My wife posted while I was out of town, went to the pool store for a water test and was basically told using the chemicals we were (bleach and soda ash) were going to ruin the filter and trash her hair so I apologize for the single post with no follow up... 
Here's the deal. We bought this house back in September. We are new pool owners. When we did the final walkthrough the pool was green because the pump had failed. He replaced it and when we moved in it was already "Winterized." He did have a receipt from a local pool company for the winterization. The pump and filter are both less than a year old (see signature).
When we opened it up it was nasty. Skimmed the bottom, added 16 gallons of shock. Next day, FC=0 (no surprise now having read the forum...man I wish I had found this place prior to opening) Went back to pool store and the guy recommends Lithium based shock "cause it will last a little longer,". Bought 4 bags to the tune of about $50, poured it in and almost immediately had a huge amount of green floc on the surface. The told me they had never heard of this before. Next day, FC=0. Bought 12 more gallons of shock.
We have been vacuuming every day.
Next day, things are a little better. FC is around 3 but CYA levels are 0 and pH is fubar. Fortunately, I had some left over lo and slo so was able to add that (BTW, in Chitown I picked up a 50# bag of dense soda ash for $11 from a buddy that inherited a family flux manufacturing business
).
They told me to just dump the CYA into the skimmer....
.
I left town on 5/25 and just returned yesterday. While I was gone was talking to the wife and informed pool was turning green. Told her this was bad and asked her to read the guidelines and post on this site. Told her to get a lab ASAP.
When she went to the pool store (as I mentioned previously) they basically told her I was an idiot and putting bleach in the pool was dangerous and borax would ruin the filter(these guys obviously slept through chemistry class).
They sold her 12 more gallons of shock based on the lab results below (taken 5/31):
CYA: 40
TC: 1
FC: 1
pH: 7.5
TA: 140
TH: 200
It cleared up the green overnight and I talked her into getting bleach and maintaining the TC levels at 3.
This morning the pool is what I would term a 'sparkly blue' but the clarity is still poor. I can see the bottom step of the front entry (about 3' deep) so that is encouraging but we still have a way to go.
Just took a sample and TC is 2 and pH is 7.6. Poured 2 large bottles of 6% bleach in last night, FWIW.
I am really tired of the pool store run-around and have a fairly decent chemistry background, so am real confident that with a little guidance (perhaps a lot out of the chute
) I can get this thing going and keep it straight.
Thanks for your help. I am home all day and should be able to respond to questions, etc. promptly.
Here's the deal. We bought this house back in September. We are new pool owners. When we did the final walkthrough the pool was green because the pump had failed. He replaced it and when we moved in it was already "Winterized." He did have a receipt from a local pool company for the winterization. The pump and filter are both less than a year old (see signature).
When we opened it up it was nasty. Skimmed the bottom, added 16 gallons of shock. Next day, FC=0 (no surprise now having read the forum...man I wish I had found this place prior to opening) Went back to pool store and the guy recommends Lithium based shock "cause it will last a little longer,". Bought 4 bags to the tune of about $50, poured it in and almost immediately had a huge amount of green floc on the surface. The told me they had never heard of this before. Next day, FC=0. Bought 12 more gallons of shock.
We have been vacuuming every day.
Next day, things are a little better. FC is around 3 but CYA levels are 0 and pH is fubar. Fortunately, I had some left over lo and slo so was able to add that (BTW, in Chitown I picked up a 50# bag of dense soda ash for $11 from a buddy that inherited a family flux manufacturing business
).They told me to just dump the CYA into the skimmer....
. I left town on 5/25 and just returned yesterday. While I was gone was talking to the wife and informed pool was turning green. Told her this was bad and asked her to read the guidelines and post on this site. Told her to get a lab ASAP.
When she went to the pool store (as I mentioned previously) they basically told her I was an idiot and putting bleach in the pool was dangerous and borax would ruin the filter(these guys obviously slept through chemistry class).
They sold her 12 more gallons of shock based on the lab results below (taken 5/31):
CYA: 40
TC: 1
FC: 1
pH: 7.5
TA: 140
TH: 200
It cleared up the green overnight and I talked her into getting bleach and maintaining the TC levels at 3.
This morning the pool is what I would term a 'sparkly blue' but the clarity is still poor. I can see the bottom step of the front entry (about 3' deep) so that is encouraging but we still have a way to go.
Just took a sample and TC is 2 and pH is 7.6. Poured 2 large bottles of 6% bleach in last night, FWIW.
I am really tired of the pool store run-around and have a fairly decent chemistry background, so am real confident that with a little guidance (perhaps a lot out of the chute
) I can get this thing going and keep it straight.Thanks for your help. I am home all day and should be able to respond to questions, etc. promptly.
