Help with next steps of clearing pool?

TurboBoost

Active member
Jul 4, 2021
28
Midwest
Pool Size
13500
Surface
Vinyl
Chlorine
Liquid Chlorine
Hey all!

I've had a pretty good summer with the pool this year, with the water staying nice and clear. Over the past couple of weeks, I started to notice a very slight tint of green, which I promptly corrected by increasing my chlorine level until the water looked clear again... Now I realize I should've done the drop test to confirm all was actually well.

We last used the pool this past Thursday, and the water remained (I thought) pretty good looking. I vacuumed, brushed, and then put the solar cover on.

Today when I uncovered it, about 5 days since last use, I found a good amount of algae looking material on the floor. The water was clear all the way to the floor, though. Vacuuming seems to have stirred the sediment up, as I expected would happen.

Upon seeing that, I vacuumed what I could, and am now running the filter with chlorine at SLAM level (after balancing the pH).

The issue I'm facing is that I'm going out of town for the next 4 days or so, and I'm not sure what to do with the pool while I'm away. I do have a chlorine feeder that I rarely use, so would it be best to lean on that while I'm away to hopefully keep the situation from getting worse?

Also, any ideas what I did wrong here? Maybe my mistake of not drop testing led to some small amount of algae turning into a larger mess during the 5 days we didn't use the pool? For what it's worth, there are quite a few trees nearby, and I had been using it about every other day and frequently vacuuming.

Edit: I also noticed today that I forgot to put the eye back into the return jet when I opened the pool this year. I don't think that would've really caused this issue, but figured it's worth mentioning.
 
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Also, any ideas what I did wrong here?
Hard to know without seeing history of your water testing. The PoolMath APP is a great tool to record your water history and allow us to also see your testing.

For now .......... SLAM Process!
 
Thanks for the responses, everyone!

I added extra chlorine to the pool, set the pump timer to run for longer, put the solar cover on... Then left, and came back to an astonishingly clear pool.

One issue I'm trying to figure out is why I continue to have debris (algae?) piles on one side of my pool. I've attached a picture, for reference. I vacuumed it to waste, and the pool is clear now. Still going to do a drop test tonight.

The only thing I can think of is that I don't have an eye in the return jet, are those a necessity to ensure stuff like this gets kicked up off the floor?
 

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One issue I'm trying to figure out is why I continue to have debris (algae?) piles on one side of my pool.
You never implemented the SLAM Process. The algae in your picture is very green, which means it is quite alive.

Follow the process to the letter until you meet all of the completion criteria and it will eliminate the algae.
 
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