Hello from the upper Clearwater canyon, Idaho (above the little town of Peck).

[calinb]

My family and I just bough an old homestead with a pool. I had a hot tub almost 40 years ago but never a pool and I'm climbing the pool learning curve! The pool is 17,500 gal. and it's been closed and covered for at least 3 years. Despite the cover, there's a decent amount of brown debris on the bottom (probably mostly decomposing leaf litter but also a dead garter snake). The water is only a bit little green--at least compared to the "about the worst I've ever seen" videos that I've watched on YouTube! The pool is over 25 years old (and unknown how much over).

We are on a spring so water is scarce but we have about 2500 gal. in a cistern to draw-from. That should get it up another 3 inches and over the skimmer for running. Sadly we have a sand filter so backwashing is the only way to clean it. Vacuuming to waste will waste (obviously) water! From maintenance logs left by the previous owners, they drained the pool about 18 years and acid / chlorine washed it. It took 11 tanker truckloads of water to fill it over a couple of days time!

I've read about the SLAM method and need to order a CYA test kit ASAP to get SLAM/shock started. I watched David Van Brunt's green pool videos(The Pool Guy channel), where he used Yellow Trine or SwampTreat, in addition to chlorine shock.

While I wait for supplies, I'm trying to use the leaf rake to get as much crud off the bottom as possible.

Wish me luck (maybe with a few tips, if you have a few moments). I'll be reading as much on this forum as possible later tonight but I'm back to leaf raking, ATM.

Thanks,

-Cal

 

[jblizzle]

Welcome to TFP!!!

Please do not try to mix the TFPC method and SLAM Process process with other methods to clear up a pool that you found on the internet.
It is just going to confuse things and may cause problems.

For example, we do not recommend the "Yellow" products that add ammonia to your pool.

 

[ctrav]

Welcome to TFP Cal...

TFPC is a very specific process and Jason has given very good advice! What test kit did you order as that is an important part of the process?

Test Kits Compared

ABC’s of Pool Water Chemistry

 

[calinb]

Thanks for the information on the test kits. I think I'll buy the TF100 kit with the XL option to double the number of Chlorine FAS/DPD tests. I'll probably need them!

It's strange that Inyopools did such a nice SLAM video and blog on green pools but doesn't sell the Taylor K2006 or K2006C kits anymore. They have the K2005 kits but the K2005 kits don't read high enough for SLAM so I think I'll order directly from TFtestkits. After I get as much crud out of the pool as possible, I'll have to cover it over again with a heavy sun-reflecting silver tarp while I wait for the test kit. The old tarp is shot, but probably spared the pool from even greater swamp degradation!

 

[jblizzle]

That INYO video is decent, but misses and messes up a few nuances that we teach here at tfp.

 

[calinb]

My pool's been open for 2 days! Thanks for all the advice. My TF-100 test kit took a week to arrive but I had already removed the heavy pool cover and started pool cleanup and repairs. I had to rewire my 220V to the pump, because the pump was overheating and of course not pumping very well with only one leg of the 220 VAC for power. The motor was tripping the breaker after about 5 seconds with all kinds of AC hum on the bad line and, just my luck, the short was in the underground conduit. Next I had to remove some PVC plumbing to the solar heating panels that was leaking and replace the panels with a loopback, because they were leaking too and I don't have time to replace them right now. After two or three days without a pump, I had a pool that was almost free of coarse debris (many hours spent netting with the leaf bag) but by then, an algae bloom was in full swing. I clearly could not wait for the TF-100 test kit to get started so I SLAMmED without it and kept SLAMming until the test kit arrived.

The last CYA reading from 4 years ago before the pool was closed was 30 ppm so I targeted 12 ppm for FC. I got pretty good at using an old OTO test that came with the pool. Before testing, I filled a beaker with four syringes of our well water (very soft and obviously no CL) and one syringe full from the pool. Then I multiplied the OTO test result by 5. I got pretty good at "cheating" without a DPD kit too by matching the first yellow hue quickly. I actually did have some DPD #1 tablets but they were very old and they seemed to read a touch low but who knows and it doesn't matter. Over the course of a week, I used 35 gallons of LC. Most of the jugs were 6% Wal-Mart but about 10 of them were KemTek 10% jugs from KMart, the cheapest LC I could find ($6.49 / 2 gal. box on sale), but I depleted KMart's shelves of it and had to pay $2.60 / gal. for Wally 6%.

By the time my TF-100 kit arrived with the XL option, I didn't need the extra FAS-DPD reagents of the XL option. On the first night, the pool passed the overnight test with the FAS-DPD!

So based on my experience, one doesn't need the excellent TF-100 kit to get started with swamp cleanup, but the kit's precision is certainly necessary to determine when to end the SLAM.