A MAJOR problem

My pool has been leaking. After 5 weeks of haphazard experimentation we had a breakthrough yesterday. All the light had to be just right, but we finally spotted a small hole in the copper at the bottom of the in-ground skimmer. Its an old rig, 1959, when the skimmer and filter were the same unit (and the original build is in a patio which for over 30 years has sat 12" below a redwood deck). So, we plugged it with epoxy putty. So far, so good.

Now, of course the filter hasn't been run for weeks and I have a swamp. I see 3 possibilities:

1) Bomb it with chemicals and then run the DE filter and be prepared it clean it like mad.

2) Drain it and start over.

3) My neighbor, who originally found the pool was leaking because my house sits on a hillside above his house, and has insisted on running this operation, has the following idea. First I should say, he's very organic minded and I share this with him. The house was built by his father in 1961. Obviously I have great concern about any damage to the slope holding up my pool and hovering over his house, so I've been very respectful of his thoughts. He thinks we can try to vacuum the largest mass of the algae off the bottom and drain it out, not using the filter. He doesn't want any chemicals in that water because any massive draining I do will go over my fence and down his driveway to a drain that runs under his slope, probably into the grove he's recently planted.

So, I'm looking for thoughts, ideas, experience.

DS

-- Guys, executive privilege here! I'm taking some of the discussion off-line for reasons I'm not going to explain generally. --
-- So, this is not a precedent setting response NOR the place to debate with me about whether I'm giving the best answer. --

In your case, go with #3.

If possible, you do NOT want to add chemicals without removing the bulk of the algae (#1). And, as you already seem to know, removing algae with a DE filter is a pain.

What you may want to consider, after you've vacuumed the bulk of the chems, is adding 2 - 3 gallons of 30% hydrogen peroxide per 10,000 gallons of pool water. H2O2 is about as side-effect-free chemical as you can use, and SOMETIMES is very effective at killing algae and/or making it filterable and skimmable. If you can't find it locally,you can buy it as Baquacil or Softswim shock at places like
Hydropool
or
SpaandPoolStore

Afterwards, you can start with the bleach and DE. It will help you, if you already have a K2006 DPD-FAS testkit (see Amazon links in my sig) by then, so you can manage high level of chlorine. However you should go ahead and get your pool water tested, to see if there's any stabilizer left, and to check the pH.

Ben

Thanks for this and for the other info. I have to say this:

http://www.poolsolutions.com/gd/does...ill-algae.html

is amazing. But I don't quite understand what was done here. Lots of bleach and running the filter too? That seems almost too easy.

So, you want harder??

(Yes, bleach plus filtration did that. It's a typical result for algae on a pool with ADEQUATE filtration, which means no AG sized sand filters.)

The photo thread doesn't say how much bleach was used, or how long the filtration was run - but it seems like if I'm willing to clean the filter, that might be the least wasteful method. As mentioned, I have a DE filter. My neighbor does his own pool work. I've been encouraging him to look at this site, so I have to show him those images. Its really impressive.

BTW, Costco advertises 6% Clorox @ $12.99 for a case of 6 96 oz. jugs.