We have owned our house w/pool for 8 years and we have never had a year like this. We desperately need some help.

Our pool is a 20,000 gallon inground pool with a , vinyl liner, 1hp motor, a Hayward S200 sand filter, a Hayward H200 heater, and a Hayward vari-flo valve.

This year:
We get the pool started up and it is looking quite green, pretty much like all of the years we have owned it.

We let the pool run for 24 hours and our pool store gives us 10 gal. of liquid chlorine, a bucket of stabilizer, and a thing of algaecide to open the pool and asks us to come back with a water sample.

3 days later the pool is still very green, I bring in a pool sample and they give me another 10 gal. of liquid chlorine, a bucket of stabilizer and another thing of algaecide.

A week later the pool is light green, but still so cloudy you can't see the bottom.

At this point we are going on two weeks and are confused and frustrated.

My wife takes matters into her own hands and does much better than the pool store. She found that the alkalinity was high and the PH was low. She first adjusts the alkalinity and then adjusts the PH. Yesterday for the first time we put in 3" pucks and shocked the pool with 4 bags of hth super shock.

I know it has only been 24 hours since we shocked it yesterday, but it has been 3 weeks since we have opened the pool. We are tired and I am about a week away from filling it with dirt and building a nice playground.

Also this afternoon my wife was vacuuming the pool and notice green water coming into the pool from the returns.

This morning it is better, but it is cloudy and light green with the following chemical readings:
Free Chlorine - 3
Alkalinity - 100
PH - 7.8
Stabilizer - 30-50

So far we have added:
20 Gallons of liquid chlorine
2 Containers of stabilizer
2 Jugs of algaecide
4 bags of hth shock
3 3" chlorine tabs

This is very abnormal for us, typically we open the pool and in three days it is clear, balanced, and swimmable.

Please help.

I think the problem is you are not keeping chlorine levels high enough and long enough. Get a lot more liquid chlorine or bleach.

Shock is not a product or a thing - it is a process.

I am getting for your pool with estimated CYA (stabilizer) at 50 you need to keep your chlorine level above 16 until the pool clears. And it will clear. You will need to be able to test yourself and make sure you are keeping chlorine above 16 until:

You're done shocking when: 1)You lose 1ppm or less FC overnight, & 2)You have .5ppm CC's or less, & 3)your water is clear.

Get a lot more liquid chlorine or bleach. You need to pour in 325 ounces right now and checked throughout the day to make sure your chlorine is staying above 16 until the shock process is complete.

Welcome to the forum Add enough chlorine to get to 20ppm and HOLD IT THERE UNTIL YOUR POOL IS CLEAR. YOu may use another 20 gallons or much, much more but your are not shocking the pool.

read How to "Shock your Pool" up in Pool School

Forget the algaecide....you are wasting your money.

The pucks are ineffective in this situation and the bags of "super shock" may be getting your calcium too high.

If you will continue to stay on the forum and learn BBB, you will also fine you need to get your own test kit and take charge of your pool rather than having the pool store sell you stuff that you don't need.

I am so glad I found this forum. We're going to start your recommendations this evening.

Post back as you move along with the process and we'll help guide you.

Alright so we put in a boat load of chlorine last night and I added more this morning. My wife just called me and said the green is gone and that the pool is now just cloudy, not green and cloudy. We are going to add some more chlorine this evening. She also told me that the PH went from 7.8 yesterday to a little higher today. I don't have the exact numbers though, I am at work and need to get back to it. I'll check in later and hopefully have time to post the readings.

One of the problem with test kits is that they use different shades of red and green. I'm color blind so it is difficult for me to match the shades up. I've tried digital ones and quite honestly they suck. If my wifes around I'll have her test the chemicals and I'll post it.

How high is the FC in your pool right now? FC levels around 10 and higher will show a falsely elevated pH. You don't want to treat a reading that is false.

Alright so right now FC is high, around 19 right now, PH is a little low, alkalinity is a little high. Everything seems to be going ok. The pool is very blue, but also cloudy. I think we're going to leave the chemicals until tomorrow. We've kept the chlorine high since the evening of June 7th.

Be sure you're done before you stop, or it may come back. All that bleach will have been for nothing. You know you're done when

The water is clear;
CC is 0.5 or lower;
An overnight FC loss test shows a loss of 1.0 ppm or less.

As an aside, pH will not read correctly with FC so high. Ignore it. Ignore everything else until you meet all three of those conditions above. Then let FC dissipate down to 8 or so and run a full set of tests to see what you need to adjust, if anything.

Thanks Richard. I'll make sure we keep the pool chlorine high, its still high right now, but its also still cloudy.