Hello! Just found this site and have my test kit ordered. I will post results when it arrives friday. 
In the meantime, Swampville is well on it's way to Sparklecity! We bought a distressed property that had not been resided in for 2 years. Yes, that means the lovely pool was not maintained or covered for 2 years. However, we have spent a dang fortune with the local pool people. It was a toxic waste dump. We've never had a pool before, and I was honestly afraid to go near the pool! So we hired the pool folks to get it clean. They began coming April 21st. Well, they dumped a ton of chemicals in and came back day after day and finally began leaf raking out the foot of sludge at the bottom. Each time they did this, they had to pour more chemicals in. I finally figured out that they should have done that from day one, before putting the expensive chemicals in (you can sludge blind in green swampwater).....Anyway, I stopped them after too much money was spent and we still had lots of sludge about 2 weeks ago. I did learn a few things from them, including using our spare pump in the basement to bypass the filter completely.
So I have been on my own for a few weeks continuing to leaf rake, shock, etc. Last week, I brought a sample to a pool store and they said everything was perfect. Well, the water was still cloudy, so that made no sense. We still could not see to the bottom. I shocked some more, and this week, it has been a bit clearer. Yesterday, I finally got the last remaining items from the bottom- a child's sock, a really disgusting 1' piece of plywood, and a pair of underwear.
The clearer water did allow me to see small troubling spots of brownish dirt that kept reappearing the last few days. The pool store told me that it was probably dirt from my filter, that had a leak and they could schedule a day to come fix it. I finally felt safe enough to go in 2 days ago, just to quickly check if the brown dirt was gritty or not. Well, it was not gritty and despite vacuuming and the shock, the brown dirt would return to certain parts of the pool. Yes, Mustard Algae. I am convinced of it. So, now after $150 of chemicals in the past two days, I set in earnest to solve this issue without spending $s more.
Is it okay to vacuum the algae through the filter system and backwash? I see we need to wash everything in site, and soak the rake, vacuum etc to prevent further infestation, but should I be vacuuming to waste? I hate to lose a lot of water after all the expensive chemicals! However, in reading tonight, it appears I will be moving to your system as soon as the kit comes and I can get my hands on LC.
Again, I will post my test results once they come in. My poor kids really want to swim! I was sure I would be gazing at their bobbing little heads by now when I started 6 weeks ago. Thank you in advance for helping me move from Swampville to Sparklecity. I just hope we'll get there soon! Maine has a very short pool season!
In the meantime, Swampville is well on it's way to Sparklecity! We bought a distressed property that had not been resided in for 2 years. Yes, that means the lovely pool was not maintained or covered for 2 years. However, we have spent a dang fortune with the local pool people. It was a toxic waste dump. We've never had a pool before, and I was honestly afraid to go near the pool! So we hired the pool folks to get it clean. They began coming April 21st. Well, they dumped a ton of chemicals in and came back day after day and finally began leaf raking out the foot of sludge at the bottom. Each time they did this, they had to pour more chemicals in. I finally figured out that they should have done that from day one, before putting the expensive chemicals in (you can sludge blind in green swampwater).....Anyway, I stopped them after too much money was spent and we still had lots of sludge about 2 weeks ago. I did learn a few things from them, including using our spare pump in the basement to bypass the filter completely.
So I have been on my own for a few weeks continuing to leaf rake, shock, etc. Last week, I brought a sample to a pool store and they said everything was perfect. Well, the water was still cloudy, so that made no sense. We still could not see to the bottom. I shocked some more, and this week, it has been a bit clearer. Yesterday, I finally got the last remaining items from the bottom- a child's sock, a really disgusting 1' piece of plywood, and a pair of underwear.
The clearer water did allow me to see small troubling spots of brownish dirt that kept reappearing the last few days. The pool store told me that it was probably dirt from my filter, that had a leak and they could schedule a day to come fix it. I finally felt safe enough to go in 2 days ago, just to quickly check if the brown dirt was gritty or not. Well, it was not gritty and despite vacuuming and the shock, the brown dirt would return to certain parts of the pool. Yes, Mustard Algae. I am convinced of it. So, now after $150 of chemicals in the past two days, I set in earnest to solve this issue without spending $s more. Is it okay to vacuum the algae through the filter system and backwash? I see we need to wash everything in site, and soak the rake, vacuum etc to prevent further infestation, but should I be vacuuming to waste? I hate to lose a lot of water after all the expensive chemicals! However, in reading tonight, it appears I will be moving to your system as soon as the kit comes and I can get my hands on LC.
Again, I will post my test results once they come in. My poor kids really want to swim! I was sure I would be gazing at their bobbing little heads by now when I started 6 weeks ago. Thank you in advance for helping me move from Swampville to Sparklecity. I just hope we'll get there soon! Maine has a very short pool season!
