Opening a Pool That Has Sat for At Least 6 Years..

[kaeden1100]

You are SO on the right track!!! I am very impressed with what you have been able to do while working!

Are you leaving the pump on 24/7? If not you need to do so.

What was your last CYA level? Remember you will need to keep an eye on that when you take water out as well.

You can vacuum to waste if you want to as that will get some of the yuck out but remember to keep an eye on the CYA and FC.

Coincidentally checked CYA levels last night at 11:30 which would've been after vacuuming to waste and backwashing and got 30 still.

 

[Newdude]

You need overhead sun for the CYA test. It's subjective as it is and you need every advantage you can muster up.

 

[kimkats]

shhhhhhhhhh but I use my stove light as the sun when I do this test LOL BUT I did have the standard to help me learn how to hold it and such so I knew I was matching the standard.

 

[Ibelyle]

It appears that you have a new test kit, but don't see any mention of your Ph or total alkalinity. You have been dumping gallons of sodium hypochlorite into your pool, which must have raised the ph considerably. If your ph has been over 8.0, then all of that chlorine was only about 20% as effective as it would have been if your ph was 7.2.

 

[Mdragger88]

It appears that you have a new test kit, but don't see any mention of your Ph or total alkalinity. You have been dumping gallons of sodium hypochlorite into your pool, which must have raised the ph considerably. If your ph has been over 8.0, then all of that chlorine was only about 20% as effective as it would have been if your ph was 7.2.

The op lowered ph to 7.2 at the beginning of the SLAM Process as recommended.
He hasn’t updated the thread in almost 3 weeks - hopefully his slam is over & he is now following recommended maintenance levels.

 

[kaeden1100]

The op lowered ph to 7.2 at the beginning of the SLAM Process as recommended.
He hasn’t updated the thread in almost 3 weeks - hopefully his slam is over & he is now following recommended maintenance levels.

Funny you should mention my lack of an update, was just getting ready to give one today.. with that being said, here's the current situation:

So I followed the SLAM process pretty religiously for about a week and a half to two weeks, checking the chlorine levels at least three times a day, sometimes more, adding chlorine when needed. I'll admit I didn't get the chance to vacuum and brush every day like I'd have liked but that's not exactly relevant anymore I don't think. I think it's also worth mentioning that I checked CYA levels a few times throughout that time frame and adjusted SLAM FC level accordingly once or twice.

After that first week and a half or two weeks.. life got in the way. Between getting extremely busy at work and working long night after long night, and then being sick with COVID for a week, my SLAM process pretty well turned to nothing. It also didn't help that right before getting COVID I had pretty well depleted my liquid chlorine supply. That being said, by the time I got around to being able to actually tend to the pool again, the water level had dropped to a point where it needed water added before we could really run the pump without worrying about starving it for water. So my girlfriend and I had a decision to make.. We hadn't really seen ANY noticeable improvements visual or otherwise to the quality of the water since starting the SLAM process, and hadn't seen it get much worse after letting it sit without SLAMing once life got in the way. Considering the pool needed a good amount of water to be at a "proper" level again, and given how frustrated we were with everything, we decided that we were either going to drain the pool and refill with fresh water to start fresh, or close it and try again next year with a fresh fill. We decided that while we were deciding what to do we would shut the pump off, again to avoid damaging it or any of the other components.
Fast forward two days.. the pump has been off and the water has been sitting stagnant, I went outside, and could now see the bottom of the pool.. for the first time since starting this journey months ago. This was a HUGE spurt of inspiration for us as we hadn't seen the bottom of the pool since we moved into the house back in February, but I was confused as to why it was so clear given the state of the water could NOT possibly be great. The only thing that made sense was that since the pump wasn't circulating, all of the "junk" (mostly very fine algae I believe) had been allowed to settle to the bottom, making the majority of the water "clean". So now we had another decision to make.. what to do now. After doing some thinking and some looking, I decided to fill the water up and immediately vacuum the entire floor of the pool to waste. After doing that, the water had clouded up a bit just from stirring some of it up, but the bottom actually looked really nice and clean now. After vacuuming I went ahead and brushed the sides of the pool, and then added a gallon of chlorine, just to give it something, intending to come back today and vacuum again, which is exactly what I did. The bottom of the pool was much cleaner today than yesterday, but still had some spots where, as I expected, stuff had resettled, so I again went ahead and vacuumed the entire floor of the pool, to waste again, and refilled the water.
Now for my question.. Given this book of information I've provided, what's the next step? I went ahead and performed a full test again to get an idea of where the water stands chemically. Those results should be available through my PoolMath logs linked below. Do I now start working on properly balancing the water and leave the pump running until the water REALLY clears up, or do I continue with the SLAM process again? We're extremely excited as this is the clearest and the "bluest" the water has ever been but I know there's still some work to do to get it all the way there. Just not entirely sure how to proceed. Sorry for the delay in the update.. life's been pretty crazy.

PoolMath Logs: PoolMath Logs

Results Not on PoolMath:
CC = 0.5
TC = 1.5
CYA = Not exactly sure on the level of this, ran out of daylight so it was tested indoors, and could still see dot at 20 but it was close so I'm guessing near 15.

The first picture is of the bottom of the pool before ever being vacuumed, and the second picture is what it looks like now, after being vacuumed twice now.

 

[Mdragger88]

Glad you’re back!
Life has a tendency to throw a few curve balls sometimes. No worries, just get back at it.
Hopefully u got ALOT of organic debris out that was really overwhelming your filter. That’s great! Let’s capitalize on this success.

* First, While fc is below 10ppm check the ph & adjust it to 7.2 if necessary

Add 10ppm worth of cya (sock method)
& count cya as 30ppm until u can get a good read on it after its been dissolved & circulated a day

Immediately Continue SLAM Process until u pass ALL 3 end of slam criteria.
Vac/brush daily - vacuuming to waste is fine. Just remember you will dilute your cya so keep an eye on that.
Backwash when pressure rises 25% over clean pressure.
U got this !

 

[kimkats]

This is an easy one for me. What she said ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ LOL

Life sure threw you a curve ball that is for sure! It looks like the pool decided to be on your side and is trying to clear up! Well done pool!!

Kim

 

[Mdragger88]

Also, when u get to where fc starts holding overnight you can add a little DE to your sand filter to help catch the fine stuff. It takes some babysitting so maybe over the weekend/ off work time is best to try that.
Here’s the how to

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

Did I mention we are rooting for u?