Indeed. It was astonishing to see brown and dark green sludge gush out in a putrid waterfall for 20-30 seconds from the same spot in the pool. Then run clear, move vac 12 inches, repeat.
Our Swamp
- Thread starter Herwick
- Start date
Alright, it has been quite a while since I was on here. We had gotten so discouraged as we would get it to a point where we could see about a foot to a foot and a half down for maybe a day, then it would cloud up again. So we decided to start again last week. Kept shock levels where they were supposed to be, vacuumed and leaf raked stuff out, but not very much progress at all in a week. It was a dark green again and turned maybe a medium green. Could hardly tell the difference if I had not taken photos we wouldn't have known. But still could not see past the 2nd step.
So I went to a tiny rinky dink pool store in town and followed their advice. We dumped 15 gallons of bleach into the pool waited 24 hours and dumped in some floc, turned the filter off and was ready to wait the 24 hours. The 15 gals of bleach made the water go from a medium darkish green to a milky green, the FCL was if I remember correctly was a 23. We dumped the floc in right after sundown and at 7 the next morning the water was a teal blue and I could see the bottom of the shallow end. We waited and waited and finally about 24 hours after adding the floc we got to vacuuming. But the water was super cloudy after a few minutes. So per pool store advice and since we could now see the return jets we took a look. Sure enough there was tons of stuff being blown back into the pool. So we shut the filter and pump down overnight and made sure shock levels were still good, FCL 12.
The next morning the pool was even more clear than the day before. I thought I could see the bottom the day before but I was happily surprised to find that I could now slightly see the pattern of the liner at the bottom and I could see where it started to angle down into the deep end. We reached into the pool and scooped some of what we assumed was dead algae because of the floc. Well, it was but it was also a boat load of sand as well. We were told since our pool had been left unkept so long and there is sandy soil around the pool that there might be some in the pool just from the wind and maybe rain runoff. So we turned the pump and filter back on and stood at the return. Sure enough the water coming through was saturated with sand. So off the filter went again.
The pool store wanted $15 a piece for the new laterals but told us we could find them online cheaper, we did! $3 each and we are now impatiently waiting for them to arrive. For the last 2 days we have been using a shopvac to remove the stuff from the bottom of the pool and each day the pool is getting clearer and clearer. This morning we can see all of the shallow end and I'd say about 90% of the slope to the deep end. We can barely see the curve where the wall meets the bottom in the deep end. The water is still a bit hazy but we are so freaking excited and we know the end is in sight. We are hopeful that when we change out the lateral lines and heft in some new sand that it will completely clear up in a matter of days.
Now, I know not all the algae is dead just yet, as we have a black ring all the way around the pool about 2-3 feet under the water line. My question is how do I remove it without damaging our liner? The vinyl brush doesn't seem to be working well and I am not going for the wire brush. Any suggestions?
So I went to a tiny rinky dink pool store in town and followed their advice. We dumped 15 gallons of bleach into the pool waited 24 hours and dumped in some floc, turned the filter off and was ready to wait the 24 hours. The 15 gals of bleach made the water go from a medium darkish green to a milky green, the FCL was if I remember correctly was a 23. We dumped the floc in right after sundown and at 7 the next morning the water was a teal blue and I could see the bottom of the shallow end. We waited and waited and finally about 24 hours after adding the floc we got to vacuuming. But the water was super cloudy after a few minutes. So per pool store advice and since we could now see the return jets we took a look. Sure enough there was tons of stuff being blown back into the pool. So we shut the filter and pump down overnight and made sure shock levels were still good, FCL 12.
The next morning the pool was even more clear than the day before. I thought I could see the bottom the day before but I was happily surprised to find that I could now slightly see the pattern of the liner at the bottom and I could see where it started to angle down into the deep end. We reached into the pool and scooped some of what we assumed was dead algae because of the floc. Well, it was but it was also a boat load of sand as well. We were told since our pool had been left unkept so long and there is sandy soil around the pool that there might be some in the pool just from the wind and maybe rain runoff. So we turned the pump and filter back on and stood at the return. Sure enough the water coming through was saturated with sand. So off the filter went again.
The pool store wanted $15 a piece for the new laterals but told us we could find them online cheaper, we did! $3 each and we are now impatiently waiting for them to arrive. For the last 2 days we have been using a shopvac to remove the stuff from the bottom of the pool and each day the pool is getting clearer and clearer. This morning we can see all of the shallow end and I'd say about 90% of the slope to the deep end. We can barely see the curve where the wall meets the bottom in the deep end. The water is still a bit hazy but we are so freaking excited and we know the end is in sight. We are hopeful that when we change out the lateral lines and heft in some new sand that it will completely clear up in a matter of days.
Now, I know not all the algae is dead just yet, as we have a black ring all the way around the pool about 2-3 feet under the water line. My question is how do I remove it without damaging our liner? The vinyl brush doesn't seem to be working well and I am not going for the wire brush. Any suggestions?
Please post a picture of the black ring. Hard to know exactly what you've got there.
Congrats on finding new laterals. Be sure to read the manual on how to add the sand back in safely TO NOT BREAK THEM AGAIN RIGHT AWAY!
Congrats on finding new laterals. Be sure to read the manual on how to add the sand back in safely TO NOT BREAK THEM AGAIN RIGHT AWAY!