Opening pool today and dunno which to tackle first?

[claymerica]

Ok so I am not making any more progress. The pool is blue as can be but not clear. I cannot see the shallow end bottom but almost. I am almost 3 weeks in right now. It didnt take this long last year to get clear with a pool that had gone all winter without a cover. My question is do you think it is the filter? Sand? The sand is about 4-5 yrs old. We were going to change it this yr but opted to wait.

My oclt was 1. So it held all nite for the most part. Should I try and use some clarifier to see if that does the trick? Im running out of patience and options. I dont want to keep hammering the pool with chlorine and risk damaging things if it isnt going to clear. Thanks for any help guys. Really frustrated

FC 20
CYA 35
TA 90
PH 7.5

 

[ping]

Can you post your pump and filter size. It seems that your filter is not working as it should at this point, might be channeled or the filter is undersized for the pump. When was the last time the filter was cleaned with a hose to flush the sand, read this link, my-sand-is-channeled-how-to-fix-it-t7626.html.

 

[claymerica]

Filter has never been cleaned with a hose to my knowledge. Pool is 5 yrs old this summer. I just took over for my mom last yr so still learning things. I dont know the filter size pump motor is new, 1.5hp marathon (last month) bc it would not turn on. We thought about changing the sand but decided to wait till next yr. Maybe if I take a hose to it and churn it up that will help. I just know that with everything I have learned and keeping the levels where they are we should be clear long before now. So something is not right.

 

[linen]

Before clarifier, I would try: http://www.troublefreepool.com/pool-school/add_de_to_a_sand_filter...DE can really speed things up!

What is your CC?

 

[ping]

Most likely the filter is channeled and taking a hose to break up the sand should help. After using the hose in the sand, add some DE like linen suggested.

 

[claymerica]

CC is 1. My FC level is now down to 18 from 21 this morning. Im gonna still keep it around 16 but everything else seems to be in check. I have not messed with the sand in the filter and after reading some other past posts on forum it seems the sand doesnt necessarily need to be changed. I guess I can try adding DE to the filter and see if that does anything. Where do I get DE?

 

[linen]

Ping wasn't saying to change the sand just clean it by carefully sticking a hose into the sand bed and let the water overflow the filter and carry out any lighter than water debris. Read his link. That will also give you chance to inspect to see if you have any hard calcified chunks in there. You can do the DE approach first and see if that fixes your issue, but I do the sand bed cleaning at the beginning of each season.

 

[claymerica]

Ok guys so I finally have light at the end of the tunnel. Thanks for all the suggestions and help over the last 3 weeks, whew this one whipped me. So I have one final question. Water is 80 percent clear but I have for two days now little flakes floating on the surface of the water. They look like flakes of skin but obviously are not. No idea what the may be. Here are my latest levels
FC 14
CYA 30
TA 100
PH 7.5
CH 40