I'm lost.

[MissTawnie]

We got an above ground 16×48 Coleman pool last summer and due to various reasons... we never got to put the cover on it last year. This year, we had a lovely putrid green swamp, complete with a dead bird and large dragonfly larvae. We drained it, pressure washed it, sprayed it with bleach and scrubbed. Refilled and installed a 12 inch Intex sand filter.

My problem is: Before installing the sand filter pump, everything was good. After the new pump was set up, we got what we thought was sand blowing back into the pool. When I touch it, it isn't sand. It just puffs and disappears. From what I see, we need to scrub and vacuum to waste - which I'm in the process of trying to find a vacuum. Not only that... but my chlorine is disappearing literally over night. I could put in a whole bag of shock and my chlorine test (I have the 5 way Poolmaster test kit) will show very high levels, but it's gone within a day. My pH stays at 7.2 (added 1/2 cup of baking soda last night and it went up a level but is back down today) but my acid demand test is really confusing me -- my test says to use the same water from the pH test and to add drops of #3 until it reads at the desired level... but my drops make my water turn yellow/orange, the lowest levels on the chart. My alkalinity test came to me adding 10 drops, which according to my test booklet is sufficient.

So we've got an above ground pool that is in direct sunlight and cannot keep a chlorine reading, even after shocking 3 days in a row. Alkalinity is okay, but pH stays kinda low. I went to a local pool store and they said to shock for 5 days and add 1/2 lb baking soda everyday for 4 days.

I'm confused about all of this and it's really, really frustrating that I can't seem to figure this out. My water is crystal clear and not cloudy, but we haven't even been able to swim yet because we're having trouble getting the water balanced. On top of that, it's impossible to find chlorine tablets or shock or even jugs of liquid chlorine here (Western NC). I'm ready to just close the pool for summer. Can anyone advise on what I should do? Or can you suggest an affordable vacuum?

 

[AK-]

Hello Miss Tawnie and welcome to TFP.

Did you add any FLOC or Clarifier?
Did you add any Stabilizer/Conditioner?

You can use household Bleach (plain, unscented, non-splashless, non Cloromax, no additives Bleach) as your source of liquid chlorine.

I recommend your starting with ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry

 

[MissTawnie]

Hello Miss Tawnie and welcome to TFP.

Did you add any FLOC or Clarifier?
Did you add any Stabilizer/Conditioner?

You can use household Bleach (plain, unscented, non-splashless, non Cloromax, no additives Bleach) as your source of liquid chlorine.

I recommend your starting with ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry

Thank you! I haven't added either because I've been really unsure and don't want to add stuff if not needed. I only have a dinky "vacuum" that hooks to your water hose, so I've been apprehensive about adding floc until I can get a better one.

 

[AK-]

Thank you! I haven't added either because I've been really unsure and don't want to add stuff if not needed. I only have a dinky "vacuum" that hooks to your water hose, so I've been apprehensive about adding floc until I can get a better one.

Great. Don’t add FLOC, ever. There are very few conditions where it will do more good than harm.

Here at TFP we all are pool owners and we use a very specific methodology to have a truly trouble free pool with crystal clear water at the lowest cost possible.

You are going to need a reliable and accurate test kit. The Taylor K-200C and TF-100 are the two kits we recommended (The TF-100 has the best value). See Test Kits Compared.

If you chlorine only disappears when you turn on the pump/filter than it is likely your filter is filled with goo and your chlorine is trying to deal with it (chlorine gets used when it sanitizes your pool).
Did you do a really good filter cleaning? There some instruction for Deep Cleaning a Sand Filter

You need to keep adding chlorine. You should use Liquid Chlorine instead of Shock (usually Cal-Hypo) as Liquid Chlorine is the only way to add chlorine to a pool without adding either CH or CYA. Any Liquid Chlorine (Sodium Hypochlorite) will do, it can be Pool Liquid Shock, Pool Liquid Chlorinator or Household Bleach (plain, unscented, non-splashless, no Cloromax tech, no additives Bleach). Try to keep you chlorine at 5ppm. Use PoolMath (or the Old Web PoolMath) to see how much LC you are going to need. Your pool has about 5000 gallons.

Once you get your test kit we will need to add some CYA and then we can properly deal with that algae in your filter. Keeping it chlorinated, even if your chlorine is disappearing will help to prevent further algae growth.