I have been vacuuming my pool since we opened it in early May to try and get the bottom of the pool clean. There is sediment on the bottom that collects on the wrinkles and small divots. The chemistry is fine. I just changed the sand (yes I used pool sand) in the filter last year. I bought a new cover/handle assembly for the multiport valve because I thought the gasket was worn, it was, but I vacuumed this morning after the assembly was changed and now just 2.5 hours after I vacuumed, the same light brown "dirt" is beginning to show up again in all the same places. HELP!! What the heck is going on?? The water is crystal clear. No algae and no dead algae. In fact, I've only opened up the pool once in the last nine years and had as clean water as this year. I vacuum slowly and the dirt does go into the vacuum head and to the filter. For about 30 minutes the bottom looked great.
dirt keeps coming back
- Thread starter bdub76
- Start date
That's likely the problem. Live algae can exist in a pool and you can't see it. You probably have enough chlorine in the pool to kill some but not all of it. After you vacuum the dead algae continues to fall to the floor and you are in and endless cycle of vacuuming "dirt" when you should be killing algae with more chlorine.
Posting up some test results is the first step and we'll help you SLAM the pool and get it not only crystal clear but keep that "dirt" from re-accumulating.
Here are my test results straight from the water sample reading at my pool supplier store.
Saturation index -0.2
TDS 400
CYA 40
Total Chlorine 8.8
Free Chlorine 8.8
pH 7.5
Total Alkalinity 105
Adj. Total Alkalinity 93 (I am raising this as I work on it today)
Total Hardness 213
So there are my numbers as of 11:15 AM today CST.
What do you think?
Saturation index -0.2
TDS 400
CYA 40
Total Chlorine 8.8
Free Chlorine 8.8
pH 7.5
Total Alkalinity 105
Adj. Total Alkalinity 93 (I am raising this as I work on it today)
Total Hardness 213
So there are my numbers as of 11:15 AM today CST.
What do you think?
Do you use a skimmer sock? They are really effective at catching pollen and small particles before they get to the filter. Using them solved my speedy dirt collection on the pool bottom a few years ago. I haven't been without them since.
Yes, having been using them quite regularly.
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How do I do the overnight FC loss test? I used the hyperlink but, unless I just missed it I did not see how it's done.
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How do I do the overnight FC loss test? I used the hyperlink but, unless I just missed it I did not see how it's done.
I see how to do the test now. I just didn't look in the right place. So, what is happening? Is it that when I vacuum up the algae it just goes through the filter and comes right back out?
No, this is happening.
Even though you vacuum up the dead algae and it stays in the filter, more algae is growing in the pool and it is dying and falling to the floor. Think of it as rain showers.
You get a rain shower and your deck is wet....you dry it off and all is well until the next rain shower comes and gets it wet again.
Okay, got it. So I'll do an overnight FC loss test, see how much chlorine I'm losing and then if it's more than normal I SLAM it. I just ordered a test kit to do that so I'm going to have to wait for it to arrive. In the meantime, thanks very much!!
Yeah, my link goes to the wrong spot! That is probably new dead algae accumulating every day.