Inherited a Mess- Help!

[bbguy111]

Hi all,

This forum is great! There is so much info I am just trying to digest it all....

Here is my problem...

I just bought a house with a pool that has been neglected for two years ....To date, I think I have got most of the leaves out of the bottom (about 15 garbage bags full) as well as most of the other debris...I've been running the filter, adding shock, chlorine, etc..I even added algicide.....

Anyway, I have a Pentair DE Filter...I vacuumed the pool to "waste" per some advice I got from another forum...There was a lot of leaves in the skimmer basket as well as the basket that is up by the filter.....Now I feel like I am not getting the same suction. I think that water is going into my skimmer basket but also coming back out....I can see water a few inches below the surface moving away from the skimmer and the water on top moving into it....Any advice? I don't think the lines are clogged but could be wrong. I am still getting pretty good push out of the two jets located on the ends of the pool.

I appreciate any ideas! My goal is to have this thing clean in a few weeks time!

Thanks.

Brian

 

[bbguy111]

Here is a pic of my pool!

 

[duraleigh]

You will need to shock. Can you post current test results for chlorine, pH, TA, and CYA then we can get you started.

 

[Smykowski]

Welcome to the forum!

First, read Pool School. The link is in the upper right corner of every page.

Second, get a good test kit. The two most highly recommended are the Taylor 2006 or TF-100 from TFTest kits.

While you're waiting for the test kit, clean out as much junk from your pool as you can. You want chlorine killing algae, not leaves, sticks and other junk that's already dead.

Re-read pool school. Then read Turning Your Pool Into a Sparkling Oasis.

Then you'll have to shock your pool. Shock is a verb, not a noun. Follow the directions from pool school and ask questions. There are a lot of very knowledgeable people (and newbies who have just gone through the process) that really want to help you.

Finally, we all love pictures, so take - and post - lots of pictures of the process.

This forum and the BBB method is not a magic potion. What is does is teach you what to do to your pool and why. In the end, you will save money and headaches.

 

[bbguy111]

Awesome...Thanks!

Here is what I know....

pH 6.8
ppm free chlorine 5
ppm total alkalinity 40
ppm stabilizer 0

Does that make sense?

Also, i'm trying to figure out why water is rippling out of my skimmer when the filter is on...Some of the stuff floating on top isn't getting filtered out...

 

[Isaac-1]

This makes some sense, although you must have just added chlorine before taking the sample to get a level of 5, it will very quickly be consumed by the gunk in the pool. This is the busy season around here, with lots of people asking the same sort of questions you are, sometimes things fall through the cracks when it comes to replies. For now read the link above about cleaning up a swamp, and shocking, then when you have a couple of days to dedicate to adding bleach and scrubbing start on the process, at first you will likely have to add bleach every couple of hours to keep it up to shock level, you MUST have a GOOD test kit to shock properly otherwise you do a lot of guessing, a lot of extra work and have a lot of wasted bleach.

 

[duraleigh]

Bring your pH up to 7.2-7.5 or so using 20 mule Team Borax. Then, start the shock process by following the articles linked above. Remember as you go, it is a process that takes some time. Do not expect to fix your pool with one dose of chlorine.