Cloudy water- new pool owner

[mandal77]

Hi, I hope someone can help me. I have recently purchased a home with an above ground pool that is 30' with apx 23k gal of water. It had not been used in about 3 years. I started off adding 10gal of store brand bleach on 4/15/11. On about 4/25/11 I added another 15 gal. within about 1 week the water was clear. We installed a new pump and began to vac to waste which stirred up nasty smelling stuff. We scooped leaves and gunk and vac'd till we've gotten just about everything that we can get out. The water has remained cloudy(it's a murky blue, can only see a few inches into water) after using tons of shock from the pool store and also walmart. We have spent $100's of dollars on chemicals at the pool store after they tested our water and said they would give us step by step chemicals to use to clear the water within 36-48 hrs. It has now been almost a week and no change in the water at all. Using test strips, the total hardness stays at low 100ppm, total chlorine is usually at 1ppm, PH is low at 6.8, alkalinity is low at about 120ppm and stabilizer between low and very low at 50ppm or lower. I am interested in doing the BBB method for $ purposes and I am considering buying more bleach to add tonight but am unsure about how much to add to bring to shock level. 10-15 more gal? I just want clear water....please help

 

[mandal77]

I forgot to mention that our filter is a cartridge filter and i have cleaned it 2x since installation.

 

[joshs2000ss]

First off, welcome to the board. I've not been here long, and I've realized that this place has answers to just about anything pool related you might ever want to know. The first things that stand out to me from your comments are the numbers for pH and CYA. Although I wouldn't trust the numbers from your pool store, if they are correct, your pH needs to come up and your CYA doesn't need to be any higher until you get your pool cleared. Read though pool school and post all the specs you know from your pool. Size, equipment....

I, like everyone else here, recommend getting a good test kit so you can do the testing yourself. Spring for the stirrer too, that's a huge help. I would quit adding the shock bags and stick with only bleach for now. You don't need any more CYA (stabilizer, contained in most "shock" products) addition at the moment until you can bring your FC up to shock level and hold it there until the pool clears and then passes the overnight drop test. This is all explained in pool school.

Don't worry, the advice that comes from here and pool school will get your pool clean.

 

[Bama Rambler]

The first thing to do is go read pool school on how to shock your pool.
With CYA (stabilizer) at 50ppm you need 6 gallons of bleach to get to shock level from zero FC. The problem you're going to have is you're not going to be able to test to make sure you stay at shock level. You need a good test kit.