Help. First time pool owner in Nassau County, NY.

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I would not turn pump off at night unless it was for one isolated night so I could see if I got any increased visibility, but wait for Swampwoman's advice before doing so.
Not too much beach time, could still get the pool pro out to show you the system. I think there may still be a problem with those valves, if he works them and sees what happens to return flows with just the little turning he may make more sense of it. Also to be sure you have the heater offline. I would do this sooner than later, like yesterday. LOL
Glad to hear the back is getting better and I am hoping we see a pic tomorrow of a clear blue pool. It could happen now that filter is filtering.
 
Good news with the system. The returns are pushing out water with more pressure. One return in the shallow area which I didn't bring up earlier is now working, a bit slower than the rest but it's ok. It appears the new normal PSI reading is between 15-16. So I'll look for the gauge to reach 19-20 before I Backwash.
Funny thing you mentioned the pool pro, Pool Amateur. My wife disagrees to pay a fee to have him explain the details of the system and anything else pool related. Between this and the clorox algaecide that was added, I am fighting a two pronged battle. .;)
Yes, the heater is not plugged in.
I shook things up pretty good yesterday, when I vacuumed and brushed, including the surface, so no progress on seeing anything today. The pool is still green. As soon as I see a slight improvement, I'll post. I'm short on space to upload more photos and I would prefer not to delete any more. I signed up with photobucket but I was unable to send photos to the thread.
Test results done at 8PM.
FC-13
CC -1.
I added 6 gallons of 12.5% liquid chlorine and brushed the walls near the deep return where I added the chlorine only. I didn't want to shake things up. I will leave the pump running.
 
Good morning, George.
Glad to hear the filtering is going better!

Normally in a Slam, folks say to brush brush brush and vacuum...so my advice about not disturbing the silt/sand and only pulling from the skimmers seems at odds ;) But it is at odds for a specific reason...

In your case, with heavy sediment and the unknown pool history together with clogs, we're using the "swampy variation" on the SLAM program in the hope of getting enough clarity to assess the bottom. In this case, you really want to let the filter run for a good few days and stay above your SLAM Process level at all times.

With the volume of sand that may be in the water, we'll need to determine the best way to get it out once we see how mch of the top layers clear up. But before assessing that, we also want to see how the FC holds over the next few days as well.

So you are slamming, but your not scooping, brushing or vacuuming, as counterintuitive as that seems ;)

One thing I wanted to note - I will take pcs any way you can show me, eg, by inserting links...but if you became a TFP supporter by making a donation you would be able to upload more here on the site. The link to support TFP is in my signature.
 
Here is a link to the tutorial on how to upload from photobucket. The 1st part explains how to upload to site, the second have how to upload from photobucket. But I assume from memory of previous post you have photo bucket account, were able to upload to photobucket account but could not get it to link. Once you upload to the photobucket website, left double click on the pic you want to upload, look to the right under"share this photo" the last thing listed is "IMG", in the box it will start with "URL" put the curser in the box and right single click on that box, a drop down box appears choose copy. Then go to window of TFP where you are writing a post and paste. I am trying it now so heres my pic if it works:


By the way it is a good thing to become a supporter, I usually do not mention till your problem is solved then you see how much you saved.

- - - Updated - - -

By the way I had to edit this because when I highlighted what was in the "IMG" box to copy I did not highlight the whole URL script, did it again and it worked.
 
20170612_120118_zpsv5wpielc.jpg Photo by gdemet1 | Photobucket

20170612_120118_zpsv5wpielc.jpg Photo by gdemet1 | Photobucket

I tried to add with photobucket but not much difference in the pool yet. I added another gallon of 12.5% liquid chlorine as it will be 95 degrees and sunny today and there will be more chlorine loss. I read that chlorine should be added at sunset to get the most benefit but does that include during the SLAM process? Thanks Swampwoman. Patiently waiting to see more of the pool.

Thanks for the photobucket tutorial, Pool Amateur. Now that's a great looking pool. Did you add boric acid or do you use borax and muriatic acid?
 
[url="http://rs1376.pbsrc.com/albums/ah19/gdemet1/20170612_120118_zpsv5wpielc.jpg?w=480&h=480&fit=clip"]http://rs1376.pbsrc.com/albums/ah19/gdemet1/20170612_120118_zpsv5wpielc.jpg?w=480&h=480&fit=clip[/url][img]



Looks like there is chlorine around the top of the pool. Should I leave it alone?
 
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Checked the pool and now I can see the bottom in the shallow end. There does not appear to be any debris or silt left but there is plenty of sand scattered about.
Should I wait to see how it looks in the deep end before vacuuming? Is it too early to tell if I need a trash pump?
It seems highly unlikely but now that the filter is running properly, what steps can I take to clear it up as much as possible by Sunday, June 25?
While rearranging stuff in the garage I found a robotic vacuum. I don't know if it works but if it does, can this be used to vacuum the sand at the bottom? It's the Dolphin Diagnostic 2001.
Test results:
FC-15.
CC -1.
 
what steps can I take to clear it up as much as possible by Sunday, June 25
Click to expand...
?

Now that is a man after my own heart (my kids, and wife to). Great to hear you can see to bottom of shallows, very good sign. Sand on bottom not organic, but something has that water green. Keep up the slam.

Before I steer you wrong again, I will wait for Swampwoman.

As for your wife not wanting to bring back pool pro who gave you bum steer on additives. He just did not know, most people just recite what they are told instead of looking into science. One big hurdle I had when I stumbled onto site while trying to figure out if I could do anything besides bring in backhoe and digging up concrete, was: how could the mainstream of the industry be so wrong about the effect of CYA on chlorine. But it appears they are, that said the vast majority of pools are managed this way. I do not think it is totally profit motivated, I think a lot is ignorance. I know half the people who work at chain stores do not even have pools and therefore never managed a pool, just recite what they are told.

Can you get any pics of plumbing going into heater or out of heater and valves. I know I keep harping on this but want want to be positive you do not have high chlorine water still running through heater.
 
Ok, I'll send pics of the heater and the nearby plumbing.
My daughter's birthday party on June 25. Even though I advised her that the pool will likely not be ready, she is hoping it's gonna be a pool party.

Yes, you're right about the pool industry. Too many have a lack of basic knowledge of the proper chemical levels and other related issues. The day that I purchased sand, one of the workers at LI Recreation told me that pool sand needs to be changed every year. I nodded and proceeded to the register to pay but there are so many people that believe what he says.
 

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Yea we have such a short season, need to make the most of it. There is a real chance of that having that pool party, just do not want to get hopes up to high. I have had one of those deadlines, and I made it. It could be those laterals were "the" main problem. If the color were blue I would be feeling even more positive about that. I think Swampwoman has a good plan and be good to follow. But while waiting keep collecting info and learning. Many of the difficult cases have something weird going on and you just have to systematically keep eliminating and learning. I remember one person had a on/off valve in the waste line. The person bought the house that way and she ran the pool at least one year and everything was OK the next year she could not get it to clear. Of course this was not mentioned until a few weeks into the problem, then it was told that when the valve was opened it leaked water out the waste line. It was a $10 spider gasket that solved the problem in a few days.
 
Keep filtering and slamming so you can get a visual on the deep end before you go stirring it up again.

The robot may just blow it all around.
Please post pictures of where its at later today or tomorrow morning.

Can you also refresh me on what your last CYA reading was, and by how much FC is dropping each time between doses?

If you're going to try do the slow VAC to waste, you need it all to settle before you start, and then you will likely have a few sessions, with a lot of settling between, and adding water.

At TFP, we generally are opposed to using floc because it only works half the time if conditions are just right, and it interferes with a slam. And if someone has trouble vacuuming to waste, it can create an even bigger mess. But if after another day or so the particulate isn't dropping, and if you're algae is completely dead (water will keep looking whiter and whiter), Alum floc might be a back up to get the sand to drop. But I think it will drop on its own and I don't want to complicate a clearing that has already been complicated ;)

If the shallow end cleared enough in a day of filtering to see the bottom, the deep end shouldn't be too far behind.
 
Now that's a great looking pool. Did you add boric acid or do you use borax and muriatic acid?
Click to expand...

Thanks for the compliment, but that looked a lot worse than yours, besides all the decomposing leaves, branches and grill, there was what I believe to be caked on black algae stuck to the side, but a lot of brushing after it cleared cleaned it up, brush to get top dead layer off and expose live layer, come back in an hour or 2 and brush again. You could see the dead carcasses sluff off.

No I I did not do borax to soften water, the only borax added was after I added a lot of dry acid, a day before I got my TFP test kit. I got pool store to test ph because I thought surely they could test that accurately. Then bought their dry acid at double the price of muriatic acid to drop PH so low I added a lot borax to bring borax back up. Kept adding amount to bring up from 6.8 (bottom of my scale) to 7.2 about 6 times, that is how off pool store was. Thank God I never swam in it. Another lesson learned. I bought the test strips to try it but always too busy and pool looks great as long as I do not use solar cover. I now have solar cover on with new plan, will see how that goes. Always learning.
 
Swampwoman, recent CYA level on June 7th was between 30-35.
I will wait and see how the deep end looks this afternoon.
I ordered the leaf cannister you recommended. What a great concept not having to empty the skimmer and pump basket while vacuuming.

Does slow vac to waste mean vacuuming to waste with the water hose attached to vac plate while skimmer valve is on only and drain valve almost off, while moving the vacuum slowly as to not shake things up? Can I do this before the deep end clears?

Pool Amateur, I don't think I understood what you mentioned about the lady who had an issue with the spider gasket.
The valve closest to my pump has 3 positions. 1)Skimmers on only. 2)skimmers and drain. 3)Drain only.
Are you saying she needed a new spider gasket in the valve or at the multiport valve on top of the filter? At the multiport valve there is a vacuum to waste option. Where was her on/off valve located?
I would like to check if I have a problem here also.
 
Sorry I was only using her story of as an example, her problem not remotely your problem. Just something weird that was not mentioned and was the cause for her long SLAM. So when Slam goes long, while many times it is just a factor of a lot of organics just not killed, there can also be underlying problems. I think Swampwoman has some underlying issues in mind that she is methodically checking off, and I think it best to follow her instructions to the letter so we do not mess that up, but in the mean time collect as much info as possible.

But just so you understand what her problem was: the spider gasket in her multiport was bad so that most of water from pool was not being sent through filter but bypassed as if she had multiport on re circulate. The clue that spider gasket was bad, water coming out waste port. But I have not heard anything from you to suggest this yet.

What I do have a concern about and I may be overly obsessing about it is; multivalve that controls returns seems finiky, and would really like to know exactly what it controls. AND I have never heard of installing a heating system without a bypass valve to not let water go to heat system. But I am relatively new to this. But I do not think it would be good to be pumping high concentration of chlorine through heat exchanger's copper piping. It could leach copper into water. Thus my obsession with being sure that is not happening.
 
Thanks for bringing this up. I would like to verify this is not an issue.
There are no leaks coming from the multiport valve. During Backwashing, the small sight glass leaks. Is this ok?
Where exactly is the waste port located? I can't find it.
There is something attached to the filter piping that probably means nothing but I'll mention it. There is a part made out of plastic that is connected to the PVC piping in the front of the filter. It allows me to see the condition of the water. There are about 4-5 small holes and when the pump/filter is on Backwash and Rinse while the pump basket is full of water shaking around, water spits out from this part.
You have any ideas what this part's role is?
 
George,
You should have 3 in/outs on top of your filter.
One should be from the pump to the filter
The second would be the outlet from the filter back to the pool
The third should be waste. It may not have anything connected to it.
 
Test Results :
FC -22
CC-1.
Added 6 gallons of 12.5% chlorine. The shallow end was more visible and the sides of the deep end along with all the steps were visible also.
I count not see the floor though.
The leaf cannister came in. Does it get connected directly to the vac plate on one side and the vacuum hose on the other? Would inserting a mesh bag make it more effective?
 
Swampwoman, recent CYA level on June 7th was between 30-35.
Click to expand...

FC -22
CC-1.
Added 6 gallons of 12.5% chlorine.
Click to expand...

adding 6 gal of 12.5% bleach to a 35K pool brings FC over 40 ppm if I am useing pool Math correctly and reading your post correctly. If so, that is way too much. If your CYA reading was 30 -35 and you want to round up to CYA= 40, then FC shock level= 16, if you want to go to 20 so you stay above shock level of 16 for SLAM OK. But over 40 way too high and you are risking damaging your equipment.

There is something attached to the filter piping that probably means nothing but I'll mention it. There is a part made out of plastic that is connected to the PVC piping in the front of the filter. It allows me to see the condition of the water. There are about 4-5 small holes and when the pump/filter is on Backwash and Rinse while the pump basket is full of water shaking around, water spits out from this part.
You have any ideas what this part's role is?
Click to expand...

I do not know but would like to find out. If the above phenomenon happens when Multiport valve is on backwash or rinse, it should also happen on waste. Then this would be your waste port line.
By ins/outs, do you mean the PVC piping? One of the 3 PVC pipes leads back to the natural gas heater. I checked the waste line pipe and saw no leaking at the end where the waste water comes out.
Click to expand...

Yes I do believe he meant PVC piping. Follow the line going to heater, any valve in the line before it gets to heater? If so take pictures.

If no leaking at end where the waste water comes out, then no leaking of waste port.
 

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