Shock won't dissolve.

[Mrsdion]

My mother bought my toddler an intex above ground easy set up pool. It's 18x4 and me and my husband have no clue what we are doing. We tested our water (it was getting foggy and slippery at the bottom) we shocked it and it's been 16+ hours and it's not dissolving it's clumped together at the bottom of the pool. And there is stuff on the bottom that's a brownish color....


My question is what do I do? My toddler really wants to swim but we obviously can't let her in that water.

 

[Casey]

You're going to need to read an article in pool school called ABC'S of Pool Water Chemistry. That's going to get your feet wet. You'll also see a link for recommended test kits. You're going to need to chose one of the 2 and your best to go with the TF100. You will also see a link to SLAM'ing your pool. Everything you need to know is in pool school.

 

[Donldson]

Welcome to TFP!

What shock did you use? I know some brands of calcium hypochlorite can be difficult to dissolve, but not 16 hours sitting on the bottom difficult. What are you using to test the water? Also, can you describe the brownish color in a bit more detail? Like a stain, or dirt, or sludge?

Here are a couple things to read. The first just gives you some idea of the terminology we use, the second is our guide to managing a temporary pool. You may want to consider dumping the water and starting over as that would likely be the quickest, but let us know the answers to the above questions and we can go from there.

Pool School - ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry

Pool School - Guide for Seasonal/Temporary Pools

 

[Casey]

An 18x4ft pool is a lot of water to dump!

 

[Mrsdion]

Welcome to TFP!

What shock did you use? I know some brands of calcium hypochlorite can be difficult to dissolve, but not 16 hours sitting on the bottom difficult. What are you using to test the water? Also, can you describe the brownish color in a bit more detail? Like a stain, or dirt, or sludge?

Here are a couple things to read. The first just gives you some idea of the terminology we use, the second is our guide to managing a temporary pool. You may want to consider dumping the water and starting over as that would likely be the quickest, but let us know the answers to the above questions and we can go from there.

Pool School - ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry

Pool School - Guide for Seasonal/Temporary Pools

My husband bought it at Walmart the guy said its what he needed. It's called pool essentials shock.

 

[zea3]

Pool Essentials is trichlor. You need to get a vacuum for your pool, and not the kind with the little cloth bag that you hook up to a water hose! The brown on the floor is probably dead algae and it needs to be vacuumed out. The trichlor needs to be brushed to help it dissolve or vacuumed out so it doesn't damage the pool.

 

[Mrsdion]

We just finished vacuuming it. The bottom of the pool is now stained white. And the water test is still bad.

 

[gwegan]

Ok so as Donaldson said above the fastest way to solve this is to dump the water and start over. You have algae. You can't see it but you have it. Your water is almost certainly not sanitary.

So now you have a choice, listen to us or the pool store. If you want to listen to US you need to get a TF 100 or K 2006 test kit. You can get them at Amazon or TF Test kits .com

We can get your water clean and sparkling and keep it that way.

 

[borjis]

The bottom of the pool is now stained white.

likely to be from the shock sitting on it.

 

[Mrsdion]

My husband hates this pool. He said if we have to drain it we are not filling it back up.

 

[DarrelB]

Well, if you just have a toddler, just buy a small 8' version, that will be plenty to have some fun in.