Inherited a Green Pool - Where do I start?

Jump to latest Follow Reply
Leaves can be removed by:

regular vac - but will clog small skimmers fast. (not a bad thing, just a thing. You have to go slow enough to get enough water mixed in with the leaves to get the leaves all the way to the skimmer, and not clog your flex vac hose) In one swamp i helped with, we could clog the skimmer in minutes - so having a partner just stand near the skimmer speeds things up)

"leaf rake" skimmer on a pole (careful not to drag against liner, will not get all, but will get lots) (separate purchase)

CAREFULLY brushing with your soft bristled brush to pull everything into one area then gently kicking everything up then using your regular skimmer/net on pole (careful in all steps not to push anything into the liner that offers any resistance - you don't want to make leaks)

leaf bagger on pole that uses your garden hose to kick up leaves into an attached net bag (separate purchase)

and technically, you could wait until you get the water safe to swim in and use goggles to dive for them
 
Have you purchased/do you have stabilizer/cya yet? You'll need about 36oz by weight aka 2lb 4oz to bring it to 30. (the tablets have cya in them, but they are better used later) for now you'll want any brand of solid stabilizer, about 99% or 100% cya - i've seen some in the mid 90%s, but if you have the choice, 99/100 is perfect. HTH brand from some walmarts is an absolutely glorious product. I don't know if walmart sells a 2lb, but their 4lb was under $20 if I remember correctly.

And if you haven't bought it already, you'll need bleach. regular, great value or other big chain generic, non-scented, non-splashless, usually 8.25%, and sometimes available in 10% in the pool section, sometime cheaper, sometimes not. You'll need, in my guesstimate, no less than 4 gallons in the first week, hopefully not more than 8.
 
I bought a 4lb container of cya (conditioner) from the pool store and got 9 gallons of 8.25% great value bleach. I know I need to do the cya in a sock, do I need to wait for that to dissolve before starting SLAM? Also, according to pool school it looks like I may need to bring pH down a little first too?
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
Bring your pH down to 7.2, add your CYA in a sock in the skimmer or in front of a return, then begin your SLAM by adding enough chlorine to reach a FC of 12 (assuming you put in enough CYA to reach 30). Meanwhile, get those leaves out! They will just eat up your FC, rather than allowing the FC to kill algae. Test every few hours, adding more chlorine to reach your target FC. I also will massage the socks to dissolve the CYA faster, because I'm impatient! Don't test pH again until after the SLAM, it will not be accurate while FC is high

And no, you dont need to wait for CYA to dissolve to start your SLAM. It will take a few days to dissolve on its own
 
When using MA, 12-20 mins with pump on is enough to retest. Using your phdown powder - as long as you get it dissolved thoroughly, i assume it is the same. I'm not sure if you should use a bucket to pre-dissolve and then pour into the pool slowly in front of return - but I would do it that way. If any powder sits on the liner - - - - -that's asking for trouble. Brush after adding for sure!
 
Ok so I started the SLAM process, was going well until a leak started in the tube from my pump to the filter. I duct taped it up for the night and tried to replace it this morning. I wasn't exactly sure how to replace the hose without losing a bunch of water. I think I did it backwards, I turned it off first of course, then I removed the hose from the filter and held it up higher so it wouldn't drain. Then I hooked up the new hose to the filter, and quickly swapped the hose on the pump. A lot of water spilled out on the pump and now it flips the breaker every time I try to start it. Did I trash the pump? I tried blowing it out with an air compressor but no help. What should I do now? Ugh....
 
You did your best! It is okay to check in with us when stuff like that happens, either in this thread or a new one in the appropriate category (which can sometimes yield a faster reply).

When switching hoses, the most amazing thing ever are these winterizing stoppers/Rubber Expansion Plugs/rubber corks. Yours may look different, and other people have successfully used tennis balls and other items. Just be sure whatever you use is BIGGER than the hole and can't get sucked in. Once you've plugged the return and skimmer - you can play with the plumbing with no water loss other than what is in the lines.

By the way, my hose sprang a leak during my SLAM too :) I didn't know about the plugs either. I used a potato ... I got wet, but my pool didn't fall below the skimmer. Turns out there were plugs in the kitchen misc drawer the whole time.

I doubt you broke anything - it is probably just shorting out due to water. I vote give it some time. Be careful to not be standing in water or have wet hands when working on electrical things. Bonus points for rubber gloves maybe. I'm not an expert, so others chiming in would be awesome :)
 
Found two helpful threads about your situation here and here.
Best case scenario - a little bit of water is causing a little bit of electrical current leakage thus tripping. When stops being wet, will work. Can speed up by unhooking and taking in garage, opening up, drying out. Then the other end of the possibility spectrum: Basically the worst case scenario for you is by not unplugging it and letting it dry completely before re-powering it, the motor may need replacement, but not the pump.
Either way, unplug and let dry for now until you decide how you want to proceed. Stop trying to turn it on for now.

Add bleach and brush to stir.
 
Ok, just an update. The pump came back on after drying out for the day. So I continued the SLAM process and things are going pretty well I think. The green is all gone and the pool is a bit cloudy as expected. It's actually starting to look like a real pool!

Znt9X8w.jpg
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply