How To SLAM a swamp without no liquid chlorine?

[JodieM]

What is the suggestion when you can't get liquid chlorine or bleach at your local stores?
What is in bags of powder shock? Would that work in between waiting for Walmart.com orders of bleach to arrive?
Waiting for test results (I am helping someone I know. Have recommended he log into TFP and read and ask questions) Until then I'm trying my best to help.
I do know he has a 20K vinyl chlorine pool with sand filter, and heater and lives in Washington State.
So far he is in the scooping debris stage and hasn't used chems yet. His pool was closed for 18 months when he bought his house. First time pool owner and opening.
Thanks for any advice!
Ya'll are the best!

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Have he checked the pool section at Walmart? Folks have been pretty lucky finding their 10% Pool Essentials liquid chlorine for $3.64 or so while bleach shelves are empty.
Also pool stores may be still selling Liquid Shock.

Otherwise I'd suggest a major drain (leaving about 18" in shallow end since its vinyl) and refilling. Shorten that SLAM a bit.

Maddie

 

[JodieM]

I mentioned all of that to him yesterday. He said he couldn’t find anything in stock but he did find some bleach at his local little hardware store and ordered some from Walmart dot com. He also got a water test at the pool store while he waits for his test kit. They sold him Calcium Chloride Shock. His CH is low and he has a vinyl pool, so he shocked it today, but it won’t even be enough to touch his swamp. He is running the pool filter overnight and will be getting more bleach and switching over to TFP slam ASAP!

 

[kimkats]

Jodie I would have him drain the pool most of the way to get a head start. Tell him to leave at least a foot in the shallow end then refill. Tell him to keep getting as much stuff up and out that he can.

 

[mariane]

Since he has a vinyl liner, he does not need to increase calcium levels. It's expensive but if that is the only chlorine he can find it's ok. Like others have said, drain down some of the swamp, skim out the solids and refill. Also add chlorine BUT if the pump is not yet running, or water level is not up high enough, he will have to brush the sides and bottom of the pool so the liner does not get bleached out. And keep skimming as long as he sees solids in the pool.

Does the pump work? Is the filter set up yet? When the water levels get high enough, he can start running the pump and filtering the water.

 

[JodieM]

Marianne,his pump is running . I will advise a partial drain.

 

[mariane]

Mariane, his pump is running. I will advise a partial drain.

Great the pump is running.
With a partial drain down to 12" - 18" in the shallow end as kimkats and YippeeSkippy said, obviously he'll have to shut it off, turning back on only after refilling.
What kind of filter does he have?

 

[JodieM]

Sand Filter. He has been recirculating the shock the pool store sold him for 24 hours. I told him to change to filter today. I’ve suggested a partial drain, so far no comment. He thinks he has all of the leaves out and large debris off the bottom . Suggested dropping the robot in to see what comes up within a few min.