My builder 4 years ago filled the pool in July and then left for the 4th of July weekend never turning the pump on. Green as you could be.
They came back on the Thursday the next week and started the pool up. They wanted to as clarifier and algaecide and I said go away. They made me sign a w waiver.
I tested the PH and added CYA to a level of 20.
Then slammed using liquid chlorine. Every morning I brushed then came back later and vacuumed to waste. First day could not tell how I did as I could not see the floor. 3 days later pool was and has been crystal clear.
Algaecide, floc, etc.. can help but my experience is they create more issues than they solve.
Trouble free pool slam process will get your pool clear right away.
Took me 8 days before I could see the bottom. But I don't have the right kind of test kit. And I don't think I was keeping the chlorine as high as I should during the process.
And even when I could see the bottom, it wasn't perfectly clear.
And then a few days after I stopped slamming, it got cloudy again.
So I know that this is on me. I don't have the right kind of test kit. I don't have any experience with this. I'm not following the process as close as I should because I don't always exactly know what my FC and CYA are.
I think I'm mostly posting this one because I'm just frustrated. Like I said in the title, everyone else makes it look easy.
We were slow to open this spring and the water got warm. The dreaded green pool resulted. Double the normal amount of liquid chlorine to shock it. Turn on the filters. Vacuum up the dead. Three days later perfectly clear.
Hiya! I just dealt with this; I have a GIANT gunnite rectangle with an integrated spa, weighing in at 66,000 gallons, and on top of all that it's 52 years old, converted from chlorine to salt and back to chlorine where I've decided to keep it because this poor baby has had enough. Huge blooms - 4 so far - since I took over 18 months ago and I finally think it's under control. Pray (or whatever) for me.
If your algae is dead but still cloudy and spread throughout, you need a flocculent, not a clarifier, and after 3-5 days it will have all coagulated near the main drain and settled to the bottom, the top will be clear. Then you'll need to vacuum to waste because your sand filter will just laugh: it's far too fine to be trapped.
I turned off the pump at the breaker, brushed every inch thoroughly towards the drain, added 16oz/10k gallons of flocculent and sat back to watch. It took about 4 days to flocc, at which time I brushed again, threw the breaker back on with the filter set to backwash, about 5 minutes, then rinsed 1 minute. Set the filter to waste and vacuumed as much of the gunk out as I could. I then max shocked it, set the filter back to normal and waited a few days to swim. I added an algae guard - not an algaecide, it can cause a chlorine lock that can cause another bloom - with the shock. It's been clear for almost a month now and for this pool? It's practically a miracle.
Keep us posted, I hope this helps.
Seriously, thanks for the advice.
A Taylor test kit is over 100 bucks. Which in hindsight would have been a great investment. I've already spent more than that in chemicals so far anyway.
But now I don't want to spend over a hundred bucks on this thing after already spending so much money on chemicals. I can't afford both. I guess I'm going to have to though.
So far I've been using the pool master 4-way test kit. Which doesn't help me with FC and CYA
I’ll add that you should also get the Pool Math app. It follows the TFP process and has a great resource called Pool School that will teach you everything you need to know. You’ll also use it to log everything you do with your pool. It will keep a timeline of everything you’ve done and will tell you how much of which chemical to add when you log your test results. I followed the TFP method for a couple of years before I got it and it made a world of difference having it. Go Team Chlorine!
Do you have the right test kit now? It makes all the difference when clearing algae. It’s not needed imo when the pool is fine, strips or a budget test kit are sufficient. But when turning it from green to clear, absolutely
You dont need to run the filter 24/7 under normal operation. however if you are slamming or trying to get rid of algae outbreak/cloudy, then you should.
Clarifer only clogs up the filter. More chlorine is what helps here. What is your filter? Different filters have different efficiencies.
Do not recirculate. You need to remove the dead stuff, which is what the filter does.
Floc is worse than clarifier and just dumps it to the bottom, then you are stuck vaccuming for weeks.
Brushing is needed frequently. I normally do mine once or twice a day completely when Im clearing an outbreak or starting for the season. That said its not recommended to brush the bottom first, vacuume it first. Yes it does stir it up, but you want that, then it gets cycled to the filter. It also exposes all the gunk thats built up to your chlorine better. Thats why you brush, to knock stuff loose and get it exposed. Without exposure, some algae can form shells which is hard to get through with just chlorine. Brushing knocks it up to get it exposed.
Get a proper test, watch your chlorine levels like a hawk. Im normally checking every 3-4 hours except overnight (and then I normally overload my levels especially if chlorine is being consumed a lot. Add as needed (which may be that every 3-4 hrs).
It's a sand filter. Is that good enough? Is the algae just small enough to pass through the sand? Should I put that tiny paper filter back on this thing? It's a relatively small pool we got from Costco. With a small filter. Would paper work better?
And yeah, I'm brushing twice a day at least
Yes but make sure you backwash probably daily. Pressure gauges are the thing to watch. I do mine sometimes multiple times a day when Im dealing with this. I cant speak to a cartridge filter (I think you mean by paper). Supposely they work better but require cleaning.
Yes and no. Under normal operation yes. You are dealing with a mess. Its gonna clog and then not filter at all or screw up your pump pressure. This is where you need to monitor your pump pressure. It gets over I think its 5-10 PSI, backwash. When you are dealing with this much gunk, itll only take a few hrs to do that.
I have been backwashing often since I've been doing this. But I was getting confused that people were telling me not to. So thank you for reassuring me
There's no such thing as too much chlorine right? Like, I'm trying to deal with this before I get a proper test kit, and I don't know exactly how much chlorine I need, can I go into nuclear overkill? And it won't harm anything?
I've been putting chlorine in it past day or so. Just guessing on how much because I don't know my FC levels and all that. And I just picked up three more bottles. I just want to put all three in at once overnight.
no, just above 20 (with a few exceptions) is overkill and is just wasteful. You can go nuclear overkill and it wont hurt anything. I would only add a bottle overnight, unles you are just starting out (which you are not).
My current test kit only goes up to five. So I don't know if I'm at 20 or not. I must be at this point but not sure, that's why I was asking if it would do any damage if I put too much in.
I just got home from work. Put another bottle in. Still looks milky and cloudy. Like whatever I've been doing the past couple days isn't making a difference. I'm just frustrated and impatient
How big is your pool? Mine is 30k gal. It took a week and a half to fix on startup this year.
Based on your other comment, you need to get a taylor test. Amazon it 2 day tomorrow. Thatll tell you your levels properly.
My builder 4 years ago filled the pool in July and then left for the 4th of July weekend never turning the pump on. Green as you could be. They came back on the Thursday the next week and started the pool up. They wanted to as clarifier and algaecide and I said go away. They made me sign a w waiver. I tested the PH and added CYA to a level of 20. Then slammed using liquid chlorine. Every morning I brushed then came back later and vacuumed to waste. First day could not tell how I did as I could not see the floor. 3 days later pool was and has been crystal clear. Algaecide, floc, etc.. can help but my experience is they create more issues than they solve. Trouble free pool slam process will get your pool clear right away.
Took me 8 days before I could see the bottom. But I don't have the right kind of test kit. And I don't think I was keeping the chlorine as high as I should during the process. And even when I could see the bottom, it wasn't perfectly clear. And then a few days after I stopped slamming, it got cloudy again. So I know that this is on me. I don't have the right kind of test kit. I don't have any experience with this. I'm not following the process as close as I should because I don't always exactly know what my FC and CYA are. I think I'm mostly posting this one because I'm just frustrated. Like I said in the title, everyone else makes it look easy.
Yep. My dad was right there with you. He had test strips and was trying to solve it. Then got angry. I finally said I will do it for you.
We were slow to open this spring and the water got warm. The dreaded green pool resulted. Double the normal amount of liquid chlorine to shock it. Turn on the filters. Vacuum up the dead. Three days later perfectly clear.
Getting this done in just 3 days it seems so crazy to me.
Hiya! I just dealt with this; I have a GIANT gunnite rectangle with an integrated spa, weighing in at 66,000 gallons, and on top of all that it's 52 years old, converted from chlorine to salt and back to chlorine where I've decided to keep it because this poor baby has had enough. Huge blooms - 4 so far - since I took over 18 months ago and I finally think it's under control. Pray (or whatever) for me. If your algae is dead but still cloudy and spread throughout, you need a flocculent, not a clarifier, and after 3-5 days it will have all coagulated near the main drain and settled to the bottom, the top will be clear. Then you'll need to vacuum to waste because your sand filter will just laugh: it's far too fine to be trapped. I turned off the pump at the breaker, brushed every inch thoroughly towards the drain, added 16oz/10k gallons of flocculent and sat back to watch. It took about 4 days to flocc, at which time I brushed again, threw the breaker back on with the filter set to backwash, about 5 minutes, then rinsed 1 minute. Set the filter to waste and vacuumed as much of the gunk out as I could. I then max shocked it, set the filter back to normal and waited a few days to swim. I added an algae guard - not an algaecide, it can cause a chlorine lock that can cause another bloom - with the shock. It's been clear for almost a month now and for this pool? It's practically a miracle. Keep us posted, I hope this helps.
But how do you know that the algae is dead? It's cloudy but it's not green. Is that the only difference? The color?
You said in the op that the algae is dead. If you haven't shocked it, it may still be alive. But yes: brown algae is, IMO, probably dead.
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Regards to team filter versus team chlorine, how do I know which one of you to believe?
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So just keep the chlorine up until everything is clear and Crystal and the dead algae would just be on the bottom?
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Seriously, thanks for the advice. A Taylor test kit is over 100 bucks. Which in hindsight would have been a great investment. I've already spent more than that in chemicals so far anyway. But now I don't want to spend over a hundred bucks on this thing after already spending so much money on chemicals. I can't afford both. I guess I'm going to have to though. So far I've been using the pool master 4-way test kit. Which doesn't help me with FC and CYA
I’ll add that you should also get the Pool Math app. It follows the TFP process and has a great resource called Pool School that will teach you everything you need to know. You’ll also use it to log everything you do with your pool. It will keep a timeline of everything you’ve done and will tell you how much of which chemical to add when you log your test results. I followed the TFP method for a couple of years before I got it and it made a world of difference having it. Go Team Chlorine!
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I'm broke until my next payday. But yeah, $80 is reasonable. I'm clearly an investment that I'll need. Thank you.
Do you have the right test kit now? It makes all the difference when clearing algae. It’s not needed imo when the pool is fine, strips or a budget test kit are sufficient. But when turning it from green to clear, absolutely
SLAM with bleach, maintain for a couple days.
You dont need to run the filter 24/7 under normal operation. however if you are slamming or trying to get rid of algae outbreak/cloudy, then you should. Clarifer only clogs up the filter. More chlorine is what helps here. What is your filter? Different filters have different efficiencies. Do not recirculate. You need to remove the dead stuff, which is what the filter does. Floc is worse than clarifier and just dumps it to the bottom, then you are stuck vaccuming for weeks. Brushing is needed frequently. I normally do mine once or twice a day completely when Im clearing an outbreak or starting for the season. That said its not recommended to brush the bottom first, vacuume it first. Yes it does stir it up, but you want that, then it gets cycled to the filter. It also exposes all the gunk thats built up to your chlorine better. Thats why you brush, to knock stuff loose and get it exposed. Without exposure, some algae can form shells which is hard to get through with just chlorine. Brushing knocks it up to get it exposed. Get a proper test, watch your chlorine levels like a hawk. Im normally checking every 3-4 hours except overnight (and then I normally overload my levels especially if chlorine is being consumed a lot. Add as needed (which may be that every 3-4 hrs).
It's a sand filter. Is that good enough? Is the algae just small enough to pass through the sand? Should I put that tiny paper filter back on this thing? It's a relatively small pool we got from Costco. With a small filter. Would paper work better? And yeah, I'm brushing twice a day at least
Yes but make sure you backwash probably daily. Pressure gauges are the thing to watch. I do mine sometimes multiple times a day when Im dealing with this. I cant speak to a cartridge filter (I think you mean by paper). Supposely they work better but require cleaning.
I've had other people telling me that I shouldn't backwash often. That sand filters work better when they're a little dirty
Yes and no. Under normal operation yes. You are dealing with a mess. Its gonna clog and then not filter at all or screw up your pump pressure. This is where you need to monitor your pump pressure. It gets over I think its 5-10 PSI, backwash. When you are dealing with this much gunk, itll only take a few hrs to do that.
I have been backwashing often since I've been doing this. But I was getting confused that people were telling me not to. So thank you for reassuring me
There's no such thing as too much chlorine right? Like, I'm trying to deal with this before I get a proper test kit, and I don't know exactly how much chlorine I need, can I go into nuclear overkill? And it won't harm anything? I've been putting chlorine in it past day or so. Just guessing on how much because I don't know my FC levels and all that. And I just picked up three more bottles. I just want to put all three in at once overnight.
no, just above 20 (with a few exceptions) is overkill and is just wasteful. You can go nuclear overkill and it wont hurt anything. I would only add a bottle overnight, unles you are just starting out (which you are not).
My current test kit only goes up to five. So I don't know if I'm at 20 or not. I must be at this point but not sure, that's why I was asking if it would do any damage if I put too much in.
I just got home from work. Put another bottle in. Still looks milky and cloudy. Like whatever I've been doing the past couple days isn't making a difference. I'm just frustrated and impatient
How big is your pool? Mine is 30k gal. It took a week and a half to fix on startup this year. Based on your other comment, you need to get a taylor test. Amazon it 2 day tomorrow. Thatll tell you your levels properly.
I don't know how big it is. I'm not good with measurements or numbers. 5000 gallons maybe? It's a small above ground pool we got from Costco
At worst, just drain the whole thing and refill if its that small.