New saltwater pool owner needs help

[Sdickinson20]

I need help to know what to do. I have a 6000 gallon intex salt water pool. I now have an algae mess. Here are my levels after shocking it last night. I can see the bottom after shocking it but barely......I will list my levels below and any help would be appreciated. I shocked it with 70 fluid ounces of liquid chlorinator....

Thanks!

Chlorine 5 or above.. My test kit only goes up to 5
Ph. 8.2
CYA. 0
Alkalinity. 300
Salt level. 3780

Anything I need to go get or buy I'm up for it...just brand new at this and the instructions I got with my pool are very limited. HELP!!!

 

[JohnT]

Welcome to TFP!

Here is a good article on Defeating Algae

Bottom line is keep the pump running and keep the chlorine high. Test and add more chlorine often.

Don't worry about pH or alkalinity now. Your pH reading isn't going to be accurate with a high chlorine level.

 

[Sdickinson20]

Should I use an algeacide or just work with the chlorine?

 

[frogabog]

Chlorine is all you need. Forget the algaecide.

I suggest you take a couple of hard reads through pool school, and in particular the information about shocking. Pay attention to the concept of maintaining shock level. It's not a one time product that you throw in the pool and walk away from. Maintaining a constant shock level of xx (in relation to your CYA, of which you have none) requires hourly testing at first, and if even 1ppm low you add chlorine to get it back to shock level. Maintaining... it's a process, not a product.

You will need chlorine (bleach, just regular bleach) and CYA (cyanuric acid), both of which you should find at walmart. With a SWG you'll need 60-80ppm of CYA so you'll want to add about half that right now while you're shocking. When you're done shocking, you can add the rest to get it up to appropriate levels for SWG but it will take less bleach at the lower level (30ppm) for shocking. It's more cost effective to do it this way.

 

[Steve456]

To kill algae you need to add bleach until you reach the shock level for the type of algae that you have. Mustard algae (looks like sand) requires more bleach than green algae (looks green). You must maintain that level of FC until your pool passes the overnight FC test.

To test the FC level you need a DPD-FAS FC test. Many people on this site use the TF-100 test kit. It will seem expensive until you fight algae for several weeks not knowing what to do. With a good test kit you can defeat all algae problems quickly. Better, you can avoid all future algae problems.

 

[Sdickinson20]

So I have added bleach and now have a chlorine level of 10 and a free chlorine level of .5. I still continue to add bleach correct...I am just double checking because it seems like a whole lot and a don't want to sen my pool in the other direction.

 

[frogabog]

Bleach is good for your pool. You'd have to add a whole lot more than 10ppm to get it to a level that is of any concern.

Yes, keep it at shock level till you pass the overnight test and it's clear. You've got one of the criteria met, maintain that shock level and you'll be done with all this shocking mess soon. :~}

 

[Sdickinson20]

Quick update...I CAN SEE THE BOTTTOM OF MY POOL!! Yay! I am getting there...

 

[Bama Rambler]

 

[Sdickinson20]

Ok good update...my pool looks algae free, still has a bit of cloudiness. Is this the residual dead algae or should I still treat it until it is crystal clear? What should my next step be?

 

[Beamup]

Keep it up until you pass all three tests in Bama's signature. You fail #3 still, and haven't provided numbers for #1. Keep it at shock.

 

[Sdickinson20]

I shocked it again last night because I didn't want to fall behind. My FC is still at a 10 from last night, and my CC is still at a 10 so I am not loosing chlorine at night. Is the cloudiness due to too much chlorine?

 

[Bama Rambler]

I think we have a terminology issue. You still haven't passed the OCLT but I don't see where you have one of the listed kits. So I don't think you can test for FC & CC.
What kit are you using? That will tell us more about what you can test for.

 

[Steve456]

TC = FC + CC

Most inexpensive test kits do not enable you to test for FC and CC.

A pool will remain cloudy for days from dead algae. When my pool losses less than .5 FC overnight and I have less than .5 CC I stop adding bleach to shock. My pool may require 3 to 6 days running the pump/filter 24/7 to clear the dead algae.

A SWG is used to maintain a constant Cl level after you have killed all the algae. A SWG does not generate sufficient amount of Cl to kill existing algae.