How to clean an above ground pool after 2 seasons of non use

[12ofus]

We have a 27' above ground pool. After being away for 2 years on a military tour, we're coming home to find our pool in an awful shape. It hasn't been cleaned or treated for two seasons. It had about 3 1/2 feet of brown, nasty water in it and tons of leaves and sticks. We've gotten most of the debris out , and we were going to pump out the water with a submersible pump, drain it nearly empty and then clean the liner before refilling it. After reading a few posts, I realize that may damage the liner. I'm sure there are others out there who have faced this problem and dealt with it successfully. I would appreciate any advice on how to proceed from here.

[Watermom]

After you scoop out as much debris as you can, fill it up and hook up the equipment and start filtering. If you don't have a kit, get one asap so it will make it easier to clear it up. The one we recommend is the Taylor K2006 or 2006C that you can get through the test kit link in my signature below. (Takes you to Amazon.)

In the meantime, go to Walmart and buy a bunch of jugs of their generic 8.25% bleach, several boxes of 20 Mule Team Borax and a cheap OTO kit (yellow and red drops). Test the pH and report it here.

Add 3 jugs of the bleach slowly into the skimmer this evening while the pump is running. Keep your pump running 24/7 and clean your filter as needed. Keep adding bleach and keep the chlorine test in the very dark yellow range. (You may need to test and add bleach morning and evening for a few days.) The OTO kit will help until you can get the good kit ordered and delivered which if you can, order it soon. It will make your clean up much easier!

[PoolDoc]

. . . membership upgraded.

The cautions about draining pools are MOSTLY for inground fiberglass and especially, inground vinyl pools. Most AG pools can be drained to within 6" of the bottom without problems. With IG vinyl, you can lose your liner if you drain, because it's suction fitted into place. With AG pools the risk is the walls will topple, without water pushing them out.


- moved thread to correct location.

[12ofus]

Okay- I think we've gotten the algae killed. It took about 10 gallons of bleach to get it to this milky, slightly green color. The first 6 gallons only helped for a short time and the pool turned deep, deep green again. I got aggressive and added more. My test strips and bottles are showing high chlorine and bromine. The ph is good, though. The were a lot of little specks of critters floating in the floating in the sample jar, but those are gone, too. I appreciate the help. I'm not stupid, but I'm used to taking a sample to the pool store and having them analyze it and sell me chemicals for three times the walmart price. I'd like to learn how to do this myself.

[Watermom]

Continue to keep the chlorine high and run your pump 24/7 while you are trying to clear it. It takes awhile for the filter to do its job.

You can definitely learn to do this on your own. Most importantly, get the kit I suggested in my previous post. Do a lot of reading here on the forum, especially the stickied threads at the top of the subsections. Also, read on our sister website www.poolsolutions.com. It's not as complicated as you might think. We'll be here to help with any questions!

By the way, you can ignore the bromine side of your tester. You have a chlorine pool. :)

[PoolDoc]

Okay- I think we've gotten the algae killed. It took about 10 gallons of bleach to get it to this milky, slightly green color.

"milky, slightly green color" = dying, not dead algae. Maintain a DARK yellow test result with OTO drops until pool is cloudy gray or blue, with no green.

[12ofus]

Do I need to backwash often? What do I do when the water is cloudy blue or gray?

[PoolDoc]

Like always: backwash on a pressure increase. For most filters 3 - 6 psi increase works out well.

[Watermom]

Yes, backwash whenever the filter pressure increases by 8-10psi over clean filter pressure. And, when you get to the point where you have cloudy blue or gray (dead algae), you continue to keep high chlorine levels and run the pump 24/7.

[12ofus]

My water is now just cloudy and slightly bluish gray. You can see your foot on the bottom through the cloudiness. Our ph level is starting to drop slightly. What can we do to clear the water? The pressure gauge is broken on our pump, so it always reads "0". We have been backwashing whenever the water coming back into the pool isn't as forceful.

[Watermom]

You need to buy a new pressure gauge. They are cheap. Keep the chlorine levels up and keep filtering. It takes P.O.P.--- Pool Owner Patience. :)

[PoolDoc]

We have been backwashing whenever the water coming back into the pool isn't as forceful.

That's reasonable.

But there's no 'quick' way to clean up dead algae in a typical AG pool, because their filters are too small. They manage OK so long nothing is wrong, but not so well for clean up. Where you have 2 seasons worth of swamp, I'd allow 2 weeks for clean up.

[12ofus]

I'm new to forums and how to navigate around them, so I just found and read PoolDoc's reply. We knew it wouldn't be a quick fix, I just want to be sure I'm doing the right thing. We have spent over $200 on bleach (Walmart) and I'm keeping the chlorine in the bright yellow/orange range.We also went ahead bought a small bucket of chlorine tablets and we're keeping one in the basket. We figured we'll need them anyway and maybe that would help keep the chlorine level up while we go buy more bleach. The ph side of the tester is nearly clear. I cannot afford the expensive test right now. Do we keep adding bleach every day like this until it's clear? Does it matter about the ph right now? In my first post watermom said to load up on borax as well. When will I use that? My kids ask me a hundred times a day about the pool and I don't really know myself what to tell them. I really appreciate y'all answering my questions. We're trying to be hopeful our pool will be okay eventually.

[PoolDoc]

Once the algae is dead -- no more green -- you can drop back to medium to dark yellow, with no orange. However you should brush the pool thoroughly before you drop back.

See if you can find the HTH 6-way kit, sold by some Walmarts. It's made by Taylor and is a partial replacement for the K2006.

The borax is just to raise your pH, which will drop once you use the tabs a bit.

What does the water look like right now?

[12ofus]

The water is clean-looking, but not clear. There are no more critters floating in the jar sample. The test shows a bright yellow and a slightly below ideal for the ph.. We replaced the gauge yesterday and are still backwashing when the pool intake is slow, but that has been less frequently.

[Watermom]

The ph side of the tester is nearly clear..
If the pH side is nearly clear after adding the 5 red drops, that means your pH is extremely low and you need to get some Borax in there ASAP! Retest your pH to verify your reading, please.

[12ofus]

My best guess is around 7.4.

[Watermom]

Ok. 7.4 is a good pH reading. No borax needed right now.

[12ofus]

Ok. So if the ph is good and the chlorine is good, and the water is no longer green, what do we do next?

[Pappy]

Go swimming! is what I was told. Seems dead algae is harmless, and keeping it stirred up helps filter it out.

Pappy

[PoolDoc]

. . . what he said, as long as the water is clear enough so that somebody doesn't disappear on the bottom.

[12ofus]

Well, I'm back and so is the algae. Apparently, it never really left. We had the numbers good, the color a cloudy blue-not green- and we got in to vacuum one more good time to be sure there was no more debris. There was actually more leaves than we thought there would be, but the water didn't freak out and go green again. The chlorine color was nearly clear when we finished vacuuming, backwashing, and stirring up the water real good to get anything left over for the filter to get overnight. We added three more gallons of bleach before going to bed and dreamed of the beautiful pool we would have in the morning (hopefully). A few of the kids got back in a little while ago to check for debris and the water is green. Not cloudy green- green. There are these nasty little critters floating around and a vile-looking green scum on the inside of swimsuits. I have seen enough episodes of "Monsters Inside Me" to be more than a little concerned. We are so depressed. We have spent a small fortune on bleach. Could our filter need new sand? I'm thinking of draining it to about 1/3 its level and bleaching the devil out of it and starting over. It's a matter of principle, now. I want this pool clean!

[PoolDoc]

Unfortunately, when you get to the stage of piles of algae, it takes HUGE amounts of chlorine to kill everything. That's why physically removing as much as you can is so important.

I think I've mentioned in this thread (I know I have in others this season) that you can't filter live algae. You can kill it, and then filter it. Or you can sometimes remove it, vacuuming to waste. But while it's still alive, your filter can't do much for you.

It's too bad no one is doing bulk chlorine sales to homeowners in this area (NW Georgia). There is a bleach manufacturer in Ranger, GA, not that far from you. But when did business with them, I was buying 4,000 gallons at a time. That's a bit more than you'd want -- even if it WOULD clean your pool right up!

Sorry!

[12ofus]

Will it do any harm to drain it down and super bleach it? Maybe 20 gallons or more? I figured that by draining it quite a bit, a more concentrated bleach level will be getting to the algae because it won't be so diluted. I don't want to eat holes in the liner, though! I'm keeping the chlorine in the bright yellow/orange, and we have 3 tablets in the basket at a time. This is our first "real" pool that didn't come from Walmart and all this is rather new to us. I need to hear from an expert what they would do? Preferable someone who is not independently wealthy☺

[PoolDoc]

If you drain it almost all down, you really shouldn't have to 'super-bleach' it. Just get in and out with ladders, so you don't flop the walls over, drain what you can, and then brush and bleach till it's dead. Once it's dead, begin refilling -- but chlorinate as you go.

[12ofus]

Got my work cut out for me tomorrow! Thanks for the help. We'll see what happens.