Feeling overwhelmed

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dnor28

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LifeTime Supporter
May 9, 2007
20
Cartersville, GA
Ok, I know I messed up and messed up bad. Our pool was installed April 2007 and I started the BBB method at that time. I have stuck to it and tried to close my pool as best I could understand when the swimming season was over. During swimming season, I only had one issue with algea and that was after a very nasty storm came through. I was able to get a handle on it and stayed clean all season. Here is where I messed up. I did not have the money to purchase a cover for my pool before I did a closing on it, due to some personal issues. So it stayed open to the elements. I tried to keep things clean as best I could but I was having a tough time with back problems and had to quit working on the pool through the winter season because of the back pain becoming too much. Now it looks exactly like this pool that was posted on this topic Here. I had to have back surgery and was home from the end of Feb through to last week. So I took the time to really take long stares at the pool and cry, since I couldn't do anything else...lol. I am so overwhelmed and feel like I may be defeated before I even getting started to work on getting it cleaned up.

I have never owned a pool before in my life till we got this one. The biggest overwhelming part is my pool is not only the ugliest green swap you have ever seen, but it is infested with slugs. Little baby slugs and I have never been so grossed out in all my life! And when I mean infested, I mean there has to be at least a million of them in my pool. I just honestly feel like I have no idea what to do and thinking of draining the pool and starting all over again. I work full time so I can't be home to really make sure that the pool is looked to every hour till I can kill off the algea and keep thinking I won't get anywhere. And how the heck do I get rid of the slugs...and how the heck did they get in my pool? Has anyone ever had to fight this kind of fight with there pool and that can give me some pointers...maybe tell me that I can do this, or something? lol sorry I am just wishing now I had never gotten this pool.

I know one thing....if I can ever get this pool clean again, I will never ever not have a cover over it!
 
Things aren't as bad as they appear. Cleaning up the pool will take a little work, but it is quite possible. Once you get some chlorine in the pool the slugs will either go away or get killed. You should read my write up on cleaning up a neglected pool for the procedure you need to follow to get things cleaned up.

We will help you though the process. Tell us how things are going and ask questions about anything you don't understand or are unsure of.

Good Luck!
 
Yes, those slugs would be pretty darn gross. I gather they're suspended in the water and clinging to the sides? You probably have another gazillion on the bottom but can't see them because the water is green.

The green water you can deal with via Jason's method. It takes a little time, a lot of bleach, and brushing the bottom to move the algae, even when you can't see the bottom. Happened to me last year (the green water, due to a prolonged absence) and it really is fixable.

Now, as to the slugs, I'd be spending some time with a net, scooping out as many as I can. I'd dump them in a bucket with salt water which I'd then empty in a spot on my property where I don't want anything to grow. If you don't have any such spot you could maybe dump it down the toilet, slowly, so you don't clog it up.

You can put an old nylon in the skimmer basket and have it catch the slugs. Wear rubber gloves, pull it out now and then, and add them to the salt water bucket.

Sorry about your back. I have back problems, nothing as severe as yours, but I can sympathise with the pain.

AnnaK
 
The good news is that you can NEVER mess up so bad that we cannot help you fix it!! Ok, maybe if you fill in your pool :shock:

Stick to the advice given here and you cannot go wrong. Reminder: Scoop as much debris from the bottom as you can, so the bleach can clean your water, and not the slugs and leaves on the bottom! Keep scooping, brushing and shocking, and you will be back to blue in no time!!
 
Thank you so much for the encouragement everyone! I was having a terrible day that day and felt very much defeated. We have begun the process of cleaning the pool that afternoon after posting and this morning it is a very light green already...yippy! :lol: I can't see anything on the bottom of the pool but we have been brushing and trying to get what we can out of it. That is probably the hardest part by far since I am not having any luck getting anything out. I think I may be just moving it around instead of getting it in the net. But I am not giving up. I will be back at it again when I get home from work today. Slugs look dead now. They aren't even moving and I have scooped a bunch out. I think I have added enough bleach to the pool that I could kill a small army...haha. I may end up bleaching the liner a bit but I know since I cant seem to get the stuff out of the bottom of the pool I will be having to keep the levels up to kill the algae. My hub and I plan on trying to vacuum the bottom to see what we can get out of it this weekend. That may prove to bit of a challenge but hey, what else do I have to loose. One thing that is proving the hardest with an Above ground pool, is that I have not been able to get the deck built around the pool yet, so it is kind of hard to do all this stuff standing outside the pool. Arms get very tired...lol

Thanks for the link on cleaning that pool...that was a great write up and very helpful! I will post this weekend my pool levels and that way you guys can give me more pointers on getting them back to the right levels. And I will post pictures of what it looks like so far. It looks a lot better then when we started but still gross :wink:
 
Well guys, I had every intentions of keeping you guys up to date and getting a pic on here but many things happened that got in the way :? My camera broke, my daughter is very sick with gallstones (and she is only 14) and it rained a gazillon times so we always had to start over again on the pool. Finally the rain has ceased for the moment and we are back to square one. I have been shocking, shocking, shocking, none stop but can't get it to turn milky white. It is milky but a very slight touch of green to it. And very slight. I have vaccummed all I can (can't see the bottom so I have no idea what I am getting and what I am not). Had to clean my filter once cause it got so nasty that it would barely push water back out the return, and I brush every day as much as I can. I feel like I am getting no where.

My levels are:

FC 0
Chlorine 3
CYA 40
Calcium 80
PH 7
Alkalinity 100

I have added about 18 pounds all together to get my total alkalinity up but it remains around 100. I can't get my FC to go anything above 0. I have not added any calcium to the pool yet cause I was trying to get my FC up. I finally talked to the pool store this morning and they recommended that I do Super Floc and in 48 hours I should have everything to the bottom of the pool and try to vaccum it all out and see if this would help. PH is down from the 8 it was sitting at but it seems to be staying at 7.

I have been having problems now with the filter. It will work great for a day and then all the sudden it will not push out the water like it was....the water will be coming out of the return and normally the water in the pool stays moving, but when it does this, it will not move the water that much. So I have to turn it to whirlpool for about a minute and then turn it back to filter and it will again push the water out like it needs to. I have cleaned my filter and backwashed several times but it keeps doing this. I just put this pool in last year and so the sand is only a year old. I am wondering if this is part of my problem with getting the stuff killed in my pool. I am just about ready to change my sand, and drain the pool and start completely over. I honestly don't know what else to do.
 
It sounds like you simply have way too much physical material in the pool so the chlorine is overwhelmed and consumed very quickly. It also sounds like the clearing process using the filter is too slow. So a flocculant (OMNI Liquid Floc Plus is another good one) will rapidly consolidate what is in the water and settle it to the bottom at which point you would need to vacuum to waste. It's not usually the first thing one does, but in your situation since you've got so much to clear it could make things go faster (at a cost).

Richard
 

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Hey Richard! Thanks for the reply. I am going to get some of that today at the pool store when I leave work. I have a question though...you said to vacuum to waste. On my filter system it has a whirlpool setting, backwash, test, and filter. Would I do it as a vacuum to backwash at the same time? And if so, it is gonna cause me to have to keep filling the water with a water hose at the same time as I do it, so it this the right thing?
 
dnor28 said:
On my filter system it has a whirlpool setting, backwash, test, and filter. Would I do it as a vacuum to backwash at the same time? And if so, it is gonna cause me to have to keep filling the water with a water hose at the same time as I do it, so it this the right thing?
Click to expand...

No, don't vacuum on backwash. Whirlpool is Jacuzzi's term for Recirculate, and I'm pretty sure all Jacuzzi valves have a drain setting, which is waste.
 
ohhhh ok....ty so much for that information. I never knew that. Guess I will always learn something new when it comes to the pools :wink: I will try this and also I am going for a new camera today too so hopefully I will get to get some before and after pics this time. I will let you guys know how it goes after I do this.
 
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