Another Green Monster has appeared in Boston -- Wife is ready to kill me!!

[pjstevens10]

Hi TFP! I'm new here - been lurking for a few months but now I need some help!

First month of pool ownership was a breeze (May 1-June 1). I used the test strips (LOL) and had no issues. Water was clear and all was good in the world.

Then, around June 1, we started seeing some sediment in the bottom of the pool. We have a bunch of trees nearby and thought nothing of it really at first, so we manually vacuumed once a week and it seemed fine. Then after maybe 2 weeks we had to vacuum 2-3 times per week - obviously something was wrong. Initially we thought it was sand in the pool, but after seeing how grainy pool filter sand is - it clearly was NOT sand in the pool, but didn't realize this until later.

I read some posts here and talked to someone at a pool store and they agreed it was probably a broken lateral at the bottom of my Hayward S200 filter. I ended up ordering 10 new laterals and replacing them all (although none appeared to be broken) and replaced the sand as well. This was about 72 hours ago that I did this (July 16th). It appears that we're getting less of the sediment coming back into the pool but some of it is still coming through and settling on the bottom after a few hours. Given that the water is green and murky it's kind of difficult to tell. I'm not sure if this is algae related or something else is broken in the filter?

The pool has been green since we came back from vacation last Friday, July 10th. I ordered the T-100 test kit and received it Thursday, July 17th (48 hours ago). Started SLAMming immediately. Here are my readings:

July 17 - 1pm
FC 20
CC 5
CYA 80
TA 140-150

July 17 - 2pm
Added 2 gallons of bleach to get over SLAM FC target level of 31

July 17 - 6:30pm
FC 34
CC 2.5

July 17 - 11pm
Added 1 quart of bleach

July 18 - 7am
FC 40
CC 1.5

The water is not really any clearer in the 48 hours since I started SLAMming, but I'm also not really losing a ton of chlorine which confuses me. I will keep the FC at SLAM levels and do an OCLT tonight and see how that goes, but beyond that, how would you suggest proceeding? I think it may be a two pronged issue - one being the filter and the other being the algae - but at this point I am not sure what to think and my wife is threatening to call an expert since we can't use the pool this weekend when it's 95 degrees in Boston!

Thanks in advance for your help.
PJ

 

[Jeff J.]

Hi TFP! I'm new here - been lurking for a few months but now I need some help!

First month of pool ownership was a breeze (May 1-June 1). I used the test strips (LOL) and had no issues. Water was clear and all was good in the world.

Then, around June 1, we started seeing some sediment in the bottom of the pool. We have a bunch of trees nearby and thought nothing of it really at first, so we manually vacuumed once a week and it seemed fine. Then after maybe 2 weeks we had to vacuum 2-3 times per week - obviously something was wrong. Initially we thought it was sand in the pool, but after seeing how grainy pool filter sand is - it clearly was NOT sand in the pool, but didn't realize this until later.

I read some posts here and talked to someone at a pool store and they agreed it was probably a broken lateral at the bottom of my Hayward S200 filter. I ended up ordering 10 new laterals and replacing them all (although none appeared to be broken) and replaced the sand as well. This was about 72 hours ago that I did this (July 16th). It appears that we're getting less of the sediment coming back into the pool but some of it is still coming through and settling on the bottom after a few hours. Given that the water is green and murky it's kind of difficult to tell. I'm not sure if this is algae related or something else is broken in the filter?

The pool has been green since we came back from vacation last Friday, July 10th. I ordered the T-100 test kit and received it Thursday, July 17th (48 hours ago). Started SLAMming immediately. Here are my readings:

July 17 - 1pm
FC 20
CC 5
CYA 80
TA 140-150

July 17 - 2pm
Added 2 gallons of bleach to get over SLAM FC target level of 31

July 17 - 6:30pm
FC 34
CC 2.5

July 17 - 11pm
Added 1 quart of bleach

July 18 - 7am
FC 40
CC 1.5

The water is not really any clearer in the 48 hours since I started SLAMming, but I'm also not really losing a ton of chlorine which confuses me. I will keep the FC at SLAM levels and do an OCLT tonight and see how that goes, but beyond that, how would you suggest proceeding? I think it may be a two pronged issue - one being the filter and the other being the algae - but at this point I am not sure what to think and my wife is threatening to call an expert since we can't use the pool this weekend when it's 95 degrees in Boston!

Thanks in advance for your help.
PJ

You should probably do a partial drain to get your CYA down. It's possible to manage an 80 CYA pool but it's much easier to SLAM at 60 or below.

 

[Jeff J.]

You should probably do a partial drain to get your CYA down. It's possible to manage an 80 CYA pool but it's much easier to SLAM at 60 or below.

Also, try not to go over the SLAM level. At best, you're wasting chlorine. At worst, you could damage something.

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Is this a SWG pool? Or how have you been sanitizing prior to the algae? Is there anything debris wise in the pool that you need to remove?
We need a full set of results like this:
FC
CC
pH
TA
CHA
CYA
Salt (when appropriate)

Can you pick up the "sand" with your fingers and feel it? If it puffs away and isn't gritty, its algae for sure.

Maddie