Hello Everyone!
Firstly, I'm new to the forum so thank you for all of your help. Here's the situation.. My girlfriend and I just bought a house back in February that has a 24 Foot Metal Sided Above Ground pool on the property. When we bought the house, there was a cover over the pool that looked to be in decent condition, so we assumed it had been properly closed. Boy were we wrong..
We knew the house had sat vacant for approximately 3 years prior to us purchasing it, and later found out according to the neighbor, the previous owner, who moved in approximately 3 years before the "3 year vacant period", never used the pool, so we now assume this pool has sat for at least 6 years. With that being said, I went outside one day and found one edge of the cover had slid free of it's cable and fallen into the pool. My girlfriend and I decided to go ahead and remove the cover and we would just start the opening process a little earlier than usual. (This was sometime in March of this year). To our surprise once we pulled the cover off and pulled the water pillows OUT of the pool, I found another cover that had fallen apart and sunk into the pool. This leads me to believe the pool was probably covered when the previous owner bought the house, and at some point during her tenure, the cover gave out due to age and breakdown from the sun, and fell in. We then believe she just left it right until she was getting ready to sell the house, at which point they put a new cover over it to make it look like the pool had been cared for.
So here's the real issue.. there is ALL KINDS of stuff in the bottom of this pool. We have spent the better part of the last month trying to clean the bottom of this pool out with a net. We've gotten A LOT of junk off the bottom, but I'm relatively sure that a good amount still remains. A couple of week ago I finally started adding chemical to the water. I started with some Green to Clean and then LOTS of shock. According to our latest test, the pool is now finally holding chlorine, as a matter of fact our FAC is actually a little high now so we're working on bringing that down just a tad.
I've vacuumed what I can see of the bottom of the pool twice now, and have had decent results, and am starting to be able to see the "white" color of the bottom in places but the pool is still pretty cloudy, and there's definitely still stuff at the bottom. I've also tried a clear aid in an attempt to get the water to clear up enough to be able to clearly see the solids and stuff at the bottom that need to come out.
Why am I here? I'm here because everytime I take a sample to our local pool store they basically keep telling me the same thing.. Add these chemicals, get the stuff off the bottom. I get that, and maybe that's really all that can be done, but I feel like I'm just throwing money in at this point and getting nowhere. I guess I'm just asking if anyone has experience with something similar to this and knows a good trick for handling this a bit quicker/more effeciently.
Here's what's been done so far:
Filter Sand Changed a Week Ago
Approx. 15-16LBS Chlorinated Shock Added Over the Last Week or So.
Green to Clean
Clear Aid
Pump Has Been Running Nonstop for About 2 Weeks.
I've attached a picture of what the water looks like currently.
Firstly, I'm new to the forum so thank you for all of your help. Here's the situation.. My girlfriend and I just bought a house back in February that has a 24 Foot Metal Sided Above Ground pool on the property. When we bought the house, there was a cover over the pool that looked to be in decent condition, so we assumed it had been properly closed. Boy were we wrong..
We knew the house had sat vacant for approximately 3 years prior to us purchasing it, and later found out according to the neighbor, the previous owner, who moved in approximately 3 years before the "3 year vacant period", never used the pool, so we now assume this pool has sat for at least 6 years. With that being said, I went outside one day and found one edge of the cover had slid free of it's cable and fallen into the pool. My girlfriend and I decided to go ahead and remove the cover and we would just start the opening process a little earlier than usual. (This was sometime in March of this year). To our surprise once we pulled the cover off and pulled the water pillows OUT of the pool, I found another cover that had fallen apart and sunk into the pool. This leads me to believe the pool was probably covered when the previous owner bought the house, and at some point during her tenure, the cover gave out due to age and breakdown from the sun, and fell in. We then believe she just left it right until she was getting ready to sell the house, at which point they put a new cover over it to make it look like the pool had been cared for.
So here's the real issue.. there is ALL KINDS of stuff in the bottom of this pool. We have spent the better part of the last month trying to clean the bottom of this pool out with a net. We've gotten A LOT of junk off the bottom, but I'm relatively sure that a good amount still remains. A couple of week ago I finally started adding chemical to the water. I started with some Green to Clean and then LOTS of shock. According to our latest test, the pool is now finally holding chlorine, as a matter of fact our FAC is actually a little high now so we're working on bringing that down just a tad.
I've vacuumed what I can see of the bottom of the pool twice now, and have had decent results, and am starting to be able to see the "white" color of the bottom in places but the pool is still pretty cloudy, and there's definitely still stuff at the bottom. I've also tried a clear aid in an attempt to get the water to clear up enough to be able to clearly see the solids and stuff at the bottom that need to come out.
Why am I here? I'm here because everytime I take a sample to our local pool store they basically keep telling me the same thing.. Add these chemicals, get the stuff off the bottom. I get that, and maybe that's really all that can be done, but I feel like I'm just throwing money in at this point and getting nowhere. I guess I'm just asking if anyone has experience with something similar to this and knows a good trick for handling this a bit quicker/more effeciently.
Here's what's been done so far:
Filter Sand Changed a Week Ago
Approx. 15-16LBS Chlorinated Shock Added Over the Last Week or So.
Green to Clean
Clear Aid
Pump Has Been Running Nonstop for About 2 Weeks.
I've attached a picture of what the water looks like currently.
! 
1ppm or so over is ok but any higher is just a waste of $$ & risks damage to surfaces, equipment, & swimmers.
