Two years ago I had a friend helping and we used BBB. I struggled a lot with my pool last year, trying to do BBB. The same friend helped a little and during the first half of the season I was doing okay. I would mess up and it would start going green, but I'd just shock it. At the end of the season, however, I tried and it just kept going green. I am guessing it's because we had many weeks that were very hot and dry but then for a while we had a lot of rain. The rain is usually why my pool goes green.
So, at the end of the season, the pool was quite green and swampy. I had made a couple attempts to shock it back, and one attempt got it blue but it quickly went green again a few days later. I ended up tossing a cover on it for the winter. I am putting my house on the market shortly, and will need to keep it perfect for months. Can't show this house with a less-than-sparkling-blue pool!
Firstly, I guess I need to follow the swamp instructions and spend days and get the pool blue, but I am dreading having to maintain it constantly after that. I have done the swamp recovery instructions from this forum many times before, and was only successful half the time. When it didn't work, I was probably not using enough bleach OR not keeping the level up for long enough.
I'm willing to never swim in the pool, so I was hoping for more tips based on that. Since I don't plan to get in, I am thinking I should keep the chlorine levels higher than normal (as a fail safe) and keep pH down around 7.0 so the bleach goes farther?
This other friend of mine saw my failed attempts with dozens of bottles of bleach, and is convinced that bleach is not a good way to go. (Also the effort lugging around bleach was hard for me.) In my case, where I need the pool to LOOK good but not be swimmable, can I use tablet chlorine? (If it ends up swimmable, I will use it, but I would rather have less money and effort into the pool.)
Also, I am not sure if I should keep the pool open without the black tarp cover in between showings. If I cover and uncover it, that's a lot of work, but at least I am cutting down on the sunlight and evaporation. (Water bill was killer last year, at least this is the start of the season with less heat.) Hopefully there's a lot of showings so I have to keep it open. Do I put the solar cover in betwee showings -- probably not?
Can I use those additives that say they add "sparkle" to the water, or will that make things tougher?
Normally in my area, I would wait until mid to late May to open the pool, but in this case the house will be going up late April or early May.
Perhaps I should find someone who is sure they can keep the pool blue... ideas on how much this would cost me... and would they only need to come once a week? I have a tight budget and my friend is going to be ****** if I spend much, but as I said, the pool is very important for prospective buyers to see. Rather than me stressing and possibly getting green tinges to my pool, could be worth hiring. I also have a lot of other tasks that need my attention, but if I do it myself, I would try hard to monitor every day or two.
I'd really appreciate any advice on what I should consider, do, or not do.
So, at the end of the season, the pool was quite green and swampy. I had made a couple attempts to shock it back, and one attempt got it blue but it quickly went green again a few days later. I ended up tossing a cover on it for the winter. I am putting my house on the market shortly, and will need to keep it perfect for months. Can't show this house with a less-than-sparkling-blue pool!
Firstly, I guess I need to follow the swamp instructions and spend days and get the pool blue, but I am dreading having to maintain it constantly after that. I have done the swamp recovery instructions from this forum many times before, and was only successful half the time. When it didn't work, I was probably not using enough bleach OR not keeping the level up for long enough.
I'm willing to never swim in the pool, so I was hoping for more tips based on that. Since I don't plan to get in, I am thinking I should keep the chlorine levels higher than normal (as a fail safe) and keep pH down around 7.0 so the bleach goes farther?
This other friend of mine saw my failed attempts with dozens of bottles of bleach, and is convinced that bleach is not a good way to go. (Also the effort lugging around bleach was hard for me.) In my case, where I need the pool to LOOK good but not be swimmable, can I use tablet chlorine? (If it ends up swimmable, I will use it, but I would rather have less money and effort into the pool.)
Also, I am not sure if I should keep the pool open without the black tarp cover in between showings. If I cover and uncover it, that's a lot of work, but at least I am cutting down on the sunlight and evaporation. (Water bill was killer last year, at least this is the start of the season with less heat.) Hopefully there's a lot of showings so I have to keep it open. Do I put the solar cover in betwee showings -- probably not?
Can I use those additives that say they add "sparkle" to the water, or will that make things tougher?
Normally in my area, I would wait until mid to late May to open the pool, but in this case the house will be going up late April or early May.
Perhaps I should find someone who is sure they can keep the pool blue... ideas on how much this would cost me... and would they only need to come once a week? I have a tight budget and my friend is going to be ****** if I spend much, but as I said, the pool is very important for prospective buyers to see. Rather than me stressing and possibly getting green tinges to my pool, could be worth hiring. I also have a lot of other tasks that need my attention, but if I do it myself, I would try hard to monitor every day or two.
I'd really appreciate any advice on what I should consider, do, or not do.