Looks and smells like a stagnant pond

ajw22 · Apr 13, 2024

What setup do you have for vacuuming? Where do you plug it into?

What valves do you have leading into your pump?

Show us pics.

Your pool is looking really good from where you started.

LaurenB · Apr 13, 2024

Thanks! Will post a pic. I know there is one valve that shuts off the 2 main drains and then 1 valve shuts off both skimmers. Then there is a 3rd valve which I assume shuts off the returns. I should have gotten a picture before they buried the plumbing. I’m supposed to have an orientation with the pool company on Tuesday (so they can teach me how to spend lots of money on chemicals I don’t need lol) so I’m sure they can tell me which is which. But I’ve been figuring the rest out on my own. Just stumped on the vacuum situation.

LaurenB · Apr 13, 2024

ajw22 · Apr 13, 2024

None of the pipes are labeled.

You have 2 valves controlling 3 pipes. You just have to try different valve positions and see what works for best vacuuming.

Lake Placid · Apr 13, 2024

The red labeled valve should control your returns. The blue and yellow labels will control either your main drains or your skimmers. Start with either the blue or yellow one and turn its off placard to 1 of the pipes going into the ground. Check and see if a skimmer stops flowing water. If neither skimmer stops moving water then it’s a main drain. Move to the next pipe on the same valve and repeat. Reset that valve to its original position then move to the other valve and do the same thing until you verify which pipes manipulate the skimmers and know which is which.
Depending on your vac setup, you may not need to do anything, you may only need to throttle down the main drains, or you may need to close the mains and throttle down a skimmer.

LaurenB · Apr 14, 2024

Thank you for labeling the picture! Turns out I DID take pics of the plumbing before buried and I was able to trace the lines - blue is the skimmers and yellow is the main drains so thanks for that.

Passed the OCLT! 0CC (has been the whole time?). I think at this point the cloudiness is just dirt from being a new build. Should I continue to slam? I know the 3rd criteria is clear water but it’s going to take a long time to get all that dirt out.

ajw22 · Apr 14, 2024

I would run an elevated FC level, maybe 1/2 SLAM level until you have clear water.

Mdragger88 · Apr 14, 2024

Did you get the vac going? Vacuuming and or brushing daily is an important part of the slam process.
If you suspect alot of debris on the floor you may want to vac to waste the first time to remove the bulk from the pool.
Letting your foot off the gas now may drag things out even longer.

You can add a little pool grade de to the sand filter to help catch the finer particles.
**You need a functioning gauge to do this
Here’s the instructions

Add DE to a Sand Filter

A clean pool filter will increase the efficiency of your pool! ... your filter are to backwash it, clean the manifolds and grids, and add new DE.

www.google.com

LaurenB · Apr 24, 2024

Just wanted to leave a little update! Passed SLAM (as good as I think it will get) a few days ago. I'm 99.9% any cloudiness remaining is just dirt/dust from being a new install. Also, I feel confident in this because I did a no-no and used a clarifier. What a difference that made. I was able to vacuum stuff up and using filter socks caught a TON of it. I was easy on the clarifier and probably underdosed. I still feel as if there is a brown tinge to the deep end of the pool, on the liner itself. At my old pool, we had hard well water and as I would top off, the iron would fall out of solution and tinge that liner as well. I have hard well water again at this house, but I have not used any in the pool. However, could it still be a similar "staining" from all of the dirt that was in there? I will post a picture but I don't think you can really tell what I'm talking about.

Mdragger88 · Apr 24, 2024

If you suspect iron do the vitamin c test to find out.

Stains in Your Pool

The stained pool is beyond embarrassing. Our in-depth Guide to remove stains in your pool will help you to remove the stains and prevent them in the future.

www.troublefreepool.com

If it is “showing itself” in the water you can use polyfill in the skimmers to catch it & physically remove it from the pool.

If you’ve got iron in your fill water, use Polyfill to remove it

EDIT: Found out this method only works if your iron is oxidized already, meaning it’s got a dull or bright green tint to the water, or a nasty brown tint. If you know you have iron in your fill water, but it isn’t oxidized yet, bring your pool to shock level and it’ll turn the telltale green...

www.google.com

Newdude · Apr 24, 2024

LaurenB said:
Passed SLAM (as good as I think it will get) a few days ago. I'm 99.9% any cloudiness remaining

The thing is you can't know. That's why slam continues until the water is so clear the pool looks empty. If you give algae any window to return by ending too soon, you could be right back to square one in 2 weeks.

Maintaining slam at the end is far easier than starting a new one. My own pool took 2 weeks to polish the fill water. I would have maintained slam for the duration had I been slamming.

LaurenB · Apr 24, 2024

Newdude said:
The thing is you can't know. That's why slam continues until the water is so clear the pool looks empty. If you give algae any window to return by ending too soon, you could be right back to square one in 2 weeks.

Maintaining slam at the end is far easier than starting a new one. My own pool took 2 weeks to polish the fill water. I would have maintained slam for the duration had I been slamming.

It does look empty - save for the questionable staining on the liner.

LaurenB · Apr 24, 2024

Mdragger88 said:
If you suspect iron do the vitamin c test to find out.

Stains in Your Pool

The stained pool is beyond embarrassing. Our in-depth Guide to remove stains in your pool will help you to remove the stains and prevent them in the future.

www.troublefreepool.com

If it is “showing itself” in the water you can use polyfill in the skimmers to catch it & physically remove it from the pool.

If you’ve got iron in your fill water, use Polyfill to remove it

EDIT: Found out this method only works if your iron is oxidized already, meaning it’s got a dull or bright green tint to the water, or a nasty brown tint. If you know you have iron in your fill water, but it isn’t oxidized yet, bring your pool to shock level and it’ll turn the telltale green...

www.google.com

Too cold for a vitamin C test LOL ... I'm dying to get down there though. Thought about getting a wet suit

Mdragger88 · Apr 24, 2024

LaurenB said:
Too cold for a vitamin C test LOL ... I'm dying to get down there though. Thought about getting a wet suit

You can just put it in a sock & use the brush to rub it on the floor. Then scoop the sock out.
Its a chemical reaction not a physical one really.

LaurenB · Apr 24, 2024

Ok I'll try it!

LaurenB · Tuesday at 12:53 PM

I posted a little over 2 weeks ago when I opened to a swamp, pool is a new build, completed in November and immediately closed. Just a quick review,

Absolute brownist, murkiest water and stunk like a dirty fish tank on opening.

Dealt with ammonia.

Followed SLAM and am now pretty good in terms of water balance.

However, there was a ton of dirt that just wasn’t getting filtered out so I used a clarifier (I know, I know) and it made a huge difference. I may have underdosed a smidge because deep down I knew I probably shouldn’t do it.

So now I’m constantly scrutinizing this new pool and asking myself “is it cloudy? Or am I being obsessive?”

Additionally, I think the liner may be throwing me off. It has a teal-ish effect on the water (which I thought long and hard about but did it anyway). Also, the deep end is 8 feet which may be throwing me off - I only ever had 4 feet before.

Cya 30
Fc 3.5
Cc 0
pH 7.5
TA 80
CH ? (75 maybe)

I turned the pump off to get some pictures but the wind will never stop where I live so water isn’t perfectly calm.

Also attaching swamp pics and progress because isn’t that just so satisfying? The last 3 photos are today.

Texas Splash · Tuesday at 12:57 PM

I think it looks pretty good. Did you pass the Overnight Chlorine Loss Test? Sand filters take a little longer.

bobloblaw42 · Tuesday at 1:00 PM

Can try pool-grade DE as a filter aid in your sand filter.

And even if you choose not to run at SLAM level chlorine, while you have any issues (e.g. clarity), you can try running at the high end of the target range (6FC for 30 CYA).

Add DE to a Sand Filter

A clean pool filter will increase the efficiency of your pool! ... your filter are to backwash it, clean the manifolds and grids, and add new DE.

www.troublefreepool.com

LaurenB · Tuesday at 1:06 PM

Passed the oclt, pretty quickly actually. Pump has been running 24/7 since opening.

Thanks for linking the article to adding DE. I never tried it before because for some reason I was thinking you had to add like you would add sand and I didn’t want to have to access the filter. That sounds way easy! I’ll give it a try. Only thing is my pressure gauge is broken. It reads about 10 psi when off. I know baseline after thorough backwash and at 3,000 rpm is 27 so I’ve been going from that number, and feeling the output at the returns (super precise, I know). So am I still safe to add DE as long as I watch psi from where I started?

bobloblaw42 · Tuesday at 1:21 PM

Might be a good time to replace the gauge - should be a $8 to $12 replacement part likely available wherever you obtain the pool-grade DE.

Looks and smells like a stagnant pond

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