Draining above ground pool

[crescentwench]

Hi- terrible green algae in our pool. REALLY bad, horror-movie-swamp-thing algae. What are the ramifications of entirely draining our 18' above ground pool? Does this compromise the structure? Is the whole thing going to collapse on me??? I plan on scrubbing it well first, any other suggestions??

Thank you!!!

[jeff9140]

shock, shock, shock, add chlorine to skimmer and run the filter, it will clear, I had the same proble, also, make sure you have clean sand in your filter, let that filter run til it clears, 2 shots of shock per day, don't let them sell you all sorts of chemicals, when the chlorine level gets right, all you need is that and algacide, buy it at wal mart, it cheapest, I learned all this the hard way

[Aprilshowers]

We had that happen to us last year.

Repeat after me: Shock, run filter, brush, vacuum. Shock, run filter, brush, vacuum.

It WILL clear - if you use granular shock, you may get cloudy water if you 'over shock' it. When my pool gets really bad, I open the filter drain and vacuum directly out of the pool. (Make sure the pool is filled way up first). That way the yukky water exits the pool, and doesn't build up in the filter. Then refill the pool, shock, run filter, brush, vacuum.

Until it clears.

[d.kyle]

how do you vacume a pool I can not figure it out!!! :evil: and now we have stuff laying on the bottom of our pool what do I do??

[Backglass]

Unless you have been dumping motor oil or nuclear waste into your pool, it will clean up. H2O is always H2O...you cant change it into something else. You just need to get everything thats IN the H2O , OUT.

Follow the instructions above and post your test numbers.

[Guest]

how do you vacume a pool I can not figure it out!!! and now we have stuff laying on the bottom of our pool what do I do??

Easiest way to vacuum a pool is to use a "pool bug". Hayward pool products makes this wonderful device - Aquabug, Diver Dave, Wanda the Whale, or Aquacritter - these are four designs of the above-ground automatic pool cleaner. They work wonderfully! All you do is make sure you have enough hose to reach a few feet past the widest part of the pool and just plug one end into the filter system and the other into the "bug" and the water acts as a pump and it sweeps it almost clean. I paid about $150 at a pool store, but found it cheaper on the internet after I bought it. Most of all - you can run this without having to stay poolside or do any actual work!!

[marg1bella]

We drained our pool to fix a small hole and it ruined the liner. If you let it get dry it becomes very brittle. Just use chemicals. I found algecide cheapest at True Value Hardware. Don't buy it at a pool store. They rip you off.