Hi, just opened the pool and I've never put chemicals in it. It's a 24' x 54" AGP (vinyl liner). 15,000 gallons. When I took the cover off after storing it all winter, the pool was greenish, but you could see to the bottom (which was filthy with dirty and grim). Over the next few days, the pool turned brownish and bottom visibility went to zero (due to rain and wind). Then, we finally got the pump, filter, and electrical hooked up and turned everything on yesterday. Here's what happened:
3:00 PM yesterday - Pool is brown. Turn on pump. Manual vac bottom. Skimmer top. Pull up a lot of dirt and sludge.
4:00 PM - Pool is gray. Add shock treatment. It's Poolite TurboShock (78% Calcium Hypochlorite) 16 oz. powder bag
5:00 PM - Pool is getting bluer. Wow!
Throughout the day/night keep cleaning out skimmer basket and monitoring pool. Pool is turning a lovely blue color, but you can't see more than a foot or two deep.
8:00 AM today - Pool is a pretty blue. Looks like you could swim in it, but it's super cloudy. Can't see more than a foot or two down. I run the manual vac again and pull up a lot of dirt and sludge. Brush black moldy-looking spots that are on the vinyl walls and they fade a bit (they were left when I opened the pool due to the lowered water level).
9:00 AM - Add second shock treatment (same as above - one 16 oz. bag of Turboshock). Filter is running it's little heart out.
Okay, so from what I've been reading, this second shock treatment probably isn't going to do much to clear up the visibility in the water. It's time to start adding chlorine, right? So, what should I do? How much to add?
Other issue is. I don't have a test kit. I did order the TF-100 Test Kit, but it's in the mail and looks like it might take 2-3 weeks to arrive. Blerg. Is there a simple test I can grab at the pool store to give me some quick info on chlorine levels so I know how much either household bleach or liquid chlorine to add? I am tempted to take a bag of water to the pool store, but they already tried to upsell me when I went in for two bags of shock (trying to get me to buy phosphates and algae and metal removers for an additional $40) so I'm nervous about just trusting whatever they have to say about about chemicals to add. Wanted to get advice here first. If there's more info needed, please let me know!!!
Thanks much!
EDIT: UPDATED TO INCLUDE TESTING NUMBERS BELOW!!!
3:00 PM yesterday - Pool is brown. Turn on pump. Manual vac bottom. Skimmer top. Pull up a lot of dirt and sludge.
4:00 PM - Pool is gray. Add shock treatment. It's Poolite TurboShock (78% Calcium Hypochlorite) 16 oz. powder bag
5:00 PM - Pool is getting bluer. Wow!
Throughout the day/night keep cleaning out skimmer basket and monitoring pool. Pool is turning a lovely blue color, but you can't see more than a foot or two deep.
8:00 AM today - Pool is a pretty blue. Looks like you could swim in it, but it's super cloudy. Can't see more than a foot or two down. I run the manual vac again and pull up a lot of dirt and sludge. Brush black moldy-looking spots that are on the vinyl walls and they fade a bit (they were left when I opened the pool due to the lowered water level).
9:00 AM - Add second shock treatment (same as above - one 16 oz. bag of Turboshock). Filter is running it's little heart out.
Okay, so from what I've been reading, this second shock treatment probably isn't going to do much to clear up the visibility in the water. It's time to start adding chlorine, right? So, what should I do? How much to add?
Other issue is. I don't have a test kit. I did order the TF-100 Test Kit, but it's in the mail and looks like it might take 2-3 weeks to arrive. Blerg. Is there a simple test I can grab at the pool store to give me some quick info on chlorine levels so I know how much either household bleach or liquid chlorine to add? I am tempted to take a bag of water to the pool store, but they already tried to upsell me when I went in for two bags of shock (trying to get me to buy phosphates and algae and metal removers for an additional $40) so I'm nervous about just trusting whatever they have to say about about chemicals to add. Wanted to get advice here first. If there's more info needed, please let me know!!!
Thanks much!
EDIT: UPDATED TO INCLUDE TESTING NUMBERS BELOW!!!