Vacuuming after adding flocculant

[docelect]

I noticed on another post that you don't recommend flocculant. However, it is the only thing that has worked for me, now 3 years in a row. I have 2 questions: if I add DE to my sand filter and/or add a skimmer sock, will this likely eliminate the need for flocculant in the future? (I use E-Z Clor Drop Out) Second question- I am now waiting for the flocculant to settle, then to vacuum. However, the brown gunk is collecting on the bottom of the deep end and along the edges and in streaks on the sloping sides to the deep end. Very little appears in the shallow end. (pump has not been running for 24 hours). Would it be OK to brush the bottom of the shallow end where there is not much visible sludge, and the sloping sides to try to move the sludge to the bottom of the deep end, then just vacuum the deep end. Will the sludge stirred up re-settle in the deep end, or will it re-suspend in the water and cause a recurrence of my problem? Vacuuming just the deep end would be quicker and waste much less water and chemicals. The last time I did a whole-pool vacuum it took out more than a foot of water. Re-fillling required about 5 bags of salt, several pounds of stabilizer, 5 boxes of borax and 2 gallons of acid. Thanks for your advice.

 

[Texas Splash]

You're right. In most cases, we don't recommend floc mainly because it's only a Band-Aid fix to the original problem ... bad chemistry. I know this from personal experience BEFORE TFP when I relied on pool store testing and advice. I learned the hard ($$$) way. Because we don't have any good test results of your water, we have no way of knowing what those sludge or marks might be. Honestly, at this point, before wasting too much of your personal time or hard-earned money on any more chemicals, I would recommend (if you don't have one already) ordering a TF-100 (link below) or Taylor K-2006 test kit and post those test results for us. Then we know for sure what's happening in your water and to your pool surfaces. If you do have one of the recommended kits, please post a full set of numbers and we'll give you some good feedback quickly. Thanks!

 

[docelect]

Bought a 2006 at TFP suggestion 3 years ago. Thought I was pretty good at this chemistry, but maybe not. I slammed the pool- very green when I first took off the cover. Got to 22 FC and held it with SWG. It is now backing off and green is gone. Pool is fairly clear, just not crystal clear like we left it before winter. Here's the numbers:
FC 14
CC 0
PH 7.3
TA 90
CH 25
CYA 40
Borate 17 (from pool store this week)

What do you think?

Our water is very soft here and with the vinyl liner, I assume that's OK.

 

[Texas Splash]

Thank goodness you have the K-2006. A couple things for you to consider:
- Since we're not quite sure if you actually passed the SLAM before, you could SLAM it again. Your current CYA of 40 would require a SLAM FC of 16. Up to you if you wanted to run the SWG that hard, or just use regular bleach (or both). But perform the SLAM and ensure al 3 criteria passed.
- If you're not convinced about the SLAM just yet, at least do an OCLT to confirm if algae is in there.
- Speaking of SWG and CYA, you appear to have lost some over the winter. That's fine for now if you SLAM, but after the SLAM, make sure to raise it back up to 70 ppm.
- While normally not an issue for vinyl, your CH is quite a bit low. You might consider bringing it up just a little to about 50 ppm or so. Just for added protection from stains and also check your SWG manual in case it has a minimum requirement.
- Do you know when was the last time your sand was "deep cleaned"? That might be something to help. It's been a big issue already this season as many filters have become compacted and lost some of their filtration ability.
- If your sand is clean, remember you can add a very little amount of DE to help clean the finer stuff. But if you do decide to try that, I would wait until the tail-end of the SLAM if you do SLAM.

Hope that all makes sense and helps. Sorry .. that was more than "a couple things".

 

[docelect]

Thanks for all the info. I did lose a lot of water (and thus CYA) over the winter. We sometimes get a lot of rain here and have to drain to waste when the cover is on and no evaporation. Probably took out about 1/3 the pool volume overall. I will do the OCLT after finishing with the cleaning. Just to be clear- does the CH have anything to do with the cloudy water? Have not done a deep cleaning, but read about it today and will do- maybe later if the flocculant works this time, as it seems it is going to. But I appreciate all the advice, because I had told my wife that this year I was going to get the chemicals right and see if we could get by without the flocculant. But I gave up a few days ago and put it in. I will be smarter next year. Last year, after the flocculant, we had a great summer with crystal clear water all season and without the need of any shocking. For the winter, we put the cover on in October and ran the pump 4 hours a day and maintained the FC at about 7. No other winterizing. Not much freezing weather in Jackson, Mississippi. I have some cal hypo left over from before I put in the swg. Can that be used to raise the CH? What is the best way?

 

[Texas Splash]

That all sounds good. Sometimes an extremely low CH can have odd effects on water, not really sure I'm convinced it's related to your situation at this time though. But you sure can use some cal-hypo. The small amount of CH in that won't hurt you a bit. Have a nice day.