Bought a foreclosure home with a long-neglected SWG pool

[Mdragger88]

Definitely try to get as much organic debris out of the pool as possible via scooping & vacuuming- the more you have in there the more rapidly the pool will consume fc.
Scooping & vacuuming blindly is fine.
Vacuuming to waste is a good idea in the beginning when the stuff is super funky to get the bulk of it out of the equation. This takes some of the load off the sand filter.
Later on vacuuming to filter is just fine.
You may also want to get an inline leaf catcher for the vac hose to prevent any clogs in your plumbing if you suspect larger debris.
As mentioned above be sure to note your clean filter pressure (After backwashing) at the rpms you’re running. You want to backwash when pressure rises 25% over that number.


SLAM ON

 

[denofa]

Thanks for test data.
Remember to test FC every 4 hrs as that ensure syou are staying at SLAM level
You ave a sand filter. Does it have a bypass or waste setting on the input side>. Not all do but wanted to confirm.

If you vacuum to your SAND filter, that just may clog up the filter more and it may need cleaning. That’s why vacuum to waste is better but then you need to add water which alfects the FC level so that needs to monitored closely.

I couldn't find a model number, but it looks like a Hayward SP0710. There is a waste setting which should bypass the filter, I believe. I'll be sure to keep an eye on water/FC/CYA as I vacuum to waste.

 

[denofa]

Overdue update: SLAM seems to be going well! We've gotten through "green" and have been steadily "cloudy" for a few days. I'm losing minimal (<1ppm) FC overnight which is a good sign.

That said, the appearance/clarity has not changed much over the last couple of days. My sand filter pressure hasn't increased at all overnight, which makes me believe it's not doing too much. Is this just a matter of being patient, vacuuming, and trusting the process?

Thanks again for the help!

 

[Bperry]

Overdue update: SLAM seems to be going well! We've gotten through "green" and have been steadily "cloudy" for a few days. I'm losing minimal (<1ppm) FC overnight which is a good sign.

That said, the appearance/clarity has not changed much over the last couple of days. My sand filter pressure hasn't increased at all overnight, which makes me believe it's not doing too much. Is this just a matter of being patient, vacuuming, and trusting the process?

Thanks again for the help!View attachment 563530

You’ve got plenty of green left to go. Thats said, yea you just keep SLAM going and vacuuming. It’ll clear up.

 

[Newdude]

Milky is dead or mostly dead algae. FC generally holds much better at this point or will soon, and it shifts from a chemical battle to a mechanical battle to filter it all out.

This stage tests *everyone's* patience.

Keep the FC at SLAM as often as needed to ensure you don't lose any ground.

Brush and vac at least once a day.

Backwash the filter as needed.

You can add DE to jump start the sand filter to somewhat dirty where it becomes much more efficient. Babysit it though, the psi may rise quickly once it's efficient. Get as many cycles as you can while you're around and pause the DE treatments for sleep/work/etc.

Add DE to a Sand Filter

A clean pool filter will increase the efficiency of your pool! ... your filter are to backwash it, clean the manifolds and grids, and add new DE.

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[denofa]

You’ve got plenty of green left to go. Thats said, yea you just keep SLAM going and vacuuming. It’ll clear up.

Fair fair. I'm just happy it's more gray than green at this point

Milky is dead or mostly dead algae. FC generally holds much better at this point or will soon, and it shifts from a chemical battle to a mechanical battle to filter it all out.

This stage tests *everyone's* patience.

Keep the FC at SLAM as often as needed to ensure you don't lose any ground.

Brush and vac at least once a day.

Backwash the filter as needed.

You can add DE to jump start the sand filter to somewhat dirty where it becomes much more efficient. Babysit it though, the psi may rise quickly once it's efficient. Get as many cycles as you can while you're around and pause the DE treatments for sleep/work/etc.

Add DE to a Sand Filter

A clean pool filter will increase the efficiency of your pool! ... your filter are to backwash it, clean the manifolds and grids, and add new DE.

www.troublefreepool.com

I saw the tips and methods for adding DE to speed things up. I'll grab some the next time I'm headed to Lowes. Will stay on it!

 

[Newdude]

Will stay on it!

Foot on throat. Apply pressure and twist. Finish that SOB.

 

[electrodrew]

I was in a similar boat (also in Wake Forest) with an a severely neglected pool as part of our home purchase. I was impatient, panicked and used floc... DO NOT DO THAT! It took weeks to resolve after that, but with the help of this community, my pool is now crystal clear. It took 3 straight weeks of maintaining SLAM levels, vacuuming to waste, daily cartridge filter cleaning, and ultimately a new filter cartridge before it got over the finish line. Stay with it!

 

[Newdude]

I was in a similar boat

We've polished it a whole bunch, and found a way to teach it, but TFP is pretty much a giant collection of 'don't screw up like I did' posts.

None of us wants to see someone else struggle like we did ourselves. It sucked and we never forgot what it was like.

 

[denofa]

Since I'm now largely playing a patience game, I did have a quick question about jet direction. My pool has the following layout (artist's rendering):




I know there are some varying opinions about jet direction, but the general takeaways I had were to point them away from skimmers, and to create a clockwise or counterclockwise "whirlpool" to encourage circulation. I had them pointed as such:



I'm not sure it was a problem, but one thing I noticed due to the obscure shape of the pool is that Jet 2 and Jet 3 seemed to be working against each other. I had the idea to point Jet 3 in the opposite direction in hopes of getting more stuff towards the deep skimmer. Any suggestions here?

As a note, there does seem to be another port for a jet (?) between the shallow skimmer and Jet 3, but it is filled with what seems to be a piece of liner. I'm not sure, but this may have been previously used for a vacuum which has since been covered by previous owners. For now, I'm ignoring it and will investigate when the water has cleared up and I can actually get eyes on it.

Any input or opinion is appreciated!

 

[Newdude]

Freeform pools get dead zones from the toilet bowl method.

In this case, you effectively lose the bottom skimmer.



The other ways have dead zones too, and I'm not sold on how I feel about those yet. Let see if anyone has good ideas.

 

[Bperry]

Freeform pools get dead zones from the toilet bowl method.

In this case, you effectively lose the bottom skimmer.

View attachment 563802

The other ways have dead zones too, and I'm not sold on how I feel about those yet. Let see if anyone has good ideas.

I have almost the same layout and I did get a dead zone in the middle where the pressure vacuum port was but after plumbing it as a return has been working well. I dont have much luck with making a whirlpool so the jets just point straight out.

 

[denofa]

SLAM process is chugging along. I lost 1ppm FC overnight, CC tested at ~0ppm, but we're still pretty dang cloudy. I am still running my pump 24x7 and trusting the process!

That said, it doesn't seem like my sand filter is making much progress unless I add DE. If I backwash the filter and let it run without DE added, I'm not noticing any pressure increase over a 24 hour period. Of course if I add DE, pressure gets high enough where I need to backwash within an hour or so. Is this typical, or is it possible that the sand needs changed?

Regardless, my plan is to add DE as frequently as possible. It seems to be yielding good results.

Edit: I did some reading about the mindset of changing filter sand and see it's generally not recommended. I do have some concerns considering the property was heavily neglected. This might be an off season project.

 

[bobloblaw42]

SLAM process is chugging along. I lost 1ppm FC overnight, CC tested at ~0ppm, but we're still pretty dang cloudy. I am still running my pump 24x7 and trusting the process!

That said, it doesn't seem like my sand filter is making much progress unless I add DE. If I backwash the filter and let it run without DE added, I'm not noticing any pressure increase over a 24 hour period. Of course if I add DE, pressure gets high enough where I need to backwash within an hour or so. Is this typical, or is it possible that the sand needs changed?

Regardless, my plan is to add DE as frequently as possible. It seems to be yielding good results.

Edit: I did some reading about the mindset of changing filter sand and see it's generally not recommended. I do have some concerns considering the property was heavily neglected. This might be an off season project.

If you followed the TFP instructions, you likely added enough DE for you to raise the pressure 1psi after a fresh backwash. I found that for my filter, that was 1 cup. This is an excellent starting point!

You can experiment with your DE additions. I found that about 1/4 cup (25% of what raised it 1psi) allowed me to vacuum pollen / algae dust without it settling in the bottom all over again the next day like it did without DE and still have decent working pressure more than an hour afterwards. If you don't want to baby sit the filter but still accelerate the process somewhat- add some but less than what would raise it 1psi.

 

[Mdragger88]

I agree about the sand being suspicious- who knows what they may have used in the past. If you intend to open it up & change the sand you may want to have spare oring & gasket on hand so you’re ready to swap if needed & some lubricant for everything.
Maybe just call around & see if anyone stocks parts for that filter locally so you know where to run if you need something.

 

[Lake Placid]

SLAM process is chugging along. I lost 1ppm FC overnight, CC tested at ~0ppm, but we're still pretty dang cloudy. I am still running my pump 24x7 and trusting the process!

That said, it doesn't seem like my sand filter is making much progress unless I add DE. If I backwash the filter and let it run without DE added, I'm not noticing any pressure increase over a 24 hour period. Of course if I add DE, pressure gets high enough where I need to backwash within an hour or so. Is this typical, or is it possible that the sand needs changed?

Regardless, my plan is to add DE as frequently as possible. It seems to be yielding good results.

Edit: I did some reading about the mindset of changing filter sand and see it's generally not recommended. I do have some concerns considering the property was heavily neglected. This might be an off season project.

If the sand was channeled, I would suspect you would find DE blowing back into your pool from it moving through the channels. You may let it run a day or two without DE to see how much rise you get. You should see some given pressure moves when DE is added.

 

[denofa]

If the sand was channeled, I would suspect you would find DE blowing back into your pool from it moving through the channels. You may let it run a day or two without DE to see how much rise you get. You should see some given pressure moves when DE is added.

Thanks y'all. I'll give it another week before I start looking more closely at the sand.

On another note, we're definitely seeing progress with the DE cycles. There is a third step!

 

[wireform]

Make sure you only backwash when the psi is up 25% if not a bit more then clean psi. Believe it or not the dirt in the filter also filters and backwashing too soon will make the the slam take more time. You also may want to do a deep cleaning of the sand filter Deep Cleaning a Sand Filter

 

[Mdragger88]

Another note
I see you have some water features- be sure to run slam water through those daily.

 

[denofa]

Another note
I see you have some water features- be sure to run slam water through those daily.

Noted!


We're coming up on 3 weeks of SLAMming with the filter running 24x7. Still passing OCLT, CC still ~0ppm, the only which needs resolved is clarity.

As a test, I turned the pump off for ~12 hours to see if any sediment would settle to the bottom for easy vacuuming and it did not. Looking at some older threads with similar starting pools and SLAM timelines, I saw that floc is sometimes the answer. As much as I want to stick to the tried and true SLAM, at what point do I floc and vacuum to waste for some faster results?

On the topic of deep cleaning the sand filter, I'd be more inclined but my multiport is not connected with unions so that is another project I'd be taking on. Open to any feedback! For now, will continue chugging along with DE/backwash cycles.