Hi, I'll start by stating that I've made a very big mistake and ignored some common wisdom on the forums here. Two weeks ago I began cleaning up my parents' backyard swamp (frog infested and so-green-it's-black above ground pool). I started a SLAM (with 10% sodium hypochlorite liquid), vacuumed to waste until no leaves, sticks, and helicopter seeds (probably thousands of them) came up. Brushed twice a day. After about a week the pool was a very milky teal color, couldn't see 2 inches into the water. I verified the SLAM was complete by measuring a <= 1 ppm FC loss overnight and <= 0.5 ppm CC, this was on 6/23. Being impatient I decided to add a clarifier (HTH Pool Care Clarifier Advanced) with the dosage being about 6oz (instructions say 4oz to 10k gallons). After a few days of backwashing every 2 hours or so (sand filter PSI went from 15 to 21 during that time, flow rate was just a trickle) and no change in water clarity I decided the filter needs to be checked, and heck, while I'm at it I'll just throw in a flocculant to speed this process up. So I added HTH Pool Care Drop Out Flocculant, dosed at about 10oz (8oz per 10k gallons on the instructions).
Well it's been 67 hours since the pump was shut off (had it in recirculation mode for about 3 hours) and I can only see about a foot down into the pool. See a bunch of goo-covered clumps of white particles floating around too. Good news, I guess, is it hasn't went green yet so the algea is dead, right?
In the meantime I had disassembled the sand filter and oh boy was it dirty, the multi-way valve manifold was clogged up with a bunch of goo-y bits of hair, leaves, etc. I also noticed that I bought the wrong grade of sand the last time it was recharged, and it's a couple of inches below the min fill line. So I went and got 150lb of #20 silica sand, but I haven't changed the old sand out yet. Everything is still disassembled while I figure out what to do about the water.
Current chemistry is 0 PPM FC, 7.2 PH, 320 CH, 80 TA, and 40 CYA. Water is very turbid and a teal color.
The pool is a 24'52" Intex metal frame AGP (~12,500gal) with a Intex 16" sand filter, and an Intex 3000gph pump.
So what's my best option here? Just drain and refill? That wouldn't be the end of the world but it'd have to be well water (goes through a water softener first, though) and that'd bring me into sequestrant territory, perhaps, since the water is heavy in iron. Should I try filtering this gunk out? I have the old sand which I can clean, use it to hopefully get the worst of the floc gunk out, then clean the filter again and replace it with the fresh stuff. I also have poly-fill that I can add to the pump basket, and skimmer socks to lessen the load on the filter (hopefully).
I could also try to vacuum to waste first but I can't see the bottom at all.
Also 3D printed this nozzle for the pump return assembly that can shoot water to the bottom of the pool towards the skimmer and hopefully bring that gunk up so it can catch it.
Thanks in advance for any advice.
Well it's been 67 hours since the pump was shut off (had it in recirculation mode for about 3 hours) and I can only see about a foot down into the pool. See a bunch of goo-covered clumps of white particles floating around too. Good news, I guess, is it hasn't went green yet so the algea is dead, right?
In the meantime I had disassembled the sand filter and oh boy was it dirty, the multi-way valve manifold was clogged up with a bunch of goo-y bits of hair, leaves, etc. I also noticed that I bought the wrong grade of sand the last time it was recharged, and it's a couple of inches below the min fill line. So I went and got 150lb of #20 silica sand, but I haven't changed the old sand out yet. Everything is still disassembled while I figure out what to do about the water.
Current chemistry is 0 PPM FC, 7.2 PH, 320 CH, 80 TA, and 40 CYA. Water is very turbid and a teal color.
The pool is a 24'52" Intex metal frame AGP (~12,500gal) with a Intex 16" sand filter, and an Intex 3000gph pump.
So what's my best option here? Just drain and refill? That wouldn't be the end of the world but it'd have to be well water (goes through a water softener first, though) and that'd bring me into sequestrant territory, perhaps, since the water is heavy in iron. Should I try filtering this gunk out? I have the old sand which I can clean, use it to hopefully get the worst of the floc gunk out, then clean the filter again and replace it with the fresh stuff. I also have poly-fill that I can add to the pump basket, and skimmer socks to lessen the load on the filter (hopefully).
I could also try to vacuum to waste first but I can't see the bottom at all.
Also 3D printed this nozzle for the pump return assembly that can shoot water to the bottom of the pool towards the skimmer and hopefully bring that gunk up so it can catch it.
Thanks in advance for any advice.
Last edited:
