Replacing water in above ground pool

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PamKern

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Jul 11, 2012
27
Help, we have thankfully found your site. We have a 29000 gallon round above ground pool, 33' diameter and 54" deep, and our water has been either green or gray and cloudy depending on the day, since we opened the pool. Mid July and we have yet to be able to swim. We live in south east Ohio. Per your suggestions we bought and used a test kit after dumping almost $1000 in chemicals from the pool stores into the pool and nothing is working. Vacuumed, brushed , everything they told us to do. They always say our water tests perfectly but it is still green and cloudy. Used the test kit and results are as follows
Chlorine is at 5ppm
Ph 7.2
Alkalinity 150
Hardness 1100
CYA 35
According to the pool calculator on your site we need to replace 78% of our water to lower hardness but how do we know the hardness of the water we are putting in from our hose? If it tests as too hard, what do we do next?
We are desperate and ready to just give up!
 
We bought an hth kit while we are waiting to receive our Taylor kit. We were anxious to test and didn't want to wait for the better kit to be shipped. I retested the hardness again to be sure I wasn't crazy and then tested our softened tap water to be sure I was doing it correctly The tap water tested at 400. I am going to test the city water we use to add to the pool from the hose to see if it is the problem.Make sense?
 
PamKern said:
We bought an hth kit while we are waiting to receive our Taylor kit.
Click to expand...
Nice job on ordering the Taylor kit :goodjob: that will help you clear the pool up.

Almost always when water is cloudy, there is algae in the pool. When that occurs the way to fix it is to do the shocking process. To do this process effectivly you need to be able to measure FC (free chlorine) and CC (combined chlorine), which the HTH kit can not. Since the kit that is on the way (assuming it is the Taylor K-2006 and not K-2005 kit) can test for these, it might be best to wait and get your first test numbers before proceeding. Meanwhile you can read up on the shocking process and read the other pertinent articles in pool school (link on upper right of every page).

PamKern said:
I am going to test the city water we use to add to the pool from the hose to see if it is the problem.Make sense?
Click to expand...
Good idea, post your results.
 
Quick update tested the water from hose it is 400. Just retested pool water and now it reads 500. Maybe I was doing something incorrectly. However, the water is cloudy and more gray than green at this point. We really want to switch to your BBB method. Any suggestions on getting the pool clear would be so appreciated. I am dying to go for a swim!
 
Hi We are desperate and welcome to TFP! :)
OK we can help...
Proper and accurate testing is how all of us here have succeeded with fixing and managing our pools.
If you read in the Pool School link at the top of the page there is a category under Test Kits Compared here:
pool-school/pool_test_kit_comparison

The two kits that we use are the TF-100 (preferred) and/or the Taylor K-2006
If you have a swampy pool get the XL option with the TF100 kit so you will have the ability to do more testing to overcome a messy pool.
We just need to know we have correct reading to help you!

I went through the same Crud with my pool store trying to clean up my messy pool! :hammer:

The methods taught here work very well and my pool does exactly what I tell it to do! Took some time and effort but the rewards are tenfold now that I learned how simple it has become.
Might have to do some drain and refilling but I think we can help you manage your CH even on the high side due to being a vinyl pool.
Please continue to read through Pool School and will help you understand some of the processes and terminology of the chemistry.
I was scared to death when I first came here! So overwhelming!
With the knowledgeable people here to help you succeed!
I want you to enjoy your pool as much as my family has now with my Trouble Free Pool!

Chuck
 

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Adorable grandkids.
Ok I have read pool school front to back, keeping pool at shock level 25 FC! All other numbers are in range according to the pool calculator. Water is green gray and cloudy still. Took plastic steps out after being to,d by pool store that could not be the problem. That we're filled with green water. The decided to take apart the filter. Because we are using zeobrite and it is greenish anyway we dumped and changed the filter a.though we had just filled with zeobrite last year. Our free chlorine has held steady at 25 the last two days but water hasn't changed color. We have brushed pool but now that the steps are out hubs and I cannot get in and out of the pool easily. Hopefully the fresh filter might help but it did not look very dirty. We are at wits end if the water doesn't change soon. Pool calculator says to add nothing bur
T change some water. No amount specified.
 
Thanks everyone! Well it came down to take on the kids or let them go to the state! What are you gonna do? So you see our choice. 3 of them, (3,4, and 11 year old)
Ok, Back to YOUR posting...
You may need some POP!
We here call that Pool Owner Patience.
Don't forget the pool didn't get like this in a couple of days and if you dumped in what did you say? $1000 of who knows what :roll: that pool store sold to you! :hammer:
Takes time to breakdown when you throw all that stuff in pool water. :grrrr:

Chuck
 
Not adding chlorine since the levels haven't dropped overnight. Actually they haven't dropped more than 1 ppm FC in two days. We will be gone all day so I will be anxious to see how it looks this evening. Thanks for the suggestions. I am looking forward to a clear BBB season once this water gets back to normal.
 
Hi Pam, I have the same size pool and I also had the same problem with green and cloudy that wouldn't go away...One of the biggest issues I had was that my CYA was well over 100 and I had to replace some of the water which then allowed the bleach (chlorine) to do a better job. When I was shocking with pool store stuff my CYA just kept going up. Now I have 40 CYA and can shock at 16. When it was at 100 plus I was shocking at 33. It was quite costly , even using household bleach. Get the TF-100 test kit and test the CYA. Then use the numbers from the pool calculator. If you have used all pool store stuff your cya is probably super high like mine was. These guys on here are great and really know there stuff. This is my second year on the BBB method. My water has never been green again. I am getting ready to shock as I do have green beginning on the bottom of the pool. We have had 6" of rain in 3 days and I am surrounded by trees so it doesn't take much to cause me a little bit of issue. Using this method though I am usually back in business in 1 to 2 days and happily floating in the pool with a cold one. Listen to these experts and check the CYA.. Start on BBB today!!!Happy swimming!
 
Thanks again. It has been drought conditions and between 90 and 105 here in southern Ohio for the past two weeks. Using the Leslie's test kit which according to the test kit comparison is the same as the Taylor 2006. My CYA is 35 and has been staying between 35 and 40. I added some water last night. Just got home, the pool looks the same. Free chlorine is 20 and I added bleach. It rained a bit today which hasn't happened in a few weeks. I will be anxious to test in the a.m.
 
If the pool is getting more blue color, that means your algae is getting closer to dead. It will stay cloudy until your filter clears it. I usually thing of the pool colors moving like this swamp green, bright green, green, olive drab, grey-green, grey, blue-grey, milky blue, cloudy blue and then better and better shades of clear blue.

Keep your FC up until you stop losing, check you CC and keep your FC up until the CC is near zero and filter clears the pool. The only thing that makes a pool uncloudy (most of the time) is the filter.
 

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