Green pool

[jakecarey]

Okay, we had a sparkling pool before we left on vacation but while we were gone there were major storms and tons of rain. When we got home the pool was clear but dark green. There are a ton of leaves on the bottom but nothing else. We have a 18x42 intex pool with a 633 2500gph pump. I put in a brand new filter and I cleaned out a bunch of the leaves but couldn't get all of them without getting in the pool.

I decited to shock the pool so I put about 1/2 gallon of bleach onto the pool. Right away I could start seeing a difference. I've waited about 2 hours and the pool is still pretty green. My question is how much bleach can I safely put into the pool. With the rain I imagine i have close to 5000 gallons in it right now.

Should I put the rest of the bottle in there? Should I go get more liquid bleach? Also, I bought a large bottle of concentrated water clarifier. Should I use that along with the bleach? The bottle says to use 1 oz per each 3000 gallons of water so use about 1.5 ozs right?

Thanks for the help.

***update*** I put the rest of the bottle in and it has helped some more but still a bit green. Is it safe to wait another couple hours and put more in? Each time I add it gets better then gets a little bit worse again.

Jake

 

[JasonLion]

Do you know your CYA level? The amount of chlorine you can/should add depends on your CYA level.

 

[jakecarey]

I don't really know. I will see if I can figure it out.

 

[frogabog]

Get all the debris out of the pool, you're fighting a loosing battle as long as organic material is in the pool. It's decomposing, eating your chlorine. You want all your chlorine to go to the algae, not the leaves.

Have you read pool school? You're shocking blind, and you need to reference http://poolcalculator.com for quantities to add.

CYA level as noted above, is essential in determining how much chlorine you need.

Can you post a full set of water test results? What kind of test kit do you have?

 

[jakecarey]

I don't have a full test kit, just one that test for Chlorine and PH. I will get out there in the morning and get rid of the remaining leaves. I don't have an expensive test kit, the pool was only $300 itself.

Do I have any other options?

 

[Sportsman]

walmart sells a 6-way for less than $30 that will at least allow you to test for CYA. You have to know that. It will still be difficult to shock but depending on your CYA level, you may be able to do it by diluting your samples 2 or 3 to 1 with distilled water. What have you been using as your chlorine source prior to vacation?

Pool School has a section for temporary pools like intex that you should read as well.

 

[jakecarey]

We use chlorine tabs in a floater. Filled it up 3/4 way before we left

 

[jakecarey]

Okay, so I got up this morning and the pool was blue. It is pretty hazy but at least its not green. Should I use that "water clarifier" stuff that I bought? Or should I get more bleach. Im going to look at the other test kit and see how much they are.

Thanks!

Jake

 

[zea3]

More bleach! Shocking is a process and not a one-time dump of chlorine. I strongly recommend you invest in a high quality test kit such as a Taylor k2006 or TF 100. A high quality test kit will help you maintain a clear, sparkly pool year round. Clarifyer will not oxidize any organic matter in your pool that is making it cloudy. The clarifyer will gather the oxidized particles together so they can be vacuumed or filtered more easily. If you add clarifyer before you have completed the shock process, the clarifyer will be oxidized in the high levels or fc and/or your algae will continue to grow and cloud the water. Either way the clarifyer will not work.

 

[jakecarey]

Okay, I'll get more bleach. Im going to walmart to look for a better test kit. Probably not going to spend a ton of money on one as until now, i've only needed to know the chlorine levels to keep it sparkling. Maybe im a lone ranger here but I havn't had to deal with chemicals at all other then chlorine.

 

[frogabog]

It doesn't matter what size your pool is, water is water and the chemistry demands are the same for all pools. A small pool can become overloaded with CYA very quick, and just like a huge in ground pool... they become green in need of shocking.

The HTH kit at walmart will not be able to test over 5ppm chlorine, has only TWO CYA tests, and does not test for combined chlorine. It's better than a strip, but still very limited and rather useless when shocking.

If you take some time to read pool school, you'll understand why the FAS-DPD test kit is essential to all pools regardless of size. In all honesty, I feel that the smaller pools need good test results just as much if not more than the larger pools because of their inefficient filtering capabilities. When something goes wonky with a small pool, it goes wonky fast and is more difficult to clear up.

Life was much more difficult with small pools when we were flying blind. We still have a small pool btw...

 

[Suziqzer]

jakecarey...

I understand you've not had much trouble in maintaining your pool up to this point. I would really encourage you to check out pool school and learn a little more about pool chemistry as frogabog suggested.

Ignorance is not bliss ... I'm afraid, and if you keep plugging away as you are, you are almost certain to have more problems along the way.

 

[jakecarey]

I've read through the pool school several times and as much as I totally agree with everything that is said I just don't see the point in spending lots of money on chemicals and testers as we are nearing the end of the pool season. If this was an in ground pool then of course all the steps would be taken to make sure its done properly.

Thank you again for all the direction. I bought some more bleach today so I think I'll give that a shot and see how it goes. If I can get ahold of a tester I'll post the results and see what you guys think.

Jake

 

[Sportsman]

do you drain your pool each year? that will resolve your CYA problem but if you are using pucks your CYA level has risen as the year went on causing more problems now. There is a section on temporary pools.