I'll try to make this as short as possible while still giving all relevant information. Got my pool in early April and even with two birthday parties with way more kid in the pool than I've ever had before, I've had no issues with it or chemistry until now.
We recently had 9 days in a row of torrential rain which caused our garage to be flooded. I had to partially drain the pool 4 times due to overflow, to get the water level back below the skimmer. I am not sure what the overall amount of water loss from the pool was, but I kept monitoring my levels and maintaining the best I could. The rain finally stopped last Wednesday and my water was still sparkly blue, but had tons of sand, pollen, and small debris in it that my stock Intex cartridge filter couldn't handle alone. I vacuumed with my Catfish Blaster repeatedly and got enough sand and dirt to fill a kids sandbox - seriously - but I could still see sand. At this point, the water was becoming cloudy. Thursday morning, I went out to vacuum again. Got more sand and small fine particles that looked like nose hairs. Weird, I know. The more I vacuum, the more cloudy it got. By Friday morning, still sand on the bottom, but no more sand is coming out of the vacuum bag. When I vacuum or brush, the water becomes so cloudy that I can't see the bottom anymore.
Time to assume it's mustard algae because when I brush or or try to vacuum it, it "poofs" away. It was not slimy, and wasn't on the walls. Only in patches on the floor. I checked my levels, then dumped 3 lbs of shock into the pool that night. Saturday morning, water was so cloudy, and milky. Couldn't see floor at all. When you brush, it would stir up white stuff everywhere. Continued to brush and test. Sunday morning, looked a little better, but still very cloudy. Levels are all still good, except for chlorines, of course.
Monday, still cloudy, but when you scoop water out in a clear mason jar the water is perfectly clear!! I try to vacuum from the bottom of the pool to get some cloudy water, but it's clear too. Stumped, I go to the pool store for help. He says all my levels are right. Chlorine levels have drifted down a little, but are still high. Salt level is low, probably because I had to drain it so many times during the storms. Phosphate levels are extremely high. He said they've been flooded with calls from people in the area about the same issues. He sold me PhosFree, and some my husband all the parts we needed to finally repair the Hayward sand filter that the previous owner of our house left behind when they buried their inground pool last summer before listing the house for sale. It's now up and running, as can be seen in my sig. Added the amount of PhosFree he told me to, and woke up yesterday morning to a clear pool. I could even see the liner pattern. I could also see brown gunk on the floor. Of course, it poofs away and becomes super cloudy again when I try to brush. I have lots of bleach ready to perform a SLAM, but was waiting for my test kit to arrive so I can finally do things the way of the forum. Before, I was using test strips and the Clorox XtraBlue shock from walmart. Not ideal, but had to do what I could while I waited for my kit.
With the exception of the 5-10 minutes it took to swap from my Intex filter/pump to the Hayward sand filter, it's stayed on 24/7 since I dumped the shock in last week.
So now here's where I need your help: What order do I do everything in?
-- Do I SLAM first?
-- Do I add more PhosFree before or after SLAM? (he said I'd have to do it multiple times due to the high levels I had)
-- When do I add the salt?
-- How do I know when the algae is dead? Can I tell by looking at it?
My test kit came today (Taylor K20016) and here's the numbers: FC 5.4, CC 0.6, PH 7.6, TA 130, Stabilizer 80, Salt 2200
Photos of pool water in first comment.
We recently had 9 days in a row of torrential rain which caused our garage to be flooded. I had to partially drain the pool 4 times due to overflow, to get the water level back below the skimmer. I am not sure what the overall amount of water loss from the pool was, but I kept monitoring my levels and maintaining the best I could. The rain finally stopped last Wednesday and my water was still sparkly blue, but had tons of sand, pollen, and small debris in it that my stock Intex cartridge filter couldn't handle alone. I vacuumed with my Catfish Blaster repeatedly and got enough sand and dirt to fill a kids sandbox - seriously - but I could still see sand. At this point, the water was becoming cloudy. Thursday morning, I went out to vacuum again. Got more sand and small fine particles that looked like nose hairs. Weird, I know. The more I vacuum, the more cloudy it got. By Friday morning, still sand on the bottom, but no more sand is coming out of the vacuum bag. When I vacuum or brush, the water becomes so cloudy that I can't see the bottom anymore.
Time to assume it's mustard algae because when I brush or or try to vacuum it, it "poofs" away. It was not slimy, and wasn't on the walls. Only in patches on the floor. I checked my levels, then dumped 3 lbs of shock into the pool that night. Saturday morning, water was so cloudy, and milky. Couldn't see floor at all. When you brush, it would stir up white stuff everywhere. Continued to brush and test. Sunday morning, looked a little better, but still very cloudy. Levels are all still good, except for chlorines, of course.
Monday, still cloudy, but when you scoop water out in a clear mason jar the water is perfectly clear!! I try to vacuum from the bottom of the pool to get some cloudy water, but it's clear too. Stumped, I go to the pool store for help. He says all my levels are right. Chlorine levels have drifted down a little, but are still high. Salt level is low, probably because I had to drain it so many times during the storms. Phosphate levels are extremely high. He said they've been flooded with calls from people in the area about the same issues. He sold me PhosFree, and some my husband all the parts we needed to finally repair the Hayward sand filter that the previous owner of our house left behind when they buried their inground pool last summer before listing the house for sale. It's now up and running, as can be seen in my sig. Added the amount of PhosFree he told me to, and woke up yesterday morning to a clear pool. I could even see the liner pattern. I could also see brown gunk on the floor. Of course, it poofs away and becomes super cloudy again when I try to brush. I have lots of bleach ready to perform a SLAM, but was waiting for my test kit to arrive so I can finally do things the way of the forum. Before, I was using test strips and the Clorox XtraBlue shock from walmart. Not ideal, but had to do what I could while I waited for my kit.
With the exception of the 5-10 minutes it took to swap from my Intex filter/pump to the Hayward sand filter, it's stayed on 24/7 since I dumped the shock in last week.
So now here's where I need your help: What order do I do everything in?
-- Do I SLAM first?
-- Do I add more PhosFree before or after SLAM? (he said I'd have to do it multiple times due to the high levels I had)
-- When do I add the salt?
-- How do I know when the algae is dead? Can I tell by looking at it?
My test kit came today (Taylor K20016) and here's the numbers: FC 5.4, CC 0.6, PH 7.6, TA 130, Stabilizer 80, Salt 2200
Photos of pool water in first comment.
