Proud new owner of an above-ground SWAMP

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I agree with Dave, unless you do not trust your father to remember to do it. In that case, just go ahead and load the floater with tabs and open it wide open and then let the filter run. How often do you have to backwash the filter?
 
adoptolderkids said:
Cool Melissa - thanks for the link. It's just all one part. I'm not sure what exactly to do with it though, and the listing is pretty vague. Might do some more searching now that I know what it is!
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Once you get the pool clear and the bottom clean of large debris with the manual brush/vacuum you can try it out. You just attach it to the hose following the same steps you use to connect the manual vacuum. It will automatically move all around the pool keeping the bottom clean.
 
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The pool this morning. Still murky, but starting to look more like a real pool - an aqua blue!

I just went and bought 12 jumbo bottles of bleach. My vacation budget took a hit.
 
Holly, You and your husband have done the hardest part including fixing the pump and cleaning out the filter. You can go on vacation and know that when you get back the pool will still be in good shape. My only concern is figuring out how much time to run the pump. If you know approximately how many hours you can go before having to backwash that is before the pressure increases by 10 then you could divide that by the number of days you will be gone and set a timer for that many hours a day or if you do not have a timer have your father run it that many hours a day. Or if neither of these options are feasible just let it run 24/7. Someone with more knowledge than me may correct me, but I do not believe any harm will be done even if the filter pressure increases more than 10 psi. The filtering efficiency will go down, but I do not believe it will damage anything.
 
Yeah, I don't know what I'm going to do about that. For some reason, he got it in his head today to overfill the pool with water without telling anyone. I went to check my dipstick, and it was almost overflowing. I was like wtf?! I told him to leave the water level alone - it was fine between the two screws at the middle of the weir. Now it's almost to the top. I guess we will vacuum some more to bring it down. But things like that make me realize that I'm probably going to have all sorts of unexpected things going on with my pool while I am gone. :grrrr:

There's nothing I can do about it. I'm going to show my mom and hope for the best!

The good news is that the test strips are finally registering the CYA I added - I'm getting a darker color there now!
 
The good news Holly is he can't do too much damage. Just the other day I needed to add some water so I turned the hose on and then got busy on something else. When I went back to it the pool was overflowing the skimmer. :) Everything got wet and I wasted some water, but no real damage. Would it help to make a checklist for each day and your Mom and Dad can check off the items and not do anything that is not on the list?
 
Well, it was 96 and SUPER sunny here today. We got down pretty low on the FC count I think. Still above 5, but much less than the 10+ we'd been maintaining. Just wasn't home to keep an eye on it.

That said, the water clarity now is MUCH better than even the photo I posted earlier. It's still not clear, but it's turning a beautiful color. I almost wish we weren't leaving tomorrow so I could see it turn clear!
 

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adoptolderkids said:
Well, it was 96 and SUPER sunny here today. We got down pretty low on the FC count I think. Still above 5, but much less than the 10+ we'd been maintaining. Just wasn't home to keep an eye on it.

That said, the water clarity now is MUCH better than even the photo I posted earlier. It's still not clear, but it's turning a beautiful color. I almost wish we weren't leaving tomorrow so I could see it turn clear!
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Aren't pools fun? LOL We bought a house with a pool about 3 1/2 years ago, and I've been in it about 9 times since we got it I would guess. My baby likes it so I try to keep it nice for her. Had some trial and error, and still have it, but I learn more each year. Not sure when the learning curve tends to level out, but I know I'm nowhere near that yet. All in all I've kept it pretty clear, but have had my bouts of the algae war and clarity issues. I guess it gets easier...sure hope so anyway.

Anyway, sorry you've had so many problems with yours. You got a ton of responses, and I read a lot of them but not the whole bunch of them. I tell you what I woulda done with it, and I don't know Crud about pools, but with your mess I'd have done what I did after our pool went underwater during the flood here and we had a "Chocolate Lagoon" complete with minnows swimming around in it. I used Super Floc. It was clear the next morning and we swam in it the next morning. Didn't fix the chemical balance, but it did make it crystal while I was adding chemicals. Not suggesting you do that as I don't know enough to suggest anything other than turning on the water if your pool is low to fill it back up.

Have a super vacation!

JJ :cheers:
 
Thanks everyone - we're having a great time. I just wanted to pop in and say that my mom called today to tell me that the pool is clear! They are dumping a jumbo container of bleach in every morning and night. Do you think they should continue this, now that it has gone clear? I don't trust them to read the numbers on anything.
 
Ok, came home tonight and the pool is CLEAR. There are bits and pieces of leaves still on the bottom but not very many. Will vacuum these out tomorrow. My dad added bleach tonight, but we wanted to grab what numbers we could with our Walmart 6-way test kit.

CYA: Fuzzy dot at 30 - I think this is probably at 20.
pH: 7.5
TC: Too high to read with this kit
Alkalinity: 27 ppm
Hardness: turned yellow, not the color it was supposed to, so we couldn't do this test

What do I need to do so I can swim in this sucker?!
 
adoptolderkids said:
Ok, came home tonight and the pool is CLEAR. There are bits and pieces of leaves still on the bottom but not very many. Will vacuum these out tomorrow. My dad added bleach tonight, but we wanted to grab what numbers we could with our Walmart 6-way test kit.

CYA: Fuzzy dot at 30 - I think this is probably at 20.
pH: 7.5
TC: Too high to read with this kit
Alkalinity: 27 ppm
Hardness: turned yellow, not the color it was supposed to, so we couldn't do this test

What do I need to do so I can swim in this sucker?!
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I highly recommend getting a complete test kit like the TF-100 or the Taylor K-2006. Without accurate measurements it's really hard to tell if you're doing the right thing to your water's chemistry.

Your TA (alkalinity) is too low if the reading is accurate. Use the Pool Calculator to find out how much Baking Soda you need to add to bring it up to 70-90. This will also raise your pH. I suspect that your pH might actually be lower than 7.5 if your FC is very high. After you get the TA to the recommended level and your FC below 10 you can check the pH again then adjust with Muriatic Acid using the Pool Calculator.

You need to get some more CYA in the water to protect your chlorine from UV exposure. The fastest way to do this is liquid stabilizer. The recommended level of CYA in a regular (non-SWG) pool is 30-50ppm. I recommend starting with 50 as it will slowly decrease over the season due to splash out & backwashing. You may want to go as high as 60 if your pool is in direct sun all day.

Once your get your CYA to the desired level then you need to get an accurate FC reading. Maintain your FC according to the Chlorine/CYA Chart based on your CYA level.


Can any of the resident experts confirm the proper order to do all of this?
 

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