Forming a Plan of Attack

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DirtyRat91

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Jun 5, 2013
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Alright, so I'm looking for quick advice, and I'll update with more info later. Basically I'm trying to decide what the best way to proceed is. My pool cover collapsed due to a leaking pool, that's another ongoing thread..., but basically I've got perhaps 6000 gallons in a 14k pool right now. It's green, very green. I figured I'd shock the gills off of it while I was working on my SWG install. Basically I dropped a PCV pipe from a return down under the water to avoid a splashing mess, and have the pump filtering 24hrs a day while I've dumped 105 FC worth of Chlorine over the past two days.

This has made 0 difference what so ever. My primary goal was to get the SWG wired and ready, while clearing up the pool some. I've got the SWG done, but the pool is a total mess. I've skimmed the bottom with a net, there's no large debris left. But foul green murk, and there's a white skim on the surface as well.

Do I:

Fill to skimmer level to get the vacuum going? Downside would be more water diluting the bleach, thus requiring more chemicals

Continue on current course and get the TF-100 involved.

I've SLAMed before with great success, I hadn't taken a calculated effort at this yet as I was preoccupied with the SWG, and I really expected the water to clear up some with the bleach I dumped in.

SWG if offline, there's no salt in the pool.

Suggestions?
 
The TF-100 should have been involved from the beginning .... follow the SLAM Process process.

You could be fighting something else in the water besides the algae that is consuming the chlorine immediately.

If you have the water circulating and filtering already, you might get a head start prior to filling it up.
 
You dirty rat! (Sorry, couldn’t resist)

You need to post some test results so we can see where you are. Do you already have the TF100?
 
Quick pic, test results after kids in bed.
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PH 7.3
FC 1.5
CC 1.5
TA 70-80
CYA >= 20 Likely less, I tested during sunset and could still barely make out the black dot with the vial full.

Didn't bother testing CH, it's always been around 220 or so in years past, I can test if necessary, but figured this wasn't vital toward the task at hand.

Added 4 gallons of 10% bleach Tuesday evening. Another 3 last evening. I know that's being a bit cavalier, as I did expect the CYA was low. But I figured that much bleach with the sun down would've given me some improvement. Current supplies are low, only have 1 gallon of 10%, enough to raise the FC by an estimated 15
 
I would like to see you bump the FC up to about 10ppm and then retest FC and CC after about 15-30 minutes. This is just to rule out ammonia, since your CYA seems to have dropped as well.
 
I overestimated the amount of water left considerably. I went ahead and added the last gallon of bleach, stirred up the pool good. Brewed a pot of Joe, went back and tested 25 FC and 1 CC. I'll recheck in a half hour, after I've nursed my Java. I'd wager I have perhaps 4500 gallons in the pool currently.

Thanks for your help so far.
 
OK, no ammonia worries ... follow the SLAM Process process. Whether you fill first or not is up to you.

I don't like how high your FC is now with very little CYA in the water. Hopefully it breaks down quickly from the algae before any problems with your liner :shock:
 
The 25 FC and 1 CC was the baseline test.
This is the 35 minutes later results: 21.5 FC 2 CC

What is the effect of high non-stabilized chlorine on the liner?

And with an unknown but low CYA in play, what is my target then? 10 FC?
 

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Update:
Overnight 9 hours later at 6:30 am, we have 16 FC and 1.5 CC.

I expect the chlorine will rapidly drop soon as it looks like it will be a sunny day. I have no remaining bleach.

I could burden the Misses and ask her to go grab some more 10% at the local store, and then ask her who has never performed an FC test to dose and try to monitor levels. Or do what I've done the past three days and ignore it until I get home at 6 pm.

Water clarity/color remains largely unchanged. I'd like to believe I have a little more visibility, but that is very subjective at this point.

Here's the weekend scenario, we're leaving tomorrow AM, and won't return until Sunday PM.

I was thinking of going to Home Depot after work and grabbing 12 bags of salt to prep for a full pool. What are your thoughts toward dosing enough salt to get the PPM up to 4000 in my current estimated 4000 gallon pool, and letting the SJ-40 run during the weekend at perhaps 50%? Take in mind this is a virgin SWG, I just finished the install and powered it up long enough to see that smoke wasn't pouring from the junction box and the LEDs do come on the unit.

Switching to the SWG as I just started my own auto repair business in February, and now I'm gone from 7-6 every day. I used to work close to home, come home during lunch, and was gone 7:45-5:15 each day. I could more closely monitor the pool. I'm looking for the SWG to relieve the burden of daily chlorine dosing.

I know the above scenario isn't ideal toward cleaning the pool, but I'm looking for a pro's advice on how to proceed.
 
Why are you trying to save those 4000 gallons of water? You need to add 10,000 gallons eventually. Will it be a big difference if you needed to add 14,000 gallons?

I know peoples local water situation is different and I don’t know what your is.

Pumping out the dirty water, cleaning the pool, and starting fresh with new water may be the most effective approach for you. You have a business to run. What is your time worth and chlorine cost versus water cost?
 
I am certainly not above doing that at all ajw22. I was under the impression that draining the pool completely was risky business due to the fact that you've just created a massive displacement boat and any bit of standing ground water will want to make the boat float. I don't believe that to be too much of an issue, the pool is built on a hill. That is the ground 10 feet behind the width side of the pool is about 2 feet higher and rising. Where as the ground on the other side of the pool is equal to or below the floor of the pool and dropping. There's actually a retaining wall about 2 feet from the concrete surround of the pool, that's the only reason the pool is even in ground at that point. Basically I would figure most water would continue to flow downhill, and there wouldn't be much around the pool itself.
 
Drain it, clean it, and start refilling the pool in a day. Dont let the pool sit empty. You seem to understand that you don’t have a high water table under the pool.

You are going away this weekend. Let the dirty water sit there until you get back and can drain and refill. I wouldn’t get the pump running and contaminate the filter and SWG with that stuff and cause more work.
 
DirtyRat91 said:
I am certainly not above doing that at all ajw22. I was under the impression that draining the pool completely was risky business due to the fact that you've just created a massive displacement boat and any bit of standing ground water will want to make the boat float. I don't believe that to be too much of an issue, the pool is built on a hill. That is the ground 10 feet behind the width side of the pool is about 2 feet higher and rising. Where as the ground on the other side of the pool is equal to or below the floor of the pool and dropping. There's actually a retaining wall about 2 feet from the concrete surround of the pool, that's the only reason the pool is even in ground at that point. Basically I would figure most water would continue to flow downhill, and there wouldn't be much around the pool itself.
Click to expand...

Hi, we need your location (State, etc) in your Profile to be able to offer more specific advice.

Pulling from other SLAM vacation threads, since you have ruled out ammonia, you could use PoolMath to find out how many pucks of dichlor you need to reach a CYA target of 30. (in your current 4000gals)

I don't think draining the pool would be wise, but I'm also mostly of the anti-drain opinion ;)

If she can add half jug of bleach every few hours, that would give you guys a huge boost on the clearing process.
 
You cannot completely drain a vinyl pool! Especially one that is as old as yours. The liner will shrink and then tear when you try to refill.

Also a correction to splashpad. Pucks are made of trichlor not dichlor.
 
Sig location updated.

So I started the day with the plan that sweet old Honeybuns would go grab several gallons of liquid shock, and just add a half gallon every couple hours. Then I saw the suggestion of total drain and refill. So wifey was totally on board with that, and was going to get the process jump started for me. About the time she called to ask how to drain the pool I noticed jblizzle's cry to "Halt!" And we switched back to the SLAM idea, but her window to chase bleach was gone, so I grabbed 440 lbs of salt at Homeless Despot, 6 gallons of bleach at the local Ollies and came home. Dumped in a 1/2 gallon, more or less, and 120 lbs of salt. Stirred up that yummy mixture, and let it bake in the setting sun.

Right now I've got 12 FC and 1.5 CC. I'm measuring right between 6.2 and 6.4 on the salt stick, which puts me right around 3000 ppm for salt. Just looking at the SJ-40 manual it looks like I should've actually aimed for 4500 or so. So barring anybody's warning against it, I'm going to go chuck in another bag of salt, stir it around a bit and let the SWG chooch at 50% overnight, and we'll see where we lie in the morning.
 

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