I am hoping that there is someone out there that can help me. We just bought a pool this year and it has been up and running for about 6 weeks now. We obviously stupidly Went for the copper based system that ya'll have been talking about on here and we too have never had clear water yet. It appears clen but it is cloudy. We suffered alot of rain (over 5 inches in a 24hr period) and that really messed our water up. We had a very slimy bottom and sides and extremely cloudy water. We shocked it with about 5 bags of crystal shock and that cleaned up the slick sides and bottom but our water remains cloudy. Being new to owning a pool we have no clue on what to do. Everytime we have our water tested they always give us a different story . I am also from oklahoma and use the same chemical you have all been talking about on hear in 2008. Should we switch to chlorine??? If so how do we do it please please please helpppppp so we can enjoy the pool we have worked so hard to get ...
thanks

Switching to chlorine will solve your problems, but first you need to find out how high your copper level is. If copper is above 0.3 you will need to either replace water or use a sequestrant to prevent the copper from staining.

You should absolutely switch from Baq to chlorine. Here's how...

pool-school/baqua_chlorine_conversion

ETA: Oops! Thought for a minute there that you had a baquacil pool. Still though, any system that depends on metals such as copper, silver, or otherwise is a system in which you are kinda asking for trouble. Metals stain pool surfaces, hair, swimwear, and other stuff. Best to go ahead while it is still sort of early in the season and make the switch. We can guide you all the way.

So all we need to do is get out copper level down and then we can start adding Chlorine? Do we have to change out our filter sand since technically we do have some chlorine in our shock? What is a sequestrant? I am sorry, we have never done any thing like this before. We will probablly need alot of help and guidance. Thanks

Yes, as long as your copper level is 0.3 or lower (0.2 to be totally safe if you have fiberglass) you can just start using chlorine as we normally recommend.

Sequestrant is a special chemical which binds to the metals in the water and prevents them from forming stains. However, it does break down slowly, so you need to add more every week.

You do not need to change your filter sand.

I purchased a chemical called Metal Free, a Chelating Agent, how soon can we swim in the pool after adding it do you think. Thanks