New Pool Idiot!

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angster1431

0
Jul 30, 2015
2
Milner, GA
Hi All,

My name is Angela and I am brand new to the pool owning business. I bought a pool back in June of 2015 and had a few wonderful weeks of swimming bliss.

Then I went on vacation and came back to a swampmonster. I have been currently battling this thing for 2 weeks with no luck. I started out with cheap chemicals (shock) from Walmart trying to battle the algae and that stuff made it worse. I then went to Rec Warehouse (where I bought the pool) to get good chemicals and they tested the water and told me to double shock, and vacuum. Well when we vacummed, nothing was hitting the filter, like it was still white after vacumming for 2 hours. So we added the shock that night, woke up Wednesday and it was worse!

I called them (Rec) back and their new advice was to drain my 19,000 gallon pool and start over. I then called another local pool store who again had us bring a water sample. This time we were told we needed to buy a 60.00 bottle of phosphate remover and a 50 pound bag of Calcium Chloride. After reading the threads on here I now question if I need calcium chloride since we have a vinyl liner?? We added the phosphate remover on Tuesday, and yesterday added the Calcium. My water is now a more milky green, for sure lighter than before and the filter is getting green every hour or so. We have cleaned it about 10 times since yesterday. We also double shocked it last night but the chlorine levels will read for about an hour and then go back to zero according to my test strips. Out of desperation I have my daughter pouring household bleach into the pool but then had her stop when I realized that the CYA levels were zero. I figure it's just a waste of good bleach at this point?

I'm pretty much at my whits end and am about to close the pool for the year and try again next spring. Sad part is, I have a hot tub and that sucker stays crystal clear all year long. It's this pool thing that is killing me!

Any advice would be amazing!!!!

About my pool:

It's a 27 foot above ground round pool with a vinyl liner
19,000 Gallons - filled with Well Water
Cartridge Filter
Gets lots of Georgia Sunlight during the day

Most recent chemical levels according to a test strip (And yes I plan on getting a good testing kit thanks to these threads!)

Hardness: 250
Chlorine: 0 (Even though my daughter has been adding chlorine all day and we shocked last night)
PH: 7.8
Alkalinity: 120
Cyanuric Acid: 0
 
Hi, welcome to TFP! As soon as you get your test kit (I recommend the TF 100 ) you can begin the SLAM process . Your pool is not holding chlorine because it is being consumed trying to kill all the algae. You have to keep adding chlorine and keep it at slam levels as much as possible to clear the pool. You can go ahead and add enough CYA (also known as conditioner or stabilizer) to reach 30ppm and add a large jug of 8% bleach every day until your test kit arrives. One large jug a day won't clear the pool but it will keep things from getting worse while you wait. Stock up on plain, unscented bleach for your slam while you wait as well.

If you could please add your pool information to your signature. That way it will be in all your posts and will keep us from having to hunt it down while answering your questions.
 
Ouch... a story we all hate to read. :(

No you didn't need the phosphate remover nor the calcium, but that's water under the bridge now. The only things your pool needs is liquid chlorine and possibly some stabilizer (aka CYA) but we can't be sure yet as any granular products you added also contain either CYA or calcium. So get that test kit ordered pronto and we'll see where we are.

We've got another two or more months of swim weather here in Georgia, so its worth getting it fixed now in my opinion. Do as Zea3 suggests and use a gallon of bleach in your pool nightly till you get your test kit. Then after your first tests come back with the results and we can move on from there. Pool School is where you need to be until the test kit arrives, okay? Look at the top right of this webpage for the link. Don't be tardy or you'll get detention ;)
 
When someone tells us they have water with a CYA of zero and they need to SLAM, we recommend they start at the bottom of the Pool School - Chlorine / CYA Chart. Add enough CYA for an initial target of 30, assume it will get there, and SLAM by keeping the FC level at 12. Unfortunately without the proper test kit (specifically the FAS-DPD portion), you can't test FC (free chlorine) at that level to make sure you are there. So what you will end-up doing for now is simply pouring one gallon of bleach in your pool each evening. That's just to keep things from getting any worse. No need to put more in there without accurate testing, and we don't want you to waste money. Once your test kit arrives, you can test accurately follow those number as required. In the meantime, stock-up on bleach, get that stabilizer in the pool for your CYA target of 30, and add the one gallon per evening until you get your kit.
 
HI and HUGS! Never fear! TFP is here! LOL


We got ya! Just sit back and learn.

They will NOT have the TF-100 at the store. They MIGHT have the Taylor 2005 or 2006. The 2006 would work BUT it will NOT have enough of the stuff to clear your pool. You will end up ordering more SO the TF-100 will be your best bet in the long run. You can find the link in my siggy.

For right now buy some Walmart Greater Value bleach (8.25%) and put in one jug a evening with the pump running. That will at least keep it from getting any worse.

Once you get your kit let us know and we will get your pool clear!

Kim
 
Welcome to TFP. How is your pool fairing and did you order the TF100?
 
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