Hello all, I am new to the forum (posting anyway) and need some help. This is our second year with a pool (purchased the house). Last year was a disaster; the pool didn't get opened until mid June because the prior owner couldn't find the time to come by. After he did we opened to a swamp, he assured me it would clear up in a couple weeks and he would stop back by to check on us. Well long story short we did everything possible, we were at the pool store every day, sunk about $1500 in chemicals, we shocked, we drained, we had chlorine lock, we flocked we vacuumed. The algae would not go away. Finally after about 2 months (mid august) the pool began to clear. We could see the shallow end. Then we go on vacation for a week, it rains 1 day and we are back to a swamp again. We tried and failed to clear the pool up at the end of the summer. We hit it hard again, no luck. October we close the pool, it looked awful.
Open this year (April), clear water, Algae covering every inch of the floor. We vacuum to waste (after about 10 minutes vacuum would lose it's prime), we brush, we shock, flock again, fight scale, fight phosphates; things start to look better. By May things are looking good, water is blue, can see the bottom of the shallow end faint white dust on the bottom. The day before Memorial day Saturday i decide to vacuum up some leaves. I pull out my little handy leaf vac i bought on-line, suck up some chorine on the little end, all is well. Move to the deep end(I can't see the very bottom but I know leaves are there) as I think I am sucking up leaves guess what.... I pull the vac up to pull it out and empty the leaves, low and behold there was a good amount of algae still alive on the bottom (how you may ask after $900 in chemicals for 2 months). So this vacuum which is transfering water at a high rate proceeds to spread this algae through the entire pool turning it green the day before 20 people are coming over. To say I felt sick would be an understatement.
So back to the pool store on Tuesday (did I mention the giant thunderstorm Sunday night turning the pool right back to the dark green I love). More chlorine, more shock, at one point we put in 25 pounds of granular chorine over a 3 day stretch.
So 10 days ago I find this site and start the bleach journey. After reading this site and recognizing that everytime I shocked the pool I was increasing the CYA thus decreasing my odds of killing the mustard algae I knew what I had to do. I had a CYA of 119 . I drained the pool partially and refilled getting it down to 30-50 according to the strip. In 2 days the pool turned blue using roughly 1500 oz 6% bleach. It looks great compared to what we are used to, we seem to be at an impasse. Here my friends is where my boggle lies. We are selling this house, my wife is getting moved offices, plus we are having another child so we want a better location plus more room. I know you are going to say get the better test kit to get accurate readings but spending another $85 is not something I want to do given the history. The strips I have show free chlorine at 10+ PH-7.5 CYA 30-50 and Alk at good levels. Due to my hatred of said algea and the fact that I need the pool to look good I have hit the pool w/ 9 1.42 gallon 6% jugs every evening. The pool seems to be holding the chlorine level throughout the day as I test prior to shocking. My question is am I hitting it too hard? If according to the strip I have at least 10 FC every night before shocking, should I only put in enough to get to 65% of my CYA (assumed as 50) to continue fighting the mustard algae. I can't see any visible and have not had time to dive down and look in the deep end.
So in summary my question, am I putting in too much chlorine thus increasing the cloudiness of the water. It is blue but blurry by the second step. Is that possible? Am I just adding too much in general but expecting the water to clear too soon? I am 8 days in to adding bleach. Should I decrease to say 500 oz a day because the pool appears to be holding the 10+ reading when I test. I am just afraid to let it fall and the algae come back like last year. The water looks good; it just seems to have gotten a bit cloudier over the last 2 days. You can't sell a house w/ the main selling point of a pool when the pool looks like Crud.
BTW, the prior owner has never come back by. I have fought this algae plus fought getting the pump to keep a good pressure the entire time I have lived here. The wife and I saw him in WaWa a month ago and she had to stop me from saying something to him. I am quite angered with him.
Thank you all so much, I wouldn’t be this far without you.
18 X 32 IG, 20,000 Gallons, Vinyl Liner, Hayward Sand Filter.
Open this year (April), clear water, Algae covering every inch of the floor. We vacuum to waste (after about 10 minutes vacuum would lose it's prime), we brush, we shock, flock again, fight scale, fight phosphates; things start to look better. By May things are looking good, water is blue, can see the bottom of the shallow end faint white dust on the bottom. The day before Memorial day Saturday i decide to vacuum up some leaves. I pull out my little handy leaf vac i bought on-line, suck up some chorine on the little end, all is well. Move to the deep end(I can't see the very bottom but I know leaves are there) as I think I am sucking up leaves guess what.... I pull the vac up to pull it out and empty the leaves, low and behold there was a good amount of algae still alive on the bottom (how you may ask after $900 in chemicals for 2 months). So this vacuum which is transfering water at a high rate proceeds to spread this algae through the entire pool turning it green the day before 20 people are coming over. To say I felt sick would be an understatement.
So back to the pool store on Tuesday (did I mention the giant thunderstorm Sunday night turning the pool right back to the dark green I love). More chlorine, more shock, at one point we put in 25 pounds of granular chorine over a 3 day stretch.
So 10 days ago I find this site and start the bleach journey. After reading this site and recognizing that everytime I shocked the pool I was increasing the CYA thus decreasing my odds of killing the mustard algae I knew what I had to do. I had a CYA of 119 . I drained the pool partially and refilled getting it down to 30-50 according to the strip. In 2 days the pool turned blue using roughly 1500 oz 6% bleach. It looks great compared to what we are used to, we seem to be at an impasse. Here my friends is where my boggle lies. We are selling this house, my wife is getting moved offices, plus we are having another child so we want a better location plus more room. I know you are going to say get the better test kit to get accurate readings but spending another $85 is not something I want to do given the history. The strips I have show free chlorine at 10+ PH-7.5 CYA 30-50 and Alk at good levels. Due to my hatred of said algea and the fact that I need the pool to look good I have hit the pool w/ 9 1.42 gallon 6% jugs every evening. The pool seems to be holding the chlorine level throughout the day as I test prior to shocking. My question is am I hitting it too hard? If according to the strip I have at least 10 FC every night before shocking, should I only put in enough to get to 65% of my CYA (assumed as 50) to continue fighting the mustard algae. I can't see any visible and have not had time to dive down and look in the deep end.
So in summary my question, am I putting in too much chlorine thus increasing the cloudiness of the water. It is blue but blurry by the second step. Is that possible? Am I just adding too much in general but expecting the water to clear too soon? I am 8 days in to adding bleach. Should I decrease to say 500 oz a day because the pool appears to be holding the 10+ reading when I test. I am just afraid to let it fall and the algae come back like last year. The water looks good; it just seems to have gotten a bit cloudier over the last 2 days. You can't sell a house w/ the main selling point of a pool when the pool looks like Crud.
BTW, the prior owner has never come back by. I have fought this algae plus fought getting the pump to keep a good pressure the entire time I have lived here. The wife and I saw him in WaWa a month ago and she had to stop me from saying something to him. I am quite angered with him.
Thank you all so much, I wouldn’t be this far without you.
18 X 32 IG, 20,000 Gallons, Vinyl Liner, Hayward Sand Filter.
