Have you ever seen a pool this bad?

[rlee0604]

I am hoping the TFP community can get some amusement out of my recent pain. I have included my story and pictures just to give you a full background of what is going on. Hopefully this is amusing enough for you to try and help me out.

I purchased a home with a pool last fall. Like all first time pool owners I got advice from the pool store. I told them the pool looked like a lake and I can only see an 6” into the pool before my hand disappears. Advice was to put the cover on and deal with it in the spring.

Spring rolls around and I pull the cover off to get started. Boy was I in for more than I bargained for. Found three dead turtles, two alive, two bull frogs, and various insects. Found what I now know to be turtle eggs as well. Some alive images of the aquarium pictured below. I will spare you the picture of disintegrated reptiles.


Once I caught the animals and fished the carcasses out, I began by removing leaves and algae in the bottom. Along with various other items that had fallen in. I did this every day I got home from work for two weeks until it was time for bed. I had four piles around the pool as pictured below. These piles of leaves are much larger than they appear because everything compacts onto itself. I broke two poles and a skimmer net in the process.



After all of the leaves were removed I started working on the equipment. The old SWG was not working and was manufactured in 2013 so I replaced it with a Hayward aquarite and t15 cell along with adding a timer. Pump was also seized so I spun it a few times then replaced all the seals on it. After all of this and fixing all the wiring gremlins the equipment was running.


So now with large debris removed and working equipment I was ready to “shock” the pool. Added 11lb of 65% cal hypo. Test strips (I know they are not the best) went from Barney purple to paper white within two hours. Same thing happened again with 9lbs the next day.

This is where I made my first major mistake and surrendered all of my thoughts to the pool store. They sold me two bottles of 90 day Algaecide, some phosphate remover, ph balance, 65% cal hypo, yellow trine for mustard algae, and something else that “guarantees a chlorine residual”. Followed their instructions as suggested and it got a little better and turned greenish gray. Went through multiple flock treatments with them and multiple vacuums as well.

I am about a month in, $3500 poorer, and all my family asking when it’s going to be open, and the conversations of “just hire a professional”.

Super frustrated by this point I began to dive into researching everything and find TFP. See everyone talks about the SLAM method constantly and swear by it so I was gonna give that a shot.

I gear up by buying a boat load of 10% chlorine from rural king ($17 for 4gal!) as I know this is suggested and a 55lb bucket of 65% cal hypo to keep it going after I got it high. Cal hypo was even cheaper from Amazon for $130.

SLAM method significantly helped along with the pool math calculator for dosing. I was jumping for joy when I first saw the bottom. I could hardly contain myself.

Pool is now blue but cloudy. Pool cleared up fast for a day or two and no improvement over the next 4 visually. I can see the shallow end (3.5’) but only about half way down to the deep end (8 or 9’).



My question now is, what is my source of the cloudiness? Does the floc play a part, could my sand be bad, just keep doing the slam? How long could this take?!?

Everything has gotten so convoluted at this point that I just want to make sure I am continuing down the right road. I am tired of spending money on chemicals and want to make sure there isn’t something else I should do as I feel like I might be on the outside of a normal “green” pool.

I have been using a hach dr300 with free chlorine and total chlorine pillow powders for testing. This unit is extremely accurate but only up to 10ppm. I have a Taylor k2006c kit on the way. Below are my current levels. I let the chlorine levels get down because I’m swimming in this thing come heck or high water for Memorial Day. I will pick back up with treatment after.

I have been using the pool math app for recommended slam levels vs CYA and it recommends 19ppm. I have maintained it between 20 and 8 for a week now. Most of the time between 15 and 20ish.

FC 5.3
CC 1.2
PH 7.3
CYA 48
TA 127
CH 227
Salt 2900

Estimate pool to be 30-35k gal
Sand filter
Performing OCLT currently because I know someone will ask.

Thank you for reading my sob story and I appreciate any input!

 

[Texas Splash]

Welcome to TFP! Okay, so you took the long (expensive) road, but you finally made it to TFP. You've also added what could be some potentially water-complicating products from the pool store, but nothing you can do about that now. So here's what you need to do now:
- Best to wait until the K-2006C arrives to really do accurate dosing.
- Add 1-2 gallons of liquid chlorine to the pool each day. Believe it or not, that's not a lot of FC in a pool your size. Add nothing else to the water except liquid chlorine. Might as well buy several gallons while you're at it.
- Read the SLAM Process well. That will be your road map when the K-2006C arrives.
- No floc or any such miracle products. Just liquid chlorine.
- Let's wait on the sand for now.
When you get the K-2006C, you can do all the tests, but there are 3 of them that will be most applicable for the SLAM:
1 - PH (Needs to be around 7.2 prior to starting the SLAM.
2 - CYA
3 - FC

But feel free to post back with those numbers when the kit arrives and we'll be happy to coach you along. Easy stuff. You've already done the hardest stuff, not it boils down to proper testing, maintaining the proper SLAM FC level, and patience.

 

[Texas Splash]

You can use the FC/CYA Levels or refer to the chart below. Once you confirm a good CYA, increase (and maintain) your FC at the proper elevated FC SLAM level. Do your best to keep it there until you pass all three SLAM criteria. During that time, brush, scrub, inspect, and repeat. You can swim in the water as long as you can see the bottom (safety) the FC is not over the proper SLAM level for your CYA. Since you had a swamp for quite some time, you may consider removing the light if you have one of the typical large pool lights stuffed into a wall light niche. There's probably algae behind there as well.

 

[rlee0604]

You can use the FC/CYA Levels or refer to the chart below. Once you confirm a good CYA, increase (and maintain) your FC at the proper elevated FC SLAM level. Do your best to keep it there until you pass all three SLAM criteria. During that time, brush, scrub, inspect, and repeat. You can swim in the water as long as you can see the bottom (safety) the FC is not over the proper SLAM level for your CYA. Since you had a swamp for quite some time, you may consider removing the light if you have one of the typical large pool lights stuffed into a wall light niche. There's probably algae behind there as well.

Good call. I’ll have to take a peek behind that light.

 

[rlee0604]

Just finished OCLT with 1ppm FC loss and 1ppm CC.

Current pictures below.

 

[Texas Splash]

Just finished OCLT with 1ppm FC loss and 1ppm CC.

That's really, really close. You've come a long way. The elevated CC level is the only issue right now. No doubt the chlorine is still killing something. Checking that light would be a good place to start. If you have a main drain, going down there to remove the cover would also be a good thing to do. Also check behind the skimmer weir doors. Sometimes they have hidding spots.

 

[Newdude]

You're in the homestretch. WELL done !!!!

 

[mgtfp]

Have you ever seen a pool this bad?

Now I have...

Welcome to the forum. Bumpy road, but you've come a long way. The rest is mainly chlorine, filtering and patience.

 

[rlee0604]

That's really, really close. You've come a long way. The elevated CC level is the only issue right now. No doubt the chlorine is still killing something. Checking that light would be a good place to start. If you have a main drain, going down there to remove the cover would also be a good thing to do. Also check behind the skimmer weir doors. Sometimes they have hidding spots.

Is it possible the main drain is clogged? I expressed this concern to the pool store and they were like “no way it’s clogged”. The amount of debris in there was unreal.

 

[Texas Splash]

Is it possible the main drain is clogged?

Based on the history of that pool, I wouldn't rule it out. If you have a 3-way valve back at the equipment pad that allows you to pull water from drain or skimmer, you could try to pull water from the drain only. If it works you should be fine. If you loose prime at the pump from drain only then it's a concern. There's also a chance the previous owners had the drain sealed permanently if it had a bad line. So you have to do a bit of self-diagnosing to tell. If you need help, let us know.

 

[rlee0604]

Based on the history of that pool, I wouldn't rule it out. If you have a 3-way valve back at the equipment pad that allows you to pull water from drain or skimmer, you could try to pull water from the drain only. If it works you should be fine. If you loose prime at the pump from drain only then it's a concern. There's also a chance the previous owners had the drain sealed permanently if it had a bad line. So you have to do a bit of self-diagnosing to tell. If you need help, let us know.

I have two skimmers, some random intake about 8” deep on the deep end, and I am assuming a drain down there in the bottom of the deep end.

I have a three way valve on the intake side, but it has two inlets on one side of that and on on the other. The side with one goes to just one skimmer for vacuuming. Do I have to cut in to the other side and put in a quarter turn just to isolate the problem or is there another way?

 

[Texas Splash]

I have a three way valve on the intake side, but it has two inlets on one side of that and on on the other. The side with one goes to just one skimmer for vacuuming. Do I have to cut in to the other side and put in a quarter turn just to isolate the problem or is there another way?

Since that one suction line supports the one skimmer by itself, we can assume the other suction line is shared by the second skimmer and the drain. So if you wanted to test, you could essentially close that skimmer (the shared line) off then also close the line with the skimmer to try and pull water from the drain only. You'll know quickly if the pump can pull water from the drain. If if starves for water, then go back to the original settings and we can always discuss drain troubleshooting more later.

 

[Texas Splash]

That port a few inches below the skimmer in the deep end might be for vacuuming, or perhaps just an equalizing-type port for the skimmer should the water level ever drop too low for the skimmed opening so that the pump doesn't run dry.

 

[JessicaE]

I've seen worse! This is my "animal sanctuary."

 

[rlee0604]

That port a few inches below the skimmer in the deep end might be for vacuuming, or perhaps just an equalizing-type port for the skimmer should the water level ever drop too low for the skimmed opening so that the pump doesn't run dry.

I have another outlet port not far from it that I believe was for cleaning and I capped it.

 

[Homebrewale]

Sand never wears out. You should never need to replace it. It can get gummed up from various products that were used. Sand is also cheap. You don't know the history of the pool. Sometimes I just want to start fresh and know the history of the sand. So I would replace the old sand with new sand.

 

[rlee0604]

Sand never wears out. You should never need to replace it. It can get gummed up from various products that were used. Sand is also cheap. You don't know the history of the pool. Sometimes I just want to start fresh and know the history of the sand. So I would replace the old sand with new sand.

I fully plan on this at some point in the near future.

 

[rlee0604]

For full history please look at my previous post. TLDR on that is pool was extremely bad and pool store had me put in a lot of algaecides and floc before I got frustrated and ended up here

Pool is cloudy and I can see the shallow end but not past about 4.5’ in the deep end.


Previously have slammed and got to this point but let up so my kid could swim on the holiday weekend.

Testing with taylor k2006c. Bumped chlorine up since we had heavy rain and few people swim and figured I’m about to most likely start SLAM again. Test results below.

OCLT 3 days ago was 1.

Do I need CYA up first or should I just SLAM to 18ppm? I feel like the cloudiness is from leftover floc. Will SLAM for sure solve this with a sand filter that might be under performing? Should I put DE in the filter until I can change out the sand? Thanks in advance for all the help!

 

[Texas Splash]

Do I need CYA up first or should I just SLAM to 18ppm?

Don't raise the CYA until the SLAM is complete. For ease, we round up. So if the CYA appears to be between 40 and 50, just call it 50 and your SLAM FC level would be 20. Remember, you can be in the water as long as you don't go over that SLAM level and you can see the bottom (safety).