I've been shocking my pool for a week, and the FC is holding better and better. The color, however, is not changing all that well, and I there is a white film that has settled on the bottom of the pool. It rises up in the water when I brush, but then settles back to the bottom within an hour or so. Is that Algae, or do I have another problem?
Does dead algae 'settle'?
- Thread starter mickeyfan0805
- Start date
mpacheco72 said:
Thanks - I'm assuming that's what this is. But it is settling and not making it's way to the filter. Do I vacuum to get it up?
Do yourself a favor and fill the pool right to the rim, so tomorrow when your vacing your be able to keep going without running out of water. And the pool will be settled down by then.mickeyfan0805 said:
Mickey,
An important part of the shock process is vacuuming and brushing. Your pool will never clear until you perform those tasks on a regular basis.
An important part of the shock process is vacuuming and brushing. Your pool will never clear until you perform those tasks on a regular basis.
duraleigh said:
I've been brushing every day, but haven't been able to see the bottom and haven't been vacuuming. It is clear I need to give it a shot anyway.
maxepr1 said:
I have the water running right now. But, how full is too full? I know I'll pump a lot out when doing the vacuuming, but I also know you're not supposed to have a pool too full. So, how high do I take it for this process?
Kind of a guessing game? How much vacing do you have to do? As long as it's not going to rain I would fill it to the top of the skimmer. It's just for a short period of time. When vacing you are going to want to go SUPER slow as not to stir it all up to the point you can't see the bottom. This burns up allot of water! Before you know it it's gone! If you don't have allot to clean up then don't go as high. But after vacing adding water will not allow you to hit it again for awhile until the bottom settles down.
maxepr1 said:
Thanks - I'll go for that. I have a LOT of vacuuming to do. Unfortunately, I can't see the bottom for about 2/3 of the pool (anything beyond the shallowest portions). But, I'll do my best!
Im having the same problem.Cant get it to clear,hanging on to the cloudy light green.Its going
on a week now.I understand the brushing every day part,didnt know it also needed vacuuming.
I thought when you brush it would suspend algae and get filtered through. I would love a little
more IN-DEPTH explanation of why we need to vacuum.Thanks
on a week now.I understand the brushing every day part,didnt know it also needed vacuuming.
I thought when you brush it would suspend algae and get filtered through. I would love a little
more IN-DEPTH explanation of why we need to vacuum.Thanks
bluskyguy said:
I am a newbie to all of this - so I have no expert (or even novice) input to offer. However, here is what I am noticing on my end...
I started shocking the pool last Saturday. FC levels rose quickly and started holding after a couple of days. However, because I have a DE filter, the severe amount of algae in the pool would clog the filter to the point of needing to be backwashed within 90 minutes. The problem with this was that I was getting very little circulation and filtering (I couldn't run it while sleeping or at work because I would be away from it for too long). The end result was that I was only getting about 5 hours of filtering a day (except the weekend).
Researching this issue is where I came across the 'vacuum to waste' concept (somehow I had missed that in my reading). By vacuuming to waste, I am bypassing the filter altogether and sending the algae (and the water with it) directly out of the system altogether. So, by filling the pool and allowing the algae to settle at the bottom (which I did overnight), I was able to target the algae, get it directly out of the pool, and avoid the issue of a constantly clogging filter. So...
That is what I did this morning. I spent about 30 minutes vacuuming and watched as the white film on the bottom of the pool disappeared (on the shallow end - I can't see the deep end yet). I can now see the floor and design on the entire shallow end of the pool (which I have not been able to up to this point). Beyond that, I restarted the filter 2 hours ago, and the pressure has increased by 1 psi in that time (it was increasing by 10 in 90 minutes)!!! It is still going to clog up and need backwashing - but early indications are that the impossible 90 minute cycles may be less of an issue now that I have done some backwashing (I won't know, for sure, until I let some more time pass).
So, again, this is not 'advice' or educated input - this is simply what my experience has been so far. Hopefully it helps, and others will chime in with more experienced input!