New Owner, Old VERY Neglected Pool

[TurbineTester]

5pm testing
CYA - 40
FC - 15
pH - 7.4

My CYA keeps bouncing between 40-50 but I know it's not changing much. It is gradually trending down as I'm not using pucks and I haven't added any stabilizer since last week and yet I'm backwashing and vaccuming to waste and replacing with the water from the hose. I think I keep getting differential CYA results because of the change in lighting throughout the day. I'm already on the 3rd bottle of CYA regent and I'm also going to need to order a replacement for the FC titrating agent. I got new leaf bags and a tail scrubber doodad for the Polaris and left that running again. I checked it after about 30 minutes and it hadn't picked up more then a cup or two of leaves. The booster pump seems to be nearly atomizing any air in the main pump system and injecting it back into the pool via the booster pump line to the Polaris as within minutes of hooking it back up there was a sheen of fine bubbles across the whole pool.

 

[frogabog]

I feel like you're close to seeing something turn in your favor if you're not getting as much debris as before. The debris is what's setting you back with the chlorine not clearing the water yet. It will attack anything organic, and those leaves are whole organics in decay mode, that feeds the algae. Algae is alive, leaves are dead. The life is feeding. When you finally get all that algae food, the chlorine will have a chance to attack what's left over, the algae.

Now, all that's not to say that a partial drain and refill won't help. It could help you see the debris somewhat better, at minimum. But also the new water will quickly be overcome by the algae and any debris. You'll need to work fast at that point.

Keep in mind that even the cleanest of water is affected by debris. I really do think you're close...

 

[Flying Tivo]

What type of Bleach are you using? Clorox? Clorox is not good it has some polymers that can do that. Use plain bleach, unscented.

 

[TurbineTester]

What type of Bleach are you using? Clorox? Clorox is not good it has some polymers that can do that. Use plain bleach, unscented.

10.5% LC from pool store in 2.5g jugs.

 

[TurbineTester]

This was the pool today at 1
Test results
FC -17.5
CYA -40

 

[TurbineTester]

And this is after raking and vaccuming through the filter (not to waste) and then backwashing. The hose going through the skimmer never got dark like it did when I was sucking up sludge from the bottom. Only got 1 full skimmer basket during vaccuming and the total of everything I raked and vaccumed was only maybe 1.5-2 full skimmer baskets.

The deep end almost had an emerald color before I vaccumed and it only got a little more cloudy after stirring things up.

I added a good bit of bleach (+12ppm) after this visit to see if it will power over the edge today.

 

[jtpipkin]

huge improvement - good job, keep at it! you'll be there soon

 

[TurbineTester]

Went by yesterday AM and didn't test but just added 1g of chlorine. Came back around 5pm and brought the family to see it and maybe swim of the chlorine was at or near SLAM level. Got my son to swim to the bottom of the deep end and find the brush. I went around and scrubbed the sides of the pool all the way around and got a bunch of dried gunk of the sides and liner track area. Decided to let the kids swim, my wife was having none of a brown pool, and I went to the deep end to see what I could see. I didn't have a GoPro to record, but it was really fairly clean down there except for maybe a handful of pine needles and leaves and some sand like grit. Then I found the main drain. I put my hand on it and could feel leaves and a fibrous material suck all around it and could barely feel any flow. So I started trying to peel it away and it took about 5 trips down to dislodge this leafy-polyester-tangled mat of debris from the drain cover. It even included the thigh bone of some poor animal. Then wanting to make darn sure I had it completely clear I took a screwdriver and about 30 free dives and 15 minutes to, with 0-3 turns at a time, unscrew the two drain cover screws and reach into the drain to make sure it was clear, then repeat the process of screwing the cover back on. Wow tedious and tiring, but worth it.

Remember how I said a few pages back that the main pump would lose prime very easily if I closed the valve to the skimmer and tried to drain the pool? And how this whole time I've had a good bit of persistent bubbles in the pump basket? Well it must have all been the result of a nearly completely clogged main drain cap and the suction side of the system pulling so hard on any pinhole leaks to suck air I to the system. The filter basket is now perfectly bubble free, and the booster pump isn't pumping micro bubbles into the pool everytime the Polaris runs. After we swam and had a little fun I turned the Polaris back on, which is really only grabbing a few leaves and a few table spoons of sandy grit each day, and added 1 gallon of liquid bleach.

Here's the thing I'm thinking now: I think my problem is there is a micro-fine silt suspended in the water that is making the water appear cloudy and brown and which is not big enough to be caught in the sand filter. Honestly my water doesn't really appear green to me at all, it looks like a combination of brown and blue in the deep end. And since the liner is a white bottom liner (maybe it used to be blue who knows) it only appears a cloudy brown in the shallow end. I read elsewhere about running DE through the filter basket to reduce micron pass-through on a sand filter temporarily. Would that help? Flocculant? Any other thoughts?

 

[TurbineTester]

Pics from this morning. Added 1.25g of bleach

 

[jtpipkin]

DE in your sand would be helpful, but if you don't have the time to babysit it now, DE will only worsen the problem. It works, but in doing do, you'll be building up pressure significantly quicker which require more frequent back washings... Can't remember, but have you deep cleaned the sand in the filter yet?

 

[TurbineTester]

DE in your sand would be helpful, but if you don't have the time to babysit it now, DE will only worsen the problem. It works, but in doing do, you'll be building up pressure significantly quicker which require more frequent back washings... Can't remember, but have you deep cleaned the sand in the filter yet?

I have not.

 

[DorsalSpine]

A clarifier will cause your particles to clump which increases your particle size. That makes it easier for your sand filter to remove suspended particles. Adding a little DE to the sand filter also helps to trap the smaller particles. You will need to watch your filter pressure closely as it will need backwashed more often.

A flocculent causes everything to clump together and fall out of suspension. You must mix the floc with the filter on recirculate. Don't get it in the filter!!! Once the chemical is mixed turn the filter off and let the pool sit over night. You should find everything in the bottom the next morning. You must vacuum to waste. Don't get it in the filter!! Keep vacuuming until everything is gone. Don't get it in the filter!!

After that you can set the filter back to normal. Bad things happen if you get floc in the filter.

 

[mguzzy]

Wow! Nice job free diving into the murky depths! I'm to lazy to reread the threads.. but I think you said you did an OCLT and it came back negative... If your main drain was clogged and you are only pulling water from the skimmer level then your filtration was pretty hampered. This will make a huge difference. Now you pool will start filtering at two levels and you should start seeing a big difference with the added filtration. And you are right there is a huge difference in the appearance of the water now... I don't think you'll need a clarifier with the filtration cranking along now. Just give the filter some time to pull the particulates out of suspension. I think you are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

 

[TurbineTester]

Wow! Nice job free diving into the murky depths! I'm to lazy to reread the threads.. but I think you said you did an OCLT and it came back negative... If your main drain was clogged and you are only pulling water from the skimmer level then your filtration was pretty hampered. This will make a huge difference. Now you pool will start filtering at two levels and you should start seeing a big difference with the added filtration. And you are right there is a huge difference in the appearance of the water now... I don't think you'll need a clarifier with the filtration cranking along now. Just give the filter some time to pull the particulates out of suspension. I think you are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

I have not done the OCLT yet. Do I need to add salt to the pool before I do that?

 

[bmoreswim]

Don't worry about an OCLT test at this point, it's not particularly meaningful until the pool is clear or almost clear. That is when you are thinking you are finished a SLAM. Keep FC at SLAM level as much as possible as you have been.

 

[TurbineTester]

Wow! Nice job free diving into the murky depths! I'm to lazy to reread the threads.. but I think you said you did an OCLT and it came back negative... If your main drain was clogged and you are only pulling water from the skimmer level then your filtration was pretty hampered. This will make a huge difference. Now you pool will start filtering at two levels and you should start seeing a big difference with the added filtration. And you are right there is a huge difference in the appearance of the water now... I don't think you'll need a clarifier with the filtration cranking along now. Just give the filter some time to pull the particulates out of suspension. I think you are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

That was a dumb question about having the SWG running, of course it would not give accurate results.

How long will it take for the filter to clear the water on it's own? If the floc would clear the water in a single day vs waiting multiple days for the filter to do it I don't understand why anyone would let the filter and the expensive pump do all that hard 24/7 work when a simple floc and vac would do it?

 

[TurbineTester]

Don't worry about an OCLT test at this point, it's not particularly meaningful until the pool is clear or almost clear. That is when you are thinking you are finished a SLAM. Keep FC at SLAM level as much as possible as you have been.

It's been at or above SLAM level almost constantly for two solid weeks, is it even possible for algae to still be alive in there?

 

[bmoreswim]

It's been at or above SLAM level almost constantly for two solid weeks, is it even possible for algae to still be alive in there?

It depends what is still in the depths and nook and crannies, such as light niches or other obscure areas. A big assumption, but assuming there is no more debris (unlikely since you can't see to verify) then you are at the clearing of dead algae phase. Adding DE as mentioned is a recommend option for this stage. Floc as mentioned above, is one wrong valve turn away from a completely gummed up filter. That's the caveat, a big one though. Focus on Add DE to a Sand Filter - Trouble Free Pool

 

[TurbineTester]

It depends what is still in the depths and nook and crannies, such as light niches or other obscure areas. A big assumption, but assuming there is no more debris (unlikely since you can't see to verify) then you are at the clearing of dead algae phase. Adding DE as mentioned is a recommend option for this stage. Floc as mentioned above, is one wrong valve turn away from a completely gummed up filter. That's the caveat, a big one though. Focus on Add DE to a Sand Filter - Trouble Free Pool

Ok went to Lowes and grabbed some pool DE for $23 for 24lb bag/box and picked up a quart of floc as well. Here are pictures of the pool before I did anything at lunch.

 

[TurbineTester]

I backwashed the filter for a full 5 mins, rinsed and ran for 2 mins for the pressure to stabilize. With nothing else running besides the pentair pump the pressures reads 14.25 psi. I added about 1/4 cup of DE to a bucket of water and slowly poured it into the skimmer. I waited about 2 mins for it to stabilize and it went up to around 14.5. So I added about 1/2 cup to twice as much water and slowly poured it in. The filter pressure rose to 21 psi within 5 mins. So I decided that like a few of you mentioned I don't have time to backwash this thing everything every 10-20 mins so I backwashed and rinsed the sand, turned the filter to recirculate and added the flocculant per the directions on the bottle. I'm going to pay very careful attention to the valve position and be prepared to deal with the results if I screw it up. I'll go back in a couple hours and turn everything off until tomorrow. I'll vacuum to waste and we'll see what everything looks like then. As long as I don't run it through the sand filter I'm only out $15, the replacement water to refill the pool and a little bit of time. I can't see it hurting anything. Like other steps in this process it eliminates one variable potentially contributing to the water clarity problem I have.