At my wits end - pool won't clear

[94SupraTT]

For the last 4 weeks I've been battling my pool. I know I've lost 3 weeks due to my stupidity of not getting all the leaves and debris out of my deep end. Everything I was able to scoop out is out. I slammed my pool starting Friday and it went from milky to less green, to the color it is in the pictures. It is NOT getting clearer daily. It has been stuck looking like this since Monday. What am I missing?

 

[KSpoolguy]

What are your test readings?

 

[JasonLion]

Make sure you have gotten out all of the solid debris in the pool you possibly can. Piles of leaves on the bottom can leave you stuck at just this point.

The other two issues are chemistry and filtering. The color of the water suggests a problem with the filter, but we need more information to be sure. It would help if you could post a complete set of water test results, and describe how the filter has been behaving, does the pressure go up steadily, have you been cleaning/backwashing the filter?

 

[94SupraTT]

What are your test readings?

Before I left for work I was at 15ppm FC, 7.4 PH, TA 80, CYA was 50. Last night at 10pm everything was the same but FC was at 18.5. I added bleach to get it up to 20. I thought for sure the mounds of leaves at the bottom were the reason I could not get ahead of the algae. I don't know now.

 

[94SupraTT]

Make sure you have gotten out all of the solid debris in the pool you possibly can. Piles on leaves on the bottom can leave you stuck at just this point.

The other two issues are chemistry and filtering. The color of the water suggests a problem with the filter, but we need more information to be sure. It would help if you could post a complete set of water test results, and describe how the filter has been behaving, does the pressure go up steadily, have you been cleaning/backwashing the filter?

I'll post complete test results soon as I get home. Pressure goes up steadily. Normal pressure is 18. I usually backwash at 23. I've been backwashing/rinsing daily.

sent from my Verizon Galaxy S3 on PPC.

 

[94SupraTT]

Make sure you have gotten out all of the solid debris in the pool you possibly can. Piles of leaves on the bottom can leave you stuck at just this point.

The other two issues are chemistry and filtering. The color of the water suggests a problem with the filter, but we need more information to be sure. It would help if you could post a complete set of water test results, and describe how the filter has been behaving, does the pressure go up steadily, have you been cleaning/backwashing the filter?

A few years back I replaced my laterals and pipe vertical pipe in the tank. Could a bad o-ring or spider gasket cause my issue? I've never replaced either. I'm going to pull the valve apart and take pictures.

 

[JasonLion]

A bad spider gasket could let water bypass the filter. However if that was happening your filter pressure would not go up from 18 to 23, so the multi-port valve is unlikely to be involved in the problem.

You mentioned "mounds of leaves at the bottom", if there are lots of leave in the pool that is almost certainly the issue.

 

[94SupraTT]

A bad spider gasket could let water bypass the filter. However if that was happening your filter pressure would not go up from 18 to 23, so the multi-port valve is unlikely to be involved in the problem.

You mentioned "mounds of leaves at the bottom", if there are lots of leave in the pool that is almost certainly the issue.

The backwash port had a slight drip from it the last time I took the backwash hose off. Should I see if it still leaks. Here is what the gasket looked like yesterday.

My test came back
13.5 FC
7.2 PH
80 TA
50 CH
50 CYA

 

[ec987]

What's your CC level?

 

[94SupraTT]

What's your CC level?

CC was 1.

 

[Casey]

Keep your SLAM level up and brush and sweep your pool.

 

[94SupraTT]

Make sure you have gotten out all of the solid debris in the pool you possibly can. Piles of leaves on the bottom can leave you stuck at just this point.

The other two issues are chemistry and filtering. The color of the water suggests a problem with the filter, but we need more information to be sure. It would help if you could post a complete set of water test results, and describe how the filter has been behaving, does the pressure go up steadily, have you been cleaning/backwashing the filter?

JasonLion,

What information can I provide to help determine whether or not the filter is the issue? Should I by some DE and toss it in the skimmer to see if it comes out the returns.

Keep your SLAM level up and brush and sweep your pool.

I'm not sure what to do. This quote worries me.

While SLAMing, the appearance of the water should improve each day, though perhaps only by a little. If you fail to see any improvement you might have a problem with your filter, or have a higher CYA level than you think, or bad circulation, or have some other more complex problem.

It is like I've hit a wall. I literally have seen no improvement in 3 days.

 

[Beens]

You have seen no improvement but is the pressure still rising in the filter? You mentioned the pressure is rising steadily and you've been backwashing daily.

If that's the case it looks to me like the filter is working and it's just taking that annoying time that it takes at the end of a SLAM for the filter to finish filtering everything out.

That's my $.02 but it might be only worth what you paid for it! lol

 

[94SupraTT]

You have seen no improvement but is the pressure still rising in the filter? You mentioned the pressure is rising steadily and you've been backwashing daily.

If that's the case it looks to me like the filter is working and it's just taking that annoying time that it takes at the end of a SLAM for the filter to finish filtering everything out.

That's my $.02 but it might be only worth what you paid for it! lol

Can I have a leak in the filter that is causing water to go by unfiltered which is slowing down the process? Maybe I just need to hunker down more and be patient. I wasted 3 weeks with leaves in my mounds of leaves in my pool. Perhaps I'm impatient because of that. It has been 5 days I think since I got the leaves out.

 

[Beens]

I'm really not an expert on leaks and the like. (I hate leaks!)

It just really seems to me like its POP (Pool Owner Patience) time with the slow going sand filtration process.

Have you tried adding DE to the filter? It's suppose to help the sand filter the finer stuff faster. Where's that link..........

*edit*
aha!

http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/133-add-de-to-a-sand-filter

 

[Butterfly]

How often are you able to get FC up to SLAM level of 20?

Just keep SLAMing, brushing & Vac'ing. Don't forget to scrub all the hiding places, like ladders, behind light niches, skimmer throats, etc.

 

[94SupraTT]

How often are you able to get FC up to SLAM level of 20?

Just keep SLAMing, brushing & Vac'ing. Don't forget to scrub all the hiding places, like ladders, behind light niches, skimmer throats, etc.

Over the weekend I was SLAMing hourly until I went to bed. Now through the week SLAM in the morning and then hourly when I get home around 6pm.

 

[Butterfly]

Over the weekend I was SLAMing hourly until I went to bed. Now through the week SLAM in the morning and then hourly when I get home around 6pm.

Sounds good. Keep up the good work. You'll get there.

Here's a bottle of POP with popcorn ::

 

[94SupraTT]

This is about 28 hours later. I see some improvement. Thoughts?

 

[zea3]

That is quite a bit of improvement. Hang in there and keep slamming. I thought I had all the leaves out of mine until it cleared up enough to see the bottom and I still had a small pile in the center of the pool. You may find something similar in your case as the pool clears. You are doing a great job!