Intex Pool - Major Clean-Up After Rainfall (Suggestions?)

Amy here...
New to the forum (and pools) but have been lurking for about two months now reading suggestions (i.e. - Intex Pool Recipe thread, which I can't link to now for some reason). Decided today that we need to get down to business and come up with a long term solution rather than time-consuming/costly chemical fixes for this pool.

Two months ago we bought and assembled an 18' round Intex metal frame pool. It was all fine and dandy, even when we came back from a two week vacation (following instructions in the Recipe thread to a T). Unfortunately on the way back from our second road trip and Vegas wedding (woohoo!), we were in a rollover accident on the interstate (not cool) and couldn't do much for maintenance for a few days. Everything seemed okay until it rained...a tiny bloom turned into something resembling a radioactive cesspool overnight. I panicked. I shocked the pool every other day (4 times the normal dose) for a week. After killing everything in sight we were left with a greenish-brown soupy mess. Still unable to see the bottom, I bought a new vac which seemed to get air in the filter line every 30 seconds so it was no better help than a broom. It was then that I dosed the pool with Kemtek's Phosphate Remover, as a hobby aquarist I knew that rainfall and our local water sources were full of the mess that will make managing a saltwater aquarium a green and red-slime nightmare. No matter what we did to try to deal with the aftermath, nothing seemed to work... then I remembered Leslie's carrying a water clarifier. After the first dose we saw some remarkable results but it still wasn't doing the job. I tried fruitlessly vacuuming the pool again the next day. That was when we realized that the Intex cartridge media wasn't filtering anything through, as we watched it spew out through our return. We went over to our local Family Leisure store and grabbed a Pleatco cartridge. The next day I noticed no action with the Intex over-wall skimmer. I checked the intake grid as I do now at least once a day (it never fails --- something will always be there), cleaned it up with the Intex waterhose vac but still, no dice. I popped the top on the filter and the new Pleatco was completely covered with brown and green slime on the surface. I tried washing it, soaking it in bleach... but it was a lost cause. I recycled my other 6 Intex filters through the system. On the plus side, I could see the bottom of my pool for a few days until it rained again.

Now we're back to square one.

Yesterday evening we went outside and found that the valve from the intake is now slightly leaking on the outside of the pool between the poolside and the cutoff (the dark grey nut). I suspect that this is from having to remove the blue cap and hose from the skimmer to unclog the intake every day. With the pump on, the leak isn't visible but a significant amount of free air is entering the system which the nut on the top of the Intex pump can't seem to relieve.

My husband and I are frustrated, to say the least. We don't have a Taylor kit but we have been driving over to Leslie's to have it checked. After I dose for phosphates, the chemistry couldn't be more perfect. Without the intake leak, it just seems like we are constantly fighting two things: Phosphates and detritus. We would cover our pool every time it rained, but if you live in Oklahoma, you have a good understanding of the predictability of our weather here.

By the way, this is my husband's first season in America. He's from Scotland and wants to spend 90% of his time outdoors now. That being said... we need this pool to work.

We've pretty much decided to lay all of the environmental blame on the pump for now (it certainly feels better that way) so we can justify shelling out the cash for a new filter system.
What I'd like to know though...

A.) Has anyone in similar climate situations successfully run the standard 1500 gph Intex system and gotten away with it for a season?

B.) Am I kidding myself with this filter thing? Or should I rush out to stockpile on more Pleatco ones and be done? (I don't like something that people say will "last me for the season" but won't last one rainy cleanup job...at that rate in this climate between filters and unnecessary chemicals I could bankrupt myself.)

C.) Will I still have the problem with that leaky valve if we replace the pump?

D.) I think I want something that will filter the whole pool in under 2 hours. The 18'x48" should be somewhere in the vicinity of 5500 gallons. Since I'm used to aquariums and not pools...the ridiculous part of me wants to shove a 10000 gph filter on there. What's recommended?

Just as an aside--- I did find that adding my shock in the evenings and running the filter all night did make a difference. But on the flip side of that... my electricity bill is up 120% and I'm not sure if this is the culprit.


Amy

PS - I don't think I'll ever have time for an aquarium hobby again after this.

First thing that caught my eye was that your "chemistry couldn't be more perfect." With the mess that you describe, I doubt that is true.

You really need to be able to test your own pool. Pool stores are in the business to make money. They make money selling you pool products, so it doesn't benefit their coffers to tell you that your pool is perfect because then you don't buy stuff. So, unfortunately, pool store testing is notoriously inaccurate.

The test kit that we think is by far the best is the Taylor K2006 or 2006C (better buy). Not available locally but you can get it through this link that takes you to Amazon: http://pool9.net/tk/

But, in the meantime, go to Walmart and see if they have the HTH 6-Way drops-based kit (no test strips!) and get that. If they don't, get an OTO/Phenol Red kit (yellow and red drops) instead. Use it to test and then post your numbers. Also while you are at WallyWorld, get several jugs of their generic 8.25% bleach and a couple of boxes of 20 Mule Team Borax (laundry aisle).

I'll let someone else discuss the Intex equipment questions with you who is more familiar with those than I am.

Repost with some good testing numbers when you get them.

Hope this helps some. Welcome to the Pool Forum!

(Until you registration is completed, you won't be able to see the rest of the forum while you are logged in. So, copy that link and then paste it into a browser window after you log out.)

Edit --- Here is the link to the 'recipe.' http://pool9.net/ssr/

Numbers:

FAC: 3 ppm
TAC: 3 ppm
Bromine: N/A
pH: 7.4
TA: 100 ppm
CYA: 30 ppm
Calcium Hardness: 250 ppm
TDS: 800 ppm
Salinity: N/A
Copper: N/A (I know better)
Phosphates: 0 ppb

Arguably, my pH could be 7.5 but I'm happy with that. Local water supply's pH is pretty low. I've only dosed it once with the pH Minus dry acid but it's been stable for two months now so I've seen no need to add borate.

I use these products:
- Crystal Care Quick Dissolving Shock (from Academy Sports - Local Store)
- Kemtek Phosphate Remover (Amazon)
- HDX pH Minus (Home Depot)
- Leslie's Ultra Bright Water Clarifier (Leslie's Pools)

It is actually possible to hose those cartridges down and clean them, but you have to pull them out sooner--I think you are waiting too long. The best thing to soak them is, surprising, electric dishwasher detergent. It doesn't suds up. Some owners of bigger cartridge filters always keep on in the solution and when it's time to swap just rinse it off. The other immediately goes into fresh detergent.

If you're still having cloudy water, you should push your FC up to 15ppm and keep it there until the water is clear. If you're REALLY desperate, you may invest in a Watertech Pool Blaster. It's a rechargeable vacuum that looks like a Dust Buster and attaches to a standard pole. It works as well as any vacuum I've used and I'm on my second. They run between $145-$200. Junk will go into the vacuum rather than the filter.

. . . membership upgraded.

1. You've gotten a lot of the advice you need, but keep in mind that swamp-clearing is slow on ALL pools, but especially slow on Intex pools because of the small filters. It may be worth it to buy the 7,000 gallon of water you need to drain and refill!

2. If you don't drain and refill, go ASAP to Walmart, and get 12 gallons of PLAIN 8% bleach, AND either an HTH 6-way drops kit OR a cheapo OTO/phenol red kit if the 6-way is not available.

3. Go home. Remove the filter cartridge. Turn the pump back on. Add a gallon of bleach. Check it in an hour. If it hasn't gone from green to gray, add ANOTHER gallon. Keep doing that, till it turns brown or gray. Then, sweep the pool and test the chlorine. If the OTO result is not orange or orange tinted yellow (off-scale) add ANOTHER gallon.

4. Once you've done that, put a clean filter cartridge in.

5. Check it in the AM, and report results. Keep your chlorine in at LEAST the dark yellow range.

PS. Your chemicals are NOT OK. When you have algae, your free chlorine should be at LEAST 20% of your CYA level (6 ppm) and that is a MINIMUM.

PPS. Phosphate removers are a preventative, not a curative. Clean your pool up, and THEN add phosphate removers.

PPPS. Good luck.

I too ran in to the issue with the leaky valve. I noticed it about two hours before I had to be at the airport to leave the country for a week. I have no idea how it happened. The top of the nut actually has some sort of spring mechanism. I can't seem to get it to quit leaking. Would it work to just replace that nut or is there another problem causing this? Did you ever find a solution?

. . . membership upgraded and post moved to correct section.