Can you SLAM after floc?

[Elmster10]

Hey,

Newbie here. Pool got leaves in it over the winter and was a dark green mess when we opened it up. Pool store had me put in "Swamp To Swim" which appears to be a two step treatment with powder chlorine (step 1) and flocculant (step 2).

It's kind of helping but we have a big problem: My filter doesn't have a "drain to waste" option. The only setting we found was "drain", which pumped so much water out of the pool it dropped an inch in 30 seconds of vacuuming. We're on a well and can't easily refill, and it's half way down the skimmer now.

Can we just switch to SLAM now after putting the flocculant in? Will that dissolve everything?

Or should I go get a transfer pump and suck the gunk out of the bottom that way? We still can't see the bottom, so not sure if that's viable, but it crossed my mind.

I also wondered if we could vacuum on "whirlpool" (I think it's the same as recirculate) with a skimmer sock in and just clean the skimmer sock a bunch?

Any advice much appreciated!

 

[Texas Splash]

Can we just switch to SLAM now after putting the flocculant in? Will that dissolve everything?

If the floc hits your filter sand, it will most likely ruin it and need to be changed. Being on a well doesn't help matters. But the DRAIN function sounds like waste to me. Yes, you lose water fast. A trash/transfer pump might help, but might be difficult to vacuum cleanly. Not sure. Plus you'll still lose water. This is one of the reasons we at TFP stay clear of floc. It's a royal pain if not accomplished properly.

In any case, welcome to TFP!

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[YippeeSkippy]

If you can patiently wait for the FLOC to settle on the floor, perhaps running that pump vac very slowly as Pat mentions above will help suck up some. It may need repeating for a couple of days since you need to leave the pump off to let it settle.

Maddie

 

[Elmster10]

Thanks a bunch!

That's what we'll try. We also ordered a robo vac (I realize this might stir things up too much) and a Pool Blaster Max to try to vacuum without a bunch of water loss.

I'll let y'all know how it goes!

 

[Elmster10]

Well, the Pool Blaster is pulling up floc from the bottom, and leaves and other things. It's also stirring everything up quite a bit. I'm concerned we're gonna be vacuuming for an hour every day for a month at this rate. We also have backswimmers so probably algae too but I'm concerned about putting anything else in while we're still vacuuming floc.

Pool company said to let the floc work for 8 days and then turn on my filter and ruin my sand. They also quoted me around $400 to come replace the sand after I ruin it with the chemicals they told me to put in it. Seems like a pretty good racket if I was an idiot.

Is there a way that I can use the "drain" setting to vacuum using my pool pump without losing an inch of water every 30 seconds? Can I use a smaller vacuum hose or something?