Questions re: deswampification process

[TheDrB]

Alright, we started the 'Turn your Green Swamp...' process yesterday, and it seems to be working well.
Here was where we started:

PH - 7.2
CYA - 50
FC - 0
TA - 60

and a pic:



And here is the pool after two days:




My questions:
1. My CC is getting close to 0.5, but the water is still very murky. I assume from the article that it may take quite a while for the water to clear?

2. As shown, we have a lot of 'foam' on the water's surface. Is this a normal byproduct of the process?

3. From the article, I anticipated having to use a TON of shock for this so I am way overstocked. Will it go bad, or can I reliably use it throughout the summer?

Thanks for any advice you can give,

Dr B

 

[Texas Splash]

Holy smokes that's a big change in just a couple days. Wow. For your questions:
1 - Correct - patience. You must still pass the 3 SLAM criteria.
2 - Foam can be caused by a couple things, but at this point is nothing to be concerned about. Let the SLAM continue and filter like normal.
3 - Bleach/liquid shock will remain usable for quite some time as long as it is stored in a dry/cool locations. The stronger percentage bottles (i.e. 12-15%) might lose some of the strength, but still work for your daily FC replenishments.

Hope that helps. Keep-up the great work Doc!

 

[Isaac-1]

It is almost May already, given your short swim season up in CT as long as you keep the chlorine in a cool dark place it should be fine for a couple of months or so. As to clearing up at this point that is mostly up to your filter, so it will just take time, clean the filter as needed and maintain FC until it clears up.

Ike

p.s. are you sure that was only 2 days later, that bush in the background managed to green up a lot

 

[TheDrB]

I think the pic was from last week, hence the growth.

Yeah, I was amazed by how quickly everything started happening. I did add stuff on Friday to get the PH/TA decent before I started, but yeah first chlorine was added around 9 yesterday morning.

Right after the first half-hour check it was already heading towards the blue. It makes me wonder if my volume calculation was off or something.

 

[lefty51]

It must be related to the dandelion family that we have around here. You mow and 6 hours later they're up and growing again. Wish I could control them as easy as I can my pool.

 

[Richard320]

Foam happens in some cases. When you see pics of foam on the surface of a green pool, it looks really bad. It could also be residual algaecide, if the pool store ever foisted any of the cheap stuff off on you.

Clearing the haze is always the slowest part. Keep vacuuming and brushing so you keep that stuff in suspension so the filter can grab it. And remember it's much like the CYA test; the visibility isn't a straight line progression. Look at the scale on the CYA view tube. The distance from 100 to 50 is about the same as 30 to 20. So if you can see the floor, that's a huge improvement.

 

[JVTrain]

Are you aware of any RV antifreeze that was in the lines when the pool was closed? When I winterize my pool, there is about a gallon of RV antifreeze in each line. Upon opening, I try to suck most of it out using a shop vacuum before starting circulation, but invariably, some gets into the pool. This makes my pool foam a bit for a few days after opening. Not sure if you're lines were disconnected, being an above ground pool, or if there may have been some of that in the lines causing the foaming.

 

[TheDrB]

Sorry I haven't updated. End of the semester is always a beast.

Everything is going well. I was so busy last week, I wasn't able to get all the leaves out until Friday. Once I did that, I passed the 3 criteria on the weekend.

I'm letting the FC down to normal levels now and I'll keep an eye out. I'll try to get a new pic on here tomorrow, it's been gross and rainy here.

Dr B

- - - Updated - - -

re: JVTrain - I actually take all the hoses and the pump inside for the winter. My wife thinks it may have been because I still had the sock with the stabilizer in it in the pool. I don't know, it cleared up once I finally cleaned the leaves (almost like leaf skeletons, really) out of the bottom of the pool.