Stubborn pool

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Hoster said:
For next season, try to vacuum to waste as much as you can when you open the pool - this really helped me last few seasons. This season, we got lazy (plus the water level was low so didn't wait to fill it back up to vacuum) and took a bit longer than usual (and more liquid chlorine, like 15+ gallons).

In addition, I had to clean the DE filter after 4th days of opening and the filter media / DE was basically GREEN (this was expected as I go through the same process every years). Make sure your filter is clean as well (not sure how to can do that with sand filter though). Currently my CYA is low and trying to get that up....
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Yeah we learned a lot for next year. Hopefully we won't have as much crud on it as we do this year.

Our filter is brand new. We did do a deep clean on it the other day when we lowered the water levels since had ran some crud through it.
 
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FWIW, you can get cheap liquid pool chlorine at Walmart for ~$5 a gallon. It's straight chlorine, so NOT the stabilized stuff that raises your CYA. I'm new pool owner as of a year ago, and last year I kept throwing stabilized chlorine pucks in the dispenser, thinking I was doing the right thing to get the chlorine up. It sky-rocketed my CYA levels. Lots of reading on here, and numerous trips to the pool supply store lead me to drain 1/2 the pool water out (in multiple stages) and refill, to get the CYA down to acceptable levels.

Also, once the algae dies, your water may be cloudy. IMHO, you might consider a flocking agent to coagulate around the algae, get it to drop to the pool bottom, then vac to waste. Don't filter when you're doing a flocking cycle, when you're distributing flock just "re-circulate" the water, then turn the pump off and let the pool sit overnight. By next morning, the dead algae is all on the bottom for easy vac to waste.

G
 
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GaryV512 said:
FWIW, you can get cheap liquid pool chlorine at Walmart for ~$5 a gallon. It's straight chlorine, so NOT the stabilized stuff that raises your CYA. I'm new pool owner as of a year ago, and last year I kept throwing stabilized chlorine pucks in the dispenser, thinking I was doing the right thing to get the chlorine up. It sky-rocketed my CYA levels. Lots of reading on here, and numerous trips to the pool supply store lead me to drain 1/2 the pool water out (in multiple stages) and refill, to get the CYA down to acceptable levels.

Also, once the algae dies, your water may be cloudy. IMHO, you might consider a flocking agent to coagulate around the algae, get it to drop to the pool bottom, the vac to waste. Don't filter when you're doing a flocking cycle, when you're distributing flock just "re-circulate" the water, then turn the pump and let the pool sit overnight. By next morning, the dead algae is all on the bottom for easy vac to waste.

G
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yes, sir!! a great point..and yes, I have used Walmart ones in the past but no more. Simply because it was "cheaper" per gallon (was definitely less than $5 a gallon at the time) and my local Walmart is waay closer than a pool store. However, I also found that walmart ones are "less potent" (e.g., 10%?) vs. the pool store jug (12.5% or so?).
 
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GaryV512 said:
IMHO, you might consider a flocking agent to coagulate around the algae, get it to drop to the pool bottom, the vac to waste.
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This really is not necessary just filter and vac for a few days and it will clear up wihout floc. I personally would never use floc.
 
Hoster said:
yes, sir!! a great point..and yes, I have used Walmart ones in the past but no more. Simply because it was "cheaper" per gallon (was definitely less than $5 a gallon at the time) and my local Walmart is waay closer than a pool store. However, I also found that walmart ones are "less potent" (e.g., 10%?) vs. the pool store jug (12.5% or so?).
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Yes sir, 20% less potent, but 45% less costly by my crazy math. I still figure I'm $ ahead with the Wally World stuff. Main point for me was understanding stabilized version vs not, LOL! was driving me crazy! Needless to say I unnecessarily went through a lot of pucks!!!
 
If you are in the DFW area the cheapest place we found is really the Pinch a Penny 2.5 gal jugs.. $0.425/oz
We are lucky up here in the midwest were there are Farm & Fleets $0.24/oz
 
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Please DO NOT ever use Flock...A real PITA to get out of your pool!
LIQUID chlorine and filtering (with filter cleaning as needed) is all that is required.

Just an off the wall question- Can you tell us what kind of pucks/powder did you use previously that caused the high CYA/FC?

Maddie 🇮🇹
 
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YippeeSkippy said:
Please DO NOT ever use Flock...A real PITA to get out of your pool!
LIQUID chlorine and filtering (with filter cleaning as needed) is all that is required.

Just an off the wall question- Can you tell us what kind of pucks/powder did you use previously that caused the high CYA/FC?

Maddie 🇮🇹
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I'll try to find the bags! It could have been the HTH kind - we got it from Costco! It was a powder!
 

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1000008066.jpgis this staining or is this algae? It doesn't come up with brushing. We had sand pushed back into the pool a few times so we've picked quite a bit of that up. It's all on the liner, the water is completely and crystal clear. I plan to check the chlorine overnight.
 
You can try the things listed in this article to determine what the stains are.
www.troublefreepool.com

Stains in Your Pool

The stained pool is beyond embarrassing. Our in-depth Guide to remove stains in your pool will help you to remove the stains and prevent them in the future.
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Your liner looks quite damaged from your past chemistry but if you stick with TFP recommended levels hopefully you’ll get as much life as possible out of it & be able to preserve your replacement liner & also avoid staining when the time comes. What Are My Ideal Pool Levels?
Pool Care Basics
 
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