Hi, everyone. I am looking forward to getting your input on my pool situation.
I am new to pool ownership and have an IG vinyl pool with a SWG that wasn't closed properly. The pool was dark green and swampy. It is now greenish and cloudy. I have spent several weekends manually vacuuming the pool. I started putting bleach in, but the organic matter was gobbling it up very quickly. (My FC would basically be zero the next morning each time I tried it). I've been getting out leaves, pine straw, and this slimy dark green (possibly algae?) goop. I have vacuumed for what seems like eternity. There is still some debris in the 9-foot deep end, and it's been extremely difficult to get the debris out of that end, especially because the water is so cloudy that I can't see the bottom. I've gotten enough of the organic matter out to leave a tiny bit of FC in the pool. For example, I put bleach in about two days ago, and there is still 0.5 FC in it today.
I bought that kit that everyone recommends on here. My results are as follows:
Chlorine Drop Test (Free Chlorine) = 0.5
pH = 7.8
Calcium Hardness = 50
Total Alkalinity = 80
Cyanuric Acid = 0, I think, because I could never lose sight of the black dot in the vile
Salt = 4200
My question is what should I do next? Should I use flocculant so I can see the bottom of the deep end and might have better luck with the manual vacuum? (I do have a vacuum to waste option on my filter). Should I just keep blindly vacuuming for eternity and hopefully one day get that deep end clean? Should I try some water clarifier? Should I buy some sort of other vacuuming device? I've also used a Leaf Eater, and it has gotten a lot of leaves out but doesn't have much effect in the deep end anymore. I guess one of my biggest problems is that I don't exactly what what's in that deep end.
Please help!
I am new to pool ownership and have an IG vinyl pool with a SWG that wasn't closed properly. The pool was dark green and swampy. It is now greenish and cloudy. I have spent several weekends manually vacuuming the pool. I started putting bleach in, but the organic matter was gobbling it up very quickly. (My FC would basically be zero the next morning each time I tried it). I've been getting out leaves, pine straw, and this slimy dark green (possibly algae?) goop. I have vacuumed for what seems like eternity. There is still some debris in the 9-foot deep end, and it's been extremely difficult to get the debris out of that end, especially because the water is so cloudy that I can't see the bottom. I've gotten enough of the organic matter out to leave a tiny bit of FC in the pool. For example, I put bleach in about two days ago, and there is still 0.5 FC in it today.
I bought that kit that everyone recommends on here. My results are as follows:
Chlorine Drop Test (Free Chlorine) = 0.5
pH = 7.8
Calcium Hardness = 50
Total Alkalinity = 80
Cyanuric Acid = 0, I think, because I could never lose sight of the black dot in the vile
Salt = 4200
My question is what should I do next? Should I use flocculant so I can see the bottom of the deep end and might have better luck with the manual vacuum? (I do have a vacuum to waste option on my filter). Should I just keep blindly vacuuming for eternity and hopefully one day get that deep end clean? Should I try some water clarifier? Should I buy some sort of other vacuuming device? I've also used a Leaf Eater, and it has gotten a lot of leaves out but doesn't have much effect in the deep end anymore. I guess one of my biggest problems is that I don't exactly what what's in that deep end.
Please help!
Just say no to clarifer. And just say no to flocculators. Yes to bleach! 
