Please Help - Extremely Green Pool!!! No Progress

Algae problems in swimming pool water.
Green (cloudy) water or slimy pool walls.
Black algae. Mustard algae. Pink or white pool mold.
whitelexus
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Please Help - Extremely Green Pool!!! No Progress

Postby whitelexus » Sat 27 Jun, 2009 09:53

All I can say is I relate..but I will also say mine looked MUCH MUCH worse than yours when I started....to get the debris out initialy I turned my filter system to recirculate and started vacuming them out and cleaning the skimmer basket often....when I no longer got any leaves I could see I came here.....I still have the crap that is so fine at the bottom to remove and am working diligently....I wish you the best. Laughing, I ordered a safety cover....this will NEVER happen again. Happy vaccuming...there is great advise here....I too have spent a small fortune and listened to the pool companies..they only want your money...mine started last summer and I never even got to swim in the damn thing....


Denali
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Please Help - Extremely Green Pool!!! No Progress

Postby Denali » Sat 27 Jun, 2009 13:33

Hello again Heather,

I thought maybe you'd bought some dynamite and blown up the pool. haha . I'll have to reread the whole thread before I can answer but the new manifold will make a difference.

Stay tuned.
sptygl
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My Pool: I THINK it is 20,000 gallons. Inground pool. 8-10 feet at deep end, kidney shaped pool. I have a spa that waterfalls into the pool

Please Help - Extremely Green Pool!!! No Progress

Postby sptygl » Sat 27 Jun, 2009 15:01

Denali wrote:Hello again Heather,

I thought maybe you'd bought some dynamite and blown up the pool. haha . I'll have to reread the whole thread before I can answer but the new manifold will make a difference.

Stay tuned.


Too funny Denali!!! yes... I bet with all the frustration coming from me!!!

Please let me know your thoughts....
It is lighter green today, but it is so hot here in CA today I wonder about putting in the bleach with temperatures this hot!! I have the new manifold, but still not a working backwash. (it seems jammed and as you may recall the lever had snapped off)

let me see if I can get ANY reading for you

Many thanks!!
sptygl
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My Pool: I THINK it is 20,000 gallons. Inground pool. 8-10 feet at deep end, kidney shaped pool. I have a spa that waterfalls into the pool

Please Help - Extremely Green Pool!!! No Progress

Postby sptygl » Sat 27 Jun, 2009 15:03

whitelexus wrote:All I can say is I relate..but I will also say mine looked MUCH MUCH worse than yours when I started....to get the debris out initialy I turned my filter system to recirculate and started vacuming them out and cleaning the skimmer basket often....when I no longer got any leaves I could see I came here.....I still have the crap that is so fine at the bottom to remove and am working diligently....I wish you the best. Laughing, I ordered a safety cover....this will NEVER happen again. Happy vaccuming...there is great advise here....I too have spent a small fortune and listened to the pool companies..they only want your money...mine started last summer and I never even got to swim in the damn thing....



Are you SURE??? :) I have trouble vacumming though, I am not successfully getting suction in the hose, but I do think most of the leaves are completely GONE -- it's just green slime on the bottom of the pool, and LOTS of it!!!

Yes, the pool companies are a RIP off, and I can only pray I will have results like you!!!
Thanks for giving me hope!!
:)
Denali
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Please Help - Extremely Green Pool!!! No Progress

Postby Denali » Sat 27 Jun, 2009 15:46

sptygl wrote:STARTING OVER HERE....

let me first say thanks so much for being an incredibly knowledgable group and amazing site!!

I was so frustrated before (didn't you notice?) :)
and didn't realize what a huge problem a broken manifold would cause in my attempts to clean up the pool!! I kept taking the filter apart manually for cleaning (no backwash because lever snapped off and wasn't sure how to get that working)... the green thick color did lighten somewhat, but sadly not enough, and I was pouring all the DE back in the pool, AND wasting a TON of bleach -- slowly getting nowhere!!

SO now, I would like to start the process AGAIN... but it's been weeks!!! THe pool now is VERY GREEN, but the manifold has been replaced on the filter, so hopefully that will make a difference. I picked up 20 gallons of standard bleach from the store, and began with taking the filter apart and hosing it down. I added 9 gallons of bleach and brushed down what I could. THe filter is set to run 24/7

Last week... (no chemicals added) AND I only attempted to see if there was still any leaves in the bottom... not much, but I did pull up large nets of ... slime/mud!!! YUCK... This smelled terrrible, and was very heavy in the net... I was surprised it didn't run through the net back into the water, but some of it was so thick I guess it just held up in the net. There is still some slime down there, but I can't see through the water, and WONDER IF IT IS POSSIBLE TO DILUTE OR BREAK THIS DOWN SOMEHOW SO THAT MY POOL CAN RECOVER AND BE BLUE AGAIN????

I don't know how to backwash (and like I said the lever snapped off).. THe backwash valve area hasn't been used (atleast by myself in the last 2 yrs... and I don't know when it was last). What I do is manually dissemble the filter to clean, and I use a bucket to get what dirty water I can out (not sure how to DRAIN what is at the bottom of the filter)
Life would be much easier for you if the backwash valve was working. For a pool like yours you vacuum, BW, vacuum, BW and so on. Having to take apart the filter each time you need to clean it will get old quickly. Whether you get it fixed now or later you will want to get it done.


Am I just a lost cause?? and worse, is it possible to clear my POOL?? Please.. Please be patient with me,... and again many thanks for all your valuable advice. I know I am very inexperienced here, but appreciate any help you can offer. SHOULD I CONSIDER DRAINING THE ENTIRE POOL, or will I be able to clean this problem without it costing me TONS of money?
You're not a lost cause and it is possible to clear the pool. Draining the pool is certainly a possibility. You could hire someone to drain it and also fix the BW valve. One question here, when the pool is finally blue and swimmable again are you going to take care of it yourself or hire someone? If you're going to hire someone I would do it now. You can always check his advice here with us.
To clear this without draining you're going to have to learn to vacuum. Vacuuming up a big mess takes time as the filter will clog up quickly. I can explain how to vacuum if you wish.

Your Pool Blaster is worth a try. I doubt it can cope with the MUCK but worth a try. If it can take some of the mess out that is less that will need to go into the filter.

Bottom line here I think is whether you want to learn to take care of the pool yourself or not. If you do we can start with vacuuming. Chlorine additions and vacuuming will make a good dent in clearing the pool. Let me know which route you want to take.


Also, I do not know how to vacuum, although I do have the hose and vaccuum head (manual). I also have a POOL Blaster charging at the moment, not sure how much that can actually help.

AWAITING YOUR REPLY!!! I think I am ready NOW... and hope it's something I can somehow manage with a lot of your help!!

many thanks,
heather
sptygl
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My Pool: I THINK it is 20,000 gallons. Inground pool. 8-10 feet at deep end, kidney shaped pool. I have a spa that waterfalls into the pool

Please Help - Extremely Green Pool!!! No Progress

Postby sptygl » Sat 27 Jun, 2009 17:34

THESE are the results I got from the pool store-
Free CL - 1.6
Total CL - 1.2
PH - 8.2
CH - 348
TA - 185
CYA - 46

Plus they said phosphates were a little high, light blue on the reading?

When would I put chlorine in again? I just manually cleaned the filter again (after cleaning last night). The green gook on the bottom of the filter basin was BAD, and I tried to get out what I could with a bucket. I am unable to open the drain under the filter to let out what residual water, slime is left... so that may be a problem (?)

Also, I borrowed a clamp to try to untighten the nut holding the backwash valve, but I am unable to twist it open either way.

Yes please... help me learn how to Properly vacuum the pool!! :)
Denali
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Please Help - Extremely Green Pool!!! No Progress

Postby Denali » Sat 27 Jun, 2009 19:20

sptygl wrote:THESE are the results I got from the pool store-
Free CL - 1.6
Total CL - 1.2
PH - 8.2
CH - 348
TA - 185
CYA - 46

Plus they said phosphates were a little high, light blue on the reading?
I wouldn't worry about phosphates.
pH and TA are high. If you have muriatic acid, add a quart at the return line in the deep end with equipment running.

The chlorine is low. Is this test after you added the 9 gallons or whatever you had? Any change in color of the water? Biggest mistake people make is not adding enough chlorine. The chlorine they add kills some of the algae but not all. The chlorine is used up and the algae starts to grow again.

When would I put chlorine in again? I just manually cleaned the filter again (after cleaning last night). The green gook on the bottom of the filter basin was BAD, and I tried to get out what I could with a bucket. I am unable to open the drain under the filter to let out what residual water, slime is left... so that may be a problem (?)
You do want to empty the filter completely. Anything you leave in there goes back on the grids. The reason you are seeing more "gook" in the filter is with the new manifold the filter is keeping the mess that goes in instead of sending it back to the pool. And remember that each time you cleaned the filter before you added DE and most of it went back into the pool and it's still there.

Check the http://www.poolcalculator.com/
to see the FC level you need to shock to and how much chlorine is needed to reach that level for your pool. I know you don't have a test kit that will measure that high a FC level and that makes it difficult. But, you can add the full amount at once to kill the algae. Have more chlorine ready to go as the chlorine is used up killing the algae. Better too much than not enough.
Also, I borrowed a clamp to try to untighten the nut holding the backwash valve, but I am unable to twist it open either way.
If I remember correctly from the pics you have a plastic cap on the backwash valve that would need to come off. A pipe wrench would work best turning counter clockwise but you do risk breaking it. That might be a job you hire someone to do.
Yes please... help me learn how to Properly vacuum the pool!! :)

There are different ways to get the hose filled with water.Many use the return line in the pool to fill the hose. With equipment running hold end of hose over the return where the water comes back into the pool. Let the hose fill. Lower the vacuum hose down to the bottom and stick the other end into the hole at the bottom of the skimmer. Even if there is some air still in the hose your pump will reprime. You have a Whisperflo pump and they will reprime easily.

So, one end of hose connects to vacuum head (must be underwater before connecting the other end.) and the other end goes in the skimmer hole. When you start to vacuum move the vacuum head very slowly. Moving too fast will stir up the mess.

Note the pressure on the filter before you begin. As the filter gets dirty the pressure on the gauge will go up. You will notice the vacuum isn't picking things up as easy when the filter is getting dirty. When the pressure goes up about 8-10psi on the gauge, time to clean the filter.

In case you have troubles filling the hose the way I described. Here is another way and how I do it.
Attach hose to vacuum head and leave on deck near the skimmer. Take the other end of the hose and uncoil it as you stretch it to the far end of the pool. Once fully stretched out, return to skimmer area. Lower vacuum head into pool and with other hand feed the hose down into the water. Once the vacuum is on the bottom continue feeding the hose down into the water. When you reach the end of the hose you should see water coming out. Without lifting that end feed it into the skimmer and attach to hole.

Because you have so much debris in the pool, as you vacuum that debris is going to end up in the pump basket. The pressure on the filter gauge will drop as that basket fills. When you aren't getting suction at the vacuum head, turn off the equipment. Open pump lid and clean out basket. Replace basket and fill the pump with water. Close the lid and start equipment. You can open the air relief valve on top of the filter to release air and reprime the pump. Close air relief when water comes out.

Sound complicated? It isn't really. If you can take apart the filter and clean it, you can do this.
sptygl
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Please Help - Extremely Green Pool!!! No Progress

Postby sptygl » Sun 28 Jun, 2009 02:04

[quote="Denali"][quote="sptygl"]THESE are the results I got from the pool store-
Free CL - 1.6
Total CL - 1.2
PH - 8.2
CH - 348
TA - 185
CYA - 46

The chlorine is low. Is this test after you added the 9 gallons or whatever you had? Any change in color of the water? Biggest mistake people make is not adding enough chlorine. The chlorine they add kills some of the algae but not all. The chlorine is used up and the algae starts to grow again.
[/color]

I put the 9 gallons of chlorine in the evening before the test was taken. There was definitely a change in color, lighter shade of green. I put 5 more gallons in this evening.

You do want to empty the filter completely. Anything you leave in there goes back on the grids. The reason you are seeing more "gook" in the filter is with the new manifold the filter is keeping the mess that goes in instead of sending it back to the pool. And remember that each time you cleaned the filter before you added DE and most of it went back into the pool and it's still there.

There must be a terrible mess in the deep end of my pool, between the residual "gook" and the mixture of DE I lost from the filter and all the algae.

Check the http://www.poolcalculator.com/
to see the FC level you need to shock to and how much chlorine is needed to reach that level for your pool. I know you don't have a test kit that will measure that high a FC level and that makes it difficult. But, you can add the full amount at once to kill the algae. Have more chlorine ready to go as the chlorine is used up killing the algae. Better too much than not enough.

I need to get a better read on HOW MUCH chlorine I need to maintain, and when I need to put the next batch in.


If I remember correctly from the pics you have a plastic cap on the backwash valve that would need to come off. A pipe wrench would work best turning counter clockwise but you do risk breaking it. That might be a job you hire someone to do.

The pool store lent me some kind of wrench, but I was unable to loosen it. They thought it may just need to be opened up and lubricated (along with a new lever). I need to find out what someone would charge me to do that job.

Thank you for the direction on priming the hose to begin the vacuum process. Funny, I learned over time how to change the filter... but for some reason I have never been able to get suction to the vacuum hose.

Thank you so very much!!! I am going to see how it looks in the morning, but I have a feeling I didn't put nearly enough chlorine in this evening (only 5 gallons). I will try to get the vacuum working tomorrow as well. It's interesting though, I don't see as much circulation in the pool right now, and the suction from the skimmer doesn't seem strong. Even the spa which overflows to the pool, is really just dribbling water over wall into the pool. This is all since replacing the manifold, so I hope there isn't something slowing it down. Every time I clean the filter, it still seems to have slow suction
.
Denali
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Please Help - Extremely Green Pool!!! No Progress

Postby Denali » Sun 28 Jun, 2009 21:27

Thank you so very much!!! I am going to see how it looks in the morning, but I have a feeling I didn't put nearly enough chlorine in this evening (only 5 gallons). I will try to get the vacuum working tomorrow as well. It's interesting though, I don't see as much circulation in the pool right now, and the suction from the skimmer doesn't seem strong. Even the spa which overflows to the pool, is really just dribbling water over wall into the pool. This is all since replacing the manifold, so I hope there isn't something slowing it down. Every time I clean the filter, it still seems to have slow suction.


When you had the hole in the manifold your flow would have been stronger. Now that you have a new manifold, the flow has slowed down. That is to be expected.

From your description, the filter grids are still dirty. When the manifold was broken some DE went back into the pool so the grids wouldn't be covered with DE as they should be. Dirt gets on the grids and flow slows down. You need to clean each grid thouroughly. You want the grids white when you're done. I assume the pressure on your filter is reading higher now than before?

To be able to vacuum you need good suction. A clean filter is necessary for that. Sometimes you have to soak the grids to get them clean again.
sptygl
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My Pool: I THINK it is 20,000 gallons. Inground pool. 8-10 feet at deep end, kidney shaped pool. I have a spa that waterfalls into the pool

Please Help - Extremely Green Pool!!! No Progress

Postby sptygl » Mon 29 Jun, 2009 00:52

Denali wrote:
Thank you so very much!!! I am going to see how it looks in the morning, but I have a feeling I didn't put nearly enough chlorine in this evening (only 5 gallons). I will try to get the vacuum working tomorrow as well. It's interesting though, I don't see as much circulation in the pool right now, and the suction from the skimmer doesn't seem strong. Even the spa which overflows to the pool, is really just dribbling water over wall into the pool. This is all since replacing the manifold, so I hope there isn't something slowing it down. Every time I clean the filter, it still seems to have slow suction.


When you had the hole in the manifold your flow would have been stronger. Now that you have a new manifold, the flow has slowed down. That is to be expected.

From your description, the filter grids are still dirty. When the manifold was broken some DE went back into the pool so the grids wouldn't be covered with DE as they should be. Dirt gets on the grids and flow slows down. You need to clean each grid thouroughly. You want the grids white when you're done. I assume the pressure on your filter is reading higher now than before?

To be able to vacuum you need good suction. A clean filter is necessary for that. Sometimes you have to soak the grids to get them clean again.


I was concerned because I don't see the waterfall overflow from the spa into the pool, and that's why I thought something else may be blocking the flow.

Yes, the pressure on my filter is reading higher than before. When it has been cleaned, it reads 20 (same as before), but then it increases to about 30 (when it needs to be cleaned?)

I haven't been able to vacuum yet... but hopefully will be able to get that done this week. I added 5 gallons of bleach last night, and today cleaned the filter again and added 6 more. I guess I was expecting to see more progress???

I really think I am going to need to find someone to replace all or part of the backwash valve, because I can't possibly break down the filter manually as often as it seems necessary to. I have been disabling the filter and cleaning the grids almost everyday now for the last 3 days, and it is exhausting!!
I still don't know if the BW valve itself is still functioning and just stuck. Either way, the twist-turn knob needs to be replaced. I am hoping to not have to replace it if it isn't completely necessary. Any suggestions? maybe it does need to be loosened up to function again, and just replace the knob??

Thank you for your patience, and I hope to find a solution very soon.
many many thanks from a most frustrated woman trying to understand the hardware of POOL MECHANICS
lol :crazy:
Denali
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Please Help - Extremely Green Pool!!! No Progress

Postby Denali » Mon 29 Jun, 2009 02:14

I was concerned because I don't see the waterfall overflow from the spa into the pool, and that's why I thought something else may be blocking the flow.
I would guess the only thing blocking flow are the grids being dirty. When the pressure is at 20 if you aren't getting good suction at the skimmer you may need to soak the grids to get them fully clean
Yes, the pressure on my filter is reading higher than before. When it has been cleaned, it reads 20 (same as before), but then it increases to about 30 (when it needs to be cleaned?)

I haven't been able to vacuum yet... but hopefully will be able to get that done this week. I added 5 gallons of bleach last night, and today cleaned the filter again and added 6 more. I guess I was expecting to see more progress???
If you aren't seeing progress with the bleach you're adding then you aren't adding enough. Of course part of the problem is you still have the muck in the pool. Once that is vacuumed out (not going to be easy) you should see a change.
I really think I am going to need to find someone to replace all or part of the backwash valve, because I can't possibly break down the filter manually as often as it seems necessary to. I have been disabling the filter and cleaning the grids almost everyday now for the last 3 days, and it is exhausting!!
I still don't know if the BW valve itself is still functioning and just stuck. Either way, the twist-turn knob needs to be replaced. I am hoping to not have to replace it if it isn't completely necessary. Any suggestions? maybe it does need to be loosened up to function again, and just replace the knob??
I agree. Getting the BW fixed should be high on the list. There isn't much that can be wrong with it. Inside the valve there are 2 orings that might need to be replaced but probably only lubed up.
Thank you for your patience, and I hope to find a solution very soon.
many many thanks from a most frustrated woman trying to understand the hardware of POOL MECHANICS
lol

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