Green pool - please help!

[bschoenrock]

Hello!

First of all, this forum is awesome so kudos to all of the experts on here! I am having trouble with my pool in that it has become very green. Shame on us for letting it get this bad but we need some help to fix it. Here are the details:

- Intex 18' x 48"
- Filled with well water that ended up being pretty rusty (just moved to a different house)
- Test levels are: TH - 200, FC - 0, pH - 8.4, TA - 200, CYA - 80
- Water has a brown "dust" on the bottom yesterday and is green with algae today

I went to WalMart and picked up hth 4-in-1 shock treatment and chlorinating liquid. So far I shook in about 1/2 a bag of the shock treatment and have the pump recirculating with a new filter installed. Looking for advice on next steps and really am curious to know if we can get this thing to be clear again.

Please help! Thank you in advance from the rookie.

 

[Jezza]

Welcome to TFP.

Firstly can you confirm how you are testing your pool water. Shocking the pool with powdered shock is not something we recommend so I would stop using that for the moment just add liquid chlorine. Your pH seems high and so needs to be brought down.

You are going to need to SLAM the pool if you have algae but this can only be done with one of the 2 recommended test kits the TF-100 or K2006. (Not sure if you have this).

 

[bschoenrock]

Welcome to TFP.

Firstly can you confirm how you are testing your pool water. Shocking the pool with powdered shock is not something we recommend so I would stop using that for the moment just add liquid chlorine. Your pH seems high and so needs to be brought down.

You are going to need to SLAM the pool if you have algae but this can only be done with one of the 2 recommended test kits the TF-100 or K2006. (Not sure if you have this).

Thank you for the quick response! I am using an hth 6-way test strip kit. Not sure how good it is but that was all we could find at WalMart. Will this kit work for what I need to do? How does a guy go about lowering the pH? Can I add liquid chlorine to the pool now since adding the powder about 2 hours ago?

 

[Jezza]

Ok- we call these 'guess strips' around here- so that is about how useful they are.

If you want to maintain the TFP way then Yes one of the recommended test kits will give you everything you need. The TF-100 is the one to go for- more bang for the buck TF-100. Consider adding the Speedstir if your budget can stretch it. If you place an order ASAP hopefully you can have it in a few days time. We're really not happy giving recommendations based on readings from a substandard test kit but putting a gallon of liquid chorine in a day will be fine. It will also help us if you Add your Signature