Hello everyone, happy to have joined here to learn as much as I can to keep my pool in good running order. This is my 2nd year in my current home, and thus, my 2nd year operating a pool. Last year was relatively pain free. Had one mild bout of algae but otherwise it was clear and blue for most of the summer.
This summer, not so much... Sorry for the length of this backstory but I figure it's all relative. One thing I will say right up front is this. I am very much a novice at this and I realized a few weeks ago that I missed a step when I closed the pool last year. I unhooked the pump and drained that, but I never took off the drain cap for the filter, so I assume there was water in there all winter that froze and unfroze and froze and unfroze. I beginning to think that may be my problem.
For most of the summer, I have had problems with dirt on the bottom of my pool floor. I say "dirt" but I am not sure if it's actual dirt, dead algae, or sand from my filter. I would vacuum every few days and the dirt would come right back. My next door neighbors were good friends with the previous owner and he estimated that it as been 3-4 years since the sand has been changed. Then, in the last week of July, it started turning green, even though my FAC level was well within "normal" range. (in my lurking I have learned about the relationship between CYA and FAC, but I can't comment on what my CYA level was when this problem started). So, I take my water to the pool store, and with the levels being "good" they suggest that I may have a filter problem. Yada yada yada, I have a pool service guy out and he says I have a bad multiport. I can replace the multiport for about 1/4 of the cost of a new filter, so I go that route. He's confident the multiport being replaced will fix my dirt problem and thus my algae problem. Problem is, I'm going on vacation the next day, so while he replaced the multiport while I was gone, nobody was there to treat the algae. I came home to my pool looking like this:
So, 20 bags of shock and a lot of scrubbing later I have the pool blue again, not clear, but blue. I think I'm out of the woods. According to my test strips (I know) the levels are good. I had to add some soda ash to up my PH but the FAC and CYA were within the ranges they should be according to the bottle. However, the dirt keeps coming back on the floor and the now, the last 2 days even with what I thought was acceptable FAC the pool is turning green again. I plan on going home tonight and scrubbing and shocking it but I am not sure why I am still having these problems.
Based on my reading of previous threads, I believe some of the advice I will be getting will be:
Right now, it's just a very light green, so I am sure it won't take much shock to get rid of it. But I need to know why I keep having this dirt problem. Since the sand is 3-4 years old, I have ordered 100lbs of ZeoSand because I believe, at minimum, that I need to remove the sand and inspect the laterals and standpipe because I am becoming more and more certain that I damaged them by not draining the filter last winter. So, my questions are (and please be blunt because you can't be harder on me than I've been on myself already):
Bonus round: One of my co-workers has a brother who is in pool maintenance and service. I sent him a text and asked him what his thoughts were and his single response was "sounds like it's time for a DE filter". I read up on that and maybe that's the way to go, I have no idea but another opinion from a pool guy.
So.. yeah, thanks for your help. Thanks for this informative forum. And please someone save me before I bulldoze my pool and put in a slip and slide.
This summer, not so much... Sorry for the length of this backstory but I figure it's all relative. One thing I will say right up front is this. I am very much a novice at this and I realized a few weeks ago that I missed a step when I closed the pool last year. I unhooked the pump and drained that, but I never took off the drain cap for the filter, so I assume there was water in there all winter that froze and unfroze and froze and unfroze. I beginning to think that may be my problem.
For most of the summer, I have had problems with dirt on the bottom of my pool floor. I say "dirt" but I am not sure if it's actual dirt, dead algae, or sand from my filter. I would vacuum every few days and the dirt would come right back. My next door neighbors were good friends with the previous owner and he estimated that it as been 3-4 years since the sand has been changed. Then, in the last week of July, it started turning green, even though my FAC level was well within "normal" range. (in my lurking I have learned about the relationship between CYA and FAC, but I can't comment on what my CYA level was when this problem started). So, I take my water to the pool store, and with the levels being "good" they suggest that I may have a filter problem. Yada yada yada, I have a pool service guy out and he says I have a bad multiport. I can replace the multiport for about 1/4 of the cost of a new filter, so I go that route. He's confident the multiport being replaced will fix my dirt problem and thus my algae problem. Problem is, I'm going on vacation the next day, so while he replaced the multiport while I was gone, nobody was there to treat the algae. I came home to my pool looking like this:
So, 20 bags of shock and a lot of scrubbing later I have the pool blue again, not clear, but blue. I think I'm out of the woods. According to my test strips (I know) the levels are good. I had to add some soda ash to up my PH but the FAC and CYA were within the ranges they should be according to the bottle. However, the dirt keeps coming back on the floor and the now, the last 2 days even with what I thought was acceptable FAC the pool is turning green again. I plan on going home tonight and scrubbing and shocking it but I am not sure why I am still having these problems.
Based on my reading of previous threads, I believe some of the advice I will be getting will be:
- get a TF-100 testing kit
- once i get that get a real reading of my levels and post them here
Right now, it's just a very light green, so I am sure it won't take much shock to get rid of it. But I need to know why I keep having this dirt problem. Since the sand is 3-4 years old, I have ordered 100lbs of ZeoSand because I believe, at minimum, that I need to remove the sand and inspect the laterals and standpipe because I am becoming more and more certain that I damaged them by not draining the filter last winter. So, my questions are (and please be blunt because you can't be harder on me than I've been on myself already):
- Am I right to think I need to inspect the inside of my filter for possible damage because of freezing?
- If there is no damage, is it possible that the sand just needed to be replaced?
- If the answer to those questions is no, what other troubleshooting steps should I take to figure out why I'm having these problems?
- Is it possible that the dirt on the floor of the pool has nothing to do with it turning green again?
Bonus round: One of my co-workers has a brother who is in pool maintenance and service. I sent him a text and asked him what his thoughts were and his single response was "sounds like it's time for a DE filter". I read up on that and maybe that's the way to go, I have no idea but another opinion from a pool guy.
So.. yeah, thanks for your help. Thanks for this informative forum. And please someone save me before I bulldoze my pool and put in a slip and slide.
