New Owner, Old VERY Neglected Pool

[jtpipkin]

FLOC isn't the end of the world for your pool, only a long term hassle unless you change the sand from what I've read on this site. I'd keep it out of the filter if you could, but it's not life or death - plus, aren't you just rehabbing to flip anyway?

 

[TurbineTester]

FLOC isn't the end of the world for your pool, only a long term hassle unless you change the sand from what I've read on this site. I'd keep it out of the filter if you could, but it's not life or death - plus, aren't you just rehabbing to flip anyway?

If I can get the numbers right on the whole deal I might keep this long term, either as a second house or short term rental. Not certain yet. Barring anything else I can rehab it and resell it.

 

[DorsalSpine]

Good luck, I'll be looking to see clear water this time tomorrow.

 

[TurbineTester]

Good luck, I'll be looking to see clear water this time tomorrow.

Me too! But I don't expect this to suddenly fix everything...I can hope for a miracle though

 

[DorsalSpine]

You have had a lot of FC in there for a long time. Now that you fixed the drain I expect whatever is left after the floc will clear quickly. Just remember that vacuum to waste is your friend.

Otherwise you are going to get the first hand experience of changing all the sand in your sand filter.

 

[tabitha_599]

I have no advice but I have been following this thread since the first post. I'm anxiously awaiting to see your clear pool Maybe today will be your day!

 

[TurbineTester]

I have no advice but I have been following this thread since the first post. I'm anxiously awaiting to see your clear pool Maybe today will be your day!

I wish, but no such luck. The water is better though.

Test results
pH-7.2
FC-15pm
CYA-40

Next post will be after vaccuuming.

 

[TurbineTester]

I can see the vaccuum in the shallow end of the pool now. And I can see about where the slope starts in the deep end. Water certainly looks more blue that it has before, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed in the results of the floc at this stage.

So while I filled from the hose I vaccumed to waste over the whole pool doing the best I could to make sure I got everything off the bottom and followed some kind of overlapping pattern. Then I brushed the walls. Finally turned everything back to recirculate and added what should have been 6.4ppm of additional FC (1.25g in 25,500g pool). After letting the system continue to run in recirculate mode for 10 minutes I checked again and it was only at 20ppm. So either my pool is larger than 25,500g, the initial FC was off by 1-2 ppm or the pool store chlorine is less than the stated 10.5%. Pictures are post vacuum and brush. I turned everything back off because I could see a lot of large suspended particles floating near the returns (zoom in to picture of return) and I figured it probably would hurt to let it sit for another 12-24 hours and let stuff settle again for me to vacuum again before sending the water through the filter. Any opinions on the status of everything or the plan to leave everything off for another day? Should I go turn it back on and send it through the filter, maybe do a few cycles of DE& Backwash?

 

[DorsalSpine]

I'm not much of a risk taker so I'd let it settle and vac again. After that fire it up and see what the filter can do. You can always add DE and backwash later. If you get enough floc in the filter you will be dead in your tracks while you pull the sand and add new. Better safe than sorry.

 

[TurbineTester]

I'm not much of a risk taker so I'd let it settle and vac again. After that fire it up and see what the filter can do. You can always add DE and backwash later. If you get enough floc in the filter you will be dead in your tracks while you pull the sand and add new. Better safe than sorry.

That's what I was thinking, better loose a day or two and be safe than to be REALLY sorry for rushing it.

 

[TurbineTester]

I'm not much of a risk taker so I'd let it settle and vac again. After that fire it up and see what the filter can do. You can always add DE and backwash later. If you get enough floc in the filter you will be dead in your tracks while you pull the sand and add new. Better safe than sorry.

As long as I'm going to let it sit still for another day, would it be a waste to do another bottle of floc?

 

[mknauss]

Your pool and you have all ready used floc, but do realize TFP does not endorse using that product.

Take care.

 

[TurbineTester]

Your pool and you have all ready used floc, but do realize TFP does not endorse using that product.

Take care.

Roger that. I'll just vac to waste again and go back to filtering and chlorine tomorrow.

 

[wireform]

I've been down this road several times with different pools. The pool will determine how long it shall take. Rushing it wil not pan out. been there done that. Slowly but surely is the only TFP way.

 

[dabig05]

Wouldve been faster if all Crud was removed faster off bottom. Dont expect a quick fix with the time took took to remove all crud. Looking better though!

 

[Strawberryshortcake]

I had a frustrating, similar experience to you when I bought my house. Wasn't originally thinking about a pool at all and, had no idea how anything worked. In the end, it probably took a month+ of diligence to revive it. I think it hadn't been covered for at least 4 years and had feet worth of debris in the bottom. We raked and raked and it seemed never ending. Vaccumed. Bought the leaf-vac hose thingy. I noticed that in my pools case, when I felt like "nothing was left" with the leaf rake... I think actually, there was just like - a solid layer there and disturbing it with the leaf-vac and better water flow (I replaced my pump), "loosened" what was down there and I started getting a bunch more out. Anyway you've already dived in and could tell the bottom was clear now, but I just wanted to mention that might have been what was happening with you - fixing the main drain helped to loosen the "layer" that felt like bottom.

Now, I see you got a new pump but did you ever check the filter sand? I was stuck like you with my rehab until I replaced my equipment (forced to since it failed!). I totally replaced it all, new filter and pump - and I dumped the sand out of the old one to see it and it was just sludge. There was no way it was being effective. I actually started seeing improvements, after that. It was still slow going (sand filters are slow at this part), but it got there. I never used floc but was VERY tempted. It might be worth it to check your sand out, and totally replace it if it's really old. I also experimented with DE but only after my water was clear and only for about a week - it removed the really fine stilty stuff I couldn't get out and I didn't feel the need for it after that.
Also, I don't have a main drain and just 1 skimmer and my pool went from black lagoon to sparkling - don't give up!

Also, what kind of pump do you have? Is it a VS? When I installed my new VS pump I was running it super high. I thought, heck yeah, let's run it high to really suck stuff up. It started clearing much quicker when I actually dropped the speed. It was explained to me by someone here to imagine a river - super fast water pushes things through whereas slower, it can get stuck easier. (I just saw your signature and you have single speed so not an option for you, thats okay)

I've got absolutely no clue where to start!

Hi! I found this place after seeing it highly suggested everywhere I've looked so I hope you guys can offer us some advice :) My fiance and I just purchased our first home. It's just what we wanted and it also had a pool, which we weren't looking for but always wanted. But, we have NO clue...

www.troublefreepool.com

There is my thread if you'd like to compare!

 

[Chrissykr]

Everyone is right. You just aren't done yet and can't rush it. I do run Fiber Clear in my filter (used to use DE) and when you're ready for that and can't monitor it closely start with small amounts. That way, the pressure won't rise as quickly. Fiber Clear calls for four scoops, and I only use two or I would be backwashing every day. I personally love the sparkle with running some Fiber Clear in my filter.

 

[IceShadow]

Deep cleaning the sand filter is honestly what I would recommend at this point. If it's gunked up it won't be able to filter as efficiently.

 

[TurbineTester]

I went by this morning. Vaccum to waste, added 2.5 of chlorine and then added DE to the sand filter.

Bucket pictured is all I got out of the leaf rake, Polaris, vaccuum and skimmer all day yesterday.

 

[TurbineTester]

At lunch I backwashed while I tested the water.
CYA:<30 because of all the vaccuuming and refills.
FC: 22ppm
I added DE to the sand filter again after the backwash. Continued to run the Polaris. I added about 1 pound granular stabilizer, and then 5g of bleach because why not?

I can see large amounts of large (1-3mm) diameter "flakes" of debris in the pool floating by the returns. I'm assuming the filter is catching at least some of it. I would have thought by now it would have e done a better job of mechanically filtering the water of this type of stuff, but maybe it's all left after the floc. My next step is to deep clean the sand filter.