Foreclosure Swamp in Pensacola, Florida!

Jump to latest Follow Reply
I don't know why yours is taking so much longer to clear in terms of visibility than mine did...is most of the debris gone from the floor? Maybe instead of filtering on low at night, filter full bore? Maybe floc?
I have a sand filter too, so I know they're slower, but mine's also a 220T, my pool's roughly the same size, so the only other variables would be that you're not using floc, that you're turning your filter low at night, and that you're in Florida, where presumably it's warmer right now than it was in Michigan in April.

Mine was 12 days with about 4-5 lost due to no kit. You must be itching to see the bottom!!!

Maybe don't brush or anything now because you need to let that particulate SETTLE so that you can vacuum it to waste. Could be that you keep stirring it up. Let er all drop now so you can finish it in a pass or two ;)
 
Alrighty, here we go.

Just finished up with testing and adding chlorine. Here are my results:

FC - 7 right where I was expecting to find it!
TA - 120
pH - 7.5 - 7.6
CYA - Just under 20. Dot was barely visible with my cylinder filled to the top, and I gave the sample about 30 min to warm up to room temp.


So according to my CYA reading, it looks as though I may have backflushed more CYA out than I had originally thought. I still had about 1 lb left so I put it in a sock in front of a return. That should put me somewhere in the low 20's when it dissolves. My best numbers put me at 22 once that happens...

I'm not going to do anything to change pH at the moment. I figure that it may be reading a bit high due to the FC level of 7, and it's still within the safe range so I think I'm ok with no acid? Someone chime in to tell me if I'm wrong about that :)

Swampwoman, I think that the reason for my pool taking so long to clear is the amount of sediment that was in there. The house sat empty for a full 5 years without any maintenance to the pool so that's what I'm attributing it to. The area of my yard where my backwash water has been going is coated with a layer of mud haha.

You're definitely right about my filtering patterns though - up until a few days ago I had been filtering on low at night due to the filter stopping up so often. I moved the filter speed up a few nights ago, as I was waiting for an 8-hour increment between 25% pressure increases. We're now running the pump at normal speed all day long, and tomorrow evening I'm going to start adding DE to the filter to help it along :)

Floc. I actually bought and tried a bottle of wal-mart aqua chem brand last Friday. According to the bottle it was nearly a double-dose for the pool. Didn't do anything to the looks of my water after leaving the pump off overnight so I just figured that I'll keep on with the sand filter b/c I know it works. Perhaps I could try a more expensive brand, but as of right now I am planning to go with just the filter and DE.

As for debris on the floor, I should have nearly all of the trash cleaned up after my next pass with the vacuum pump. I'm assuming that there's a good bit of sediment down there with it. If I don't see any clearing by the end of this weekend then I might give floc a second chance, but I think I'm sneaking up on the clearing process...

Couldn't get a picture tonight - it was too dark by the time I got home. I'll ask my wife if she can email me one tomorrow and I'll put it up. Thanks again everybody.
 
There's a difference between floc and clarifier. I think the Aquachem is sink & sweep which is floc. Floc causes stuff to sink to the bottom and requires the pump to be off for a specified period of time in order for it to work properly. It also has to be vacuumed to waste. Clarifier works by clumping the particles together so they are large enough to be filtered out and it is applied while the filter pump is running. We've had more reports of positive results using clarifier than floc but they both either work quickly or not at all, and neither work during an active algae bloom.

You're getting close to the end and this is where it tends to slow down. Use some of Swampwoman's POP and just keep after it. :)
 
Hmmm...wally world is probably just stocking different items in different regions...

My local store sells two different types of clarifier, "natural" and "super", both are under the aqua chem name but made in Georgia by some company I can't remember. They also sell the "sink and sweep" that Bama Rambler mentioned, which is what I bought and assumed was floc. I gave it a shot b/c of the 11-dollar pricetag, but I guess you get what you pay for...

Thanks for the POP Swampwoman! I'm diggin it! Will make sure to keep updating as things progress.

Here's a picture from today. The water doesn't look any clearer from this pic, but it definitely is. When we first started out our sample bottle had a thick layer of sediment that settled in the bottom of it and now, it appears that nothing settles and the water is much cleaner (even though visibility in the pool is still low).
 

Attachments

  • day 14.jpg
    day 14.jpg
    136.6 KB · Views: 523
24th day of shocking at mustard shock level. Chlorine consumption has been falling since day 1 and it's still at about .5 gallon of 12% per day. I won't say that I'm frustrated with the pool, but not exactly happy with it...

Water clarity hasn't improved a bit in the last two weeks. We've still got a cloudy, "rusty" brown color and visibility is less than a foot.

I believe that my problem is a very high iron content. I say this b/c there was a cage that covered the pool which had re-bar reinforcement mesh stapled to the top of it. That coupled with the fact that the pool sat unattended for a few years tells me that rain water has probably washed more rust down into the pool than is reasonable to remove.

After filtering for a few weeks with no improvement in water clarity, I bought a few 5-micron filter bags from McMaster-Carr and gave them a shot. They didn't do anything to remove the brown color when I filled them with water from a return (I plumbed a piece of pvc onto my return and up out of the water to use it as a spigot).

I've read here about the use of sequestrant to "sequester" metals that are in the water, but sequestrant seems like an item that i'll have to add on a continuous basis and I'm not interested in that (it's expensive!). Also, the fact that my water has been constantly exposed to such a high level of iron over a long period of time tells me that sequestrant may not even work. I know that I'll end up needing something to remove metal stains from the pool's surfaces anyway (probably ascorbic/citric acid treatment), but at this point I think that the most economical route for me is to change the water.

I can't drain it. I'm only about 2000 feet from the Pensacola Bay and my water table is 3 feet down. I've done some looking around and found a 5-6 mil tarp on ebay that's 40 feet by 60 feet for 85 bucks shipped. That makes it big enough to sink down to the bottom of my pool and logic tells me that it would serve as a barrier between the new and old water. I plan to vacuum the floor of the pool with my external 1.5hp pump to pump the water down as the tarp fills.

Has anyone reading this ever changed their water with a tarp? My initial thought was to use sheet plastic, but I couldn't find anything big enough. I'm worried about whether or not the tarp will be a water-tight solution between the old and new water.

Any help or words of guidance would be greatly appreciated. I'm planning to call a few pool stores to see if they can check for iron before going through with the change but I'm certain that's what it is.
 
wow talk about a rock and a hard place. I have no ideas for you. I just wanted to tell you that I have been following your story and so hope you will be able to enjoy the pool when things warm up in the Spring.

Good luck! Kim
 
Hi mapace. My water was that color too at one point and yes I had oxidized a lot of iron but the filter had seemed to clear much of it out. Have you considered sticking a hose in the sand medium and cleaning the sand? There's a chance it may be channelled/clumped up and a rinse may restore it. I'm suspicious of your filter in terms of doing it's job, since you've been doing yours!

In your shoes, I would also change the water as much as possible (in hindsight, which is 20/20) to avoid protracted sequestering if the iron content is high. I would buy a box of visqueen from home depot and tape it together both sides with duct tape. But I would check your outdoor faucet first for iron content to ensure the new fill water doesn't have any (mine does, and I'm on well...but I now have softened water going to one spigot).

Another thing you could try (I don't know if it works because I did not have brown water when I experimented with it) is FerriTabs, a product that is to supposed to collect up oxidized iron and filter it. In your shoes, for the $20, I'd give it a go. Here's a link to read about/buy/try it...I had not discovered it when I was rehabbing mine. http://www.askthepoolguy.net/ferritabs/

Please let us know if they work if you try it. Lots of people, especially with above ground pools and small filters, have this problem and it would e great to know if this might be a solution to share with them on this bulletin board!

My pool guy had said that a sand filter will in fact removed oxidized iron (which happens from shocking when
there are high levels) but in my case I still had .3 ppm left, which is enough to cause staining.

Also, even if you just do a partial water change, that will help bring down your level and perhaps make things much more manageable, so I'd still consider the drain/fill idea, provided your source water is metal free ;)

Since I haven't actually done it, I don't have other tips aside from making an effort to fill as fast as you drain. I believe you can drain down to the last step in the shallow end before you have to worry about liner floating issues.

There may be better instructions about cleaning a sand filter that's channelled somewhere on this board -- I also have not done that so I can't give you any tips about removing the multiport. I do know you're supposed to be careful not to crack the laterals, whatever they are ;)

Hope this helps you try out a few options, please do keep us posted!
 
Ps I don't think it matters if a bit of water mixes, so the tarp might be fine, but that will depend on it's weave and coating. Eg if the weave is 14, it will be more waterproof, if it's a cheap 8-10, it will be less, etc. But the 100-foot box if visqueen will be cheaper, and you have 100' of length and ergo only the width to tape together. As far as waste, with the tarp you could cut it down and reuse it for something (or keep it for future water changes). Not sure about the visqueens usefulness unless you have a crawlspace to encapsulate...the it's handy!
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
Swampwoman said:
Ps I don't think it matters if a bit of water mixes, so the tarp might be fine, but that will depend on it's weave and coating. Eg if the weave is 14, it will be more waterproof, if it's a cheap 8-10, it will be less, etc. But the 100-foot box if visqueen will be cheaper, and you have 100' of length and ergo only the width to tape together. As far as waste, with the tarp you could cut it down and reuse it for something (or keep it for future water changes). Not sure about the visqueens usefulness unless you have a crawlspace to encapsulate...the it's handy!
Click to expand...


I agree a little mixing is not a big deal. However, the sheets of plastic can be welded together per this site:

http://www.ehow.com/way_6557589_diy-pla ... lding.html
 
I stopped by the pool store yesterday and had the water tested for metals.

Iron was 2.98 ppm and copper was .69 ppm

Not sure how or why they're using another decimal place (and I doubt their test is actually that accurate), but their numbers definitely tell me what I've been assuming about the metal content.

Will be moving forward with the tarp idea this week, hopefully. 85 bucks for a 40 by 60 is within a few dollars of a 40 x 100 sheet of visqueen that big (plus I won't have to seal the seam), so I went ahead and bought the ebay tarp last night. It's a cheapie - 5 to 6 mil and an 8x8 weave, but hopefully it'll hold up for what I need. I'm just gonna be really careful not to tear or otherwise damage it. Hopefully it'll be here before the week's out so I can get started.

Will post pictures and an update as I get started.
 
Woweee. That's a high iron reading. I am 100% with you on the total tarp water changeover.

What I'm actually wondering is whether it would be worthwhile to add a few pounds of ascorbic acid to the water NOW in the hopes that it would also remove any staining on your liner and steps and then said removed iron would go AWAY as you drain the water. In hindsight, I'd seriously consider that. But you will have to drop chlorine low for it to be effective, and give it a couple of days.

If you get a chance, you might want to read up a little (google AA treatment for iron or Ascorbic Acid...there are step by step threads). I found a very good deal on ebay for 11 pounds of the stuff, btw, so take a look there if you decide to do it.

If you don't do it now before draining the water, note that if you do do an AA treatment in the future, you will need to maintain a Jack's habit. But who knows how much it would liberate from the line...could be so minute it might not require major frequent sequestrant -- hard to say.

Anyone else have an opinion about the best course here?

PS - Did you have your fill water tested? Be sure to do that before you do the fresh fill...
Also, did you give your sand filter a rinse? It STILL should be pulling that oxidized iron out of the water and I'm concerned that it doesn't appear to be. Eg. when I backwashed mine, indeed, it was the color of rust for several days...then ran clear.
 
Yes, I did check and clean the filter. I moved the filter tank away from my lines and let garden hose water run over the edge while stirring the sand with my arm. The sand looked good :)

Didn't think to grab a sample of the fill water for some reason. I'm on city water, but I do have a 30-foot run of old steel pipe that leads over to my yard spigot so I'll make sure to do that. As for the ascorbic acid, I'm thinking that I may wait until I've got about half of the pool's volume held in the tarp and then maybe use the pool pump to circulate the acid. Hopefully the lower volume will allow me to use a little less powder, and waiting until then may buy me some time for the chlorine to drop, as you mentioned...
 
Tarp came in today :party: and I was impatient about waiting for the weekend so I laid it out and started with the water replacement. I was too anxious to find out whether or not I had made a mistake in buying a tarp instead of a sheet of visqueen (due to the fact that it's woven instead of one solid piece). I did end up finding a 40-foot wide piece of visqueen on ebay (though it was 200 bucks) that would cover the pool without seaming it, so I got moving to see if the tarp was a wasteful purchase.

My little helper came outside to get things moving. He sure did make the thing look small for it to be 40 feet by 60 feet! Got about a foot of water onto the tarp before having to call it a night - I wanted to leave things running overnight but I can't - even on it's lowest setting, 600rpm, my pool pump outruns my two garden hoses with the filter set to waste. We'll just have to get back on it tomorrow afternoon when I get in from work.

...which will give me some time to see how well the tarp will hold the brown water back. The tarp is definitely thin, but it seems to be holding its own with not letting the brown water through. We'll see how well it stands up by the end of tomorrow though.


Here's a few night-time shots of the tarp on the water. I'll make sure to get some good ones up tomorrow - while I'm busy painting that awful mural in the background haha. Wish me luck!
 

Attachments

  • DSC_0090.JPG
    DSC_0090.JPG
    145.2 KB · Views: 508
  • DSC_0091.JPG
    DSC_0091.JPG
    112.2 KB · Views: 484
  • DSC_0069.JPG
    DSC_0069.JPG
    129.1 KB · Views: 485

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply