Pool Opening dragging..

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M

Mattyssox

0
May 24, 2010
114
New Engalnd
Hello,

ANyone on this forum from New England? If so have you opened your pool, and is it taking longer than nomral to complete the shocking process(or get pool completely clear)? I've been at it now for 2+weeks. The last few years have been about 8-10 days from mucky to clear. It's been getting better this year since I opened it a few weeks back, but its still a few days (guess?) from being clear. By this point, it will have been 3 weeks since I opened it.

I'm just wondering if anyone else is feeling the same turle speed at which the pool is clearing up?
 
People report similar issues fairly regularly. Sometimes there ends up being something wrong, perhaps the filter is broken, or the chemical levels are incorrect, other times life just turns out that way.

If you post a full set of water test results and describe how your filter has been behaving we might be able to help you speed things up.
 
Hi, I'm not from New England but if your water is still in the 50-65 degree range it will take a little longer to clear than when the water is warmer. How are you doing on the overnight test?
 
TA 80-85
CH 200
PH 7.2
CYA 40

I've been just keeping the pump on and keeping it at a shock level of 15-20 since its been opened (to be completely honest i bet its dropped to 10 once or twice over the past 2 weeks during a sunny long day of work). Its a sand filter so I have been backwashing when the jets slow down a lot and the psi jacks about 10 or so over the normal run rate. I feel like its improving, just much more at a snail's pace.

Is that true about colder water (it is cold as heck right now, probably 60-65)
 
finally threw on goggles and jumped in to see if i had a lot of debris in the pool...and I do. I manually scooped out a lot of it, but have decided to throw in the baracuda for a while. I reluctantly use this expensive vacuum(given as gift) as I feel like it moves debris around more than it sucks it in. To make it work correctly I have to shut off the other skimmer and the main drain, forcing all the suction of ouf the skimmer with the vacuum in it. Does anyone else have a robot vacuum like this? does it work? does it just move debris around? I need to get the Crud out of the bottom of the pool, but im not sure if this thing will do it or just move it around.

Thoughts?
 
As long as the debris is mostly leaves and perhaps small sticks the cleaner should be able to pick up everything, though you may need to take it out occasionally and clean it and put it back in. If the debris has larger pieces in it then you will need a different approach.
 
Its small debris. When I set up the vacuum, I will sometimes watch it with goggles as it works. It really looks like it moves debri and sucks very little. its not like vacuuming your carpet where you see a distinct difference from the vacuumed part and not vacuumed part.

ugh. I sincerely don't like owning a pool
 
vacuumed and manually scooped out the debris in the pool on Monday. The pool has been the same cloudy blue (can see floor in shallow end, but can't see main drain in deep end) since Monday. I haven't honestly seen improvement over the past few days. I've been scrubbing quite a bit and keeping the shock level at 16-22. Is there anything else I could check to see why I'm not seeing improvement much.(if I'm seeing improvement its at a clip of 5% per day..much slower than past 2 years). The pool is very blue, just very cloudy.

thoughts?
 
Hi Matt, I live in Connecticut and when we opened in mid April the pool was crystal clear. It's been staying that way pretty much but trying to battle the huge amount of yellow pollen is a challenge.

When I was helping my neighbor get his pool cleared up a couple years ago he also had a lot of debris at the bottom and it was essential to get it out before his pool would hold chlorine. Once cleaned out it remained cloudy even though his chemistry was all correct. His filter was an old de and would clog every 10 minutes, and he got so irritated with it that he purchased a new cartridge filter and within 48 hours his pool was crystal clear.

No, your vacuum shouldn't look like it's just pushing the dirt around - you should see a steady suction going on with disappearance of the debris. My thought is that your filtration is not doing it's job. I have never owned a sand filter but maybe someone could chime in at this point to give some assistance.

Yes, you certainly will feel like you don't like owning a pool right now, but once everything is troubleshooted and you have it all working together in balance the maintenance will be back to simple and you will be able to enjoy it again. I thought we would never be able to clear up our pink slime from two years ago, but we did and it's been awesome now.

Best,
Jan
 
There was debris in the bottom of the pool when i first began to shock it, and I didnt get the debris out until monday of this week. So it sounds familiar to your neighbor's situation. I'm wondering if I should try putting some DE in the sand filter to try to trap more particles?

and yes...the pollen has been crazy this spring.

it is quite a pain the @ss, but would it make sense to open the filter and clean out the film of guck on the top of the sand?
 

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I too am from NE and this pollen is out of control! After the big rain we had the other night there are big yellow spots on the ground all over from where cars were parked. Our cars are all coated, mine is the only one that looks ok becuase it's yellow : )

My pool chemical numbers have been fine, so I'm not shocking it any more, but the water has a yellow/green tinge to it. Clear enough so I can see the bottom, but not as perfect as it should be. I keep brushing, vacumming and putting DE in my sand filter to try and get it clearer.

I also had my solar cover on for a few days, trying to warm the water (I have a 5 year old who just can't stay out of the pool no matter how cloudy), and yesterday when I took that off it caused yellow puddles to dump in from this junk in the air.

I guess we just have to hang in there and hopefully this will end soon.

GO SOX!
 
cillovely said:
I too am from NE and this pollen is out of control! After the big rain we had the other night there are big yellow spots on the ground all over from where cars were parked. Our cars are all coated, mine is the only one that looks ok becuase it's yellow : )

My pool chemical numbers have been fine, so I'm not shocking it any more, but the water has a yellow/green tinge to it. Clear enough so I can see the bottom, but not as perfect as it should be. I keep brushing, vacumming and putting DE in my sand filter to try and get it clearer.

I also had my solar cover on for a few days, trying to warm the water (I have a 5 year old who just can't stay out of the pool no matter how cloudy), and yesterday when I took that off it caused yellow puddles to dump in from this junk in the air.

I guess we just have to hang in there and hopefully this will end soon.

GO SOX!
Click to expand...

my pool has just been cloudy blue for days.. I've kept the shock at about 14-22 the whole time and have brushed constantly. I might try the DE idea. Its just frustrating, as neighbors are already in their pools, and i've been working on mine for 3 weeks.
 
I tried putting DE yesterday a few times. I put the DE in, gave it 2 minutes, and the pressure went up by 1. I brushed the walls and let it run for about 1.5 hours and the pressure went up by about 6 or 7 from the "normal" rate. Does this seem right? I did this a few times, then let it run overnight. The pressure was probably 9-10 higher than normal when i woke up, but still the same blue cloudy (literally the same blue cloudy for 4-5 days now). I'm holding shock levels at about 15-22 (CYA is 40). Any thoughts on why I'm not getting the progress I'd like? I have jumped in a few times and checked out the bottom deep end, and there is no debris (very very small amount here or there, but no leaves etc).

any ideas on what I could be doing wrong or what i could try??? :grrrr:
 
I'm new to pools and this year was my first pool opening, however it seems to me that sand filters do take some time to clear out the water. I started out with a swampy mess and was cloudy blue after 5 days or so. Well, I'm finally seeing the deep end and I'm 3 days shy of 3 weeks since opening. I also added DE to help the filter and it seemed to work out well. I think you just have to give it time, if your test results are within the ideal ranges.
 
Mattyssox said:
I tried putting DE yesterday a few times. I put the DE in, gave it 2 minutes, and the pressure went up by 1. I brushed the walls and let it run for about 1.5 hours and the pressure went up by about 6 or 7 from the "normal" rate. Does this seem right? I did this a few times, then let it run overnight. The pressure was probably 9-10 higher than normal when i woke up, but still the same blue cloudy (literally the same blue cloudy for 4-5 days now). I'm holding shock levels at about 15-22 (CYA is 40). Any thoughts on why I'm not getting the progress I'd like? I have jumped in a few times and checked out the bottom deep end, and there is no debris (very very small amount here or there, but no leaves etc).

any ideas on what I could be doing wrong or what i could try??? :grrrr:
Click to expand...
Maybe I missed it but I see no mention of the OCLT. Sounds like your filter is behaving like it should. The pressure increase is normal because you're capturing finer and therefore more dirt.

Any lights in the pool? Something may be hiding in a light recess. Only sure way to pinpoint organics is the OCLT.
 
Dang...sounds like you are talking about my pool startup this year in SC...almost identical to your issues.

The DE has helped ours some. I am still cloudy though and I have been at it since 5-23. My overnight test only dropped .5 last night but water is still cloudy. Good Luck on yours.
 
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