In desperate need of help please.

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O

OTF

0
Jul 13, 2008
20
Utica, NY
Ok first off I need to appolozie for my pool ignorance. I bought a house over the winter that has an above ground pool. Apparently the old owners of the home never winterized it last fall. When all the snow and ice melted off of it I found that they never even took out the vaccum or hose. To give you an idea how bad this pool was there was an area where there were a ton of flies. I got out the net and found a dead bird. It was so green and gross you couldnt even see it. First things I did were get that vaccum out and skim everything off it I could. I also got the pump running and kept emptying the filter. My next steps were algeacide, shock, shock and more shock. I also started to leave a couple 3 in clorine tabs in all the time. I got it to start to clear up and it turned into a tourquois color. I could also see down maybe about 2 1/2 feet at that point. It was(still is) VERY cloudy. But after leaving the pump run 24/7 for a month It did start to clear up enough for me to see darker areas in it. I found thats where all the leaves were setting on the bottom. I got a new vaccum and went to town. I got out a ton more leaves. From there I hooked up the vaccum that runs by itself and that sucked out some more. But now its not getting hardly anything out. So I have to assume that just about everything has now been sucked out.

All along I have been testing it about everyother day. After all the shock and chlorine Ive been putting in it I finally got the clorine levels up. But the PH is very low. The test strips I have only have 4 readings on them. (Total Bromine, Free Chlorine,pH,Total Alkalinity) And the readings have generally been the same readings all along. Heres what they say.

Total Bromine- 10 (well the color on this usually comes out a little more blue than the 10)
Free Chlorine= 10 (but its been wavering between 3-10. I did just shock again last night)
pH=6.8 (Ive added some pH plus but it only brought it up to 7.2 as the highest)
Total Alkalinity=the latest was right in the middle between 80+125.

The old home owners did leave behind one of the test kits with the die stuff but I dont understand how to use it.

Please help me. Im at my wits end and Id really like for the neighbors kids to be able to use this when it gets hot.

Oh currently the pool looks kinda a milky lt blue color. Today though I CAN see the sides some to see the pattern on the sides and I can look across the pool and actually see the jet that the water comes back out through.

What next??? Can anyone help me or am I doomed to new pool onwer ignorance?
 
Welcome to TFP!

Do you know how to backwash/clean the filter and have you been doing that? If you haven't been backwashing/cleaning the filter make it a priority to figure out how to do that.

The best investment in your pool you can make is a top quality test kit. I recommend a kit from TF Test Kits, see the link in my signature. The Taylor K-2006 is also good.

Keep the PH at 7.0 or higher. Trichlor tablets will tend to lower the PH, so you will need to be adding something to raise the PH regularly as long as you continue using trichlor.

Start doing some reading at Pool School, see the link in my signature or in the sub-heading of every page of this site.
 
Thanks for the welcome :)

No I dont know how to backwash. But a couple days ago my neighbor did come over and take my filter out and we hosed it down. I know the old owners did that. But I dont even see any other buttons to do anything other than to turn the pump on and off and the valves to stop the water.

I will have to go shopping tomarrow to try to find a different test kit.
 
Welcome to TFP!

The people here are fantastic with their wisdom and offer strong sound advise. In time you will be swimming in crystal clear water and doing the "remember when" around the pool.
As Jason said in his post some reading at our Pool School thread in the forum will be of big help to you.

You also need to get a reliable test kit to help with your transformation
If you are able to we would love to see you post pictures to watch your transformation of the "green swamp" to the crystal clear swimming pool.

Good Luck !!
 
Thanks I did read around the pool school stuff. I can understand some of it but some of it is way over my head. LOL

I really wish I HAD taken pics of it because it was unbelievable. It was so bad you couldnt even see the skimmer bucket. My neighbors were laughing at me because I would not stick my hand in it without rubber gloves on. So I really have gotten a long way. But now Im stuck at this cloudy cloudy water.
 
OTF said:
Ok first off I need to appolozie for my pool ignorance. I bought a house over the winter that has an above ground pool. Apparently the old owners of the home never winterized it last fall. When all the snow and ice melted off of it I found that they never even took out the vaccum or hose. To give you an idea how bad this pool was there was an area where there were a ton of flies. I got out the net and found a dead bird. It was so green and gross you couldnt even see it. First things I did were get that vaccum out and skim everything off it I could. I also got the pump running and kept emptying the filter. My next steps were algeacide, shock, shock and more shock. I also started to leave a couple 3 in clorine tabs in all the time. I got it to start to clear up and it turned into a tourquois color. I could also see down maybe about 2 1/2 feet at that point. It was(still is) VERY cloudy. But after leaving the pump run 24/7 for a month It did start to clear up enough for me to see darker areas in it. I found thats where all the leaves were setting on the bottom. I got a new vaccum and went to town. I got out a ton more leaves. From there I hooked up the vaccum that runs by itself and that sucked out some more. But now its not getting hardly anything out. So I have to assume that just about everything has now been sucked out.

All along I have been testing it about everyother day. After all the shock and chlorine Ive been putting in it I finally got the clorine levels up. But the PH is very low. The test strips I have only have 4 readings on them. (Total Bromine, Free Chlorine,pH,Total Alkalinity) And the readings have generally been the same readings all along. Heres what they say.

Total Bromine- 10 (well the color on this usually comes out a little more blue than the 10)
Free Chlorine= 10 (but its been wavering between 3-10. I did just shock again last night)
pH=6.8 (Ive added some pH plus but it only brought it up to 7.2 as the highest)
Total Alkalinity=the latest was right in the middle between 80+125.

The old home owners did leave behind one of the test kits with the die stuff but I dont understand how to use it.

Please help me. Im at my wits end and Id really like for the neighbors kids to be able to use this when it gets hot.

Oh currently the pool looks kinda a milky lt blue color. Today though I CAN see the sides some to see the pattern on the sides and I can look across the pool and actually see the jet that the water comes back out through.

What next??? Can anyone help me or am I doomed to new pool onwer ignorance?
Click to expand...

Your not doomed. You just have a lot of reading to do. :wink:

You have a cartridge filter. You don't backwash cartridge filters. You are correct to hose it off, once your pool is clear and sparkly it can use a cleaning about every 5-6 weeks. Some recommend soaking it in a solution using dishwasher soap. I would agree, in light of your algae issues. Consider replacing it as well, do you know the age? You can take it with you when the time comes to the pool store and they'll get you a proper replacement. Any chance you can post a pic of the filter/pump so we can determine the brand? That way when you need repairs/parts etc.

Your PH is low because you were using the tri-chlor tablets, which are acidic. I would stop using them, and since your TA is fine according to the strips....if you have a way to aerate your water (make bubbles) like point your return up towards the surface, or use a fountain?....that will help raise your PH into range (7.4-7.6). Otherwise you should add some Borax (laundry Aisle) to raise the PH to 7.2 at the minimum.

For shocking and maintaining your chlorine levels, I would just use straight liquid chlorine, either the 12% stuff from the pool store or Clorox Ultra/comparable store brands which is 6%. Liquid chlorine doesn't put in any unwanted chems in your pool (like trichlor) and it doesn't do unwanted things (like lowering ph) to your pool.

You don't need to worry about Bromine, you are using Chlorine.

You need to take a sample of water to a local pool store for testing, as you need a CYA "stabilizer" reading. See the CYA/Chlorine chart - your FC levels is based on your CYA level. So until you know what your CYA is, you are guessing at the amount of chlorine you need to add.

I agree with the above posters, a good test kit is essential. So I would order either the TF-100 or the Taylor K2006 as soon as you can. In the meantime a 4-way test kit or even better the HTH 6-way test kit at Wal-Mart ($16- it has a CYA test in it), will get you started better than the strips and guessing. The directions are simple and straightforward and we can walk you thru.

The Cloudiness takes time to clear, if and only if the algae is really all dead.

A good test kit, this forum and lots of bleach will get your pool cleared. Welcome aboard! :wave:
 
Thank You. I was actually already reading about the clorox and borax. How much clorox should I add at once? I can get that pretty easily. Im actually quite a ways from any kind of pool store or anyplace that sells pool supplies. But I can get clorox right close. I can finally kind of see the bottom of the pool. I can put the brush in now and actually see it moving along the bottom. At least until I start to stir everything up again. Then I can only see about 1/2 way down. I can see a big difference this week alone. Last week I could see large patches on the bottom that appeared to be sediment. Those are now gone. Everything looks even. Although still very cloudy. I can see very tiny particles floating and Im guessing thats alot of whats making it so cloudy. But how do I get rid of those?

I did get some of the 6 way test strips. the last readings I did with them were

hardness= 200
free clorine=5-10
bromine = 10-20
PH = 7.5
total alk= 180
CYA = 30=50

Those were a few days ago though. Its been raining alot and they have been some heavy rains so I have not put anything in in the last few days. I have taken the filter out every other day to hose it down though. its finally clearing up some now so I will test again tonight and pick up some clorox at the store tomarrow and I will add that when I get home from work tomarrow.

Oh and I did find some pics I took after I had already started to work on the pool a little bit. Just so you get an idea what I started with. But this was already after FINALLY getting the pump going and alot of scooping and some algaecide and clorine.

IMG_1609.jpg


IMG_1610.jpg




This was last week July 13, 2008

IMG_1679.jpg


IMG_1680.jpg




And these were just now July 21, 2008

IMG_1681.jpg


IMG_1682.jpg
 
Time to update your sig....it's cute but now you know you have a cartridge filter.... :mrgreen:

The pics show GREAT progress....BIG improvement!

Stock up on the clorox! The test strips are inaccurate and hard to read which isn't gonna help your situation, that's why you need a good test kit especially one the measures FC above 10.

That's a big difference of 5-10 FC (ignore the bromine reading, you are using chlorine)

Do you know how to use the Pool Calculator, link in my signature?

If not, I'll help explain it, it will tell you how much chlorine to add. Because you want to shock your pool correctly to help clear it up once and for all. If you are adding too much it could hurt your liner, if you aren't adding enough, it won't kill the algae.

Still running the filter 24/7? If so, good....
 
Yes Im still running it 24/7. My neighbor actually just powerwashed my filter for me. Its getting alot of Crud out every day. So thats good. I think Im going to try to hose it down every day. At least every other day.

OK still dont know how many feet it is. Maybe some of you math wiz's will know. I just measured my totally poslish way. The pool has 16 sections total all the way around. Each section is 51 inches. So the total around the pool is 68 feet around. I dont know how to figure from there how big it is. :( Oh and it is 4 feet deep.
 

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I was afraid I would have to get in to do it. Which wont happen. LOL Not untill Its totally clear. Im a HUGE germofob. So unfortunatly thats not an option. Plus its just me and I dont even have a ladder yet. Im still working on that. Can you believe the old owners took the one they had with them???? They dont even have a house now let alone a pool. But they still took it with them. LOL
 
I was gonna say maybe a 24 ft but after looking closer, looks like frustratedpoolmom may be right. 21 ft.
 
OTF said:
I was afraid I would have to get in to do it. Which wont happen. LOL Not untill Its totally clear. Im a HUGE germofob. So unfortunatly thats not an option. Plus its just me and I dont even have a ladder yet. Im still working on that. Can you believe the old owners took the one they had with them???? They dont even have a house now let alone a pool. But they still took it with them. LOL
Click to expand...

You don't need to be in the pool. You just need 2 people and a 25ft tape measure. One person grabs the end and the other person just swings around to the other side letting the tape measure out as you go. When you get to the other side, you have your measurement. You can also try looking at one or two of the panels. You may have to go under the deck. One of my panels still had the sticker on it with the size of the pool. If the previous owner left their sticker on, it may be on a panel that is under the deck.
 
OK I think 21 sounds like it could be right. I know my brush goes jsut about to the middle of the pool. I measured that and its 10 feet. SO I think 21 sounds jsut about right. Its just me and my dog. I could TRY to get her to hold the tape measure but I can just see her taking off with it in my hand and her mouth and me getting dumped in the pool. LOL

Yes they TOOK the ladder. Actually they took jsut about everything they could get their hands on. The only thing left were some old chemicals and clorine containers.

I went to the store today and got some clorox ultra and some borax. I got home and the pool looked probably twice as clear as it was yesterday. I could still see sediment on the bottom but there was alot less of it and it was a lot easier to see the bottom. But I DID add 3 gal of chlorine last night along with some clearifier. I jsut tested it again now and am getting...

Hardness= 200
Free Clorine= 10
PH = 7.2
Total Alk= 240
CYA= 0

SO now what should I do first?
 

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