Algae problem and I'm a bit lost

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S

Seporah

Member
Jul 13, 2023
17
Spokane, Washington
Pool Size
18000
Surface
Plaster
Chlorine
Liquid Chlorine
My mother-in-law sent me a picture of her green pool today which brought me here.

I believe I a few issues at play leading up to this problem:
  • My current test kit only measures total chlorine and pH - My measurement tonight is 5 ppm or higher (hard to estimate color comparitors), unfortunately I believe my free residual was/likely is 0 ppm.
    • I ordered a Taylor k2006 but it won't get in for a week.
  • I believe our main drain is plugged - I foolishly swam to the bottom and put my hand on the drain and felt no suction.
    • Would I call a pool repair man, a plumber, someone else?
My plan of attack:
  • Drop the pH to roughly 7.2
  • Take a sample to the pool store to get a ballpark of the CYA since my kit won't be in for a week.
  • Use the calculator from this site to determine the target chlorine residual.
  • Hopefully add chlorine to the pool to start the SLAM process.
    • Is this too soon? Should I wait for the k2006 to show up?
  • Contact someone to help with the main drain.
Any comments, concerns, or critiques are appreciated.
 
Hi again, I just replied to your first post in the "How did you find TFP?" thread with some background info that might be interesting for you as a drinking water regulator:

How and why did you find TFP?

I am getting ready to build a pool at my house and I was looking around the internet for help and this forum looked like it had the most useful information and knowledgeable people to help. I hope to get started sppn and get valuable input from this community.
www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com

We usually recommend to hold off with the SLAM until you can test your water, and just add 5ppm worth of chlorine each day to contain the algae a bit.

A blind SLAM is usually just a waste of time and chlorine.
 
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How did your MIL chlorinated until now? Trichlor, liquid chlorine, Salt Water Chlorine Generator?

Might be a good idea to collect all the relevant information about the pool and add it to your signature. See for example my signature (when using a phone, you have to hold it landscape to see signatures). Just add a comment that it's your MIL's pool
 
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Seporah said:
I believe our main drain is plugged - I foolishly swam to the bottom and put my hand on the drain and felt no suction.
  • Would I call a pool repair man, a plumber, someone else?
Click to expand...
Pictures of the equipment pad can be of great help. It's possible the main drain works via the skimmer with a equalizer flap of sorts and isn't adjusted properly. Albeit the main drain not working you can have a perfectly balanced pool as many pools don't even have one but still have a perfectly balanced chemistry.
 
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Add 5ppm worth of liquid chlorine daily until your kit comes- this will keep things from getting worse until you can test & know exactly what needs to occur before doing the SLAM Process.
With liquid chlorine $5+ a gallon you don’t wanna fly blind & waste it.
Many people choose to abandon their main drain because of problems so if it is compromised that is always an option.
Pics of the pad & all the valves are a good place to start for figuring it out.
 
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mgtfp said:
How did your MIL chlorinated until now? Trichlor, liquid chlorine, Salt Water Chlorine Generator?

Might be a good idea to collect all the relevant information about the pool and add it to your signature. See for example my signature (when using a phone, you have to hold it landscape to see signatures). Just add a comment that it's your MIL's pool
Click to expand...
We've been adding trichlor powder and the pucks, but I'm getting liquid chlorine today to switch them over.
mgtfp said:
Regarding the main drain: Have you checked that there's not just a valve at the equipment pad that needs to get opened?
Click to expand...
I checked the jandy valves and they were in the on position. Tested it by turning off the skimmer and feeling no suction. In both on and off positions the main drain felt no suction, but perhaps there's a cover preventing you from sticking to it.
wireform said:
Pictures of the equipment pad can be of great help. It's possible the main drain works via the skimmer with a equalizer flap of sorts and isn't adjusted properly. Albeit the main drain not working you can have a perfectly balanced pool as many pools don't even have one but still have a perfectly balanced chemistry.
Click to expand...
I'll try to grab pictures today while I'm there. If the drain is plugged, would this create extra work/stress for the pump?
Mdragger88 said:
Add 5ppm worth of liquid chlorine daily until your kit comes- this will keep things from getting worse until you can test & know exactly what needs to occur before doing the SLAM Process.
With liquid chlorine $5+ a gallon you don’t wanna fly blind & waste it.
Many people choose to abandon their main drain because of problems so if it is compromised that is always an option.
Pics of the pad & all the valves are a good place to start for figuring it out.
Click to expand...
Thanks!
 
Went to the pool store to get a ballpark reading of my chemicals while I wait for my Taylor k2006.

Fc: 2.8 TC: 2.9 ph: 7.5 TA: 129 CH: 208 Cya: 65

According to them my water is "perfect" but it's green...

I'm trying to upload photos now.
 
duraleigh said:
We put no value in pool store testing. Let's get your own test results posted up and we'll feel a lot more confident offering advice.
Click to expand...
I completely agree. I held my cards to my chest when I went in. After they told me it was perfect I revealed we had green water. I might have my MIL get a k2006 from the store since Amazon won't deliver mine until next Friday.

It hurts paying double for it now, but we could get results and start working on it.
 

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+1. The regular kit has small bottles and you'll expend the ones we use frequently.

The 'C' is the commercial one. If it's not too late, the TFpro or TFpro salt from tftestkits.net are much better deals and include a $48 stirring device than you will want.
 
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My pH is around 7.8 now. I was gearing up to add muriatic acid to lower the pH again. The label says to not mix with chlorine as it can make chlorine gas.

Do I use it to lower the pH or should I get something else? Should I let the TC go down before adding it? I don't have my test kit yet to know what FC I'm at.

Do I just keep adding my 5 ppm daily and ignore pH?
 
Seporah said:
My pH is around 7.8 now. I was gearing up to add muriatic acid to lower the pH again. The label says to not mix with chlorine as it can make chlorine gas.

Do I use it to lower the pH or should I get something else? Should I let the TC go down before adding it? I don't have my test kit yet to know what FC I'm at.

Do I just keep adding my 5 ppm daily and ignore pH?
Click to expand...

Just don't mix chemicals in the same bucket, that would be dangerous. That applies to all pool chemicals. You should especially not use different types of chlorine pucks in the same floater, always use separate floaters for cal-hypo and trichlor - those two mixed together are quite explosive - literally.

But once diluted in the large pool volume you are fine. Add your chlorine in front of a return. Let the pump run for a while and mix it in, then add the acid. If you want to be double sure, you can add them in frond of different returns.
 
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mgtfp said:
Just don't mix chemicals in the same bucket, that would be dangerous. That applies to all pool chemicals. You should especially not use different types of chlorine pucks in the same floater, always use separate floaters for cal-hypo and trichlor - those two mixed together are quite explosive - literally.

But once diluted in the large pool volume you are fine. Add your chlorine in front of a return. Let the pump run for a while and mix it in, then add the acid. If you want to be double sure, you can add them in frond of different returns.
Click to expand...
Sounds good, I added my 5 ppm chlorine in the morning. I'll add the acid before I head to bed so the pH is better for tomorrow's 5 ppm.
 
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