Pool that hasnt been touched in 2 years, cloudy and slimy, cremey foamy on top, HELP

[joanie109]

Just bought a house in AZ. IG 10,000 gal concrete pool. SWG, hayward Cartridge filter, floor bubbler. Started everything up and initail readings, Salt - 810, pH 7.8, TA 100, CYA 0, calcium 250. Added 4 gallons of bleach and cleaned filters consistently for 24 hours. Brushed walls and kept cleaning skimmers and filter baskets and actual filter. Next morning added 4 gallons of bleach and brushed again and cleaned filters all day. CL-10, pH 7.8, TA 110, CAL 250. Little later added 5 lbs of CYA in a panty hose and another gallon of bleach, got in the nasty pool and brushed the floors and walls. It's slimy on the bottom and chunks keep floating to the top. It's kinda gritty but slimy. Foam on top of the water going into skimmer. CL-10+, pH 7.6, TA 120, CAL 250. Am I doing anything wrong? I am being patient and keep shocking and cleaning the filters. Will this ever clear? Any recommendations?

[Watermom]

You are doing the right thing. Just keep slamming it with bleach. As many times a day as you can test, and each time hit it with enough bleach to shock it way back up -- the quicker it is gonna clear. Is there a bunch of organic stuff on the bottom? If so, it would probably help to vacuum to waste to try and remove as much of it as possible. Otherwise, keep brushing it. I wouldn't even worry about the cya right now. Once it is clear, then you can add it. You also might try some skimmer socks to see if they can help you get some of the foam out. The foam may be from some type of foamy algaecide that somebody added previously. The bubbler may?? be compounding the foaming problem right now. Can it be turned off until you get rid of the foam?

Hang in there. it will clear. Take a look at some of the pictures in the stickied threads at the top of this algae forum for proof that lots of bleach will straighten out even the nastiest of pools. Keep us posted how it is going.

[joanie109]

Woke up this AM and still stuff is floating on the top. Blasted it again with bleach but it did hold bleach over night. Now I'm filter to waste and adding water in? Is that the right thing to do to try to move this along?

Can't turn off the bubblers but that seems to move it to the skimmer. Should I be brushing the walls and floors again?

[waste]

You're doing everything right!

The more consistently you can monitor the chlorine and bring it back to shock levels, the quicker it will go. The same goes for brushing the pool, the more frequently and thoroughly you brush, the quicker the water will be completely clean.

I'm glad you found a way to bypass the filter so you can vacuum to 'waste' - this really helps get the water back to clear and sparkly (not to mention all the cart cleaning you don't have to do )

Please continue to keep us informed as to your progress , and of course ask any questions you have