Ok..So here's the disclaimer: I've never owned a pool before in my life. I'm an idiot when it comes to chemistry. I've used the HTH PH and Clorine tester before and that's IT. I did some REALLY stupid things and am aware of it. What I need is help to fix what I've messed up. I've already read pool school but it doesn't tell me how to undo what I've already done, so being the new kid, I'm asking (begging) for help. So here goes:
The genius that I am, I decided this year I wanted a pool because my neighbor told me how simple they were to maintain. So I purchased an above ground Intex liner 12'x36" metal frame, 2000gal pool from walmart, as well as a bag of shock and some chlorine (yellow bucket top of HTH) tabs. I proceeded to set it up and fill the pool (I have VERY hard water and live in Kansas). I only got half of it filled in one day, so i shut the water off and finished the next day..well the same evening I finished filling it, it rained. So the next morning I got out my nifty little chlorine tab dispenser and put 2 tabs in it and sent it on it's way (other than that, it had had NO chemicals). I ran the filter (500 gal/hr) the first couple of days about 8 hours a day.. on the third day when I went to actually swim in it, I did a test reading to see where the chlorine and ph levels were. Chlorine was virtually at zero and PH was about 7.8..so I did what the internet said to do and I shocked it. Used the HTH super shock and swim. Well..I obviously didn't read the directions very well and added all 1lb of the bag via the skimmer method that it said to use (shake shock into skimmer and run skimmer through water slowly dispersing shock). So after I added the whole bag, I turned on the filter and let it run all night.
The next morning I came out to a pretty cloudy pool. So I did a test reading- Chlorine less than .5ppm, ph around 7.8 again. So I checked the chlorine floater- a few pieces of the tab left- so I added another one). Didn't swim. The next day I came out- chlorine was even LOWER than the day before. So my genius decided to run to walmart and look for liquid chlorine- couldn't find any, but found the yellow HTH bottle of "chlorine granules". Well since the chlorine in the pool was almost non existent- and everything I read told me the pool was cloudy due to lack of chlorine- I added about half of the smaller 2lb bottle they sell via the skimmer. Ran filter all night (usually runs about 8 hrs/day) came out- pool was waaay cloudy, chlorine around .5ppm. So by now I'm getting SUPER frustrated. So the next evening I added more of the granules..which once again did nothing. So I melted a whole chlorine tab in a bucket of water and now it's around 1.5ppm.
So now that I finally found this site and realized all I needed to do in the first place was add some bleach, I'm a bit frustrated at how to clear the cloudiness at this point. The chlorine level is still a bit low but I'm sure bleach would fix it at this point. But how do I get rid of the cloudiness? I see chemicals settled on the bottom (I have no vacuum, do have a brush)
I'm willing to try anything at this point to save the water. I already dumped it once because I didn't think it was level enough so that's the last resort but one I may have to do..I'm not sure what other information you need since I don't have one of those huge testers with all the levels- just CL and PH. The water's not green..just one big cloud. Help? Please? Pretty please?
The genius that I am, I decided this year I wanted a pool because my neighbor told me how simple they were to maintain. So I purchased an above ground Intex liner 12'x36" metal frame, 2000gal pool from walmart, as well as a bag of shock and some chlorine (yellow bucket top of HTH) tabs. I proceeded to set it up and fill the pool (I have VERY hard water and live in Kansas). I only got half of it filled in one day, so i shut the water off and finished the next day..well the same evening I finished filling it, it rained. So the next morning I got out my nifty little chlorine tab dispenser and put 2 tabs in it and sent it on it's way (other than that, it had had NO chemicals). I ran the filter (500 gal/hr) the first couple of days about 8 hours a day.. on the third day when I went to actually swim in it, I did a test reading to see where the chlorine and ph levels were. Chlorine was virtually at zero and PH was about 7.8..so I did what the internet said to do and I shocked it. Used the HTH super shock and swim. Well..I obviously didn't read the directions very well and added all 1lb of the bag via the skimmer method that it said to use (shake shock into skimmer and run skimmer through water slowly dispersing shock). So after I added the whole bag, I turned on the filter and let it run all night.
The next morning I came out to a pretty cloudy pool. So I did a test reading- Chlorine less than .5ppm, ph around 7.8 again. So I checked the chlorine floater- a few pieces of the tab left- so I added another one). Didn't swim. The next day I came out- chlorine was even LOWER than the day before. So my genius decided to run to walmart and look for liquid chlorine- couldn't find any, but found the yellow HTH bottle of "chlorine granules". Well since the chlorine in the pool was almost non existent- and everything I read told me the pool was cloudy due to lack of chlorine- I added about half of the smaller 2lb bottle they sell via the skimmer. Ran filter all night (usually runs about 8 hrs/day) came out- pool was waaay cloudy, chlorine around .5ppm. So by now I'm getting SUPER frustrated. So the next evening I added more of the granules..which once again did nothing. So I melted a whole chlorine tab in a bucket of water and now it's around 1.5ppm.
So now that I finally found this site and realized all I needed to do in the first place was add some bleach, I'm a bit frustrated at how to clear the cloudiness at this point. The chlorine level is still a bit low but I'm sure bleach would fix it at this point. But how do I get rid of the cloudiness? I see chemicals settled on the bottom (I have no vacuum, do have a brush)
I'm willing to try anything at this point to save the water. I already dumped it once because I didn't think it was level enough so that's the last resort but one I may have to do..I'm not sure what other information you need since I don't have one of those huge testers with all the levels- just CL and PH. The water's not green..just one big cloud. Help? Please? Pretty please?