"Slime Green"

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Babe the Blue Ox

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Jul 28, 2012
24
Tulsa, OK
First, let me introduce myself. I am Babe the Blue Ox from NE Oklahoma, and I am never going to the pool store again.

I have a 30 ft. above ground pool, 23,800 gallons. I've been using pool store chemicals for the past 3 years and always have had good luck until....

We took an 11 day vacation recently. Came home a week ago and found a slime green pool. Everything seemed ok test wise, but the algae was so thick that you couldn't see more than 6 inches down.

I had the pool guy test the water and we found that the CYA had risen off the charts. I've removed and refilled half the water twice to get it down to an alleged 35 CYA. I then talked to 3 guys at the store, and each of them gave me a different solution, all of which involved a bottle, tub or vat of expensive gunk. I thanked them kindly and left, vowing to not return.

I went straight to wal-mart and bought 6 big jugs of bleach, as I'm ready to become a BBB convert. However, the bleach does not seem to be working as the pool is still about the same shade of nasty.

I picked up a 6-way test kit today and found that the CYA is close to 60 and that the pool store calculation was way off.

I've been using the pool calculator to get my free chlorine level to 16, but now I find that it should really be 24.

Here are my readings (from my own testing):

Chlorine 16
PH 7.5
Alkalinity 100
CYA 58

I bought some more bleach and have added enough to raise chlorine to 24. I've brushed once per day according to the pool school guidelines. What's next?
 
You read pool school, correct? It sounds like you have a good plan of attack. need to wait it out and keep the filter on 24/7, backwashing when needed. That will clear up the dead algae. You need to hold at shock level until you pass the criteria listed in the "how to shock" in pool school.
 
You likely will need many, many, many more jugs of bleach. You now have to hold that FC @ 24ppm until your pool clears.

Shock is a process and not a one time dose.

read "The ABC's of Pool Water Chemistry" up in Pool School.

read "How to Shock Your Pool" , and then follow those directions to an absolute T and your pool will clear.

You will find it almost impossible to shock your pool properly without the use of a good test kit.
 
Aloha Babe the Blue Ox! :wave:

It must already be evening in Oklahoma...so if you haven't added a bunch more chlorine, yes, it is time to add more! You are creating mono-chloramines, di-chloramines, and tri-chloramines in that pool as you destroy the algae...and you have to continue oxidizing those chloramines until they gas off (hopefully in tomorrows sunlight and breezes!).

Then your Free Chlorine will hold better and things will return to "normal" (if there IS such a thing). But I wouldn't trust the test strip estimation of your CYA any more than I would trust the pool store's test of it. You really need to know the truth for yourself so you can determine "how much chlorine you need to keep in your pool" after this catastrophe clears up. And a good CYA test will also enable you to prevent the problem that caused this catastrophe:
Not knowing your CYA level led to THINKING :hammer: that you had enough chlorine in the pool to take a vacation.

If you had known the TRUTH about your CYA, you could have poured in enough chlorine to have it dissipate slowly (due to the high CYA) throughout the vacation and returned to a decent pool with a normal amount of chlorine in it. Most of us (including ME!) have had to go through this problem before...then we got smart and used the knowledge about CYA and its relationship to chlorine.

Aloha! Wish you the best!

Warren
 

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OK, but watch out. The higher the dilution the less accurate the results. I hope this isn't considered a long term solution, you do really need a FAS-DPD test to do this properly.

Additionally, the key is to never fall below shock level. If that means adding more chlorine than will take to get to shock level, do it. Your pool and equipment is safe up to mustard algae shock level. If it's going to be a while before you can test and add bleach, guestimate what you might lose in that time and add that much more bleach.

falling below shock level is what gorks the shocking process. It will go much smoother and faster if you can maintain it to never fall below.
 
BigIslandPoolService said:
Aloha Babe the Blue Ox! :wave:

It must already be evening in Oklahoma...so if you haven't added a bunch more chlorine, yes, it is time to add more! You are creating mono-chloramines, di-chloramines, and tri-chloramines in that pool as you destroy the algae...and you have to continue oxidizing those chloramines until they gas off (hopefully in tomorrows sunlight and breezes!).

Then your Free Chlorine will hold better and things will return to "normal" (if there IS such a thing). But I wouldn't trust the test strip estimation of your CYA any more than I would trust the pool store's test of it. You really need to know the truth for yourself so you can determine "how much chlorine you need to keep in your pool" after this catastrophe clears up. And a good CYA test will also enable you to prevent the problem that caused this catastrophe:
Not knowing your CYA level led to THINKING :hammer: that you had enough chlorine in the pool to take a vacation.

If you had known the TRUTH about your CYA, you could have poured in enough chlorine to have it dissipate slowly (due to the high CYA) throughout the vacation and returned to a decent pool with a normal amount of chlorine in it. Most of us (including ME!) have had to go through this problem before...then we got smart and used the knowledge about CYA and its relationship to chlorine.

Aloha! Wish you the best!

Warren
Click to expand...

Warren, I used to live in Hilo on Hawai'i. Loved it! Still have friends there. Are you Hilo or Kona (or Kohala) side?

OP: you're on the right track, listen to these experts, and soon you'll be annoyed with the BBB method for showing you every speck of debris in your pool.
 
I have a question:

I vacuumed a pretty thick layer of gunk off the pool floor this evening and now the water looks almost clear. Almost but not quite. I know that I need to remain at shock level until it's clear, I can pass the overnight test and no CC are present. I'll get the test kit very soon and will be able to properly test those items.

I know that high chlorine levels can throw off Ph tests, but I measured today anyway. Ph has dropped to 6.8, TA has dropped to 80 and FC is 18 (using the dilution method). CYA is still 60 so I'll bump the chlorine level up to 24.

Should I be concerned about the Ph and TA yet or should I wait until all of the chlorine tests are complete?
 
duraleigh said:
What are you testing with?
Click to expand...

Still testing with the HtH 6-way kit (from Wal Mart) that I purchased on Saturday. I have a FAS-DPD Chlorine (K-1515A) kit on order and it should be waiting in the mailbox when I get home this evening so that I can get more accurate Chlorine numbers.

I'm sold on the BBB method. The pool has went from beyond nasty to almost perfect in 6 days under horrible weather conditions. The temp hit 114 yesterday which was the hottest day in my lifetime and only one degree shy of the hottest day ever recorded here (1936).

The plan is to get through the rest of the season with what I've got and then order a TF-100XL next spring.
 

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