Time to throw in the towel?

[Rabbit413]

Hey there, I'm new to TFP. Also a new homeowner to my very own 29,000 gallon swamp in the back yard that we've been working on for weeks. The house was vacant last year, so never got opened. The "cover" if you'd like to call it that, also got blown into the pool 2 weeks after we moved in thanks to winter storm Draco, and then froze over before we could pull it out. So, basically it has been cover-less for a while, and the previous homeowners neglected it as well. Our inspector told us that he doesn't do pools, so we had no idea what condition the pump was in.

Well, we decided to have someone come open in for us. And THANK GOD we did! What looked like new pipes to the pump were in fact new, but not glued on at all. They made it look pretty for us, and then left. The pipes were rigged so bad that the guy who opened the pool for us was so frustrated, there wasn't even enough pipe to glue on to each other. He has to go to the hardware store and put together a new piping system for us. Thankfully it was only PVC. He then couldn't get the pump to prime and decided to come back the next day with a pump of his so he could try and force the water through. And here is where the next problem was discovered, a pipe was broken underground! So, he had to dig that out and fix that puppy too.

So here we are now, the pipes and plumbing are all working great. The jet blows wonderfully, but our water is still DISGUSTING! We have shocked it and tested it and shocked it and tested it. I actually tested the water yesterday (and I am so sorry for my lack of knowledge while I am at work, I don't have the exact numbers on me) but the colors matched up. So according to the test strips, the chemicals are right. There's just so much Crud on the bottom of it, we can't keep up! And we can't even see to the bottom (let alone, 4 feet down) to see what we are scooping/vacuuming up.

Oh! Did I mention that I'm also 7 months pregnant? Yeah, so my husband works 55-60 hours a week, and then there's me...

We're so tired and so frustrated and vacuuming just seems like it's getting us nowhere. We called our pool opener guy, and he's going to come out and cut a pipe and vacuum to waste, because of how hard it is on our poor filter. This will probably rack us up to our $1000 that we've put into this freaking pool. With people coming next weekend, we're cutting it really close. Even if it's not completely ready or even warm enough to swim in, it could at least look CLEAR!

So that's that! Any pointers/advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!!

 

[ssgumby]

Im in no way an expert, but with all your issues wouldnt it be easier and cheaper to drain it down a lot so you could better see what is going on, then refill with fresh water and proper chemicals?

 

[ssgumby]

And oh by the way, you sound like my wife. We built a raised deck on our old house, it was 9 feet off the ground. She helped with every step of it including lifting and nailing in the joists, and she did this up until our daughter was born! Then came home and we finished it.

 

[jblizzle]

Welcome to TFP!!!

There is no need to drain, you have made good progress although likely have used more time and $ than required.

First, test strips are absolutely worthless. Order one of the test kits we recommend (see link in signature).
Second, I doubt you were follow what we call the shock PROCESS. Sounds like you may have been close, but impossible with test strips. Read these and then the rest of Pool School to get a better understanding of the chemistry:
Defeating Algae
Turning Your Green Swamp Back into a Sparkling Oasis
Shocking Your Pool

 

[joshs2000ss]

Don't get discouraged. The advice from this site has fixed pools in MUCH MUCH worse shape than yours, some with trees growing in them. Just stick with it and you will be greatly rewarded. Trust what you read in the links above, not what a "pool guy" tells you. That being said, there are some reputable pool guys out there, but from what I've seen here and experienced myself, many are not.

Get a test kit ASAP (I'd spring for the stirrer as well)

 

[JasonLion]

Take a look at the Turning Your Green Swamp Back into a Sparkling Oasis article for lots of detailed information on the process.

One important step you didn't mention doing is to get everything solid out of the water that you possibly can.

 

[cramar]

Dittos, your working harder than you need to, time to read pool school a few times and work smarter.
Lots of people on these boards have turned around pools like yours, you need a proper drop based test kit, the pool calculator and the steps in pool school - that's it.

PS, I know it was a bit of joke but a clear "looking" pool can still be disghusting. I've been in pools that looked clear but were slimy feeling after some swimming turned sudsy and cloudy - disghusting.

Use this time to get knowledge from pool school (link is in the upper right corner) and you can get that water crystal clear and by the time your baby is here you'll be a pro at the tests, a summer of regular testing will make you a pro.

 

[Richard320]

Welcome!

No, not time to throw in the towel. All you need is an orderly plan. There's no reason you can't be swimming in sparkly clear water by June. Some inspiration:
my-pool-experience-with-algae-t58756.html
a-little-encouragement-for-those-with-algae-and-new-to-bbb-t57137.html
testimony-this-is-why-you-should-do-bbb-t58451.html
first-time-shocking-with-bleach-t45074.html

Step one - order up a propertest kit. Because of the quantities of reagents you'll need to do the shock process properly, I recommend the TF100 with the XL option. http://tftestkits.net. Order one right now. Then go look at the inspiration threads. Then start studying pool school until you feel like this:

 

[ssgumby]

Definitely great advice above, my only thing with a partial drain is the fact you had pipes not even glued together, If the previous owners did that, I would be wondering what might be lurking below