I feel defeated, what should my next steps be to balance pool?

[Helen01]

Hello everyone,
I had left the cover on my pool off for 2 days and because of how bad the pollen season has been it has basically infected my pool. I’m feeling so defeated because I’m facing a number of issues. I had paid someone (reputable and well known) to open up the pool as it was in our contract when we bought our house. The person was really rude and told me he’s only putting enough chemicals for a day or two so I should put more myself after that (even though we paid him to do a full opening including chemicals). After 2 days I did a water test strip only to find the pool had 0 alkaline, 5.5 ph, 0 chlorine, 0 chlorine stabilizer. This made me panic and I immediately started doing a bunch of research on taking care of the pool. From my research I gathered that I have to first raise the alkalinity which in turn actually raised my PH and I didn’t need to raise that but every day that I was trying to raise the alkalinity it was heavy storming and I was battling it like crazy. While trying my best to raise the alkalinity the pool has gotten so green and so terrible that I don’t know what to do. I was told by my local store to just leave the alkalinity alone for now ( it was at 80 before I put the flock in and the PH was I believe 7.5) and right away add 3 quarters of the flock can and then shock the pool at night , then to vacuum it up in the morning and do a backwash. I was told that I can vacuum the flock after it’s settled directly into the filter but to later do a very very good backwash to get that gunk out, however research tells me I should absolutely not do that and do a bypass to waste when vacuuming it? Can someone please help me figure out how to level this pool finally and get this pollen under control?
Info:
1) 110,000 litres pool
2) Sand filter
3) No chlorinator
4) Chlorine pool

Questions:
1) I put in the flock an hour ago, what do I do next? Should I put In shock tonight as well while the pump is off?
2) How many bags of shock should I add? How do I maintain this chlorine afterwards?
3) Can I vacuum the flock stuff while on filter or absolutely not it’s best to vacuum to waste?
4) Now that my filter is off waiting for the flock to settle, can I add the additional water now while I wait for it to settle if I’m doing vacuum to waist ? It takes about 3-4 hours to vacuum this big pool and in 30 minutes I lost so much water I’m just not ready to replace but if I have to I understand that I have to.
5) Any other advice to tackle this pollen and have this pool up and ready by the weekend?

Thank you so much for anyone who can help.

 

[PoolStored]

Welcome to TFP!!!

We can help you clear the pool, but you must get a test kit on order today. Link-->Test Kits Compared

Add 3ppm per day of liquid chlorine to the pool until you test kit arrives. This should stop the algae growth.

When you get your test kit, follow the SLAM process. Link-->SLAM Process

While you are waiting for the test kit, some more light reading. Link-->>Pool Care Basics

Proof you can clear it? Here...Link-->How Clear is TFP Clear?

 

[PoolStored]

To clear the floc will be a longer process, but we need to get it out before you can SLAM. You can't let the floc get to the filter. Fill the pool to the middle of the skimmers. You need to vacuum to waste. It will be a long process because you have to fill the pool again and again every time you vacuum. And it will many vacuums to get as much floc out as possible.

Fill the pool, turn the pump off and let it settle until tomorrow, then vacuum to waste as many times as you can, so we can get most of the FLOC out before the Slam.

We will deal with whatever residual is there when you have your kit.

Good read, especially last section.

Flocculant - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[.ben]

Unfortunately Floc was a bad decision

Test strips are too imprecise and inaccurate to be of use. I would throw them away.

Forget whatever research you learned. Focus only on the links Poolstored posted, or any other information on trouble free pool.

That pool is in rough shape but there have been pools posted here in much worse shape that have been cleared by the SLAM process.

Unfortunately there is no quick fix to clear this pool in a couple of days. But you’ll see improvement once you start the SLAM (first you need a recommended test kit)

Also your issue is not pollen or alkalinity but rather lack of chlorine!

I realize there is a lot of information in the Pool Cares Basic pages but you can do it! Everyone starts out with zero knowledge.

 

[wireform]

Here's a pool that was greener then yours 8 days ago but with persistence and following TFP protocol it is now crystal clear.

 

[Helen01]

I realized the flock was a bad idea 30 minutes after I put it in it’s been 12 hours and it hasn’t yet settled. I originally didn’t want flock! I wanted aluminum sulphate to clump up my pollen and this person told me that it’s flock and that’s what it is. So I listened and regret it tremendously. I guess now I have to wait to it to settle, but what if it doesn’t settle? Is there a way to dissolved it and just do the SLAM process instead? I’m grateful the pool isn’t algae but it’s insane how pollen itself has done to the pool. Idk how to get it out if chlorine isn’t going to kill the pollen? Can I vacuum the pollen and flock up into the skimmer on filter if the skimmer has one of those socks on it to watch all that stuff before it goes into the filter ? Will that work?

 

[PoolStored]

Did you get the test kit ordered. Either way, you need the test kit and you need to SLAM

Most of the FLOC has likely settled. Add the 3ppm a day of liquid chlorine and get to vacuuming to WASTE everything that you can while you wait for the test kit arrive.

You do have algae and the SLAM will clear the pool. But, we need to get the FLOC out and have a test kit to do the SLAM.

 

[Deb04]

I’m not so sure that’s all pollen. My pool is surrounded on three sides by white pines and when they drop their pollen it’s a mess, but it has never changed the color of my water or turned it cloudy. Looks like algae.