Tryng to get the green out

[irwiny]

Hi, sorry for not have numbers for my water test from the pool store. They seem to be not wanting to get me a detailed report. I have been fighting the green pool for about a month now. My pool is inground about 30K gallons. I have checked my TC level and it is sitting stable about 3PPM and PH is 7.4 and stable. The CYA I think is above 100. Normally I use tablets / floater to maintain the chlorine levels. I have added in the past few weeks, many bags of shock, algaecide 60, 4 gallons of chlorine without any luck. I also clean my filter (starite 135) w/2HP motor every two or three days. Even put the tablets in the skimmer and a secondary floater in the spa pool (overflow's to the pool).

When I run the vacuum, the spa looks like a dark green pool since I have the filtered watter go into the spa first.

The filter is very green and I clean with hose adapter from Leslies Pool ever 2-3 days.

During the past weekend, I have done three back washes (about 3 inches) with vacuum to review the layer of green Crud on the bottom of the pool and added one gallow of chlorine from Home Depot. Any problems with the stuff from Home Depot, the price is not bad $6 / 2 gallons.

The water is now finally getting clear green and starting to see the bottom in the middle and shallow parts. After one/two days there is enough bottom Crud to do another vacuum or backwash.

Should I continue to drain about 3 inches at a time or do the final heavy shock of adding 6+ gallons of chlorine?

Again, sorry I don't have the water tested numbers from the pool store and typo spelling errors...

Getting a good work out but also spending too much time with the pool and wife want's me to spend more time with my two little boys... Need to teach them to swim soon...

 

[JohnT]

1. Stop using the tablets and bagged shock. The problem is your CYA is too high, and you add more with these products. Use only liquid shock or plain unscented laundry bleach.

2. 3ppm chlorine has virtually no effect on the algae with your CYA at 100+. For a vinyl pool, you want at least 15ppm chlorine until the pool clears. For gunite, go for 25ppm.

3. You have to have a test kit. Otherwise it will never get clear. You will have to check your chlorine every 4 hours the first day, and every 8 hours until it is clear. The algae will consume it all in just a few hours. Add more chlorine to keep it at 15ppm/25ppm depending on your pool every time it drops.

4. Run the pump 24/7 and clean the filter often until the water is clear.

5. There are no magic chemicals. Algaecides and clarifiers won't do anything for you now. Only chlorine, persistence and patience will clear the pool.

 

[JasonLion]

You really need reliable test numbers. By far the best thing you can do is to get a test kit of your own.

It is going to take more chlorine than that to kill all the algae once and for all. You might beat it back for a while, but it will come right back if you don't get it all. Without a good CYA number there is no way to say how much chlorine to add. You will also need to be able to reliably test high chlorine levels to be able to shock the pool properly. I suggest the TF Test Kit, see the link in my signature, or something similar that has a CYA test and the FAS-DPD chlorine test.

Liquid chlorine (or regular household bleach, which is exactly the same stuff) is the way to go. All of the other forms of chlorine add things you don't want right now.

 

[dawndenise]

Any problems with the stuff from Home Depot, the price is not bad $6 / 2 gallons.

For the price, I'm assuming it's about 10-12% chlorine??? It should work just fine for you but may not be full strength if it's on a pallet that's been sitting around in the heat all summer. One gallon of unscented 6% bleach should increase CL in your size pool by 2ppm; so if that chlorine from HD is holding its strength and it's supposed to be 12%, one gallon should increase your CL by 4ppm.

You can still use chlorine that's not at full strength, it just may not be the better buy.

I can't encourage you enough to get a good testing kit with FAS-DPD for chlorine testing. It will make your life a whole lot easier and less expensive, overall, because you'll only be adding chemicals when you need them and in the proper amounts.

Good luck and welcome, too!

 

[irwiny]

Thanks for the comments to my posting. During the past few weeks, I have been keeping up by vacuum and the return water from the filter goes into my spa. Boy the water looks so dirty and dark green in the spa. The filter is useless after about 5 minutes. I pump out about 70-80% of the water from the spa and flooded the side of my house. Added water and one gallon of Clorine (Home Depot) 10% strenght after every backwash. CL is still not shocking high but 4-5 PPM. Also brused the sides.

Seeing an improvement and the water is clear in the shallow areas. The rest of the pool has a layer dead algae dust after a few days after the backwash. I have already put about 8 gallons of swimming pool clorine total during the past few weeks.

For the dead algae dust, I can turn on the Polaris Motor / Hayward viper sweeper to move around the water or dead layer. I normally wait till the weekend to vacuum up the Crud. If the spa looks not really dirty from vacuum water, I just switch the water flow of the filter to spa only for an hour and the water in the spa slowly get's clear. Normally I don't turn on the polaris daily unless there is too much Crud falling into the pool. At most once a week to do the sweep.

So run the polaris/viper or just weekly vacuum is the best way? I was told two different stories that if the dead algae is circulated, it could come back and circulating the water kills the algae.

 

[JohnT]

8 gallons of chlorine over a few weeks isn't enough to handle algae. That might go a few days at most in the midst of an algae bloom. Do whatever it takes to circulate the water. Vacuum or brush daily or run the filter and cleaner 24/7 until the pool is clear. It shouldn't take more than a week to have the water clear.

4-5ppm won't get rid of the algae, it just breeds a super strain of algae that tolerates chlorine. You'll have to put about 5 gallons of the liquid chlorine in at once to get to shock level, and then keep it there by adding more several times a day.

 

[irwiny]

Thanks, so I will to get another load of Chlorine from Home Depot and run both of the motors. I think my filter seems like a breeding tank for algae.

If put the 5 additional gallons to shock and the water does turn clear and there is no dead algae layer on the bottom of my pool, should the filter be Algae free when I clean it after a few days after shocking? Do I need to soak my filter to kill the algae? I have some concerns that the filter can cause more problems in getting the last of the algae gone.

 

[duraleigh]

Irwiny,

The filter is not your issue....lack of chlorine is your issue. You must constantly keep your chlorine at high levels until the pool is clear. backwashing cleans your filter so it can catch mor of the dead algae and you can get it out of your pool.....and it sounds like you may have a ton of it.

I must add that all posts in this thread (including mine) are nothing more than guesswork until you can post some test results so we can all see where you are.

If you can't find someone's house and you call for directions, the first thing they say is "Where are you now?"......that's what we need to know. :lol: :lol: