around 3-5ppm of chlorine (I forget the exact number). When using the TF method here if you maintain the proper FC to CYA levels you are safe to have the robot running under normal conditions.
I wish I had a robotic pool cleaner! We have a manual vacuum that we attach to our telescoping pole and hook it up to a hose and down into our skimmer. It doesn't seem to be doing a very good job picking up the silt and other fine particles at the bottom of the pool. The water is looking good now, thankfully.
Do you have main drains that you can isolate (turn valves) so that you can increase suction in the skimmer? That should help a lot.
Yip
Yip