Bought a foreclosure home with a long-neglected SWG pool

[mknauss]

Floc is never the answer in your situation. You can try a high quality Chitosan based clarifier if you wish. SeaKlear or Orenda brands. They are not cheap.

 

[Newdude]

If you're not filtering well, 3 weeks later, you need to get in the filter. There's no telling what mess you inherited in there.

The fact that there are no unions isn't going to change that.

 

[Bperry]

It just needs more time. The progress the past 5 days is noticable. Just keep going.

 

[Lake Placid]

For what it’s worth, every ounce of the total amount of Crud you have seen in your pool has had to pass through your filter. Not to mention whatever festering filth was in there before you got on the right track and started the SLAM. Who knows the garbage that could have been in there. Typically the media/filter is blamed whenever other issues are the actual cause. I wouldn’t condemn your filter or media just yet….keep pushing…..your pool will come around.

 

[denofa]

Thanks for the encouragement!

I grabbed some SeaKlear chitosan pool clarifier and added 6oz. We'll see what effect that has.

I'll keep chugging for another week before I plan for putting the multiport off and cleaning the sand.

 

[Bperry]

I'll keep chugging for another week before I plan for putting the multiport off and cleaning the sand.

What makes you think you need to do that?

 

[denofa]

What makes you think you need to do that?

Are you suggesting I don't need to wait the week, or suggesting I don't need to check the sand?

Either way, I'm going based off of what I've read on this forum and from other members in this thread. The sand is a big question mark considering this house was a foreclosure and much more obvious things were neglected.

It doesn't seem to be doing the best job at filtering. In the last 10 days of running the pump 24x7 and adding DE at least twice a day, I've gained about "one step" of visibility; 10 days ago I could make out the second step was there but couldn't see any detail, today the liner of the second step is legible and the third step is coming through. We are definitely making progress but it's going very slowly.

At this point, I'm going to keep adding DE and backwashing when skimming becomes less effective. We'll see if the SeaKlear helps. I'll likely order some unions and prepared to check the sand in a week or two if we get there.

 

[Bperry]

Are you suggesting I don't need to wait the week, or suggesting I don't need to check the sand?

Checking the sand. Often times checking the sand can cause other stuff to break if you’re not super careful or the parts are old. Unions or laterals break, etc.

You had a legit swamp. Its gonna take a while to clean up.

 

[denofa]

Floc is never the answer in your situation. You can try a high quality Chitosan based clarifier if you wish. SeaKlear or Orenda brands. They are not cheap.

I'm not saying it's a magic bullet, but we're looking much better after 3 days of SeaKlear. Will share some pics closer to the end of the week!

 

[Flying Tivo]

If DE helped clear better, my suspect is the sand filter. Installing unions is a 15-30 min job. The clarifier needs some time with the pump off so use this time to check the sand.

 

[Lake Placid]

If DE helped clear better, my suspect is the sand filter. Installing unions is a 15-30 min job. The clarifier needs some time with the pump off so use this time to check the sand.

DE filters to a lower micron level than sand, so of course it will improve efficiency. That doesn’t mean the sand is bad. It only means that sand will inherently take longer than DE to clear finer debris.

 

[Flying Tivo]

DE filters to a lower micron level than sand, so of course it will improve efficiency.

True, but should have filter a lot faster. The DE is clogging up the channels in the sand.

That doesn’t mean the sand is bad

Sand never goes bad, its been around for millions of years. Sand clumps up and loses efficiency, that is why he needs to look into the sand or do a deep cleaning of the sand. More so if he does not know the history of the sand filter.

 

[Lake Placid]

True, but should have filter a lot faster. The DE is clogging up the channels in the sand.

If the sand was truly channeled, residual DE would likely be blowing through the channels, into the laterals and back into the pool. Sand filter laterals cannot contain DE like the grid design in a DE filter system. Since OP isn’t seeing DE back in the pool, channeling isn’t likely. Of course we agree a full inspection is probably prudent in time, but the data at the moment doesn’t seem to support a media issue.

 

[denofa]

Regardless of any sand speculation, this has been a great week for progress.

I can see the liner pattern somewhat clearly in the shallow end, and I can make out the main drain in the deep end.

I think I'm ready to end the SLAM within the next couple of days once things are cleared up. I've been passing OCLT and at ~0ppm CC for over a week. These are the numbers I'm planning to maintain per the link: What Are My Ideal Pool Levels?

FC: 5-10
pH: 7.6-7.8
TA: 60-80
Calcium: 50-550
CYA: 70-80
Salt: 3200

Is there a reason I should trend higher or lower for any of the range of values?

For now, I'm planning to at least start with the pump running for 8 hours overnight and following the suggestions regarding SWCGs to get the percentage setting dialed in: Salt Water Chlorine Generators

Thanks again for all the help!

 

[HermanTX]

Great progress!!!
I would suggest running at the upper end of the FC range - since you are nearly complete on the SLAM - no sense in dropping below the lower end.
Ensure your SWCG is happy with the salt level.
If you use the slide a lot that will cause aeration so pH will raise so keep an eye on that.

 

[denofa]

Great progress!!!
I would suggest running at the upper end of the FC range - since you are nearly complete on the SLAM - no sense in dropping below the lower end.
Ensure your SWCG is happy with the salt level.
If you use the slide a lot that will cause aeration so pH will raise so keep an eye on that.

Thank you! I just added the salt I needed to bring it up to 3200ppm. Good callout on the slide, I had that in mind and am curious to see how big of an impact it makes on pH.

 

[Homebrewale]

Unless you have a gas heater, you shouldn't worry about CH levels. Keep it near 200 ppm if you do have a heater.

 

[denofa]

Overdue update: this pool is SPARKLING and we are loving it.

I used MA to bring the TA down to 70. CYA is at 70. CH is at 110. I'll keep FC between 5 and 10, and pH between 7.6 and 7.8.

I added ~48lbs of boric acid to bring borates up to 50ppm and saw an immediate difference. Thanks all for the help thus far!

 

[Mdragger88]

Fantastic we need pics please!

 

[Newdude]

And don't go being no stranger either. We LOVE seeing members' ongoing succes, and are available around the clock for any hiccups.