Changing my gross swamp into a real pool

[Tnutt]

I’ve never had a pool before but we just bought a house with a 20,000 gallon in-ground pool. It WILL be great but right now it’s just gross. It’s green and it looks like the alge is starting to clump together.

I got my test kit and our results are:
FC: 0
pH: 7.4
TA: 140
CYA: 0

We have a sand filter that has probably never been cleaned or even drained so we wanted to get that cleaned up before SLAMing. Got it drained and it is so gross. There are tons of pine needles and tiny bits of fabric from the old pool cover that has been disintegrating. We started to do a deep clean but the pine needles aren’t floating to the top. I’m thinking we need to change the sand so that we don’t have needles in our filter.

Once the sand sand filter is clean and ready, I’m going to add 5lbs of dry stabilizer to get the CYA up. And then we will start the SLAM process.

Any tips, advice, or encouragement is welcome.

 

[jblizzle]

Can you verify which test kit you got and add it to your signature please

I would suggest a quick chlorine check prior to adding cya given the condition of your pool. Target 10 PPM of FC and retest the FC and CC after 15 to 30 minutes.

 

[DeanP66]

With 0 FC and 0 CYA, you should rule out ammonia first before you add any stabilizer to increase CYA. Otherwise, the stabilizer you add will be converted to even more ammonia. Dose FC to 10 PPM and re-test in 15-30 minutes. If FC is lower than 5, redose to 10 once again and continue until FC starts to hold above 5. Then you can add your stabilizer and do your SLAM.

Don't forget to scoop out as much of that junk on the surface as well as on the bottom. I know you can't see below the surface, but you can blindly use your pool net to get as much as possible. You want as much of that stuff out of there so your chlorine can work on the algae and water.

 

[Burntwoods]

I know you can't see below the surface, but you can blindly use your pool net to get as much as possible.

we are in the same situation (black swamp with no idea how many formerly-living creatures are at the bottom) and managed to clog the main pool drain by accidentally raking junk into it.

I wish we had probed for the main drain, and then just made sure to blindly rake away from it, rather than toward it. Fortunately, it wasn't too hard to clear our clog with the shop vac, but a hassle nonetheless.

So if you do find that you have inches of bottom muck, try to avoid bringing it directly on top of your main pool drain.

 

[Tnutt]

I think the main drain might already be clogged. We tried blowing air through the line and no bubbles came out the main. When you cleaned it you were able to just suck out the gunk out with a shop vac? Any tips on that experience?

 

[Tnutt]

Update - I spent some time today adjusting the pH. Then added enough chlorine to get me to 10. I rested after a half hour and it was at 13.5, so no ammonia. Yay!

I’m going to add the stabilizer for CYA tomorrow and hope to start SLAMing later this week.

FC 13.5
pH 7.5
TA 110
CYA 0