I have a Summer Waves quick set 10x30 above ground pool. My pool holds 1,074 gallons of water. It has a cartridge filter pump. When we bought the pool we brought a water sample to a pool supply store in town before adding any chemicals. Our water is high in iron (.81 ppm), so they sold us Metal Wizard by Haviland. She said 24 hours after adding the metal wizard to the pool we needed to add 2 pounds of stabilizer and one 1" chlorine tab to the filter. She said to replace the chlorine tab every time it dissolves. My pool sits inside my screened in patio. Doesn't get hardly any, if any at all, direct sunlight. The pool is green. I was told to buy bleach and pour in a quart or so, did that. Lightened the green, didn't fix it. Added 8 more ounces, nothing. We are just maintaining a lovely shade of green. We're cleaning the filter in the pump daily (it is orange every time we pull it out). I am vacuuming algae (assuming it's algae?) off the bottom of the pool daily. I'm ready to start over! Is that my best option at this point? We just want to use our pool! And quickly, if possible. Any tips on draining, and what I should do if I refill it? We bought a 3 way test kit at walmart, my chlorine levels are extremely high, so i thought we'd have killed the algae at this point. I have all of my initial test results from the supply store if that helps?
Should I just drain it?
- Thread starter Megantx48
- Start date
- Jun 22, 2014
- 47,797
- Pool Size
- 17888
- Surface
- Fiberglass
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- CircuPool RJ-45 Plus
Hello and welcome to TFP! 
Yes, for your size a pool a drain is probably more effective and efficient. When you get ready to refill, I would like for you to have two important links available:
Pool School - Guide for Seasonal/Temporary Pools
Pool School - Metals in the Water and Metal Stains
With your pool positioned mostly in the shade, you won't need quite as much CYA (stabilizer), but you will need some. While the seasonal pool guide states to start at 40, you might try a CYA target of "30", which will also enable you to maintain your FC in the 3-4 range with regular bleach. Hopefully that lower chlorine level will keep the metal from reacting in your pool to change color or try to stain the pool itself.
As noted on the Metals link, there are sequestrants available to help control metals in water, but for a pool your size I'm not sure you'll want to keep investing in those or simply drain/refresh the water in the pool if that's easier for you. If you can do any pre-filtering to remove iron before it goes into the pool that could help.
So when you refill the pool, make sure to add stabilizer for a CYA target of 30, then add only enough bleach to increase FC to about 2-3ppm on day 1, then increase slightly to 3-4 ppm on day 2 and beyond. Of course keep your pH anywhere from 7.2-7.8 (the lower-end might be better for metals as well). Hopefully that will keep you algae-free and not create a metals nightmare. Hope that helps.
Yes, for your size a pool a drain is probably more effective and efficient. When you get ready to refill, I would like for you to have two important links available:Pool School - Guide for Seasonal/Temporary Pools
Pool School - Metals in the Water and Metal Stains
With your pool positioned mostly in the shade, you won't need quite as much CYA (stabilizer), but you will need some. While the seasonal pool guide states to start at 40, you might try a CYA target of "30", which will also enable you to maintain your FC in the 3-4 range with regular bleach. Hopefully that lower chlorine level will keep the metal from reacting in your pool to change color or try to stain the pool itself.
As noted on the Metals link, there are sequestrants available to help control metals in water, but for a pool your size I'm not sure you'll want to keep investing in those or simply drain/refresh the water in the pool if that's easier for you. If you can do any pre-filtering to remove iron before it goes into the pool that could help.
So when you refill the pool, make sure to add stabilizer for a CYA target of 30, then add only enough bleach to increase FC to about 2-3ppm on day 1, then increase slightly to 3-4 ppm on day 2 and beyond. Of course keep your pH anywhere from 7.2-7.8 (the lower-end might be better for metals as well). Hopefully that will keep you algae-free and not create a metals nightmare. Hope that helps.
Thank you so much. As a pool beginner, I thought this would be a cake walk ?. I'm going to go ahead and drain the pool and start over with the guide link you provided.