My wife and I bought a new house this past September that has a pool. We bought the house through foreclosure and the pool has not been opened for at least the past 2 years. No one in my family has ever had a pool, so my knowledge is next to nothing. The pool is inground, 20'x40', approximately 30,000 gallons, and is vinyl (I think?). The pool is treated via a cartridge filter and has 5 return jets positioned around the pool.
We hired a pool company to come and open the pool this past weekend. They dumped a whole bunch of chemicals into the pool and charged me a bunch of money. After 48 hours, I took a water sample to the local pool store and had the water tested. They analyzed the water and sold me $300 worth of chemicals. I've dumped most of the chemicals they gave me into the pool. I will give them credit in that the pool went from a solid green to a hazy green, and the shallow end of the pool you can almost see the bottom. I stumbled upon this website this morning, and now feel a little foolish. I feel like I've wasted a bunch of money trying to get my pool clear when all I really needed to do was get a test kit, and bleach the #%& out of the water. I have ordered the TF-100 test kit which should get here by the weekend. After I test the water, I will post the results and get started on treatment.
My question is what should I do while I wait the test kit. When they opened the pool, they dumped 10 lbs of shock. After I got the chemicals from the pool store, I dumped an additional 13 lbs of shock and also added an algeacide, PH reducer, and some other chemicals. I have 15 lbs of BioGuard smart shock left over. What should I do while I wait for the test kit? Another question I have is about "backwashing" the filter. What actually does this entail? I've cleaned my cartridge filter 3 times so far, and I can bypass the filter and discharge water straight to the ground. Is this backwashing?
Below are pictures of my pool in its current condition.
We hired a pool company to come and open the pool this past weekend. They dumped a whole bunch of chemicals into the pool and charged me a bunch of money. After 48 hours, I took a water sample to the local pool store and had the water tested. They analyzed the water and sold me $300 worth of chemicals. I've dumped most of the chemicals they gave me into the pool. I will give them credit in that the pool went from a solid green to a hazy green, and the shallow end of the pool you can almost see the bottom. I stumbled upon this website this morning, and now feel a little foolish. I feel like I've wasted a bunch of money trying to get my pool clear when all I really needed to do was get a test kit, and bleach the #%& out of the water. I have ordered the TF-100 test kit which should get here by the weekend. After I test the water, I will post the results and get started on treatment.
My question is what should I do while I wait the test kit. When they opened the pool, they dumped 10 lbs of shock. After I got the chemicals from the pool store, I dumped an additional 13 lbs of shock and also added an algeacide, PH reducer, and some other chemicals. I have 15 lbs of BioGuard smart shock left over. What should I do while I wait for the test kit? Another question I have is about "backwashing" the filter. What actually does this entail? I've cleaned my cartridge filter 3 times so far, and I can bypass the filter and discharge water straight to the ground. Is this backwashing?
Below are pictures of my pool in its current condition.