Help with getting pool clean

[tim665214]

I have a 8300 gallon above ground, vinyl liner pool with sand filter. Didn't winterize properly, and pool got away from me. (Think swamp). Due to a large hole in the liner, about 90% of the water drained out. Pool was repaired and refilled. After refilling, it was still very green. I got my CYA level back up to 60, and have been keeping pool at chlorine level of just over 20 for about a week. Pool is now a VERY cloudy pale blue. When I sweep the bottom of the pool I can see some green being stirred up.

Am I doing everything right? I would hope by now it would start to clear. But my pool is so cloudy, I can pour straight pool water in the CYA tester, and when full the black dot is about 50% covered.

Current readings
FC - 24
CC - .5 -- This was over 1 until this morning
FC - 24.5

PH - 7.4
Alkalinity - 225 -- I have been having the hardest time with this. My source water has very high alkalinity.
Calcium - 200

I forgot to add, that it is requiring about 2.5 gallons of bleach per day to keep the levels over 20.

[CarlD]

I think you can ignore alkalinity and calcium hardness for now. Those numbers are not a problem if they are correct.

[Watermom]

Are you brushing the pool while the chlorine level is high? I'd continue to keep the high level while you are trying to clear it. One problem you are likely to have is that your pump is way overkill for your pool. We see that alot on AG pools. When your pump is too big, it can simply force debris through the sand field without actually filtering. Keep your pump running 24/7 while you are trying to clear it. Chlorine will kill the algae but you have to give your filter time to try and clear it out.

You also might want to verify that your sand filter is working by doing the DE test.
http://pool9.net/de-test/

[tim665214]

I have been brushing my pool about 3 times a day, but I always brush it right BEFORE I add chlorine. So while the chlorine is not real low when I brush, it is a little bit lower than what I have been trying to keep it at.
My pump is a 1.5hp motor connected to a 200lb sand filter. But it is a two speed pump, so I run it on low when filtering and on high when backwashing. Each morning when I go out to check on my pool, the water flow coming back into the pool is very low, so I have been doing a backwash each day. That tells me that the sand filter must be picking up something, right? Also, I replaced the sand in my filter this year also.

Thanks for the help

Tim

[tim665214]

I am beginning to wonder if I have a Chlorine Demand situation with how fast the chlorine is disappearing. The issue I have, is I am not sure how accurate my CYA test is, because my pool is so cloudy.

[Watermom]

Have you done an overnight chlorine test to see how much you are losing?

[tim665214]

No. I have not got exact measurements late at night. I have just been testing in the morning and adding enough chlorine to get me back to 20.

I am thinking about taking my shock level to 30. Do you think that would hurt my vinyl liner, since I have no guarantee of my cya level?

[Watermom]

I wouldn't go that high if it was my vinyl pool.

[tim665214]

I have finally got it where the pool is a dull blue color. It is also still very cloudy. But when I sweep the bottom of the pool it does not stir anything up, and it does not change the color back to green. I guess this means I am getting close to killing all the algae. But why is my pool still cloudy? Also, I noticed tonight after dark when I would shine a bright light into the water, I could see what looked like little bugs swimming up to the surface. How do I get rid of them? I have been keeping my pool at a consistent 20 ppm of chlorine.

Thanks

Tim

[Watermom]

It takes awhile for a filter to clear a pool and like I mentioned before your pump is awful big and may just be forcing debris, including dead algae, right through the sand instead of filtering it out. You might try adding a little DE to your filter. Sometimes that helps. Run your pump 24/7 while you are working to clear it.

http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php/3742-Adding-DE-to-sand-filter

As far as the bugs, I have no suggestions. Sorry.

[BigDave]

When the food (algea, dead or alive) is gone, the bugs will be too.

[tim665214]

I am actually starting to see some progress. My cc is now less than .5. When I look at the pool I can see down about 1 ft where yesterday I could only see about 6 inches.

I took the top off of my filter today just to make sure the sand looked ok and there was no channeling. Everything looked good.

I am still needing to backwash daily right now, but when I sweep my pool nothing green gets stirred up. Hopefully I have this conquered now.

[Watermom]

Good! Glad to hear progress!