Intex Saltwalter Pool

[surfbeetle]

Two years ago I bought a used Intex pool with a chlorine generator and sand filter, it's a 5500 gallon pool. All has seemed to be fine until this summer. It started to constantly beep about low salt. I though we had it taken care of by adding more salt. The pump and chlorine generator have been running late at night and we failed to realize the alarm was beeping. This week the pool turned green from the heat we have had along with a lack of chlorine. After some internet research, found that I should check and clean the unit with vinegar. I was able to remove a bunch of white buildup from it. Now the pool reads high chlorine and the generator is not running.

Is my only option to drain the pool and start over? Should I shock the pool to get rid of the green and drop the water some to dilute the salt?
Thanks

 

[Casey]

Welcome surfbeetle. Cute name BTW!!!

Let me start off by saying you did right by cleaning the cell. Now, you have high salt but how high? You need to order a salt test kit AND a reliable test kit like the TF100. You can find the link in my signature and also order the salt test kit at TFtestkits.net too. It is highly recommended that you do so.

You need to SLAM the pool which is Shock Level And Maintain but before you do so, you need the test kit. You also need to read these educational links so that you better understand the SLAM process:
ABC's of Pool Water Chemistry
Recommended Pool Chemicals
How to Chlorinate Your Pool
Chlorine CYA Chart
Test Kit Comparison
Recommended Levels

You can not SLAM the pool with the SWG so disregard that for now and your high Salt content isn't a huge issue at the moment since the SWG isn't running. Once you get through those links I provided, you can read these:

Defeating Algae
Turning Your Green Swamp Back into a Sparkling Oasis
SLAMing Your Pool
Overnight FC Loss Test
PoolMath

You will understand why you need a good reliable test kit when you finish with these links. We're going to need a full set of test results so we can guide you. Any questions, just ask.