Hello TFP folks,
I have spotty green algae on the plaster and tiles. Water is perfectly clear. Been using chlorine tabs in two pool floats for a couple months then blindly shocked heavy with HTH calcium hypochlorite -- four one-pound bags three weeks ago that helped a little. Then HTH Super Algae Guard to no effect. Dumped three more bags of HTH calcium hypochlorite last weekend. Have also brushed and vacuumed twice a week and cleaned the filter grids then recharged with DE.
Now I'm getting serious. HTH test strips tell me:
pH 7.5
Hardness 600ppm
Alkalinity 120ppm
TOTAL Chlorine (off the chart, estimated to be ~40ppm by testing a 10X dilution)
FREE Chlorine Unknown
Cyanuric Acid 80ppm
I can come back with better chlorine numbers on Monday: I work at a lab so can do free testing. ATM these are test strips results.
Tonight I drained three inches of water and added four inches back, then dumped two gallons of 8% hypochlorite bleach into pool after brushing.
We're having drought here in N Texas so I don't want to drain/refill any more water for now. So what to do about the algae?
Next problem: Apparently there's a leak on the vacuum side. I get bubbles coming out the jets and even after bleeding the DE tank they won't stop. When the pump stops the basket has to be re-primed every time to start up again, or run pump dry for 30 seconds which I assume is very hard on the pump.
Thanks for any advice and replies. This pool came with the house so time to learn...
I have spotty green algae on the plaster and tiles. Water is perfectly clear. Been using chlorine tabs in two pool floats for a couple months then blindly shocked heavy with HTH calcium hypochlorite -- four one-pound bags three weeks ago that helped a little. Then HTH Super Algae Guard to no effect. Dumped three more bags of HTH calcium hypochlorite last weekend. Have also brushed and vacuumed twice a week and cleaned the filter grids then recharged with DE.
Now I'm getting serious. HTH test strips tell me:
pH 7.5
Hardness 600ppm
Alkalinity 120ppm
TOTAL Chlorine (off the chart, estimated to be ~40ppm by testing a 10X dilution)
FREE Chlorine Unknown
Cyanuric Acid 80ppm
I can come back with better chlorine numbers on Monday: I work at a lab so can do free testing. ATM these are test strips results.
Tonight I drained three inches of water and added four inches back, then dumped two gallons of 8% hypochlorite bleach into pool after brushing.
We're having drought here in N Texas so I don't want to drain/refill any more water for now. So what to do about the algae?
Next problem: Apparently there's a leak on the vacuum side. I get bubbles coming out the jets and even after bleeding the DE tank they won't stop. When the pump stops the basket has to be re-primed every time to start up again, or run pump dry for 30 seconds which I assume is very hard on the pump.
Thanks for any advice and replies. This pool came with the house so time to learn...