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Once I pass the OCLT, I'll post a final run-through in case anyone else sees this thread after it's solved and wonders what it took to get there. My scenario was probably unique (like everyone's is) in the sense that my filter was a key problem until I repaired it.

Twenty-Third Day Update: Apologize with the teasing and the long absense; the days I work are literally complete days, not just a couple hours. By the time I get home it's already dark, super late, and I'm exhausted. The couple of posts before this one were from my phone during my breaks, hence...

The suspense is just killing you guys, huh? And good interesting... :D

I have some interesting pictures to post when work allows me to take them in the first place... :D

Are you talking about the things on a compass, or that one boy band? I don't know what 'directions' are.

Seventeenth Day Update: After having over two weeks of using a filter that nearly had zero sand in it (and work days where I wasn't able to monitor the pool every couple of hours), I'm more on track now than ever. Maybe it's a placebo effect because I know that I fixed the filter yesterday, but...

I'm sure you guys are right, thanks! It'll be here today! Thanks, I'm not out of the woods yet, that was just fixing the filter I messed up myself years ago... :drown: The motto for TFP should be: "Oh...Now I Know."

I ended up filling it partially with water jmbradwell, thanks for the advice. Afterwards I hooked everything up, turned on the pump, watched the return jets pump out a ton of bubbles and then went back into having super strong return jets. Brought the FC up to 16, jumped in and scrubbed the...

Just got back from Home Depot with five 50 lbs bags of Quikrete Filter Sand, and it is a much, much thicker grain of sand than the play sand I've had in there (again, my bad...) and now I'm just waiting on the storm to pass to go out and fill the filter up. Anyone have advice on the safest way...

Filter Update: I would have put SLAM Update, but I am more focused on making sure my filter is working before I continue. I have been adding bleach, but enough to keep it well above zero and not continuously testing it. Today I took the filter completely apart. I checked all the laterals and...

I understand exactly, I took the sand out a long time ago and looked at everything, so I'll do that tomorrow morning. The long periods of time in between posts = mucho work! Would you suggest any specific way to detect a broken lateral or will it be visually obvious.

That is interesting bridgman, I would like to try that. I'm worried trying anything at all right now would be pointless because of my filter possibly not working correctly at all right now. I'm not sure how to inspect the sand filter and spot any issues. I guess I can just open it up and see if...

So I'm ten days into the SLAM and the water hasn't changed much at all from the pictures above, but they have changed just slightly. I wanted to get all the dead algae that had converted into sand from the bottom of the pool, so I hooked up the manual vacuum we have, jumped in and started...

$1,300! That's awful! We threw away ~$600 ultimately until we finally gave up on the "Oh, really, this is what's going to work for your pool!" excuse. I'm not sure how much I've spent on bleach the past two weeks, but I hope it isn't that difficult to keep it maintained once the pool is normal...

zimm and karmabiker: I understand. Is it normal for a pool like mine to need so much SLAM-ing when it used to look like a swamp? Sorry the pics aren't there, I arranged them in photobucket after I posted them and it must have broke the link.

Eighth Day Update: I'm over a week into the SLAM and I can't get it to look any better than this cloudy state: There were a couple days where the FC drastically dropped while I was at work, and I would have to come home and empty 3 jugs of bleach to get it back up to 16 FC, but other...

Fourth Day Update: I balanced the water continuously until 1 am, keeping it at 16 FC. Woke up this morning and from what I've learned, I'm thinking the algae started eating like crazy when the sunlight hit it, and the FC dropped all the way to 3 before I woke up again. Added sufficient amount...

Thanks Tim, I went to Wally World this morning and went ahead and bought 10 jugs of the bleach, hoping that the FC level stops dropping so drastically anymore.

It's official: I am off the Perma Suck System. I've had the copper chamber turned off this whole time, but I finally removed it today between SLAM checks. It only took a few moments, and it was a good chance to clean the skimmer attached to the pool and the one in the Hayward pump. Now my sand...

About once every 1 1/2 hours.

Gotcha, I'll save my time with the other tests. I was worried I was going to run out of the t-0870 powder testing so frequently, so I already ordered another 10 g off Amazon Prime, it'll be here Thursday.

Third Day Update Woke up this morning to these readings: FC - 5.5 CC - .5 pH - 7.1 TA - 80 CH - 250 CYA - 30 (however, added enough to get to 40 two days ago) To continue SLAM-ing it, I added 238 oz of bleach in front of the return to return it to 16. I might have to do some more diving today...

In response to my last post, I read around the forum and noticed this is super, super common with dead algae and a pump that didn't stay turned on all the time (which happens over wintertime here).

Just got done shoveling (using the leaf rake cottielee suggested when the wife went down the road to buy one) a ton, and I mean, 2000 lbs of leaves from under the bottom of the pool, as well as skimming the top with it and emptying a ton of algae as well. Tested when I got out, 14 FC, dumped...

Thanks for the reassurance... :snorkle:

Sounds good, I'll post results afterwards. You think it'll bleach my hair? Also, w/ my sand filter, should I backwash it now? It's still @ 10 psi, which is perfect for it.

karmabiker and duraleigh: Just tested, 7.5 FC, w/ my pool statistics and the chlorine levels in these bleach jugs, I have to add another 1 and 1/2 jugs to get it to 16, then I'm diving in.

I understand now, since I know I added that amount to bring it to that level, I treat it like that even though it hasn't reached it test-wise yet. Thanks for answering that question. Gotcha, I'll test one last time to get the most up to date number, then add more bleach using PoolMath again...

Photos of the pool after hitting it with second round of bleach to bring it up to 10, scrubbing all walls and floor, and continuously skimming debris off surface (then the storm came back): It looks a bit more green than these photos seem to look, but maybe I'm going crazy.

Thanks for the response duraleigh. I am, in fact, attempting to SLAM the pool as we speak as per some previous posts in this thread. Following the Pool School SLAM walkthrough: "If you have algae, or the CC level is above 0.5, or the free chlorine (FC) level is zero, you should SLAM the pool."...