Another Green Swamp

[Dudek]

Split by moderator. Please create your own thread and not hijack others. Thanks, jblizzle

I’m in the same boat. Concrete in ground pool was covered last fall with a mesh type cover that kept bigger material out like leaves, sticks, etc. It should be noted that the cover sagged into the water and a considerable amount of leaves collected in it over the winter and this material has since been cleared out already. The water is dark green, the walls are covered with a green filmy substance (possibly algae?) and there is dark green suspended matter floating freely in the water that can be collected by dipping the hand skimmer into the water and scooping it out.

Scooping the suspended particulate out with the hand skimmer would be a tedious pains taking procedure that would take days as you only get a handful of debris per scoop. What would be our best approach from here? Should we try to deal with what is currently in the water now or would it be easier and less hassle just to drain it and fill with new water?

 

[Bama Rambler]

Welcome to TFP.

How big is your pool?
How old is the plaster?
How much does water cost you?
Do you have to pay a sewer fee?
If so can it be waived for pool fills?

If you start shocking now, most of the debris will either clump together and float to the top or sink to the bottom.

 

[Dudek]

The pool is about 25000 gallons and the plaster is 35 years old. A water fill would cost around the neighborhood of $175, probably a tad higher, and there is a separate sewer fee. I’ve talked to the water people and they claim that there is no “pool owner” water exemption and the rates are based on usage which is kind of annoying. Draining the water and a clean refill would be ideal except for the water costs.

Since posting here we have called around for pool service people and they would do the shock method and run the filter so we’ve decided to do that ourselves rather than pay somebody else unless there is another as yet unexplored preferred alternative.

 

[Richard320]

Welcome!

turning-your-green-swamp-back-into-a-sparkling-oasis-t4147.html has directions.

Pulling out the chunks calls for a leaf rake.

and a lot of this:

and some inspiration:
a-little-encouragement-for-those-with-algae-and-new-to-bbb-t57137.html
another-green-swamp-for-you-guys-t46450.html pics on page 1 &4 are worth a look

And we like pictures. Lots of pictures.

 

[Dudek]

It looks like the easy way would be to drain and refill. The other way looks to be very tedious and time consuming. Now I have to convince the other homeowners. I appreciate the advice.

 

[BB]

I'm on Long Island with a 33,000 gallon free-form in-ground pool (it looks like a large koi pond). The pool is surrounded by 30 foot pines, junipers, maples, azaleas, etc. - a true Japanese garden. If this isn't enough, I also have a weeping blue atlas cedar stretching across the center of the pool. Unfortunately, I also have a mesh cover. No matter what I do in the fall or winter, every spring when I remove the cover, I face a green swamp. Usually, it takes a week to clear the algae. While the process is time consuming, I'm sure the landscape designer's desire was to teach patience. Patience and following Jason's post to a "T" work wonders.

 

[Dudek]

If we bail out the pool is there any need to hose down the walls of the green residue as the water level drops or will that go away when the water is added back and the chemicals are back in spec? I’m concerned that the algae on the walls will dry on there but elsewhere on this forum I read where its just organic matter and the chlorine will eventually remove it.

 

[jblizzle]

What would be the point of draining the pool if you are going to leave all the organics on the walls?

I would pressure wash off the walls while I was draining and get all the stuff pumped out.

You will still have to follow the shock process once you refill, but the more organics you remove, the faster the process will go.

 

[BB]

Dudek - Draining a pool can be a big undertaking. Before doing this, you might also want to read about draining your pool and the problems you might encounter if you happen to have a high water table and hydrostatic pressure. While not common, you really don't want your pool to pop. I have a friend who had this happen. It was ugly. BTW - I'm now 2 1/2 days into this with my green/black pool. It is now a medium green. I expect it should be somewhat clear by Saturday. It just takes time.

 

[BB]

If it's of value -

This is what my pool looks like today - 2 days into its cleanup:

It was far worse last year - really black/green and not green black. I'm guessing that Hurricane Sandy helped with evergreen needle and leaf removal - sending away much of the crud that usually sifts through my mesh cover.

That said, this is the pool's appearance last summer:

 

[harleysilo]

OMG that tree, simply beautiful!

 

[Dudek]

We might start out running the pump and shocking the water and see how that goes. If it’s becoming too tedious a drain and refill would be the quickest and least labor intensive way to get the green muck out of there without all the headaches. We’ve drained the pool before and there are 2 hydrostatic relief valves to unscrew in the deep end if we were going to drain it completely. This time I would leave about 3-4 feet of water in it so we could clear out most of the green water and hose down the walls as it drains before we start adding water and chemicals.

 

[OliveGrove]

We might start out running the pump and shocking the water and see how that goes. If it’s becoming too tedious a drain and refill would be the quickest and least labor intensive way to get the green muck out of there without all the headaches. We’ve drained the pool before and there are 2 hydrostatic relief valves to unscrew in the deep end if we were going to drain it completely. This time I would leave about 3-4 feet of water in it so we could clear out most of the green water and hose down the walls as it drains before we start adding water and chemicals.

It has just taken me 12 days to get our 8 metre by 25 metre pool from sludge to almost sparkling. Draining all that water isn't really an option. Another couple of days should get us there. Wasn't really all that tedious. Just keep the chlorine up to shock level as much as you can, and let the chlorine and filters do their work. It really is just a matter of patience. Last year my pool was a nightmare, but these guys got me through it.

 

[Dudek]

It has just taken me 12 days to get our 8 metre by 25 metre pool from sludge to almost sparkling. Draining all that water isn't really an option. Another couple of days should get us there. Wasn't really all that tedious. Just keep the chlorine up to shock level as much as you can, and let the chlorine and filters do their work. It really is just a matter of patience. Last year my pool was a nightmare, but these guys got me through it.

I'm not sure why draining the water wasn't an option for you but if you could have drained the water would you have done that instead?

 

[OliveGrove]

It has just taken me 12 days to get our 8 metre by 25 metre pool from sludge to almost sparkling. Draining all that water isn't really an option. Another couple of days should get us there. Wasn't really all that tedious. Just keep the chlorine up to shock level as much as you can, and let the chlorine and filters do their work. It really is just a matter of patience. Last year my pool was a nightmare, but these guys got me through it.

I'm not sure why draining the water wasn't an option for you but if you could have drained the water would you have done that instead?

400,000 litres is an awful lot of water. Nope, wouldn't have drained anyway.

 

[BB]

This is now day a day 4 photo. You'll note the difference. The first couple of days, it always feels like no headway. Today, big improvement and most of this has happened between 8:00 AM and 3:00 PM. I'm not really a slave to this. While I got the pool water "generally" into balance on Monday, I usually only check for FC levels until I can see the floor drain. I also brush every other day and backwash as needed. Mostly, the filter and chlorine do all of the work.

As for OliveGrove's pool - I cannot imagine what my water bill might look like if I were replacing 400,000 liters of water! Yikes!

 

[OliveGrove]

As for OliveGrove's pool - I cannot imagine what my water bill might look like if I were replacing 400,000 liters of water! Yikes!

Exactly. Although our water comes from an artesian well. Our problem is that the water table is on chalk, so our water is very high in calcium. As far as possible we like to let the rain water fill the pool. Impossible of course, but every little helps.

 

[BB]

Dudek - if you go ahead with the chlorine - make sure you look closely at the shock level for your pool size on the pool calculator. I tend to error on the higher side. I also have a large Hayward 6000 DE filter and I usually start with a 1/2 load of DE under the assumption that the captured debris in the filter also helps catch much of the algae and those little green clumps. I could be wrong about this - but it seems to work. If this were a sand or cartridge filter, I'm guessing back washing might become a constant and very tedious chore. Regardless, as the water clears, I begin adding more DE following a good backwash and rinse.

 

[Dudek]

400,000 litres is an awful lot of water. Nope, wouldn't have drained anyway.

In that case it wouldn’t make sense to drain and refill. After reviewing our options we’ve decided to go ahead and drain the water and refill with fresh.

 

[Dudek]

Dudek - if you go ahead with the chlorine - make sure you look closely at the shock level for your pool size on the pool calculator. I tend to error on the higher side. I also have a large Hayward 6000 DE filter and I usually start with a 1/2 load of DE under the assumption that the captured debris in the filter also helps catch much of the algae and those little green clumps. I could be wrong about this - but it seems to work. If this were a sand or cartridge filter, I'm guessing back washing might become a constant and very tedious chore. Regardless, as the water clears, I begin adding more DE following a good backwash and rinse.

We have a sand filter and we are trying to avoid the tedious parts as much as possible. We're going to drain and refill.