Thank you, lads and ladies. I followed your advice and I stuck with it and i fixed my pool problem. I'm just posting so that someone else in my situation will have the info to stick with the program.
I opened my pool to a slightly green tinge. Not nearly to the extent of the pictures you see on the net, but still greenish.
I had a bottle of algicide from the year before, so I put it in. Why not, right? I also put a full chlorine pack into my frog chlorinator. Result was water that went from greenish cloudy to just cloudy.
National pool store gave me a 9 part plan, but I only followed the first 3. I put in 3 pounds of shock at night, I put in their metal cleaning pack and liquid, and I used their "clarifier" Results: Probably nothing. I wanted to see something so I thought I did, but, honestly, probably not. So I went back 3 days later. Water still very cloudy.
They reported much less copper, still no chlorine, and sky high phosphates. 6000. They wanted me to reduce the phosphates with their product. 48 ounces - wait 48 hours - backwash - repeat. for 3.5 gallons at about $60 per gallon.
I said "That will take weeks!" They said "Yes!" I said "but why is there no chlorine? My pack is almost empty." They said "The chlorine must be attacking the phosphates." I thought that didn't sound right.
Found this forum, read the forum and decided to go for it. Bought the test kit. Arrived in record time.
The poolmath told me to put in 3 gallons of bleach. I thought they were crazy but I did it. I saw the posts saying to test hourly. I thought they were also crazy but I did that too. Another gallon of bleach and another gallon of bleach and another gallon of bleach.
My pool turned from kinda clear to absolutely clouded. I couldn’t see the bottom.
My wife came home and saw me hovered over a frankenstein-sized test kit surrounded by gallons of bleach. “I read it on the Internet!” I said calmly. “So it must be true.” She backed away holding the dog in front of her like a human shield.
The demand for bleach declined, but the cloudiness remained. In two days, I was keeping my chlorine level and the combined chlorine (originally 1.5) had declined to between .5 and 1.
I read about a skimmer sock and I decided to give it a try. Put it in at night, and by morning the pool was significantly cleaner and the sock was absolutely gross. I changed it.
Next morning I changed the sock again (disgusting again) and the water was absolutely clear. Today, the 4th day, I recorded no combined chlorine and the pool is crystal clear. I can’t do an overnight test because of rain. Combined Chlorine is zero.
I will probably try to remove the phosphate levels over the course of the summer, if only because I don’t want to see Yoda hanging out in my pool next spring, but for anyone coming to this forum:
Phosphates are not clouding your water! Mine are 6000 and the water is clear!
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you. You men and women saved my summer for my kid. Best money I ever spent and I will be a supporter for as long as i own a pool.
- librarybill
I opened my pool to a slightly green tinge. Not nearly to the extent of the pictures you see on the net, but still greenish.
I had a bottle of algicide from the year before, so I put it in. Why not, right? I also put a full chlorine pack into my frog chlorinator. Result was water that went from greenish cloudy to just cloudy.
National pool store gave me a 9 part plan, but I only followed the first 3. I put in 3 pounds of shock at night, I put in their metal cleaning pack and liquid, and I used their "clarifier" Results: Probably nothing. I wanted to see something so I thought I did, but, honestly, probably not. So I went back 3 days later. Water still very cloudy.
They reported much less copper, still no chlorine, and sky high phosphates. 6000. They wanted me to reduce the phosphates with their product. 48 ounces - wait 48 hours - backwash - repeat. for 3.5 gallons at about $60 per gallon.
I said "That will take weeks!" They said "Yes!" I said "but why is there no chlorine? My pack is almost empty." They said "The chlorine must be attacking the phosphates." I thought that didn't sound right.
Found this forum, read the forum and decided to go for it. Bought the test kit. Arrived in record time.
The poolmath told me to put in 3 gallons of bleach. I thought they were crazy but I did it. I saw the posts saying to test hourly. I thought they were also crazy but I did that too. Another gallon of bleach and another gallon of bleach and another gallon of bleach.
My pool turned from kinda clear to absolutely clouded. I couldn’t see the bottom.
My wife came home and saw me hovered over a frankenstein-sized test kit surrounded by gallons of bleach. “I read it on the Internet!” I said calmly. “So it must be true.” She backed away holding the dog in front of her like a human shield.
The demand for bleach declined, but the cloudiness remained. In two days, I was keeping my chlorine level and the combined chlorine (originally 1.5) had declined to between .5 and 1.
I read about a skimmer sock and I decided to give it a try. Put it in at night, and by morning the pool was significantly cleaner and the sock was absolutely gross. I changed it.
Next morning I changed the sock again (disgusting again) and the water was absolutely clear. Today, the 4th day, I recorded no combined chlorine and the pool is crystal clear. I can’t do an overnight test because of rain. Combined Chlorine is zero.
I will probably try to remove the phosphate levels over the course of the summer, if only because I don’t want to see Yoda hanging out in my pool next spring, but for anyone coming to this forum:
Phosphates are not clouding your water! Mine are 6000 and the water is clear!
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you. You men and women saved my summer for my kid. Best money I ever spent and I will be a supporter for as long as i own a pool.
- librarybill
