Hi everyone, new guy here.
I bought a house last October, and the previous owners had covered the pool. I don't think the water was in very good shape before getting covered. Cover way way too big for the pool, and was constantly blowing off over the winter. I didn't have much time to deal with it, so I'm sure the water got contaminated.
Anyway, fast forward to a week ago, I took off the cover to find the pool looking like the first pic. The water was basically black. My parents had a pool when I was younger and I remembered, sorta, what my dad always did so first thing I did, even though I couldn't really see anything, is get as much Crud off of the bottom as I could. Then I remembered he always shocked it, so I went to the Lowe's down the road (closest place that sells pool chemicals) and got the Clorax brand Shock, and the Clorax brand test kit. (in hind sight that test kid seems like a piece of junk, but I didn't know any better).
Anyway, I shocked the pool 3 times (each with a 1lb bottle of their shock stuff) and it got to the second pick. Progress, right? Then I used their test kit and all my levels (it tests hardness, total chlorine, free chlorine, ph, alkalinity, and stabilizer) were all zeros. That seemed impossible, but the app that goes along with the test kid said to get the alkalinity up first, so I did and now it's at 180, which it reports as a bit high for my pool size (12500 gallons). next I added stabilizer, and that is not at 50, which is in the ideal range for my pool, but on the low end, according to the app. I then called their help line to find out what to do next, and they suggested dumping a gallon or two of liquid chlorine in (I did one), and buying the chemical to get the pH up. So now I have the following levels and the pool looks like picture 3
Hardness - 0
Total Chlroine - 5
Free Chlorine - 10 (although the test strips max out at 10 so it could be higher)
pH - 6.8
Total Alkalinity - 180
Stabilizer - 50
I'm not confident in the test strips because the readings increase the longer you wait, and it's unclear when you're supposed to consider the test "done".
So anyway long story short, what do I do next? I looked around the site (was recommended by a friend) and I guess I have to do the SLAM process, right? I assume also get a reliable test kit?
The other issue I have is that I'm not entirely sure the filter works right. This is one of those Intex pools (so I'm tempted to just knock it down and put a swing set in for my kids cuz I feel like it will be july till this thing is usable), and the return stream seems to get weak after about 3-4 hours of filter operation. I've cleaned the filter out as best I can, and it seems like if I backwash the filter that brings the stream back up for another few hours. Whenever I backwash the water it dirty each time, but clears up about 30 -60 seconds after starting. Is it possible the water is just that filthy and requires that much backwashing? I know this is the algae forum but I also know a properly functioning filter is important.
Thanks!
I bought a house last October, and the previous owners had covered the pool. I don't think the water was in very good shape before getting covered. Cover way way too big for the pool, and was constantly blowing off over the winter. I didn't have much time to deal with it, so I'm sure the water got contaminated.
Anyway, fast forward to a week ago, I took off the cover to find the pool looking like the first pic. The water was basically black. My parents had a pool when I was younger and I remembered, sorta, what my dad always did so first thing I did, even though I couldn't really see anything, is get as much Crud off of the bottom as I could. Then I remembered he always shocked it, so I went to the Lowe's down the road (closest place that sells pool chemicals) and got the Clorax brand Shock, and the Clorax brand test kit. (in hind sight that test kid seems like a piece of junk, but I didn't know any better).
Anyway, I shocked the pool 3 times (each with a 1lb bottle of their shock stuff) and it got to the second pick. Progress, right? Then I used their test kit and all my levels (it tests hardness, total chlorine, free chlorine, ph, alkalinity, and stabilizer) were all zeros. That seemed impossible, but the app that goes along with the test kid said to get the alkalinity up first, so I did and now it's at 180, which it reports as a bit high for my pool size (12500 gallons). next I added stabilizer, and that is not at 50, which is in the ideal range for my pool, but on the low end, according to the app. I then called their help line to find out what to do next, and they suggested dumping a gallon or two of liquid chlorine in (I did one), and buying the chemical to get the pH up. So now I have the following levels and the pool looks like picture 3
Hardness - 0
Total Chlroine - 5
Free Chlorine - 10 (although the test strips max out at 10 so it could be higher)
pH - 6.8
Total Alkalinity - 180
Stabilizer - 50
I'm not confident in the test strips because the readings increase the longer you wait, and it's unclear when you're supposed to consider the test "done".
So anyway long story short, what do I do next? I looked around the site (was recommended by a friend) and I guess I have to do the SLAM process, right? I assume also get a reliable test kit?
The other issue I have is that I'm not entirely sure the filter works right. This is one of those Intex pools (so I'm tempted to just knock it down and put a swing set in for my kids cuz I feel like it will be july till this thing is usable), and the return stream seems to get weak after about 3-4 hours of filter operation. I've cleaned the filter out as best I can, and it seems like if I backwash the filter that brings the stream back up for another few hours. Whenever I backwash the water it dirty each time, but clears up about 30 -60 seconds after starting. Is it possible the water is just that filthy and requires that much backwashing? I know this is the algae forum but I also know a properly functioning filter is important.
Thanks!
