Getting frustrated - new comer

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britishexpat

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Jun 13, 2012
92
Louisiana
Hi everyone, I am new to this pool stuff as being british we are not all custom to having a pool, since moving to louisiana it is now become a must to cool down from this heat.

I recently bought a new 14"x48" intex metal frame pool, filled it, did all the opening your pool stuff with the required chemicals as directed, pool was running on a 1000gph intex pump/filter.

last few weeks weather has been very bad so I turned off the pump daiy and did not put back on the supplied cover for the pool as there was no-one to help me put it back on... very hard to do on your own.

about a week a go the pool was very green algae looking...

being a novice, I read the hth booklet about problems and causes etc. and used more chemicals to shock, clarify and agae prevention, and to be honest I ended up putting in more chemicals than I should have, I cleaned out the filter with a new one and washed the unit out, put the filter pump on for 48 hrs and the water was slightly better, all the algea build up had dissapated, still cloudy water, futher reading directed me to think that the pool needed more ph and more calcium... so I added this, water still cloudy, I went and bought some hth green to blue shock treatment and turned off the pump as directed to let the product work and fall to the bottom of the pool. the water had turned clear but there was the prouduct left on the bottom of the pool, bought a hoover to help clean up the settled product from the floor... the hoover disspursed the chems at the bottom so I could not see what I was doing, carried on regardless and after a few hours of walking around a milky colored pool in near 100 degree heat I decided enough was enough... turned filter on and decided to take a peek through the window to see if any change, the water had stopped flowing into the pool? so I changed the filter with a new one, seemed to be working fine then the next day same thing happening with the filter, flow rate slow... so I ended up changing the filter with a new one at least another 6 times.

I decided on impulse to go and buy a saltwater system thinking this would help as I was having problems with the chemicals doing their job, again I did not have a clue here, so I thought that this would increase the flow rate and help to kill off and suck out the residue in the pool... soon realized that this was not the case as the alarm went off after only 20 mins of being on, indicating a low flow rate... could not be bothered to once agin chnage the filter, so off to the impulse buying again, bought a new 2500gph intex water pump/filter.. without knowing I also needed some b adapters to fit the pool inlet outlets.. anyway bought them they arrived today... fitted everything up, brushed the pool floor to aggitate the sediment and turned it on along with the salt water system, great, the flow rate is extremely fast compared to pump, and I could see the new skimmer suction was pulling in the small particles from the pool top... again great I thought at least now all the water is going to be filtered faster and the sediment build up would soon be gone/filtered through the new skimmer and filter.... 2 hours and the same thing happend again, alarm on saltwater system, went out to check it and the water flow rate is non exsistent again..... it was to dark to remove the filter from the pump so I just turned everything off...now at 2am I am on this forum looking to see what to do for the best here.... should I just empty the pool clean it out fully and re-fill and start from fresh.. or is there a way to dissolve the build up of chemicals from off the pool floor and within the pool that are obviously causing the filters and pump to not work correctly? I am right in thinking that the biuld up/cloudy milky pool water is the result of over chemical use, calcium etc. ??? the pool only cost $400 but I have now spent $1200 on upgrades and all.... I don't want to be wasting anymore time and money going round in circles... help needed fast and is greatly appreciated!
 
Welcome to TFP.

Your pool holds about 4000 gallons of water.
Your filter system is doing exactly what it's designed to do. Remove stuff from the water.
I assume that the 2500 gph pump/filter you bought was the cartridge filter type. Clearing up an algae bloom, you're going to have to change them a lot.

There are two ways to go about getting it ready to swim.
1. You can dump all the water out, clean the pool with a mild bleach solution and start over.
2. You can learn the proper way to shock the pool and keep it at shock level until the water is clear.
#2 requires that you change the filters a lot until the water is clear. #1 is going to be faster and you'll only have to change the filter once.
Let us know which way you prefer and we'll help you through it.

In either case you need to learn how to properly maintain the pool once you get it clear. We can help with that too. You should start in Pool School on the ABC's.
 
How much does water cost (both in dollars and in time). You are under 5,000 gallons at that size. If I could drain it, scrub it, and refill it in a few days and spend less than $100 on the water, I would certainly go that way.

With your current setup, as far as additional things to buy, you would need some CYA (stabilizer), bleach (until your SWG can start), salt (amount needed by your SWG), a new filter (just the filter cartridge), and a good test kit (Taylor K-2006 or tftestkits.net TF-100). Depending on your pH and TA levels, you might need muratic acid (pH down), borax (pH up), or baking soda (to raise TA), or some combo of them.

It is certainly possible to clean out your mess, but it will take lots of time, lots of bleach, and multiple filters (they can only be cleaned so much). Your SWG will not produce enough chlorine to handle it on its own, so you will be needing to manually add bleach, as often as each hour if possible. You will need a good test kit and we will need to know everything you have added to your pool. There are some products, like those containing copper, than can have unintended side effects.

Once you finally get your pool clear, you would be able to switch from bleach to your SWG. You will still have to know your pH and TA and adjust them as needed.

Let us know which route appeals to you more and we can go from there.
 
Bama Rambler said:
Welcome to TFP.

Your pool holds about 4000 gallons of water.
Your filter system is doing exactly what it's designed to do. Remove stuff from the water.
I assume that the 2500 gph pump/filter you bought was the cartridge filter type. Clearing up an algae bloom, you're going to have to change them a lot.

There are two ways to go about getting it ready to swim.
1. You can dump all the water out, clean the pool with a mild bleach solution and start over.
2. You can learn the proper way to shock the pool and keep it at shock level until the water is clear.
#2 requires that you change the filters a lot until the water is clear. #1 is going to be faster and you'll only have to change the filter once.
Let us know which way you prefer and we'll help you through it.

In either case you need to learn how to properly maintain the pool once you get it clear. We can help with that too. You should start in Pool School on the ABC's.
Click to expand...

Thank you for this reply and thanks to everyone else here that's trying to help me.

As I have already put alot of time and effort into trying to clean the water I feel I should not give in and do #1 just yet. so what do you suggest I do to try to clean out all the bits of chemical residue in this pool by shocking as you say... what are the best products to use here, I stilll have a large box outside with all the hth stuff I bought... and there is plenty of it left, I don't mind buying new stuff here as I know that stuff can make matters worse. can you please break it down for me if you have the time that is or direct me to a page on the forum, I have just bought a new box of 6 b cartridge filters for the new pump so will this be enough... thanks in advance kind person.
 
aa62579 said:
How much does water cost (both in dollars and in time). You are under 5,000 gallons at that size. If I could drain it, scrub it, and refill it in a few days and spend less than $100 on the water, I would certainly go that way.

With your current setup, as far as additional things to buy, you would need some CYA (stabilizer), bleach (until your SWG can start), salt (amount needed by your SWG), a new filter (just the filter cartridge), and a good test kit (Taylor K-2006 or tftestkits.net TF-100). Depending on your pH and TA levels, you might need muratic acid (pH down), borax (pH up), or baking soda (to raise TA), or some combo of them.

It is certainly possible to clean out your mess, but it will take lots of time, lots of bleach, and multiple filters (they can only be cleaned so much). Your SWG will not produce enough chlorine to handle it on its own, so you will be needing to manually add bleach, as often as each hour if possible. You will need a good test kit and we will need to know everything you have added to your pool. There are some products, like those containing copper, than can have unintended side effects.

Once you finally get your pool clear, you would be able to switch from bleach to your SWG. You will still have to know your pH and TA and adjust them as needed.

Let us know which route appeals to you more and we can go from there.
Click to expand...

Thank you kind person. I do appreciate this help, can I use the test kit from hth sold at walmart until my new order for the k-2006 comes in? I have a test kit but with strips and I assume they are not good enough, I have a stabilizer and conditioner from hth can this be used or should I use something else? reccomendation please? how much bleach should I now go out and buy and which type is best here? and will all this bleach kill of the sediment buildup of chemicals on my pool floor? where can I buy muractic acid from? I really don't mind changing the filters as I don't want to cop out and just empty the pool and re-start, as for the cost of water it is fairly cheap here.. would not cost much at all but I am not a defeatist here so will try to get a grips with the dirty water otherwise i'll never really learn this stuff... thanks in advance kind person.
 
I see you have the K-2006 on order. That's good.
You can get by with the HTH 6-way drop test kit from WalMart if that's the one you have. The main things we need to know is pH, FC and CYA (stabilizer). Once we know that, we will know what your shock value should be.

Regular grocery store bleach is the best thing to use for shocking. You'll need plenty of it.

I have no idea if 6 cartridges will be enough or not. It might be and it might even be half enough. The only way to rid your pool of the dead algae (It's not chemical residue that you're seeing) that's in it is to filter it out, and that's going to take a while depending on how much is in there. You also need to keep your chlorine level up the entire time you're doing it to be sure everything is dead and to keep anything from starting back growing in there.

Can you give us a complete list of what all you've put in there? If not don't worry about it.
 
Hi, everyone... sorry to burden you all, I was just thinking... and that's not a good thing with me... last time I shocked the pool with the hth green to blue 2 stage shocking chemicals the pool did go clear, but I still had all this white power stuff on the bottom of the pool floor.... if I shock with bleach etc as indicated is this going to remove the sediment on the floor? I did also brush the floor and hoover but it just made the water flakey and milky cloudy and blocked up the filter pump flow, so I gave up... I know I repeating myself here but still confused on how bleach shocking will be any different... is it just going to cost less this way to do, and just to clarify this fully, I need to just be patient and keep changing the filters and eventualy I will see the sediment on the floor dissapate?
 
It's not going to be any different. Bleach just doesn't add things to your pool that you don't want or need.

The "white stuff" will still be on the floor (or suspended in the water) and you'll still have to vacuum it up. It's still going to clog the filters until you get it all out. There's no magic formula to eradicate the stuff. It requires mechanical removal.
 
Bama Rambler said:
I see you have the K-2006 on order. That's good.
You can get by with the HTH 6-way drop test kit from WalMart if that's the one you have. The main things we need to know is pH, FC and CYA (stabilizer). Once we know that, we will know what your shock value should be.

Regular grocery store bleach is the best thing to use for shocking. You'll need plenty of it.

I have no idea if 6 cartridges will be enough or not. It might be and it might even be half enough. The only way to rid your pool of the dead algae (It's not chemical residue that you're seeing) that's in it is to filter it out, and that's going to take a while depending on how much is in there. You also need to keep your chlorine level up the entire time you're doing it to be sure everything is dead and to keep anything from starting back growing in there.

Can you give us a complete list of what all you've put in there? If not don't worry about it.
Click to expand...

I have put a lot of chemicals in there, when we 1st opened the pool we used the correct amount of hth stuff... but I did add more of the clarifier than it stated.... I used the "ah that looks about right" way of measuring.. sorry...
what I did not add to the pool was the stabilizer as walmart did not have any there in stock....
I was using the test strips to get a reading and this caused me to add more ph more calcium more of everything that hth stocked.... when we got the bad weather I turned off the pump to be safe as I had to run the electric cable from the house as we did not have it installed outside yet by an electrician... that's now fixed... so during the bad weather the build up of green slime algae developed on the pool top... so when the weather changed for the better this is when I added more chemicals and I did rush the whole process, I added lotts and lotts of clarifier, algae control, stabilizer, green to blue shock... I know I added to much stuff and not at the right times.... my step son was making me inpatient with the constant "when can I get in the pool" lark. so like I said the pool did go clear... but there is too much sediment on the floor, when brushed and hoovered it just gets agitated and then pool is cloudy/milky little white bits everywhere floating around and as such blocking the filter after only 1-2 hours of running....
 
another thing that worries me is, is the pool safe enough whilst bleaching or should I wait? how long do I wait for me to get into to be able to walk around in it with the hoover, it is a centienal cyclone.... not the best but at $100 bucks it was all I could afford at the time.... do I need to buy something better? also at 4500 gallons roughly how much bleach should I go buy.... I don't mind having some more than needed in stock... don't want to travel all the way to the store and not have enough? again I do appreciate every little bit of help and information.
 

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My thinking is that you have killed all the algae and since you've not added any CYA your shock level is going to be 10 ppm FC. That will take about 2 quarts to get there, so figure about 1 jug a day to keep it there and give yourself about a week to get it clear I'd pick up about 10 jugs of bleach.

The immediate thing we need to know is what is your chlorine level right now?

Bleach does not contain stabilizer.
 
Bama Rambler said:
My thinking is that you have killed all the algae and since you've not added any CYA your shock level is going to be 10 ppm FC. That will take about 2 quarts to get there, so figure about 1 jug a day to keep it there and give yourself about a week to get it clear I'd pick up about 10 jugs of bleach.

The immediate thing we need to know is what is your chlorine level right now?

Bleach does not contain stabilizer.
Click to expand...

Thank you kind person, I am now going out to the store to buy the hth 6 way test kit and some bleach... i'll buy plenty of it just in case.... when I return i'll post the test results and we can go from there before I add anything to the pool...
 
Just got back from the store, bought plenty of bleach but could not find any borax, will get the wife to go get that in the morning..

Done the testing and here are my results

ph - 7.2
Chlorine - 0
Alkalinity - 300ppm
Hardness - 100
cyanuric acid - 65

how do I test the stabilizer levels?? if someone could tell me what I need to do next with the bleach etc? filter has been changed with a new one and is running... by the way I hope everyone that has commented realizes that I already have salt in this pool, I used the correct amount of 50kg last week two days after I had used the green 2 blue hth product... thinking I would have the pool clean ready to turn the system on... but as for todays testing results I guess that the alkalinity levels are way to high and the chlorine is to low, I take it that even though there is salt in the pool, it is not yet chlorinated due to the saltwater system not being on yet?
 
CYA = Stabilizer. 65 is high, but not unmanageable. Don't add anything else now other than bleach!

Don't bother with the saltwater system until you have your pool clean and stabilized. If you bring it up to shock level, you can use the SWCG to help hold it, but do NOT depend on it. You still have to watch the FC and keep adding bleach!
 
Cyanuric acid is stabilizer. While you can shock with it that high your shock level is 20 ppm you need to add 160 oz of bleach. That's 1-1/2 small jugs. You need to add that now.

What size jug did you get?

You're right that the pool isn't chlorinated.
 
Bama Rambler said:
Cyanuric acid is stabilizer. While you can shock with it that high your shock level is 20 ppm you need to add 160 oz of bleach. That's 1-1/2 small jugs. You need to add that now.

What size jug did you get?

You're right that the pool isn't chlorinated.
Click to expand...


At the bottom of your page you have the FAS-DPD test, where can I buy one of these test kits from?
 
The FAS-DPD test is part of the K2006 that you have on order.

Based on your numbers and the fact you have a SWG, it is unlikely that you will need borax at all. It is used to raise pH which the SWG will do naturally and at 7.2 now you are on the low end and ready for the shocking process.

Has anyone pointed out the Pool School button at the upper right of the page? Many of you questions are covered in the articles and reading them will give you a better understanding of your pool.

Posted with Tapatalk ... sorry if I sound short ... hate typing on phone :)
 
These guys are great !
In addition to all of their suggestionss may I also offer the "paper-towel" method... now I used this for removing rust/iron from my water so it should help with your issues too. You'll want to change the paper towels out every hour or two... or even more frequently with the algie.
It WILL be a mess!
http://www.troublefreepool.com/i-may-be-a-chemist-but-the-pool-is-smarter-than-i-am-t44884.html
http://www.troublefreepool.com/a-tale-of-two-filters-and-ugly-rusty-water-t46130.html

-wc
 

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