Newbie...second year...algae swamp on opening...

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R

Rost-Lufer

Active member
Jun 26, 2023
42
Southern Michigan
Pool Size
7500
Surface
Vinyl
Chlorine
Liquid Chlorine
Hey all. Just took pool cover off. 7500 gallon 12x24 above ground vinyl. Drained below return so pool is a little over half full. Bottom of pool is a solid sheet of green. Would would be best way to solve? Fill pool and SLAM or drain and refill? If I drain do I just brush really well and try to get most of the algae out of the bottom drains? My first pool just got it up mid summer last year. I have all new reagents for test kit.

Thanks,
Ron
 
Never drain an above ground pool to less than 12 inches of water in the pool, or even below half way to be safe. The liner can shift and need to be replaced.

At this point, brush up the algae and if you can remove as much of the solid material you can. Start filling the pool and once full and fully circulated run a full suite of tests and follow the SLAM Process
 
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Also - if the pool is buried at all the water level should not go lower than the surrounding ground or you risk collapse.

Get to scooping & vacumming. Vac the bulk to waste in the beginning- this will have you doing some water exchange anyway.
*You can also use the siphon method to vac to waste without involving your pump. It still removes a lot of water but not as much as the pump would pull. Which is helpful because you want to go slowish when vacuuming algae.
You can do this now as you’re refilling the pool instead of waiting for the water level to be high enough to run the pump.
Here’s how:
You get set up to vac by submerging the head & hose to remove all air as normal then hold your hand over the hose end while under water and instead of connecting it to the skimmer quickly throw it over the side of the pool onto the ground (at a lower elevation than the vac head)
A siphon should begin.
 
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The siphon worked great! So this is where I'm at. Before I started water was clear and algae was caked to bottom of pool. While vacuuming it stirred up the algae so now bottom is clear of algae but the water is now pretty green. Can barely see bottom of pool. My thought was to let algae settle and then vacuum again. It's been a few hours and algae doesn't look like it's settling. I'm also filling up pool rest of way. What should I do?
 
surfbabe said:
just jumping in here with my own question regarding my SLAM. Had to get repairs to pool pump and a leak.... pool went horribly green. :-( I've started the SLAM and now its cloudy and blue. Very, very cloudy. I keep backwashing the DE filter but it only takes 1 hour to get it clogged up again. Any ideas? Just keep up with the backwashing? Take out the filter and clean down with water ?
Click to expand...
You'll probably get more help if you start your own subject thread
 
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Started SLAM yesterday. Overnight I had no FC loss. Water is still super cloudy green. What am I missing? Shouldn't the FC have dropped substantially over night from killing off the algae? Before I started I tested CYA. I filled the CYA tube and could still faintly make out the dot at bottom. The tube stops reading at 30 so I figured my CYA was at maybe 25 or 20. Am I reading it wrong? Could there be ammonia in the water? Not sure what next step should be.
 
Rost-Lufer said:
Started SLAM yesterday. Overnight I had no FC loss. Water is still super cloudy green. What am I missing? Shouldn't the FC have dropped substantially over night from killing off the algae? Before I started I tested CYA. I filled the CYA tube and could still faintly make out the dot at bottom. The tube stops reading at 30 so I figured my CYA was at maybe 25 or 20. Am I reading it wrong? Could there be ammonia in the water? Not sure what next step should be.
Click to expand...
If you’re holding fc for more than 30 minutes you don’t have an ammonia problem.
Add 10 ppm worth of cya (sock method) and re check cya tomorrow- for now proceed with slam like there’s 30ppm cya .
So slam level fc is 12ppm.
It takes time to clear a swamp. Do all the things !
IMG_9845.jpeg
 
Ok thank you! That's what I am currently doing. Wasn't sure how long it would take to clear the swamp. I added enough CYA to hit 35 and adjusted FC and added. I guess I thought it would clear a little faster. Appreciate you all!
 

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Out of curiosity, how long does it take? It's green cloudy. I can vaguely see bottom of pool. Pool depth about 46". Been slamming for 24 hours and virtually no change. I also assumed FC would drop pretty quick but it's not really. Only added bleach once late morning today and still holding steady.
 
It takes as long as it takes.. I know that’s not what you wanna hear but just keep doing all the things.
Try putting the pole in at the same spot each day & taking a picture. It will help you see the progress a little better instead of just feeling defeated because its still cloudy.
Sand filters can take a while to clear all the small particles but it will get better each day.
Once you get to where you’re not losing fc overnight you can try adding a little pool grade de to the filter through the skimmer to help the sand catch the finer stuff.
Only do this when you can check the psi often & backwash when needed.
Here’s the guide
www.google.com

Add DE to a Sand Filter

A clean pool filter will increase the efficiency of your pool! ... your filter are to backwash it, clean the manifolds and grids, and add new DE.
www.google.com www.google.com
 
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