I'd have rather skated it but...

[Radam]

I would have rather skated it but our lender made us fill it with water :-D

I'm a total noob to pool care so please bear with me.
- It's had water in it for about a month
- The filter started running when we got electricity to the house. about 3 weeks ago
- I've added no chemicals (don't have a clue what to add)
- The water was clear up until about 3 days ago. Now it's pretty green.

Don't know the size of the pool or what filter it has. (see pics) It's and in ground plaster pool. (looks to be pretty skateable)

Don't know pump size or filter size.

Just hoping for a quick fix on the green water and I promise to get all the other required info in short order.

[attachment=2:ghowkhc1]IMG_5453.jpg[/attachment:ghowkhc1]
[attachment=1:ghowkhc1]IMG_5454.jpg[/attachment:ghowkhc1]
[attachment=0:ghowkhc1]IMG_5455.jpg[/attachment:ghowkhc1]

 

[woodyp]

Looks like you have an inline salt water chlorine generator. Is it working? You need to read pool school in relation to recommendations for salt water pools. Guess is that you're going to initially have to up the chlorine level to "shock" level and run the pump till it clears using liquid bleach. You will "Have" to know your free chlorine level and salt levels in the pool and gallon capacity of the pool to almost start with. Where are you located? Get a pool store to get us some numbers to post on your water chemicals. If you're not gonna be swimming in the next few days, ( and even if you are)...........do yourself a favor and order one of the test kits recommended here. Get educated before swimming season rolls around.

 

[Bama Rambler]

[edit] Woody and I were typing at the same time and are saying basically the same thing.[end edit]

The first thing you'll need is a good test kit so we will know where to begin.

If the pump and filter is running you can add a large jug of bleach to start with. Do that about every other day until your test kit arrives.

The good news is that you have a SWCG so once you get it balanced you can run that to keep it sanitized.

 

[257WbyMag]

Welcome to TFP!

Follow the recommendations on the forum and you'll be sparkly soon.

 

[Richard320]

Start here.

You'll have some big expenses up front, lots of bleach to shock and kill all the algae, the test kit, probably some brushes, skimmer, chemicals... Once you have it all, it is pretty cheap and easy to maintain, as long as you're diligent.

As I've posted before, it's like your teeth. You can spend a few minutes every day and pennies a week or go to the dentist once a year and spend a fortune. One way is cheaper and less painful.

 

[Radam]

Hey Guys, Thanks for all the sage advice. I still need some clarification though.

- Chlorine, can I just buy some Clorox and pour it in by the gallon? If so, how often?
- I will be buying the TFP kit ASAP.
- I have a bottle from my local pool company and will get specs ASAP
- I live in Los Angeles, CA. It has been pretty cool here for the last month. (lows in the 30's & 40's highs in the 60's)

This house was a short sale and I have a ton of projects that take precedence over the pool for now. I'm hoping to just maintain for a while. Thanks for all your help.

Here are some more pics.
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[attachment=0:3i9mkotz]IMG_5466.jpg[/attachment:3i9mkotz]

 

[Bama Rambler]

Pour the clorox slowly in front of a running return.

That cut cell cable isn't good news but we'll get to that later. Is the mate to it and the controller still there?

If you can give us some measurements of length and width we can give you a guestimate of the gallons.

 

[duraleigh]

Radam,

While you're waiting on the kit, I would suggest you "wing it" fo a few days.

I would put in about 3-4 small jugs of clorox with the pump running.....sooner rather than later.

Next, I would add one small jug of clorox daily until the kit arrives. The test results will really allow us to help you but the clorox now will go a long way towards getting the green out of your pool.

Watch your psi gauge on the filter and tell us what it is now (before Clorox) and, if you see it start to go up by more than 3- pounds or so, watch it carefully and report to us what it has risen to.

This is a real "stop-gap" measure and you will soon find as you read more in Pool School that there will be more stuff to do but I think this will give you a good head start. Please test and post your numbers when your kit arrives.

 

[susa]

you could also open the filter housing and wash the cartridge out with a hose. as to clorox, you can use it but it's cheaper to get walmart 6% bleach and dump a gallon or two into pool.

 

[Radam]

Again, thanks for all the advice. If you ever need info on how to handle a film crew shooting at your house I'm your man.

So the latest is that I have been dumping bleach into the pool on a non regular basis for the last month and a half.
I clean the leaf catch every so often.

Leaves collect on the bottem ( I've been working on scraping them out but many still reside on the bottom)
Wind constantly blows a layer of leaves or partial leaves onto the surface of the pool
The water is foggy & slightly green

Now I have the time to shock the pool. I'm being advised to:
- Clean the filter
- Add DE to the skimmer (death box)
- Brush the sides of the pool (there's some funk there)
- Add Shock & liquid chlorine
- Swimtrine

I think conditioner comes in sometime later...

Edit: Oh yeah, my saltwater pool became a chlorine pool as soon as I found out the 1400 dollar controller had been removed. :lol:

 

[dmanb2b]

Radam, welcome to TFP

Here is my advice...stop listening to whomever is advising you. FWIW a saltwater pool is a chlorine pool. Had your SWG been operational, the device simply coverts salt to chlorine

IMO, your next step is to order a good test kit, such as the TF100 from TFtestkits.net or the Taylor K2006. Second, read Pool School (button on upper right of this page or link in my sig).

Shock is not something you buy, it's a process and using what pool stores market as "shock" may just make things worse in the long run. "Conditioner" aka CYA or cyanuric acid may not be needed at all and in fact your levels may be too high, but you will never know until you can get the water tested yourself.

The key to clear water is regular testing and maint. Fixing the SWG to automate chlorine additions would also go a long way for you. Here are a few articles from pool school you should focus on...happy reading

pool-school/swimming_pool_definitions_abbreviations
pool-school/pool_water_chemistry
pool-school/pool_test_kit_comparison
pool-school/chlorine_cya_chart_shock
pool-school/types_chlorine_pool
pool-school/defeating_algae