Helping a friend: This should be a good one

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Oops. Sorry. I see that you did say that you were going to try the alum. Looks like it is doing the trick. Once or twice I did have to do it twice to get everything to settle out but it did eventually work.

I know how frustrating it is to be trying everything to get the pool clear and nothing seems work. Now just use TFP and BBB and your water will be sparkling clean and clear!

This is a good example for record books. Hope all continues to work until it is completely clear.
 
It is something ALL of us are going to learn from. Once it is done I am going to be doing a time line with notes. I will also be bookmarking this for future reference. Lesson being "At what point do you say THIS is NOT working!"?

Kim
 
I second that. I think the key on this one was realizing that the water was balanced and that the cloudiness was due to the suspended fine particulate and not due to algae. Someone else mentioned previously that some try to use the alum trick to fix algae.

Heck, I forgot all about the alum trick until I saw the OP mention that he was going to try liquid floc and then I saw something else about suspended fines and clay and I started to connect the dots and remembered the alum trick. Another thing I remembered later is that I think the pH should be dropped to 7.0 or 7.2 for the alum to work most effectively. I forgot to mention that in early post. It has been so long since I needed to do it although I think that instruction is mentioned on the alum bottle.

I hope he posts some daytime pics of how it looks after the vac to waste.

Bill
 
Bill I have been reading up on Alum and one of the things it said was to bring the PH UP to 8.0. Of course I will be doing a lot more research so NO one has to go through what these two went through. I would love your input in more detail as it was real life.

Kim
 
I going outside to vacuum my own pool now. I will check in my shed to see if I have an old bottle of alum, I think I do. If I do, I'll see what the label says. I just did a quick internet search and I found at least few articles one says to lower pH to 7.0 and another says to raise it 8.0.
 
For kimkats; I do have an old bottle of alum and the steps from the bottle are:

Adjust pH of water to 8.0 and stop pump while applying alum. Sprinkle 3.4oz of alum for each 1,000 gal of pool capacity evenly over the surface and agitate to distribute alum evenly.

Wait approximately 24 hours or until particles settle to the bottom and remove by vacuuming to waste (not through filter). Readjust pH if necessary.

It also says to NEVER use it with DE filters.

I found a couple of other articles that say to adjust the pH to 7.0. I am pretty sure that I followed the instructions on the bottle because I was doing it on instructions from the pool store. Before TFP and BBB!
 
Bill and Lisa, I am going to count on you to help me remember this so we can help someone in the future.

Bill, When and why did you use the Alum? Do you remember what you had tried before you tried the Alum?

THANKS! Kim
 
wbrober0 said:
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If you are ever in the upstate ping me. I'm very serious. I would like to buy you and a so/friend dinner. You saved us.

LJr9PgD.jpg
 
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I bet a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser will take care of that ring!

Mr. Bruce and friend I am SO sorry that it took this long to find the fix. I hope you will accept my apologies :???:

I do have to wonder if the Alum would have done any good with the play sand NOT that I ever want to know that answer.

Kim
 
I will see if the empty bag is still there at my lunch visit. It was the only Alum floc the pool store had. The pool store person said to ignore the directions on the back which included filtering immediately, instead to dissolve it in a bucket and pour directly into skimmer (on recirc) and let mix for 2 hours then stand for 2 days. By late Friday night (one day) it had all sunk to the bottom.

I'm not sure why that stuff is so frowned on around here. I understand why it's not your first move, but if you do a search there are tons of people who it helped greatly. If you go back in this thread as soon as one person mentioned it in amazingly people started popping up saying "me too" as if they were all afraid to be the first to say the "f" word.

If all you've got is a hammer every problem looks like a nail. Sometimes there is a screw.
 
I don't think Floc is frowned upon at all 'around here'. I've used it myself, but like every problem, there is a time for it and not a time for it. The scenario that this site cautions against, and rightly so, is immediately jumping to Floc or Clarifier as a solution to a cloudy pool, when 95 times out of a 100, cloudiness is due to algae Blooms, not sediment. It's a process and without the benefit of being on site, members guide the best they can on the info at hand. Once it was determined that the algae bloom was killed, which don't discount, this pool started with algae too, the next logical step was to use something to tackle the sediment. I suggested Floc right before the post about using Alum. So, I would say that your characterization that Floc is frowned upon around here, isn't true at all.
 
Mr Bruce said:
I will see if the empty bag is still there at my lunch visit. It was the only Alum floc the pool store had. The pool store person said to ignore the directions on the back which included filtering immediately, instead to dissolve it in a bucket and pour directly into skimmer (on recirc) and let mix for 2 hours then stand for 2 days. By late Friday night (one day) it had all sunk to the bottom.

I'm not sure why that stuff is so frowned on around here. I understand why it's not your first move, but if you do a search there are tons of people who it helped greatly. If you go back in this thread as soon as one person mentioned it in amazingly people started popping up saying "me too" as if they were all afraid to be the first to say the "f" word.

If all you've got is a hammer every problem looks like a nail. Sometimes there is a screw.
Click to expand...

It's frowned on because people try to use it as a quick fix to clear up algae. So that's why it is used as a last effort, like in your case.
 

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