New Owner First Time (Bromine) Swamp

[Belo]

Second time opening our pool. We use a service. Last year was fine, this year I have a green swamp and I'm not really sure why. We did open a week later than normal and it's been warm... but I don't know.

anyhow it's an outdoor bromine pool (don't get me started). But has always been crystal clear. without any issues. I generally let the brominator do its thing and just add baking soda here and there to balance pH and alk.

So we opened yesterday at 10am. They swept, vac'd and shocked with 6 lbs. When I tested last night before bed, the chlorine/bromine level was 9 something and everything else ok. I've backwashed a few times. Pressure increased about 6 psi overnight. Threw in some old algacide i had leftover from my old aboveground as well.

But there is little change this morning.

Do I need to just be patient? I've sort of realized there will be no memorial day swimming, but please help me meter my expectations. Do I need to brush again? Should I vac even if i can't see the bottom and what I'm doing?

 

[kimkats]

Rock and hard place for sure............are you sure you want to keep down the Bromine road? It is so much more expensive and as you can see harder to work with. If you had a chlorine pool we could have you SLAM it and be good to go (SLAM seen here: Pool School - SLAM - Shock Level And Maintain )

If you are interested in changing over you will need to drain and refill your pool, flush out the lines and replace the filter cartridge.

Let us know what you want to do.

 

[Belo]

kimkats, once a bromine pool, always a bromine pool. Until I need a new liner I'm probably stuck without significant expense.

anyhow, a little update. The pool guys put 6 pounds of shock (not sure what) in. And the next day I added a gallon of 10% bleach and a gallon of clorox algae and clarify (I know, I know). Anyhow by Saturday morning it was aqua and by Saturday night it was blue. But now very cloudy. Bromine is high and pH and alk levels are all good. I ran my kreepy crawly vac because i really cant manual vac because i cant see.

No noticeable improvement by sunday so I'm flocing now. Added almost 2 bottles of bioguard power floc per directions. Can now see the shallow end and almost to the deep end. Pool has been off about 20 hours and now I'm worried I might get some new growth if I don't start circulating again. But also wanting not to be impatient. It's the best I've been to this point, but not sure I've seen any noticeable improvement from last night to the morning.

 

[kimkats]

Taking a pic of the same place each day should help you see if it is clearing up. At this point it will so little clearing each time you look at your eyes will not see it. The pic helps you compare it to see if it is clearing.

 

[Belo]

closure, should anyone search and read the thread.

Pool was swimmable Monday Night (4.5 days in) I do believe FLOC helped speed up the process and I'm not sure if it was worth the $50 and if eventually my pool would have cleared with more time, or if would have stayed cloudy without the floc. But, in the end the bottom was visible the morning of day 7. A good vac and sweep and she has been good ever since.

pain in the butt, but generally I followed the SLAM process with the exception of reference to stabilizer which doesn't apply to bromine, and it worked.

cheers!

 

[Mendy48]