Tears in my Pool

[sarahcpa]

We are relatively new pool owners, having inherited a pool in our new house. These past 2 years, we have a nightmare of a time keeping the pool clear. Using the advice of the forum, I have been using BBB to balance the water. The info has been very helpful and I feel like I am finally understanding things (this is my first year to 'take over' the pool maintenance). I got a taylor's test kit on 6/10 and have had balanced water but still green. I have had CC of 0.5 or less since 6/22, and FC as high as 12 on 6/25. I put in 8 oz DE in the skimmer on 6/27 and it came right out of the returns, so I added 8 oz more. Waited 2 days and no change. We have been running the pump continuously since mid-May, and the sand was changed last year. My husband is reluctant to open up the filter since it was such a pain last year. WHAT CAN I DO TO CLEAR THIS OF A MONSTER POOL? I LOATH THE THING
I don't know if it's relevant, but I added a lot of water on 6/26 and also ran out of chlorine testing reagent that day.
FC 7.00
CC 0.50
PH 7.50
TA 100
CH 300 (We were using CAL-HYPO 65% until it ran out (went thru 2 big buckets of it already))
CYA 20
nitro wall climber autobot

 

[Richard320]

If the DE you poured in shot right back out, it means the filter's not filtering! The stuff you want to filter out is smaller than DE particles, so if the sand can't catch them, it won't catch the other stuff either. Something is broken inside the filter, or the sand is channeled. Channeled is easier to fix. Open the filter, stuff a garden hose in there, and start mixing the sand with an old broomstick or something similar. Break up any clumps, but don't break any part of the filter. Then fight it all back together and try again.

 

[sarahcpa]

I finally got the filter opened up and relatively emptied. no clumps or broken laterals. What am I missing? photos attached of laterals.
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/dd3 ... G_0394.jpg
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/dd3 ... G_0393.jpg

 

[Suziqzer]

Don't know what's going on w/your filter.. hubby is in charge of the mechanics at my house. Sorry I can't help you there.

Just because you're water is balanced doesn't mean you can't have some algae growth. At .5 CC you could see some green... that's where I was last night and starting to see some green... minimal, but present.

Have you gone through the shock process yet? Shocking may be what you need to do. If the water isn't clear and you lose FC overnight you need to shock it. Shocking a pool is a process ... not a product. The Pool School section goes through that all for you.

You said your FC was as high as 12, but did you hold it at shock level and maintain level overnight?

If your filter isn't working correctly, even going through the shock process won't take care of the problem... once you kill the algae your filter serves to get it out of the pool. If it's sitting on the bottom, it's just going to break down and add to the problem.

Hang in there ... this system really does work!