Green walls with clear water dilemma

[kippy313]

I need help.
Self clorinator stopped working two weeks ago while we were away. Pool is in S CA and has a solar cover as well. Every inch of the pool surface is covered in algae. We read the forum topic on how to get rid of algae. We got the chlorine level to shock and ran the pump continuously. The free chlorine is staying stable now at shock level, and pH is within range. The water was never murky, just the algae on the walls. Trying now to brush the algae off the surfaces by first using a regular brush, and when that didn't work, switched to a wire brush, which has proven to be very difficult to remove. Seems like the other posts talk about the algae just falling off. What are we doing wrong, or is there something else we need to do?

 

[Butterfly]

aw, you know we want to see test results!!!

 

[duraleigh]

Yep, we need those test results! :lol:

 

[kippy313]

OK ok :-D
The CYA is 40, metals are ok. I can only give you the color of the chlorine test which is burnt orange because our test kit doesn't go that high, but it didn't change over night. We know by the charts given here that shock level is 16 for our CYA level. We got it to 8 (which we could measure with our test kit) and then doubled the bleach we had added to get it to 8. pH is 7.2.

 

[duraleigh]

We got the chlorine level to shock and ran the pump continuously

How long ago was that? Is the pump still running 24/7?

 

[kippy313]

We are currently running the pump 24/7. Chlorine level is just starting to come down a little this afternoon....still looks orange. But last night and this morning, chlorine level looked burnt orange.

 

[duraleigh]

How long ago did you bring the chlorine to shock level? Have you been running the pump continuously since then?

 

[adoptolderkids]

The problem with going by color with no numbers is that your chlorine could be going from 30 to 15 or 10 to 5 and you couldn't tell. You may not be maintaining shock level. I know, because I have the same issue!

 

[kippy313]

How long ago did you bring the chlorine to shock level? Have you been running the pump continuously since then?

It's been three days, and yes, pump running continuously.
Is the algae hard to brush off if it's still alive and once it is dead it becomes easy?

 

[kippy313]

The problem with going by color with no numbers is that your chlorine could be going from 30 to 15 or 10 to 5 and you couldn't tell. You may not be maintaining shock level. I know, because I have the same issue!

I know, you're right. We need to get a better tester.