First test readings of season

Michael:::: I had posted to Ben yesterday that after dosing with PolyQuat, the water (within seconds) completely clouded over.... Although the water "blue'd" up somewhat, I could not see 6 inches into the water... Ben had mentioned that it could be a conflict of chemistry between the flocculant I dosed with and the Poly... Just got home 6 minutes ago and this pool is CRYSTAL CLEAR !!!!! As im attempting to clean up some metal stains, I have the CL at almost zero (going to do the Ascorbic treatment) and PH is low as well.... SO, I dont know if its a combination of all those factors or JUST the Poly, but its Crystal as I type this....
Perhaps your next $20 bill should be to PolyQuat and i hope you get the same results..>>!!!

LET US KNOW..,
Steve

steve,
was your water still a green tint to it when it cleared? I tried the floc attempt last night, added it at 9:00 and of course this morning at 9:00 little or no difference. I am going to leave it alone for a whole 24 maybe 36 hours. I am just so disgusted with this pool Im ready to drive my truck thru the side of it lol. I know even it the floc doesnt clear it Im going to vacuum to waste for anything it did drop. Wonder how long I would have to wait to try the poly after doing the floc and if my chlorine needs to be near 0
Oh and congrats on the crystal clear water :)

it has the tint mike, but thats only from the metals in the water (of which you may or may not have)...I flocced about a week ago with no results...the directions on the floc bottle said,"for quicker results, double or triple the dosage" My water got 5 times the dosage....right, wrong, indifferent ?? I did it anyway.....Bottle also claimed to see a differnce within 4-6 hours. That did not happen....thats when I started the DE applications, which did work 'somewhat." BUT it was the POLY that changed everything (( atleast, Im hoping thats what did it)).. It kills me since the Poly is ALWAYS the first thing I do at the beginning of the season,,,,but I didnt do it this year.....Im wondering if I could have avoided ALL THIS TURMOIL with a 12oz dose of Algaecide.....
Wait for Ben to answer to this, but I'm on cocktail #6 in celebration !!

REALLY HOPE this is your cure for this green cloud the past 2 months...

Drink 1 for me lol, the floc I used said 8 oz for 10,000 gal. so I added 12 oz. said wait 12-24 hrs. didnt say anything about double dose for bad clouds lol. I can say this much though, my pool looks more cloudy with it in there than it does green, and I can see just a tad deeper along the wall looking straight down. Did you buy your poly local or you order it? Cheapest I found it was 17.00 online with 7.00 shipping. 24 total or I can go buy it local for 30 lol. As long as this has taken Im more out to pay the extra and go get it sooner

I grabbed mine locally at the pool store (( Actually the wife had to get it since the store owner tossed me from the store for talking a customer out of the Baquacil program).... cost was 22 bucks....and so far (possibly): the BEST $22 I ever spent !!!

To funny, I thought I was gonna get tossed from a store when Ibought replacement sand, I asked if he had any reagents, he said no, only way to test water was with test strips, that I was going way overboard testing with reagents lol, I couldnt get out of there fast enough. I just called another pool store, they have there version of polyquat 60 for 25$ will have to go check it out tomorrow. I lowered my brush down the side of the pool and I could make out the shadow of the brush only about 3 inches from bottom, I`m hoping like crazy maybe in the morning this crap will have settled to the bottom

Polyquat will *not* get rid of metals, per se. But it is an effective algaecide and a very effective clarifier. This latter capability makes it invaluable in managing metals during pool start up.

You can get it cheaper at Amazon . . . and shipping is free. (2 day, if you have Amazon Prime; UPS ground otherwise).

Kem-Tek 60% polyquat @ Amazon
Nava 60% polyquat @ Amazon

www.poolsolutions.com/polyquat.html

Ben, when I get the polyquat, do Ineed to do anything special before adding it? get ph to certain spot? lower chlorine or even wait since Iadded the floc on wednesday? going to vac to waste tomorrow anything that dropped

No.

Polyquat is pretty much compatible with anything . . . well, except for anionic flocculants and the like. It *will* use up some chlorine -- chlorine breaks it down, though the stuff it breaks down into is still effective against algae. But, it's probably not especially efficient to use polyquat at the same time you are running really high chlorine.

However, it's ideal for use during any sort of effort to remove or manage metal problems.

Great News, I can now see the bottom of my pool !!! Bad News, it aint pretty. I vacuumed to waste this morning after the floc was in the water for close to 36 hours, was still very cloudy. I re did the floc, and almost instant I could see the small particles sticking together and it has started sinking, I can see the bottom all the way around and even out in the middle. The Bad News is what I`m seeing in the middle looks to be a huge circle stain from the leaves that stayed there all winter up to late april. I know its a stain because I have walked the pool several times and havent felt anymore leaves and I am not picking up anything when I vac. After I vac to waste when everything settles that will settle lol, is there anything at all I can do for leaf stains?

Got to looking and pushed the brush around just alittle bit and the dark I`m seeing on the bottom is all the junk sinking to the bottom, I may end up with some stain but it looks like if Ican get the settled stuff vacuumed out Im going to be in pretty good shape.

REALLY !!!??? Good Man !! Did you lose the cloud and the green as well...?? I think I need one more day of DE filtering and it will be perfect... Just did the ascorbic dose and the walls and floor came clean and free of stains within 45 minutes.... @ Ben: I'll assume Natural Chemistry Metal Free is not HEDP ?? Believe you mentioned Jack's Pink Stuff ...?

Steve, yes when I dumped the 2nd floc treatment in, within an hour 8 could see junk sticking together and it started settling. Clear blue water with all the crap on the bottom. I tried to vacuum some, I think I stirred up more than I got. This part won't be fun. I had to stop and I am adding more water

So it sounds as though you needed Floc (which didnt work for me) and I needed Poly... JUST REMEMBER this next year !!

Stuff worked great, now to get it off the bottom, seems like no matter how slow I went I was stirring up more than I vacuumed. This part isn't going to be fun wonder if the de would catch it, I would backwash every 5 minutes if I knew I could vac thru filter

you could attempt it..... if you look at your return jet when you hover over some of the crud, and you dont see it return to the pool, you may have a shot.... know what I mean ? It worked for me that way....

May be a question for Ben or Watermom or BigDave, they been so helpful. Can I vac the floc garbage that settled to the bottom thru the filter with th DE powder added or will this make a royal mess? The floc worked great but trying to ease over the debri I'm stirring more of it up than I'm vacuuming. Would adding polyquat at this point allow me to vac thru filter?

You, both of you(michael3 and stma), are getting results with methods that are pushing the edges of what we recommend. I'm glad you're finding a path that works. Moreover I'm really interested to hear how you're using these tools to get clear. I'm learning a lot in these threads - thanks.
I can only agree with stma that

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... if you look at your return jet when you hover over some of the crud, and you don't see it return to the pool, you may have a shot...

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Adding anything right now is a unpredictable gamble - it might be OK. it might make more cloud.
The secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions. This post will self destruc...

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Originally Posted by BigDave

The secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions. This post will self destruc...

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LOVE IT !!

It's true though Dave...What has always worked in the past, didn't work this year... I myself, am blaming it on the 17 year Cicada :)

To funny guys, lol. Self destruct, I keep waiting on my pool to spin around and around and spit green stuff at me lol. THeres no doubt the DE was working but with as cloudy as my pool was there was no way it would have cleared this season I dont think. When I added the floc the first time it didnt show any real signs of working so I did it again and within hours stuff was sticking together and sinking, my water was sparkling, I could put the vacuum pole in the water and couldnt see any debri in the water going by it. Like I said yesterday I think I stirred up more than I vacuumed out, but this morning it has all settled nicely on the bottom again. I think Im going to try and maybe just hover over the debri and try not to push it around. Wish I would have took pics of this whole process, I have a couple of how green the pool was but wasnt sure either how to post them or if I could lol.

I thought the idea of the floc was to bind the miniscule particles into manageable "clumps," enabling them to be vacuumed out..?? I know what you mean though Mike...I too, have had a ton of water go down my driveway during the "Vac to Waste" process...
Now that the pool is in the "Perfection" mode, I have NO IDEA what to do today !! :)

Uhhhhhh, maybe go swimming?? :)

:):):):) WaterMom !! BUT I have no sanitizer levels !! I'm in the middle of Ascorbic Acid treatment :( (Hope I didnt speak too soon)

What a year it's been !!

I just did a pretty successful vac, got almost all the junk out without stirring it up, now to wait about an hour to get my water level back up. I can see clumps of site goop in the water that hasn't settled, I'm going to filter mode with the DE and see if it will filter.

did you attempt vacuuming through the filter ?

Not yet, the debri field was way to big lol, I started out with water level above skimmer and took it down to bottom of skimmer. I think I got the majority of it on vac to waste. From this point on any vacuuming I will try thru filter. I hope to be swimming this afternoon or tomorrow. I read somewhere that high chlorine level and brushing can help lift leaf stains, I have some of that

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Originally Posted by stma

:):):):) WaterMom !! BUT I have no sanitizer levels !! I'm in the middle of Ascorbic Acid treatment :( (Hope I didnt speak too soon)

What a year it's been !!

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OOPS! I didn't go back and read the thread to see where you were in your process. Sorry! (Maybe you can stand beside your pool and close your eyes and pretend that you are swimming! :p:p;)

Got the filter cycle going with the DE, seems to be working, the pressure is climbing much faster than before I used floc, gonna sit by the pool all day and see what happens

I am so excited, just backwashed for the 2nd time today. The DE is helping filter out the leftover Floc goop. Very little left floating thru the water, it is looking good. :) Still going to add some polyquat for protection and to polish the water. Been a long journey but I am so looking forward to a fun July in the pool

Have a Beer Michael !!!! celebrate the 2 months of chaos !! Happy for ya ! Hey, how did the backwash water look ??? Thats the TRUE test on how things are working :)

Backwash starts out cloudy but didn't take long to clear, then I remember Ben saying since the DE just coats the top of the sand it wouldn't take much to backwash it. That clumps of goo that I assume is the dead algae is pretty clear, if its not in the water it's hard to see. I do still have some stuff that probably is passing thru the DE but did you have that as well and the poly pretty much polished your water?

Just wanted to say a big thank you to all the awesome people here that have offered up advise to help me get this pool right. Major props to Ben, Watermom, BigDave y'all have been there from the start of this journey, sorry for anyone else I missed, y'all rock. Steve, it's been a blast chatting with you while we fought this war lol, would like to keep in touch if ya want to, keep each other updated on our pools :)