I am so glad that I found this site!!! I wish I had found it sooner. I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of my TF-100 test kit and it cannot come soon enough because my pool looks like a swamp.
I am new to owning a pool. I bought my pool in July last year and we only swam in it for about a month.
The people from the pool store came and opened the pool in late May of this year and everything was great except the pool is mostly in a shaded area and was always cold (we live outside of Buffalo, NY) so we decided to install a heater.
When we purchased the pool, we were given test strips to keep an eye on the chemicals and were talked into a Pool Frog "to take the guess work out of chlorinating the pool." I had been testing the pool almost daily with the test strips to make sure the chemicals were good but the pool seemed to be really cloudy. I took a sample to the pool store and was told the chlorine was too high to check any other chemical levels (because it had been recently shocked) so they suggested I put clarifier in the pool. Thinking I was receiving good advice, I put some in the pool and it seemed to make it worse. I went back to the store a few days later, had the water rechecked and they told me everything looked good (except the water was too soft for a pool with a heater). Then they told me that I was suppose to be putting algaecide in the pool weekly, which I was not. They also sold me a little packet of clarifier to put in the filter basket in addition to the Ortex algaecide. I went home, put an 8 ounce "initial" dose of algaecide (per the instructions on the bottle) and clarifier packet in the pool and the next day my pool was swamp green. That was 2 days ago.
While waiting for my TF-100 to arrive, yesterday I added 3 gallons of chlorine (10% Sodium hypochlorite - 2 gallons at 2pm and 1 at 7pm), brushed the pool and I ran the filter all night. This morning, there was no change. I brushed the pool and added another gallon of chlorine.
Am I doing the right thing by adding all of this chlorine while waiting for the test kit to arrive? Could the green be a reaction from the clarifier and algaecide? My feeling is that the nice warm water from the recently installed heater was a breeding ground for the algae and my test strips were not giving me accurate enough readings to keep the chlorine in check, despite having the Pool Frog. Any thoughts??
In Buffalo, swimming season is so short and I really want to get the pool clear again. Any advice would be so much appreciated!
I am new to owning a pool. I bought my pool in July last year and we only swam in it for about a month.
The people from the pool store came and opened the pool in late May of this year and everything was great except the pool is mostly in a shaded area and was always cold (we live outside of Buffalo, NY) so we decided to install a heater.
When we purchased the pool, we were given test strips to keep an eye on the chemicals and were talked into a Pool Frog "to take the guess work out of chlorinating the pool." I had been testing the pool almost daily with the test strips to make sure the chemicals were good but the pool seemed to be really cloudy. I took a sample to the pool store and was told the chlorine was too high to check any other chemical levels (because it had been recently shocked) so they suggested I put clarifier in the pool. Thinking I was receiving good advice, I put some in the pool and it seemed to make it worse. I went back to the store a few days later, had the water rechecked and they told me everything looked good (except the water was too soft for a pool with a heater). Then they told me that I was suppose to be putting algaecide in the pool weekly, which I was not. They also sold me a little packet of clarifier to put in the filter basket in addition to the Ortex algaecide. I went home, put an 8 ounce "initial" dose of algaecide (per the instructions on the bottle) and clarifier packet in the pool and the next day my pool was swamp green. That was 2 days ago.
While waiting for my TF-100 to arrive, yesterday I added 3 gallons of chlorine (10% Sodium hypochlorite - 2 gallons at 2pm and 1 at 7pm), brushed the pool and I ran the filter all night. This morning, there was no change. I brushed the pool and added another gallon of chlorine.
Am I doing the right thing by adding all of this chlorine while waiting for the test kit to arrive? Could the green be a reaction from the clarifier and algaecide? My feeling is that the nice warm water from the recently installed heater was a breeding ground for the algae and my test strips were not giving me accurate enough readings to keep the chlorine in check, despite having the Pool Frog. Any thoughts??
In Buffalo, swimming season is so short and I really want to get the pool clear again. Any advice would be so much appreciated!