Battle with heavy rainfall. I lost... Round one anyway.

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Tonedeaf

Tonedeaf

0
Jun 24, 2008
104
East of Dallas
We live in Dallas area and yesterday had 5 different waves of Thunderstorms sweep through. 2nd wave brought out a Tornado Warning at about 4pm and poured hard for about 30 minutes. Our decking drains were barely able to keep up with the overflow from the pool. Last wave came through early this past morning at 4am. All told was 4.5" of rain in a 12 hour span.

After each wave I went and inspected the pool out back and was met with an overflowing pool. I was basically draining from 4pm until about 10am this morning. Since having the pool built last summer, we have had 2 times where water/soil/mulch entered the pool from overflowing landscaped beds.

My pool water had been tested earlier in the day and was basically perfect.

Here is what I was left with after the pool having overflowed so much and draining to optimal level:

Pool.jpg



Have been running the pump and Legend cleaner non stop. Only time I stopped the pump was to get the Legend cleaner bag emptied, had a full bag of mulch. 2nd time stopping the cleaner was better and hardly anything was in it. Pump is still running and am hoping for a bit better result in the morning.

Since I have SWG, I know with that much water displaced, the salt would be real low, so went out and got a couple bottles of bleach and dumped them in(after Storm wave 2) just to have extra chlorine. Tested the Chlorine this morning and was just a hair over 5.0.

I am far from an expert, but I just need to be patient for the water to clear up right? I test Chlorine and pH daily.
 
Yes, all that rain and the salt won't be the only thing out of balance.

You need to post a full set of results. The salt will be low, so you'll have to add it. Your CYA will probably be off too, possibly PH and TA also....

So post a full set. :wink:

You are going to have to shock your pool, to get rid of that green water. But post a full set of results first, I want to see your other numbers first.
 
I am far from an expert, but I just need to be patient for the water to clear up right?
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I would be somewhat more proactive. I would keep the pump running 24/7....backwashing/cleaning as necessary. I would also (with bleach) bring your FC up to shock level (you don't say what your CYA is) and hold it there until your pool clears. That's going to require quite a bit more bleach.
 
frustratedpoolmom said:
P.S. on an unrelated note, recent changes to the forum rules - you need to edit your signature down to 5 lines of text. TIA :wink:
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Done, thanks.

Will post a full set of results this evening. I know it will take more than just bleach, just what I added to get started. Pump has been running almost non-stop since the rain started Saturday. I think the Cartridge filter should be OK as I just cleaned the cartridges 2 weeks prior. Will go from the results of what I need to add this evening. I have a couple more bottles of 1.4 gallon bleach at home that I had the wife pick up on a trip to the store yesterday.

Thanks all.
 
Tonedeaf said:
I know it will take more than just bleach...Pump has been running almost non-stop since the rain started Saturday....more bottles of 1.4 gallon bleach at home...
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We had a similar situation last year or the year before. We had torrential rains and had dirt/mud run down the hillside over the rock steps and into the pool. We could just barely make out the bottor of the shallow end due to the dirt/silt/mulch in the water :cry: .
We ended up shutting off the SWG and running the sand filter 24x7, we went through lots of bleach :whip:, and vacummed lots of times. It still took over a week to clear things up, and that was with the pool cleaner keeping things stirred up for the last day.
 
I feel your pain, Tonedeaf. I hope it clears up soon...it's so discouraging when you have your water adjusted just right. :cry: We flooded twice in April, but didn't get as much dirt and debris in as you did. Wasn't running the SWG at the time, so I added bleach. Luckily I never had CC of over 1 (mainly got some brown mulch and a little bit of dirt in), and it cleared very quickly, but I had to re-do my salt, and CYA levels. We are now building higher brick and stone barriers to keep the mulch and dirt in better in big rainfalls like this.
 
According to Pool calculator, I need to get FC up to 16 to be at shock, that is just over 2 jugs of 6% 182 fl oz. chlorine.

Also says to add 54 oz of CYA. Is it oK to add CYA into the skimmer along with adding the bleach into the pool, or should I wait 30 minutes between?

Thanks.
 
Tonedeaf I feel your pain as we are on the west side of Fort Worth. During one of those downpours I saw water flying into the pool from my overflow drain in the pool. I guess I lucked out because I only ended up with very cloudy water and the filter took care of that in 1-day.
 

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Tonedeaf said:
Just tested the water:

FC 3.0
CC 0
PH 7.8
TA 110
CH 260
CYA 50

According to Pool calculator, I need to get FC up to 16 to be at shock, that is just over 2 jugs of 6% 182 fl oz. chlorine.

Also says to add 54 oz of CYA. Is it oK to add CYA into the skimmer along with adding the bleach into the pool, or should I wait 30 minutes between?

Thanks.
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Where's your salt reading? :wink:

You need to lower the PH down to 7.4 with Muratic Acid. Wait an hour and then add the bleach. Leave the filter running 24/7 (your SWG should be off for now). You can pour the CYA slowly thru the skimmer, make sure it's slow so that you don't clog the line. Make sure your pump is running 24/7 until this clears. The CYA will take a few days to register, so wait until Friday or so before you retest.

Keep the FC up to shock level until it holds overnight, and the water is clear again. Keep using the bleach for shocking. When the FC holds, let the FC drop to normal levels, when it's below 10, retest the PH and make sure it is range. Assuming your salt level is where it should be then you can turn your SWG back on. Be sure your SWG is off when you do an overnight test to see if the FC is really holding. :wink:
 
Test results this evening:

FC 12.5
CC .5
PH 7.5
TA 110
CH 260

Did not test CYA as I just added some yesterday.

About to go pour in 102 oz of bleach. Would it be OK if I just poured in an entire bottle? Would raise FC to 18.7 according to calculator. It's ok to be higher than 16 right?
 
Pisces said:
You're getting there!! Almost....just a little longer. I'll be glad for you, when it's back to clean and sparkly! :goodjob:
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Thanks. :goodjob:

Getting there. Water is looking much better and can just about make out the bottom drain in the pool.

Tested this morning and this evening and no CC's with either test. Used about 2.5 FC today, added more bleach tonight.

Good thing recycle picks up tomorrow. Have about 8 big bottles of Clorox bleach for them lined up outside. :-D
 

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