Death Swamp

[unkyjoe]

I did not take care of my pool at the end of last season.

The stairs were removed and the pool left to do it's thing.

A cat fell into the water "at some point" during the winter, how long ago I have no idea, in addition to a dead bird. Animals tend to decay slowly or not at all in water, so needless to say I have a mess to clean up.

I also am going back to liquid chlorine from SWG so I have drained the pool to about 18 inches of the bottom on a non-windy day.

I have refilled with fresh water, removed the large items from the pool including the dead animal, and am now slamming the pool, in addition I have my robot pool cleaner running to get the debris off of the bottom, cleaning it out every 30 minutes. Gone from green to aqua green to brown and now back to green, but still I am continuing with the slam and removing as much of the heavy debris to make the chlorine's job easier, I will post some pics. Point is, keep with it, as it can take some time, I started my slam 3 days ago and still working.

P.S. Also experimenting with some of those "pool balls" little polyester balls that can filter out fine particles, I throw them in the skimmer basket until they need to be rinsed and cleaned, been taking about 2 days before they inhibit water flow. We will see if they help clear the dead algae.

 

[SJPoe]

Regular pictures during the process - it's amazing when you put them altogether at the end and you can see the progression as it clears up.

Sorry about the animals.....although I kind feel like there is a story there, I don't know why, but did the cat chase the bird who chased the spider who chased the fly ?

 

[Bill Winston]

Grabbing my popcorn - can’t wait to see your progress! Pics, pics! My wife loves dr pimple popper - I love slam pics. Very satisfying.

 

[unkyjoe]

Pictures coming, been busy with the slam, and a dirty sand filter that clogs every 24hrs, the sand is old and needs a deep clean, so I have reached the point in the slam where I am no longer losing Chlorine overnight, but the pool is overwhelmed with fine particles in the water, so, added some floc so these will sink to the floor of the pool and clear the water so I can see to vacuum to waste, I do not normally floc a pool or recommend others do it, but from experience "history" that this filter is clogged, so tomorrow I hope to be able to see the bottom of the pool so I can vacuum up the debris, and then continue the slam until all of the params are met, I am also changing out the filter this year, but wanted to leave the old one in place as long as possible to clear the water.

 

[unkyjoe]

Here is a recent photo.

 

[unkyjoe]

My hopes were shattered...Well not really, the floc did not do the trick, so still maintaining the slam, and just hoping the filter can get the rest of the dead algae and what not remaining in the water. If not, I have another filter on standby that is brand new. More pictures coming.

 

[JJ_Tex]

Wow, lots of scary stuff going on in this post... dead cats, birds, algae, pool balls and the most scary thing of all Floc.

Did you run the floc through your filter? If so, you likely gummed up your filter.

Just stick to the SLAM and have some patience and your water will be clear in a week or two, probably perfect timing for swim season.