Vacuming after pool opening

[fatheroffive]

1st time opening our pool since buying it last year and had a few questions..

Been dumping in bleach for the last couple of days, but the water was still cloudy although a bit clearer.

It got pretty clear yesterday enough so that I can see the bottom and the crud thats on the bottom. I only have one hose, So I have to either use it to vacuum with or use it to backwash into our sewer line. We hooked it up to vacuum and set the pump to filter and it worked okay for a little while and the pressure started rising rapidly and it was making some weird noises so we turned it off. SO I should assume we should get another hose and vacuum to waste because of all the grime?

 

[JasonLion]

Either way will work, but alternating between vacuuming and backwashing might be your best bet. You lose water very quickly when vacuuming to waste. Alternating will cut down on the water loss significantly.

 

[fatheroffive]

Should I hold off on the Chlorine until I get all of the sand and gunk on the bottom of the pool? I feel like we are just wasting chlorine putting it in with stuff still on the bottom of the pool, And I think the pump should clear the water enough so we can see the bottom to vacuum..

 

[JasonLion]

It is best to get everything off the bottom before adding chlorine, but it isn't always possible. Get as much as you can off the bottom and then start adding chlorine. If you wait around too long algae will start growing and just make things worse.

 

[fatheroffive]

Thanks.

Yea, I was wondering how all of this sand got on the bottom of the pool and the kids finally fessed up to dumping buckets of sand from the sand box into the pool last fall :grrrr: .......I am hoping this does not mess up our filter or pump by vacuuming all of this up.

 

[thenikeman]

Luckily it's a sand filter then!! :lol:

Sorry, couldn't resist! I have no idea if that's bad or not...first time opening up a pool for me too!