First test readings of season

[michael3]

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

[stma]

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....

[michael3]

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?

[BigDave]

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

... 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...

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...

[stma]

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

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

[michael3]

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.

[stma]

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 !!

[michael3]

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