Latest heavy rains dumped lots of mud and silt into my pool

[mckinneymagnum]

This happens every spring here in North Texas...a torrential amount of rain that comes rushing from the uphill neighbors and into our once blue pool. It's 100% dirt but I am doing a SLAM just in case there is algae mixed in, but I cannot get it cleared out. My visibility is about a foot before I can't see the head of the vacuum. It's a fiberglass pool so I can't just drain and start over, so do I just keep vacuuming and cleaning the cartridge filter until it's clear again? Right now I'm doing it twice a day with minimal improvement. Should I just turn off the pumps and let everything settle to the bottom, then vacuum? This is so frustrating.

 

[ajw22]

As long as your filter pressure is rising and your filter is capturing dirt I would stay the course. Clearing the pool will take time and effort.

My concern with turning the pump off and letting the water settle is it will let your FC drop and algae take hold.

Keep your FC level up.

 

[bradgray]

Your challenge is going to be stratification. Fiberglass pools rarely have true main drains, sometimes have wall drains.

Silt settles. You'll need to let it settle and vacuum it. Don't be tempted to use flocculant.

It will clear with time.

 

[Texas Splash]

so do I just keep vacuuming and cleaning the cartridge filter until it's clear again?

Basically - yes. Dirt run-off from flooding into a pool is some of the most difficult to clear, not only because of the initial chemistry changes, but the amount of dirt and silt is simply overwhelming. It will clear, but it will take a bit of time. Continue to maintain the elevated FC level to help breakdown the organics and watch your filter. Keep brushing everything so it can get picked-up by the skimmer and filter. Eventually you'll be back to normal.

 

[H-12 1/2 Mike]

I had the same problem here this week. Plus a 45 year old cedar elm crashed into the pool. It took 3 days to get the pool water back to normal after the tree removal. Lots of liquid chlorine and lots of brushing and leaf raking cleared it up.