Black water in new foreclosure! Help!!!

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O

Omgitstuddle

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Jun 2, 2013
5
I just bought a foreclosure with an in ground pool and after taking the cover off the water is black in the deep end but it turns yellow towards the steps. U
I have been blindly scooping leaves off the bottom, but I'm concerned with wether I can save this water or if I need to pump it out and start over? I hate to waste all that water because the pool is full, but I don't want to waste money on chemicals if it won't work. I'm not sure the exact gallons but I'm guessing around 20,000? It has a Hayward pro series sand filter and working pentair pump moter. Hopefully I can attach pics below.
 
Welcome to TFP!

Unless there is over a foot of debris on the bottom (or CYA or CH is wildly high), your best bet is to keep the water you have now.

Remove as much as you possibly can from the pool and then start shocking. There is a wonderful sticky in the Algae section of the forum that describes the process in some detail.
 
Does it look like this one? new-homeowner-first-opening-brown-pool-t56327.html Or this one? welcome-to-my-swamp-t60263.html

First the harsh news: you're going to need some accurate test results before you can make an informed decision whether to drain or not. Pool store testing will not suffice. You need your own, proper test kit. In your case, the TF100 with the XL option is the way to go. Big chunk of change up front, but it will repay you many times over. It will repay you right away if it saves you from one experience being pool-stored. You might as well toss in a speedstir. No one who owns one regrets buying it.

The place to start is pool school.

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What Richard said, but also it would be helpful in the future if you include your location in your profile, and your pool size, type and equipment in your signature, this gives us information at a glance on specific factors for your climate, and advice for managing your pool.
 
Thanks! Well I tried to upload some pics but I'm not sure what happened? My water looks like the swamp, but the steps don't seem to be stained just lots of leaves, and tad poles! I have ordered a drop test that should come sometime next week so ill post results when it arrives
 
Ok here are the pics and my test kit is being delivered today so I can post those results after work, yay! And I didn't not get the recommended test kit right now but it is a 5 way drop so hopefully it will suffice for now.

image_zpsd6cb228c.jpg




 
The problem with the 5 way kit is the included chlorine test only goes up to 5ppm which is not high enough to confirm you are at the correct shock level, you can try diluting your sample 1:1 and multiplying your results by 2, etc but then you add in even more error to the test accuracy. You may be able to get it clear this way, but not without wasting a lot of chlorine, and not without risking damage to the pool and equipment from too high of Chlorine level since even with diluting you will have no practical way of measuring the higher FC end.
 
Since I am 6 days into the shock process of a similar situation I will offer my 2 cents. Had I to do it over again I would drain the pool hands down, especially a larger one. You cant see the debris and organics so it is a pain to know if you have removed most of it. Because of this, the cost to shock a similar pool can be huge. It has taken me 5 days and over 70 gallons of bleach to stabilize immense losses of chlorine. I got lured into thinking 4-5 gallons of bleach to bring to shock levels with a gallon or two a day to keep the levels up would be my process. I found out the hard way after dumping almost 40 gallons of bleach in just over 2 days. You do learn a lot though if you decide to keep the water. My water will probably take another week (2 weeks total) to clear. I spent more time and money by not draining and refilling. Find out the cost of the refill and start weighing that against the cost of bleach, a couple weeks of your time and the electricity to run your pump non stop during that time. Lesson learned and good luck!
 
Ohh gosh, sorry to hear about yor troubles! Thank you for sharing tho, I finally got my pump working correctly last night and had planned on starting the shock process this weekend. My only worry about pumping it and starting new is having all that water in the yard, I mean I just can't imagine where it would all go and I imagine another swamp in the grass then lol. But you give me hope that it is possible, because all my friends see the water now and think they will never see it clear! Good luck and I'd love to see your progress pics
 

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Mojo21 said:
Since I am 6 days into the shock process of a similar situation I will offer my 2 cents. Had I to do it over again I would drain the pool hands down, especially a larger one. You cant see the debris and organics so it is a pain to know if you have removed most of it. Because of this, the cost to shock a similar pool can be huge. It has taken me 5 days and over 70 gallons of bleach to stabilize immense losses of chlorine. I got lured into thinking 4-5 gallons of bleach to bring to shock levels with a gallon or two a day to keep the levels up would be my process. I found out the hard way after dumping almost 40 gallons of bleach in just over 2 days. You do learn a lot though if you decide to keep the water. My water will probably take another week (2 weeks total) to clear. I spent more time and money by not draining and refilling. Find out the cost of the refill and start weighing that against the cost of bleach, a couple weeks of your time and the electricity to run your pump non stop during that time. Lesson learned and good luck!
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The orginal poster has a vinyl liner and SHOULD NOT drain his/her pool without damaging his/her liner by ground water, un-seating the liner, causing unsightly wrinkles and possibly tearing it from the track or corners. The only time a pool should be drained, for any reason, is for repairs. Draining fiberglass, gunnite and plaster pools have a high risk of popping the shell which can absolutely destroy a pool due to a high water table. Pools do not need to be drained to clear up 5 year old stagnant water!!!

Old, stagnant, green, black, brown water can be successfully treated without draining a pool. Minor drains of 1/3 are for controlling high CYA values and are needed in some instances.
 
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