Help! Trying to clean a swamp!

[GMacdonald]

Hi TFP community,

My first time posting in here — my husband and I just bought a house and opened the pool for the first time to a complete swamp! (Photos included — the very green ones, with tons of leaves & debris).

We are hobbling along with very old equipment as well, an old cast iron Anthony Apollo VA 52 DE filter.. which fills up in about 30 minutes because of how dirty the pool is, but due go a broken backwash valve we have to take the whole thing apart to clean. So it’s just been a process we try to chip away at in the evenings.

The pool company originally opened and shocked with 10 gal of liquid shock. We’ve cycled the filter probably 5x and put another 5 gal of liquid shock in. We’ve also been running a robot vacuum after sucking all the leaves out. We were starting to see some progress but it was very slow progress. It went from green to cloudy to blue cloudy, but that all took us a few weeks.

I looked into the SLAM method but it seemed reliant on CYA levels and pool company said not to worry about adding CYA until it is more blue or clear. But I don’t know if the reason the process is moving so slowly is because we’re losing too much chlorine to the sun? I tested with the FAS DPD test a few weeks back and our FC and CC were about 4ppm, CYA of course at 0.

We unfortunately had to deprioritize getting her clean for a week or so due to other home repairs arising, and now we are back to green / more cloudy, and have also come back to lots of algae growth and these concerning black spots on the floor of the pool - are these black algae? Any thoughts on how to remove?

Due to the nature of how quickly our filter fills up, it’s been off for this past week, so I’m sure the combination of that + heat + lack of chlorine is what’s led to these spots. It would actually be encouraging to hear that’s the cause of them, and that they are treatable - but this is why I’m posting in here as we are not sure. We also have lots of surrounding overgrown vegetation that was recently treated with herbicides, I’m not sure if that would have anything to do with it.

Is it worth to keep at cleaning it? We’re trying to get it back to clear but it’s very hard when we both work full time. At what point does it make sense to give up and just drain it? Will we need to physically get into the pool any scrub any of this algae out?

Please help! We are brand new to pool ownership and open to any / all recommendations. I’ve included the pictures as a hopefully helpful reference.

Thank you in advance,
Grace

 

[Getitrite]

Welcome to TFP! I'm sure the experts will be along shortly. Sounds as if you have already browsed the forum for information. Good move. Make a decision to test and treat your own water and you can sever the relationship with the pool store. They are still stuck on standards which will lead to more trouble. (Wife is from Doylestown.)

 

[Texas Splash]

Welcome to TFP! So you have decisions really. Simply put the SLAM Process works. We know it and so do hundreds of thousands of fellow pool owners. The pool store won't admit it because they want your business, but that's another discussion.

You have to be in it to win it. Life, work, etc, we understand. But the SLAM Process requires a full (proper) test kit, time, lots of liquid chlorine, and consistency. If you don't have those things it will fail.

Having said that, draining "completely" is always dangerous. A high water table can lift a pool shell, or intense sun & heat can impact plaster. Will it help - absolutely. But is it worth the risk? Only you can answer that question.

Then there's a partial drain option. Taking the water level down to about 25% - 30% remaining. It helps to thin-out the yucky water but keep the shell stable in the ground. But after that, you need to refill and start the SLAM Process to kill the remaining algae.

Stains can be addressed during the SLAM or after depending on their severity. But the longer you leave the algae soup in there, the more staining and problems you could have later.

Decision, decision. Let us know if you have any questions.

 

[nobody291]

I was in a similar situation when we moved into our house 6 years ago. It was completely overwhelming for me at first, but I stayed at it, and eventually we got it figured out...you can do it too! I have a few thoughts in addition to those above:

broken backwash valve

Could your pool guy help you fix this? It is so much easier to backwash a DE filter than clean it. You'll still need to clean it sometimes, but in your situation, backwashing would simplify things for you.

pool company said not to worry about adding CYA

Most pool companies won't be up on the TFP or SLAM methods, so you'll get conflicting advice from them. CYA is important for SLAM for the reason you mentioned...the intense June sun will work against you. Having a CYA of 30 will mitigate that. The key with the SLAM is the "M". Testing and Maintaining the FC level regularly.

come back to lots of algae growth

The key to dealing with this is liquid chlorine. Like Pat mentioned above, you'll need a lot of it. Don't the let the pool company or pool store talk you into algaecides, they have undesirable side effects that will cause you problems later.

drain it?

The risks of this are covered above. You'll also want to test your water to see what's in it now (using your own test kit), and that will be part of the decision on whether or not to do a partial drain at least.

Keep reading through Pool School here and asking questions. It's a process...no one understands everything right away. But, keep at it and you'll be swimming in a beautiful pool later this summer!

 

[GMacdonald]

Thank you everyone for the helpful responses! We are working on getting a new filter put in, but for now, this is what we are working with. Sounds like the risks of draining it would potentially outweigh the benefits, so we'll keep at trying to get it clean with SLAM methods, etc.

Regarding the SLAM process / adding CYA - I noticed in the SLAM instructions it suggests having your filter run 24/7 during the process. Because of how quickly ours is hitting it's "full" pressure, we would not feel comfortable letting it run truly 24/7 (overnight) - but could do it from first thing in the morning until late in the evening so that we are able to tend to do it, if we would still see results by doing so.

On adding CYA, as ours is at about 0 right now and it seems like that's working against us, I read in some of the other TFP articles that you should leave the pump run for 24 hours and not backwash/clean filter for a week after adding CYA. How critical is this step? As mentioned in my initial post, due to the broken backwash valve we have to take the entire filter apart to clean it (for now) when it fills up, which is every 30 min to an hour at our current rate. So would it still be beneficial to add CYA?

Thank you all again!

 

[Decoy205]

Do you have one of the recommended test kits? You need proper test results to get through this. Your water isn’t as bad as I’ve seen on here! You can get it back with a few disciplined steps. It does sound like you need a new filter asap.

You will need some CYA in there to avoid burning off all the chlorine quickly. I would add that. Keep adding in chlorine daily until your new filter is installed. Then start slamming.

Can’t stress the test kit enough. Tf100 or K-2006c are recommended.

 

[JJ_Tex]

+1 on the test kit

Also, do you have a multi-port valve that has a setting to allow you to bypass the filter? That way you can run the filter and keep the SLAMMed water circulating your pool?

 

[PoolStored]

Regarding the SLAM process / adding CYA - I noticed in the SLAM instructions it suggests having your filter run 24/7 during the process. Because of how quickly ours is hitting it's "full" pressure, we would not feel comfortable letting it run truly 24/7 (overnight) - but could do it from first thing in the morning until late in the evening so that we are able to tend to do it, if we would still see results by doing so.

You thinking and approach is prudent. When the filter doesn't his full pressure in 8 hours, then resume overnight. Clean the filter, note clean pressure. When pressure rises 25% clean again. This should be normal practice (slam or not).

On adding CYA, as ours is at about 0 right now and it seems like that's working against us, I read in some of the other TFP articles that you should leave the pump run for 24 hours and not backwash/clean filter for a week after adding CYA. How critical is this step? As mentioned in my initial post, due to the broken backwash valve we have to take the entire filter apart to clean it (for now) when it fills up, which is every 30 min to an hour at our current rate. So would it still be beneficial to add CYA?

Add 30ppm of dry stabilizer. Put it in sock and tie off the sock. Hang like a carrot on a stick in front of a return. Sqeeze it a bunch after about 30 minutes. It will dissolve. Follow backwash procedure above. Good to go.

 

[GMacdonald]

Do you have one of the recommended test kits? You need proper test results to get through this. Your water isn’t as bad as I’ve seen on here! You can get it back with a few disciplined steps. It does sound like you need a new filter asap.

You will need some CYA in there to avoid burning off all the chlorine quickly. I would add that. Keep adding in chlorine daily until your new filter is installed. Then start slamming.

Can’t stress the test kit enough. Tf100 or K-2006c are recommended.

We do have the test kit! k-2006.

 

[GMacdonald]

+1 on the test kit

Also, do you have a multi-port valve that has a setting to allow you to bypass the filter? That way you can run the filter and keep the SLAMMed water circulating your pool?

We do not have a multi-port valve unfortunately, just a push/pull - but the backwash capability isn't functioning correctly, so when it fills up we have to take the entire filter apart in order to clean it.

 

[GMacdonald]

You thinking and approach is prudent. When the filter doesn't his full pressure in 8 hours, then resume overnight. Clean the filter, note clean pressure. When pressure rises 25% clean again. This should be normal practice (slam or not).

Add 30ppm of dry stabilizer. Put it in sock and tie off the sock. Hang like a carrot on a stick in front of a return. Sqeeze it a bunch after about 30 minutes. It will dissolve. Follow backwash procedure above. Good to go.

Thanks @PoolStored! So sounds like even if we are having to take our filter apart & clean it, we should still be able to add some CYA in via the sock method you mentioned.

 

[Decoy205]

Post up your test results here a day after adding the CyA and some chlorine

 

[RickRude]

Youve got bigger fish to fry than to satisfy my curiosity, but would you be so kind as to post a picture of this cast iron filter???? It must weigh a ton when you open it up for cleaning.

 

[GMacdonald]

Post up your test results here a day after adding the CyA and some chlorine

We added about 2.5 gal of liquid shock a day ago (no CYA yet) and did the Taylor K-2006 test today and here are our results:

FC: near 0 (could not get it to turn pink)
CC: also near 0, could not get it to turn pink
CYA: seems near 0, filled the tube completely and water did not get cloudy, could still see the “black dot” in test tube.
Ph: 7.2

The lowest CYA the TFP CYA/CC chart will go is 20 ppm, so I’m going based off that that our FC SLAM level would be 10. Based on our starting from effectively 0, the pool math app is saying that would take about 2 gal of liquid shock.

To bring CYA up to even just 30, the pool math app is saying 6 lbs of dry stabilizer would be needed. Does this sound right? This just seemed like so much.

 

[nobody291]

FC: near 0 (could not get it to turn pink)

would take about 2 gal of liquid shock.

You're going to need more liquid chlorine very soon...with FC at 0, algae will grow quickly. 2 gallons of liquid chlorine will add 10ppm of FC, but it will start to drop quickly, so you'll need to continue testing and adding more based on those tests.

To bring CYA up to even just 30, the pool math app is saying 6 lbs of dry stabilizer would be needed. Does this sound right?

Yes, make sure to follow the instructions that were given above about the sock method...the CYA crystals need to be dissolved, or they will get caught by the filter and washed away when you clean it.

The lowest CYA the TFP CYA/CC chart will go is 20 ppm, so I’m going based off that that our FC SLAM level would be 10.

That would be true if your CYA was 20, but 30 or 40 would be better...as the SLAM article says, "SLAMing an outdoor pool is most effective when CYA is around 30 to 40. Below 30 you lose too much chlorine to sunlight."