Drain & refill: algae was out of hand

weird, my other post asking whether to DRAIN or SLAM seems to have merged into this one.
Was that done by a moderator or something? Being new to TFP, I'm still figuring out how things work
Mods did that. How many gallons are in your pool, draining, and SLAM are all related topics. It helps us to see the entire picture of what you are doing to give you the best advice.
 
Mods did that. How many gallons are in your pool, draining, and SLAM are all related topics. It helps us to see the entire picture of what you are doing to give you the best advice.
ah ok, makes sense. I'm actually not 100% sure of how many gallons. I started this post by asking for help with that, lol.

It's an amoeba-shaped "sports" pool:

Length: 35 ft
Width at widest part: 15.5 ft
Shallow on both ends: 3.5 ft
Deep end in the middle: 6 ft
 
ah ok, makes sense. I'm actually not 100% sure of how many gallons. I started this post by asking for help with that, lol.

It's an amoeba-shaped "sports" pool:

Length: 35 ft
Width at widest part: 15.5 ft
Shallow on both ends: 3.5 ft
Deep end in the middle: 6 ft
oh geez, I just realized you weren't asking how many gallons were in my pool. You were explaining that those topics are all related (forehead slap)
 
NEW PLAN: Since I'll be fixing this pool for my folks who don't ever want to use it again, I might as well get some enjoyment out of it myself!
They are planning to sell, but not until the end of the year. In the meantime, I could be using it.

The water is GROSS & who knows how old. I think I want to drain it & start again. At least drain the majority of it while I'm waiting for my test kit to show up. Reading through the Draining - Further Reading page, looks like a submersible pump is the way to go?
 
After a couple of out-of-town trips and purchasing the pump, the pool is finally draining - and I'm kind of freaking out!

4.5 hours later, I'd say it's about a foot/foot and a half drained.
I'm sure tons of leaves/pine needles/debris are waiting for me at the bottom.

And the plaster is ROUGH in certain areas that I can see so far - especially the steps.
It's been eroding. Hope that's just a 'cosmetic' issue & not something I need to deal with before filling it back up!
 
Drain it into a cleanout on the house unless it's NOT illegal to drain it elsewhere. The drain is slow in the beginning before the water level drops into the sloped part of the pool. Then it goes quicker as the pool effectively gets smaller.
 
Drain it into a cleanout on the house unless it's NOT illegal to drain it elsewhere. The drain is slow in the beginning before the water level drops into the sloped part of the pool. Then it goes quicker as the pool effectively gets smaller.
Yeah, it's going into the sewer. I'm keeping an eye on the water level & scooping out eaves as I can.
Is there anything that'll help with the stuck-on algae parts? Should I clean it with anything more than water when it's done draining?
 

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I started draining my pool yesterday (except while I was sleeping) & it's getting close to empty.
The algae is clinging to the plaster in some areas. How should I remove it? The remaining water is so green it's almost black. There's no way I'm getting in there. Should I hang over the side & scrub the sides with water? Should I use anything else?

The steps have black spots on them where the plaster was eroded too. Any suggestions on how to tackle that? Is that black algae?
 
Use a garden sprayer or similar to push as much off as you can and pump out. Then refill as quickly as you can (dry plaster can fail catastrophically) and then follow the SLAM Process
 
Argh, I created a new thread because no one was answering this older one anymore. Can the title at least be changed??? This is a drain & refill, not a size question anymore
Edit the thread. Three dots in the upper right.

You were discussing the same topic in both threads.
 
Spray water on it. Letting it dry out in the sun it will fail. Get it filled. You can eliminate the organics with chlorine once full.
 

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