How to shock/clean a Copper Ionized pool

[suspenders]

We just bought a house that has an in ground copper ionized pool that I am guessing has not been used for a year or two. I have been trying to clean it over the past couple of weeks and while it has gotten much better it still is not ready for use. I have never had any type of pool, so zero experience on cleaning any pool. I have used some algaecide stuff and some pool shock, but I have tried not to over do it on the chemicals.

Does anybody have any advice for me on the best and if possible, cheapest way to get the pool ready for use?

 

[ajw22]

Welcome to TFP.

Do you have copper staining on the pool yet?

I would disable and remove the copper ionizer ASAP.

Copper in Pool Water - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

How do you chlorinate the pool?

What test kit do you have?

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Your one-stop shop for all things TFP to include: ABCs of Water Chemistry, Recommended Chemicals/Levels, Test Kits, Troubleshooting, and much more!

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[JamesW]

Pictures?

 

[V___25]

Hi and welcome!
We have lots of advice for you on the best and cheapest ways to maintain your pool!

But first we need some basic info. Tell us about your pool, equipment, pics of the pool are always helpful, and tell us how your testing.
Definitely ditch that cooper ion thing and go with just liquid chlorine or a saltwater generator.

 

[suspenders]

The pool is configured to be a 100% copper ionized pool, which I have been told is a super awesome system, but only once you have it clean. The previous home owners said it worked great for them, but only from a day-to-day maintenance standpoint and that they had issues every year when they opened the pool until they got it cleaned. It has a setting for oxidation which is what it stays on typically, and only goes to ionization once a week, again once all the levels are good. I have zero previous experience, so if copper isn't a good way to go, I am open to removing it from the equation.

I only bought test strips and have yet to get a full-on kit. I was looking on this site to see what the recommendations are and will get one of those.

Here are some pictures of the pool, I scrubbed the bottom this morning and it is still cloudy from the algae I stirred up with the scrubbing. It has gotten better each day after I scrub and the filter processes everything. The vacuum the left seems to not work, as I am not seeing it sucking anything up.

 

[JamesW]

We typically recommend a SLAM, but you will probably end up with bad copper stains from a SLAM.

So, you can take that risk or try to dilute the copper down to a safe level and then SLAM to avoid copper stains.

You can test for copper to see where you are now.

Pool Care Basics

SLAM Process

FC/CYA Levels

PoolMath

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