Dirty Rain Pool Treatment

If your pool looks anything like our display pools today, simply hitting the pool hard with chlorine and a clarifier will not do the trick! And your robotic pool cleaner certainly won't help either. Trust us, we tried doing this back in 2017 when we had a similar thing happen and we ended up battling cloudy and even green pools for the remainder of the season.

In our experience, the quickest and most cost effective way to treat your pool is to use a flocculating product such as BioGuard Power Floc Maxi.

How to treat my dirty rain-filled pool?

Preparation is key

• Clean out your skimmer basket and pump basket (if needed).
• Scoop all debris from the pool (if you can’t see the bottom of the pool, scoop carefully as objects may have washed into the pool water). The water has probably brought in leaves and other debris from the surrounding areas. They will add large amounts of organic matter to the water, which will consume chlorine and could lead to an algae bloom. The sooner debris is removed from the pool; the sooner clean-up can begin.
• Remove robotic/automatic pool cleaner from the pool and remove pool cover completely. 
• Hose the dirty residue (from the rain) from the pool surrounds. If you receive more rain (hopefully it is clean), this rain may wash the dirty residue into the pool (you’d hate for this to happen after the pool has returned back to normal).
• Turn off your Heating System. 
• If you cannot see the bottom of the shallow end of your pool, the dust/dirt from the rain will not filter out. Chlorine, clarrifiers and the robotic pool cleaner will not be effective. In our experience, the most timely and cost effective approach is to use a flocculating product, vacuum the sediment and rebalance as soon as possible.

Let's floc the dust away!

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Step 1.

• Sand Filter:
  • Turn your filter to Recirculate and turn the system on.
• Cartridge Filter:
  • Remove the cartridge element from the Cartridge Filter and turn the system on.

Step 2.

• Start by testing your pH - if it is 7.6ppm or above, proceed to the next step. 
• If the pH is 7.5ppm or lower, the following treatment is more effective with a high pH and we therefore recommend adding BioGuard Balance Pak 200 to the pool and filter for 2 hours.

Step 3.

• Pour 1L of BioGuard Power Floc Maxi (per 50,000L) into the skimmer (or pool) and leave the system on for 2 hours. 
• After 2 hours, turn all equipment off for 12-24 hours or until you can see the floor of the pool (it could take up to 48 hours).
• Please keep in mind the product works from the pool floor upwards - it will become brown milky water before it improves.
• If BioGuard Power Floc Maxi is not available: BioGuard Polysheen Plus can be used in its place (using the same dosage listed above) however instead of running the system for 2 hours, 30 minutes is sufficient.

Note: Unplug the power cord for your pool pump from your controller. The system must remain off and cannot turn on automatically during the treatment.

Step 4.

• Do not add the robotic pool cleaner into the pool. A robotic pool cleaner (or a suction cleaner) will simply undo the flocculating process and will only return the water back to its orignal dirty state.
• To manually vacuum a pool (sand filter: to waste) you will need a telescopic pole, a vacuum head, a manual vacuum hose and a vacuum plate.
• Sand Filter:
  • Vac-to-waste the dirt formed at the base of the pool.
  • This is vacuuming as normal however, instead of your sand filter turned to Filter, turn it to Waste.
• Cartridge Filter:
  • Place your cartrdige element (ensure it is clean beforehand) back into you Cartridge Filter. 
  • Place a Skimmer Sock in the skimmer basket (which will collect as much sediment as possible), vac as normal, remove Skimmer Sock after vacuuming pool (clean as required) and hose cartridge element thoroughly (you may like to chemically clean depending on the state of the Cartridge filter).

Step 5.

• Top up water level and filter for four hours before a water sample is taken. Visit your local Albatross Pool Shop to test and rebalance the pool water. 
• Rebalancing is crucial as your pool water is now very prone to an algae bloom, especially with the weather we are experiencing.

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We are here to help!

Open 7 days a week (except for public holidays), our team will be able to walk you through this process and answer any questions you may have. Pool Shop contact details.