New house, new pool, and an uphill battle

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kmerkel

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Silver Supporter
Apr 28, 2018
93
Grand Rapids, MI
Pool Size
10000
Surface
Vinyl
Chlorine
Liquid Chlorine
This is our first spring at our new house; we just moved in the first week of December. This week I started taking inventory of what the previous owner left behind in terms of equipment and supplies. I have some pH increasers and reducers, CYA, and weak bleach, so I at least have something to get me started, sort of. However, it seems that I am missing the entire filter flow control valve head, so before I do anything I need to purchase one of those and 150lbs of sand. I also will be temporarily running the pool pump via extension cord while I redo the hard wiring, but that's another story.

As for the pool itself, it's a mess. The P.O. said it got out of control last year so they just gave up. As of right now I can't see more than about a foot down below the surface, so I don't know what unknown evils lurk in there, if any. (Hopefully not a deer, LOL!) I'm assuming the CYA level and chlorine levels are both near or at zero due to the length of neglect, and pH is probably close to neutral. Before starting the process, I intend to get a test kit to confirm that, but to get started, how much chemical should I plan to have on hand? Is there an accurate way to calculate a prediction of how much of each is needed to get levels where they need to be?

Thanks in advance! I'm an absolute novice to this but also really looking forward to beating what somebody else deemed impossible.
 
Yes, good plan on the test kit. Here is a link for the TF-100 TF-100 Test Kit â„¢ Until you test with a quality test kit there is nothing to do but add a little chlorine and mix. As far as planning, you'll need a lot of chlorine. We generally don't "stock up" on chemicals since we may never use them or they will be expired by the time we do. Take lots of pictures of your SLAM!
 
woodyp said:
I'd snag a dozen bottles of bleach at least. Unless you have some strange sort of configuration---your pool volume is closer to 13,700 gallons.
Click to expand...

Hmm... I'm not sure how I messed up the numbers this morning, but I'm guessing it was a parenthetical error with the calculator. Running the math just now I got something different. Hopefully the diagram translates into text the way I want it to.
___
(___) 16' wide
8'+16'+8' = 32' major length
16' square = 256 sq ft
8' radius circle = ~201 sq ft
201 + 256 = 457 sq ft total pool area
457 sq ft * 3 ft nominal depth (measured at the skimmer) = 1371 cu ft
1371 cu ft * 7.5 gal/cu ft = 10,256 gallons, plus a bit more to get it above the minimum.

Am I correct with this? I'm going to update my signature for accuracy.

- - - Updated - - -

Oh, and since you asked, here's where we're starting from.
pool-swamp.jpg
 
The valve head is supposed to be delivered today. The test kit came last week. I bought sand and some good chlorine, so I should be ready to start SLAMming as early as tonight.

With regard to the filter, given how bad the water is to start, am I going to run into issues during back flushing? It's going to be a while before the water in the pool is significantly better than the the crud in the filter, so to my untrained mind it seems like it would be exchanging one evil for another.
 
Get a good leaf rake (the kind for a pool, not for the yard!) and scoop out as much muck as you can before starting the filter up. But filters are made for that, just keep an eye on the pressure rise. When the pressure goes up 25% from your clean pressure, you need to backwash. And when you first start a SLAM, you usually have to backwash at least once a day for a couple days.

Good luck! Look forward to the sparkly clean picks in a couple weeks!
 
Any particular reason for buying more sand? Unless the sand filter is totally empty, you should be able to backwash it to clean it. If that doesn't work, you can deep clean your sand filter -- that might be easier than replacing all the sand.

I'm looking forward to seeing your progress, because that's definitely a SWAMP.

Follow the SLAM routine religiously and you'll have sparkling-clear pool water sooner than you think. My first SLAM took about 36 hours but thankfully it didn't start out this bad. Yours will probably take longer, but it won't take forever.

Once you get it clean, prevention is key. Keeping it clean and sparkling the TFP way is way easier than playing catch-up all the time and shocking every few days.
 
sccm_sysadmin said:
Any particular reason for buying more sand? Unless the sand filter is totally empty, you should be able to backwash it to clean it. If that doesn't work, you can deep clean your sand filter -- that might be easier than replacing all the sand.

I'm looking forward to seeing your progress, because that's definitely a SWAMP.

Follow the SLAM routine religiously and you'll have sparkling-clear pool water sooner than you think. My first SLAM took about 36 hours but thankfully it didn't start out this bad. Yours will probably take longer, but it won't take forever.

Once you get it clean, prevention is key. Keeping it clean and sparkling the TFP way is way easier than playing catch-up all the time and shocking every few days.
Click to expand...

The P.O.'s method of winterizing involved dumping all the sand out of the filter. Don't ask me why, but just know it's par for the course with other things we found around the house.

I didn't know that there were varieties of sand, so in my naivete I bought the ruby Zek (?) brand as a middle of the road choice. I noted after the fact that it isn't as highly recommended as plain sand; we'll see how that works out.

The SLAM didn't start tonight, though. The valve didn't come with fittings for the hoses, and the filter pressure gauge is stuck at 15psi right out of the box. I may try to sneak in a stop at the pool supply store tomorrow during my work travels to pick up some parts, and if the online retailer decides to warranty the gauge I'll just have an extra.

Any thoughts on just adding chlorine to start? I don't want to waste it by not having circulation/distribution throughout the pool, but I also don't want to wait too much longer because the situation certainly isn't going to fix itself.
 

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JesseSchmidt said:
Get a good leaf rake (the kind for a pool, not for the yard!) and scoop out as much muck as you can before starting the filter up.
Click to expand...
I've been skimming pretty much every day to get as many organic clumps out as I can, but I'm limited to what I can see on the surface.

The pump is now back together and connected. Doing a top-off of the water now to get it where it needs to be in the skimmer. I may actually be able to start the SLAM process today or tomorrow.

To that end, a couple days ago I saw a comment about bringing FC up first and checking frequently for rapid depletion to in case there is any ammonia in the water, then, once it is stable, adding CYA and getting the FC to shock level based on test results and Pool Math. It seems like solid advice, but like anything else, the mantra of "trust but verify" is worth following.
 
kmerkel said:
I've been skimming pretty much every day to get as many organic clumps out as I can, but I'm limited to what I can see on the surface.

The pump is now back together and connected. Doing a top-off of the water now to get it where it needs to be in the skimmer. I may actually be able to start the SLAM process today or tomorrow.

To that end, a couple days ago I saw a comment about bringing FC up first and checking frequently for rapid depletion to in case there is any ammonia in the water, then, once it is stable, adding CYA and getting the FC to shock level based on test results and Pool Math. It seems like solid advice, but like anything else, the mantra of "trust but verify" is worth following.
Click to expand...

A leaf rake (has a bigger net than a skimmer) and blind rake the bottom of the pool. Take small scoops at first as that rake will be heavy when you bring it up if there is a lot of debris down there.
 
I would not put any chlorine in until I got my CYA where it needs to be. Of course you are going to lose FC, your pool is a swamp, losing FC will not confirm only ammonia, the debris and algae will be consuming FC too. So, get the CYA up to par, get the pH at 7.2 and THEN start spending your Chlorine dollars into the pool.
 
funandsun said:
I would not put any chlorine in until I got my CYA where it needs to be. Of course you are going to lose FC, your pool is a swamp, losing FC will not confirm only ammonia, the debris and algae will be consuming FC too. So, get the CYA up to par, get the pH at 7.2 and THEN start spending your Chlorine dollars into the pool.
Click to expand...

Ditto that! I, for some reason, forgot to work on my CYA before starting a SLAM this year and went through 20 gallons in 2 days!
 
This is why being smart enough to know you don't know is an important skill! Thanks for the input.

As for the leaf rake, yes, that is what I have been using. My fault for not describing it properly.
 
TF-100 test results are in! Pretty much what I expected in terms of FC and CYA.

FC: 0
CH: not tested
CYA: 0
pH: 8.2, maybe higher
TA: 130

I'll check the pH again after adding CYA. That should bring it down if my high school chemistry classes stuck with me, correct?
 
Last edited:
Hey Hey kmerkel!! Congrats on the test kit arrival and first run!! That is awesome! Yeah, if you have a swamp, your pH is very likely to be high.. I targeted a .5 drop and it took me 3 adjustments to get the pH low enough to reflect on the test scale.

btw, your title of an uphill battle, just got turned into a down hill slide. you got this!
 
You should get your ph under control first, then add some CYA so you can start your SLAM. Have you checked out Pool School?
 
I did look through it, but I didn't see a specific order to check and correct levels.

I did add some CYA already, which didn't lower the pH noticeably. That was an experiment for me; now I know.

Maybe I read too much into funandsun's comment, but my interpretation was that once I got the greenery under control, the pH would come down naturally. I think I have some muriatic acid or the like somewhere, left behind by the previous owner.
 

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