Trying to bring an old indoor pool back to life

Poorpoolboy · May 27, 2021

Please bare with me, I’m very new to pools but like challenges

Indoor pool 35,000 gallons.
Northeast Ohio
Pool has been empty for 8-9years.
Took me that long to rebuild the natatarium (I still call it a pool room)

Had the pool replastered in December 2020.
Old filter and pump were garbage, so I Bought a new Hayward pump & cartridge filter and replumbed due to issues with underground piping leaks in January/Feb.
Finally thought I had everything ready and Tried to fire up heater and of course had no luck, I needed to order new heater parts since it hadn’t been used in 8-9years. New parts just arrived and am waiting for them to be installed soon.
I checked the pool every so often over the last few months and it always looked pretty clear. Not as clear as day 1 after replasteting but pretty clear.
Only thing I really noticed was that numerous spiders decided to take a fatal dip into the pool.
The enclosure is 60x30 with a 60’ brick wall on one side and the other 60’ wall attached to the house. The 30’ side ends of the building are also brick and have new doors and windows making them 50/50 brick/glass. So I get some natural light in the room half the day from one side.
Agsin,The Water has been clear ever since filling it up back in January.
I decided to buy a test kit today in hopes of swimming sometime soon.
I’m pretty sure Nothing but muratic acid was added after the plaster was put on.

my Chlorine is at 0, which makes sense since I didn’t add any yet.
TA is between 120-130
PH seems to be off the chart

Only other issue is I am getting some bubbles on the pool water surface from the water return feature and when I skimmed the surface to remove the spiders, I noticed a white film on the net. I ran the pump religiously for the first couple months

Do I add muratic acid to lower PH and chlorine even though there is no swimming in it yet?

any recommendations

I’m looking into hiring a service company but wanted to see if I can do this myself...

Any help would be appreciated.

Newdude · May 27, 2021

Poorpoolboy said:
Do I add muratic acid to lower PH and chlorine even though there is no swimming in it yet?

Yup. The chlorine is needed so it doesn’t go stagnant. Without the sun you have more leeway, but it’s not bulletproof.

Add MA to get the PH down. But here’s the thing. If you are high you don’t know if it’s 8.4 high, or 10. So the first add of MA may leave you still unreadably high. Maybe the 2nd dose as well. Just keep adding like it’s 8.2 until it’s readable. Mix and test after each add. The pool we inherited after moving took 4 or 5 tries to get it readable.

Poorpoolboy said:
I’m looking into hiring a service company but wanted to see if I can do this myself

Save your money. We got you !!

Poorpoolboy · May 27, 2021

Thank you!!!!!

I will add the first dose of MA within the hour.

LoneWolfArcher · May 27, 2021

"Only other issue is I am getting some bubbles on the pool water surface from the water return feature and when I skimmed the surface to remove the spiders, I noticed a white film on the net. I ran the pump religiously for the first couple months"

Is this a return jet? Or a fountain?

Poorpoolboy · May 28, 2021

The answer is a bit complicated. My pool was built in 73. It has one skimmer in the shallow end and one skimmer in the deepend. It’s a rectangle 18x30 5’ shallow end 9’ deep end. It has/had 6 returns length wise down the middle. I had to plug all six of the returns on the bottom of my pool due to a bad leak in one of the return lines after I had it replastered. So my pool expert builder plasterer re-plumbed my lines to make the skimmer in the shallow end into a return and I am running to the pump from the drain only. The skimmer return in the shallow end becomes a water feature “water fall” at the low current water level just below the skimmer in the deepend, which tells me I must have had some movement. The skimmer in the deep end had a leak which is why I kept the eater level low. I patched it with some epoxy and it seems to be holding water but the water flow through it is minimal.
after pouring a gallon of MA and a gallon of bleach into it abd put a sock full of chlorine tabs in front of the return skimmer yesterday the water has cleared up substantially and looks really good and clear and the amount of bubbles or film (kind of looks like dirty sea foam) but now I have a chlorine smell

I’m assuming the bubbles and foam might be grout film from scaling possibly because my ph was high. I’m attaching some pics. Can you tell which ones were from before the treatment ?

Poorpoolboy · May 28, 2021

Newdude said:
Yup. The chlorine is needed so it doesn’t go stagnant. Without the sun you have more leeway, but it’s not bulletproof.

Add MA to get the PH down. But here’s the thing. If you are high you don’t know if it’s 8.4 high, or 10. So the first add of MA may leave you still unreadably high. Maybe the 2nd dose as well. Just keep adding like it’s 8.2 until it’s readable. Mix and test after each add. The pool we inherited after moving took 4 or 5 tries to get it readable.

Save your money. We got you !!

Thank you, I got the Ph down to 7.4

PoolGate · May 28, 2021

Indoor pools have a lot of challenges. You may need to get a UV system depending how much, if any, natural UV makes it to the pool. Also chlorine is a consumable you'll need to add it daily. Can you post pics of your equipment setup? Your plaster has specific startup requirements that the plaster people should have gone over with you. Did you get anything like that?

Poorpoolboy · May 29, 2021

No, they simply applied the plaster, sprayed it with muratic acid the next day and turned the hose on. They said it should be swimmable the next day. After letting the hose run for over 2.5 days to fill it I came to the conclusion that the returns were leaking so I dropped some Easter egg coloring tablets near them and confirmed two were leaking pretty good. I Drained it and then plugged the returns with screw in plugs and used the marine epoxy putty from Lowe’s to cover over them. While doing that I basically ruined my new plaster finish look on the bottom of the pool since I didn’t have the time or energy to clean up the mess I made from my shoes before filling it back up. I figured it would get cleaned up once I scrub and vaccum it after I filled it, and didn’t want to mess with the fresh plaster. It was a complete debacle. It took another month abd a half to replumb the lines and get the new pump and filter installed.

I filled it up to a few inches above the skimmer in the deep end last night and it seems to be holding water...time will tell if my skimmer epoxy fix holds. I tested My water chemistry last night and it seems to be getting back to normal ranges, I will continue to tweak daily. My ph is a little low now at 7.2 Chlorine was a bit high at 4. Alkaline was at 110. My water is freezing probably in the 40s. I’m waiting for My Hvac guy to come install a new valve assembly on the heater to fire it up.

I’ve attached the pics of my equipment. My equipment room is in my basement next to and under the pool. So the deepend of the pool is literally behind the wall next to my filter

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