We just moved into a house that was empty/unkept for 2 years. Pool was black/green. Although we had a pool at our last place, we rented and had a pool service that literally took care of everything. All we did was get any floaters out with a net throughout the week.
I am reading pool school and we're determined to get this squared away on our own, but we are on a time crunch because the neighbor reported the pool about a week prior to us taking possession of the house. Now the city wants it taken care of immediately, which is quite an undertaking ($500/day fine after the 26th if we don't get it in order).
So, here's where I am. Please keep in mind - DRAINING THE POOL IS NOT AN OPTION...
We know there is a lot of debris on the bottom because we've run a skimmer pole along the bottom and brought up a lot of stuff. We aren't even fooling with the chemistry yet because we have to get the debris out before we can run our own pump/filter. Obviously we have to be able to SEE the debris before we can remove it.
Our plan...
1. Get the water clear enough to see the bottom and get to the debris.
2. Sweep it (over a few days - I realize this will be a multi-step effort) to one end and use a trash pump to pull the big stuff out. Once that's done, we will begin using our own equipment to get the rest of it clean and begin working on the chemistry.
I started the lightening/cleaning process two days ago with 4 bottles of bleach - mainly to kill the plagues of Egypt that were living and breeding in the pool. I have removed hundreds....yes, HUNDREDS of tadpoles and based on the number that continue to float to the top, I can only assume the bottom is covered with decomposing polywogs. The bleach did nothing for the color, by the way, but DID kill the tadpoles.
Yesterday I put two lbs of shock in it in the morning - this was before I started reading pool school and other pointers and realized that 1. I needed 4 lbs per 10,000 gallons of water and, 2. that I should have done it in the evening. After the sun went in, we put two more lbs into the pool. There is a tremendous difference in the color - although it is still green, it is very light green and overnight the algae started to lift off and float up. The color change took place after the first two lbs and didn't change much overnight after the second shock. This is what concerns me and I want to make sure I am not wasting either time or resources if this isn't the best way to get the water clear enough to see the bottom. Today is Thursday and I was really hoping to be able to pump out the debris on Saturday, but I'm nowhere near being clear enough to see what's down there.
:blah: I realize this is long-winded - as you can guess I'm a little overwhelmed with this, but also stoked to be figuring it out ourselves (pool company asked for $375 and 3 weeks to get it blue - we don't have 3 weeks and are hopeful that we can get it clear enough to pass the city's sniff test without spending $375).
I'd be thrilled with any advice. Are we on the right track? I was planning to shock it again tonight - should I continue with this process or is there a faster or cheaper or better way? Right now I have a light green pea soup (I will try to post photos). Help!
[attachment=1:2t119mtw]10162013 - 10 06 am.jpg[/attachment:2t119mtw] This is pre-shock, but post bleach
[attachment=0:2t119mtw]10172013 11 am.jpg[/attachment:2t119mtw] This is 24 hours later after 4 lbs of shock
I am reading pool school and we're determined to get this squared away on our own, but we are on a time crunch because the neighbor reported the pool about a week prior to us taking possession of the house. Now the city wants it taken care of immediately, which is quite an undertaking ($500/day fine after the 26th if we don't get it in order).
So, here's where I am. Please keep in mind - DRAINING THE POOL IS NOT AN OPTION...
We know there is a lot of debris on the bottom because we've run a skimmer pole along the bottom and brought up a lot of stuff. We aren't even fooling with the chemistry yet because we have to get the debris out before we can run our own pump/filter. Obviously we have to be able to SEE the debris before we can remove it.
Our plan...
1. Get the water clear enough to see the bottom and get to the debris.
2. Sweep it (over a few days - I realize this will be a multi-step effort) to one end and use a trash pump to pull the big stuff out. Once that's done, we will begin using our own equipment to get the rest of it clean and begin working on the chemistry.
I started the lightening/cleaning process two days ago with 4 bottles of bleach - mainly to kill the plagues of Egypt that were living and breeding in the pool. I have removed hundreds....yes, HUNDREDS of tadpoles and based on the number that continue to float to the top, I can only assume the bottom is covered with decomposing polywogs. The bleach did nothing for the color, by the way, but DID kill the tadpoles.
Yesterday I put two lbs of shock in it in the morning - this was before I started reading pool school and other pointers and realized that 1. I needed 4 lbs per 10,000 gallons of water and, 2. that I should have done it in the evening. After the sun went in, we put two more lbs into the pool. There is a tremendous difference in the color - although it is still green, it is very light green and overnight the algae started to lift off and float up. The color change took place after the first two lbs and didn't change much overnight after the second shock. This is what concerns me and I want to make sure I am not wasting either time or resources if this isn't the best way to get the water clear enough to see the bottom. Today is Thursday and I was really hoping to be able to pump out the debris on Saturday, but I'm nowhere near being clear enough to see what's down there.
:blah: I realize this is long-winded - as you can guess I'm a little overwhelmed with this, but also stoked to be figuring it out ourselves (pool company asked for $375 and 3 weeks to get it blue - we don't have 3 weeks and are hopeful that we can get it clear enough to pass the city's sniff test without spending $375).
I'd be thrilled with any advice. Are we on the right track? I was planning to shock it again tonight - should I continue with this process or is there a faster or cheaper or better way? Right now I have a light green pea soup (I will try to post photos). Help!
[attachment=1:2t119mtw]10162013 - 10 06 am.jpg[/attachment:2t119mtw] This is pre-shock, but post bleach
[attachment=0:2t119mtw]10172013 11 am.jpg[/attachment:2t119mtw] This is 24 hours later after 4 lbs of shock