Proud new owner of an above-ground SWAMP

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Thanks! I just fished out a little more leaves. Suckers seem to be hiding around the edges of the pool. I'm going to have to go back to Sam's Club for more bleach. I seem to be using around 6 jugs a day.

Oh - and the filter is definitely working. All the suspended junk that was at the top of water is completely gone. It's good to see progress!
 
Awesome news!!! When the pool starts turning colors, post more pics! It'll be nice to see something other than green! I usually get excited when I see the color change from green to blue-gray or milky white.
 
The pool seemed to be a lighter shade of blue-gray today. Absolutely nothing was floating on the top when I went to look at it just a few minutes ago. The test strip read 10, but I dumped another bottle of bleach in anyway. The pump is working great, and the filter gauge was at a 15, and the normal number is an 11. I gave it a quick backwash and was rewarded with a rush of dirty water, and the psi went right down to 11.

The CYA sock is about a quarter gone. The top is very squishy, but everything at the bottom is more compacted.

The weather looks like it is going to be clearer - no rain today, so my husband will be doing some more vacuuming to see what we can find.
 
Holly, Everything is on the right track. I was hoping I would see a positive report from you today. I anticipate you will see great progress today and tomorrow. Keeping the pool at shock level and vacuuming will get the water clear. The change in color means your killing more organics than they are multiplying - your on the right side of the curve. One good thing is your not having to work in our 100 degree heat. Heat index is forecast to be 105-110 -- I will be in my pool this afternoon. :-D
 
My husband says when the vacuum hose is in the pool, he can see some of it below the surface. That is definitely progress! Not a couple feet of it - but more than several inches. A good sign, for sure.

I am now a bit concerned about the ladder. It is actually on the ground, over by the fence, overgrown with weeds and vines. We are going to tear it out of there today and hose it down. It looks all intact, but it's hard plastic, so I'm assuming it's going to be harboring all sorts of microscopic baddies. I'm going to scrub it down with bleach later if the weather holds - the prediction is thunderstorms later. I can't seem to catch a break. It's beautiful out now though!
 
My husband just vacuumed twice and had to keep emptying the skimmer basket. Obviously there is still junk on the bottom. Will keep at this for sure!

The ladder is gross, disgusting and literally has fecal matter on it. This is not going into the pool until it is completely drenched in and scrubbed with bleach.
 

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I can see part of my vacuum under the water! Or, at least i could until I started using it. I think I emptied the skimmer basket at least 6 times, and my husband emptied it at least twice. My daughter scrubbed the sides of the pool too. The water is WAY cloudy now. The chlorine numbers (via dipstick) are doing well. My husband accidentally left the hose on when refilling the pool after the morning vacuum, but luckily my mom caught it before the pool overflowed. All that water added, but I took it all away when I vacuumed tonight. Pfft. I am DREADING the water bill when it gets here in a couple of weeks!
 
If you compare today's photos with the ones from the other day there is a world of difference. Good going. I suspect you are hampered somewhat by not knowing exactly what your chlorine levels are. But, you are doing a great job of estimating and you are winning the battle.
 
I really hope so! We're leaving for a week on Wednesday morning. That doesn't give me much time to get this under control. My husband does not believe it will be clear by then, and all of our money spent to this point will be wasted. I will seriously have the worst vacation ever, if I have to leave knowing it's going to turn green again while we're gone!

This morning, the dipstick showed a solid 10 so at least our levels are staying up somewhat overnight. Course, I can't tell if that means they fell from 20 to 10 or from 12 to 10 or 25 to 15. Frustrating. But, at least I know the water is chlorinated. Pressure had gone up to 20 overnight, so I backwashed and it went right back down. So nice to have things work the way they are supposed to work! Squeezed the sock.

We are a little below half-point on the weir, so I am going to add water later before I start vacuuming today. I also want to get a reading at the pool store so I can see if the CYA is reading yet.

If anyone has any advice on how to get this done before Wednesday - we're leaving early Wednesday morning - I will fall down and kiss your feet.
 
adoptolderkids said:
This morning, the dipstick showed a solid 10 so at least our levels are staying up somewhat overnight. Course, I can't tell if that means they fell from 20 to 10 or from 12 to 10 or 25 to 15. Frustrating. But, at least I know the water is chlorinated.
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This is the problem with a limited test. It is hard to know where you are and how often you can add bleach to minimize the time.

There are a couple of possibilities as to how to handle your vacation that come to mind. Some of us find a relative, a neighbor, a friend, a teen age kid from the neighborhood, etc. who will come over and either test or just pour bleach into the pool everyday. It is good if you can teach them when and how to backwash and of course leave written instructions. Kind of like pet sitting, except for a pool. I know you mentioned your father would be there. Perhaps he can just pour a bottle in twice a day. Another technique that is used is to get or make a floater and fill it with the 3" tablets and just let it float. Then set the pump to run for 8 to 12 hours a day. Some others may have some other ideas. I know if you do a search on this forum for vacation you will find a bunch of discussions. You will not have to do much to not loose all the ground you have gained. In other words your time, energy, and money will not all be wasted because you went on vacation.
 
Water added and done. My daughter is scrubbing the ladder with bleach.

There are 4 of those floater things in the shed, along with a tub of the tablets. So, that is a possibility. My father has a lot of memory issues, so though I trust him to pour bleach in, I don't necessarily believe he'll be able to backwash successfully - I have a fear of coming home to a broken pump and filter. Or, he'll read something and he'll believe he can do a better job and just start adding all sorts of chemicals in. There is certainly no way my father is going to agree to come check the water every couple of hours and add bleach that frequently to keep the shock level up. Nor can I afford to go and buy $150 worth of bleach for the next week. It really feels ridiculous. I've spent that much already.
 

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