New pool owner, started with a swamp

[catbox_eddie]

Cleaned the filter again today and brushed the pool thoroughly (I do this once per day). I can see the bottom of the pool more clearly, noticeably better than yesterday. I also took a CYA measurement today - 25. CC is somewhere between .5 and one, it was almost clear when I added the first drop, barely needed a second. At what point will that drop to .5 or lower? I'd imagine the water will be pretty clear in the next 48 hours and I'm already passing the OCLT, so the CC is going to be the only thing stopping me from letting the FC drop to normal levels.

- - - Updated - - -

Those are two amazing pictures. Congratulations!
I just have to ask, why didn't you drain it, clean it and refill it? Wouldn't that have been better/quicker/easier?

I was told you don't do that with an above ground since the sides can/will collapse. That was my initial thought and then I was told not to by everyone I talked to. I also didn't know where I was going to go with 10k gallons of water...

 

[Divin Dave]

You're getting there Eddie! Keep it up!

 

[catbox_eddie]

Will CC drop when I let the FC come down to normal levels or do I need to maintain shock level until it's at .5 or lower? My understand of CC is that it's a byproduct of the chlorine breaking down, so I'm not sure how to proceed.

 

[Richard320]

Maintain shock level until you pass all three tests at the same time.

CC is sort of like smoke from a fire. Just raise the heat (add more bleach) in the fire and the smoke goes away.

 

[catbox_eddie]

How clear does it have to be? I can see the bottom of the pool, but it's still a bit cloudy. Does it have to be perfectly sparkling?

 

[Richard320]

How clear does it have to be? I can see the bottom of the pool, but it's still a bit cloudy. Does it have to be perfectly sparkling?

If you toss a quarter in the deep end, can you see it from the deck? That's clear enough to consider that check as a pass. You still need to pass the CC and OCLT tests too.

Keep up on your maintenance and in a few more days, you'll be able to call heads or tails on that quarter.

 

[catbox_eddie]

Thanks, that's what I was hoping. We're going to start running out of warm weather here in a bout a month and I'd like to be able to get some use out of this thing, so I'm going to start letting the FC drop and continue brushing the bottom (still have some dirt) and cleaning the filter daily.

Now that I can see the bottom though......I have several large, dark stains. They look to be dark brown, one is a good 12x12" and the others are scattered around the pool and are a bit smaller. 95% of the pool liner looks perfectly clean. Are these algae stains? Brushing them does nothing.