Hi, I'm new to this forum but have already found more information here in the last hour than I've found elsewhere in about, oh, two years! I'm excited about getting some solutions to my pool mysteries.
I have a 25 ft round above ground vinyl lined pool with a doughboy sand filter and single speed doughboy pump. I believe that equates to about 13,500 gallons. I've been using the Baquacil CDX products for the last two years.
The other day I saw the dreaded pink slime starting to form in the skimmer and the ladder again (about the 3rd time since I've had the pool). This time I decided to hit it early before it got out of control and started growing all over the sides of the pool. So I turned off the pump and drained about 1 foot of water from the pool overnight via siphoning from a garden hose. My plan was to lower the water so I could spray the pink slime around the skimmer with bleach. I took out the ladder and sprayed it with bleach.
By the next morning the water level was down by a foot and the water had gone from very clear the night before to very cloudy. Any ideas what would have caused that? I didn't add any chemicals. I simply lowered the water. I can't figure out if the pressure reversed and backflowed from the filter or something.
Anyway, I then took the top off the sand filter and poured bleach into it to kill any pink slime that might remain. As that sat a while, I filled the pool back up with water. After that I put the hose in the top of the sand filter and let it dump junk out the top and tried to let the bleach water wash out. After putting the sand filter back together, I added three 1 lb bags of non chlorine shock (Fresh n Clear) while the pump ran. Then I read on the bags not to use with Baquacil. Oi! I also added some floc.
Pump ran all night. Next day pool was still cloudy. I backwashed. The water came out milky. Not sure why. I added Baquacil sanitizer, oxidizer, and algicide over the next day and a half. Pool still cloudy but improving. Backwashed again today. Not milky this time. Still hazy in the pool though. Added some clarifier.
At this point I'm beginning to feel like my pool is a chemical waste dump and unsafe to touch much less for my family to swim in. I may be paranoid, but I don't have understanding of what's going on inside that water. I'd love to dump it all and start with new water, but I hear that can mess up your liner (stretch it out too much or something).
Does anyone know how to destroy this pink slime once and for all and how to clear the water lines and filter of it? What about emptying the pool completely?
I'm also wondering about switching to chlorine. I've heard differing answers on it in regards to pink slime. I've never done chlorine, so I'm hesitant. If it's the same amount of trouble and money, I don't want to bother. But it seems like you can get better test kits, do more yourself, and hopefully spend less money on chemicals with chlorine. Salt sounds like an even better way, but my pool has steel pillars and I've heard salt will destroy it.
Thanks so much to anyone who can help me with these questions. I know this was kind of a long post with severanquestions throughout.
I have a 25 ft round above ground vinyl lined pool with a doughboy sand filter and single speed doughboy pump. I believe that equates to about 13,500 gallons. I've been using the Baquacil CDX products for the last two years.
The other day I saw the dreaded pink slime starting to form in the skimmer and the ladder again (about the 3rd time since I've had the pool). This time I decided to hit it early before it got out of control and started growing all over the sides of the pool. So I turned off the pump and drained about 1 foot of water from the pool overnight via siphoning from a garden hose. My plan was to lower the water so I could spray the pink slime around the skimmer with bleach. I took out the ladder and sprayed it with bleach.
By the next morning the water level was down by a foot and the water had gone from very clear the night before to very cloudy. Any ideas what would have caused that? I didn't add any chemicals. I simply lowered the water. I can't figure out if the pressure reversed and backflowed from the filter or something.
Anyway, I then took the top off the sand filter and poured bleach into it to kill any pink slime that might remain. As that sat a while, I filled the pool back up with water. After that I put the hose in the top of the sand filter and let it dump junk out the top and tried to let the bleach water wash out. After putting the sand filter back together, I added three 1 lb bags of non chlorine shock (Fresh n Clear) while the pump ran. Then I read on the bags not to use with Baquacil. Oi! I also added some floc.
Pump ran all night. Next day pool was still cloudy. I backwashed. The water came out milky. Not sure why. I added Baquacil sanitizer, oxidizer, and algicide over the next day and a half. Pool still cloudy but improving. Backwashed again today. Not milky this time. Still hazy in the pool though. Added some clarifier.
At this point I'm beginning to feel like my pool is a chemical waste dump and unsafe to touch much less for my family to swim in. I may be paranoid, but I don't have understanding of what's going on inside that water. I'd love to dump it all and start with new water, but I hear that can mess up your liner (stretch it out too much or something).
Does anyone know how to destroy this pink slime once and for all and how to clear the water lines and filter of it? What about emptying the pool completely?
I'm also wondering about switching to chlorine. I've heard differing answers on it in regards to pink slime. I've never done chlorine, so I'm hesitant. If it's the same amount of trouble and money, I don't want to bother. But it seems like you can get better test kits, do more yourself, and hopefully spend less money on chemicals with chlorine. Salt sounds like an even better way, but my pool has steel pillars and I've heard salt will destroy it.
Thanks so much to anyone who can help me with these questions. I know this was kind of a long post with severanquestions throughout.
