1st year with a loop-loc cover...Yikes! Water is black

[tpcorr]

Hi guys, this is my 1st year with a loop-loc mesh cover. Upon opening my pool yesterday I found that my water was black. This is quite a unique experience for me, as for the past 11 years I had a solid tarp type cover. So when I opened my pool in the past, my water was pretty much always crystal clear.

So I headed to Costco and bought 30 jugs of 6%, 182 oz bleach. Last night I dumped in 7 jugs, enough to bring my FC to about 15 ppm. This morning the water is clear, but the bottom of the pool, especially the deep end, is blanketed in algae. Since I have a cartridge filter, I was thinking of vacuuming to waste before I employ my trusty aquabot. Does this sound about right? Or should I just brush the sides and pool bottom to agitate the algae and get it into the water so it can be filtered out?

This is a new experience and challenge for me, and I know it sounds crazy but I'm looking forward to the task of clearing this up. I think I can have my pool crystal clear in about a day or two. Thanks for any advice.

Tom

 

[reindeerboy]

Absoloutely vacuum to waste. I have a mesh cover as well and you may think its algae but really I bet its a bunch of fine dirt with a little algae mixed in which is why the water turned clear. Just vaccum to waste and continue to superchlorinate the pool. Mine went cloudy for a couple more days and then cleared right up. Since you have a cartidge filter, I bet it will only take a day for yours to clear up. With a little work and POP, your pool will look great in no time!

Get R Done!

 

[jp4120]

I've had a mesh cover for 15 years - used to be very bad with algae if opening 3rd or 4th week of May. 5 years ago I started to use another small 1 man business to open/close. He supplies 2 bottles of winter algaecide to pour thru the cover 1 in Dec and 1 in Mar (I don't know exactly what it is but can find out)
now I open by May 15, and by using the winter chemicals my water is usually almost clear - of course he has to vacuum to waste because of lots of small leaf particles, etc on the bottom.
my mesh loop lock cover is almost shot, and is see-thru in spots, but I'm not replacing till it rips because the water is clear.
to replace my size custom cover i think is about $2500 mesh, $3000 solid, $3300 super fine mesh. (all these are guestimates)
I will probably go with a solid cover when its time to replace.....just to make opening simpler

 

[BadOleRoss]

I also use the LL mesh cover. I close my pool when the water temps get in the 55 degree range and open it when the temps start to rise. Doing this prevents me from opening up to a pool loaded with algae. I will end up having to vacuum the bottom (sometimes to waste) because of the debris that makes its way through the cover.

 

[tpcorr]

Thanks guys, it never dawned on me that the stuff on the bottom is actually debris. Because of the amount of trees and birds in my yard, I usually open the Friday of Memorial day weekend. So I'll vacuum to waste then, throw in the aquabot, and super chlorinate another day or two. Thanks for all the great info.

Tom