What is going on here?

[cbaker5]

I am fighting to get my pool back clear with no luck. Here's a little background to this year.
Opened up the pool to a pond this year. Fought the long hard fight to get it cleaned up and it was virtually spotless and beautiful!. I did all of this before swim season, and thought, "I'll just keep it "close" to ready now that it's clean and won't check and add chemicals everyday to save the money for when it's actually time to swim."

Well guess what? Yep you're right, algae knocked at the door, and came right in. Now it's time to swim and I'm fighting to get this thing clean again. So naturally I shocked and then used a sock to try and get all of the dead algae out, but it won't clear. It's been running again 24/7 for about a week or more. I was getting it to lighten up some, but the kids have already been swimming in it and when they're done it darkens back up.

Today, being fed up, I threw 1 1/2 lbs of trichlor in and now the waters even greener? What the heck is going on here? Does too much chlorine turn water green?.


5300 gl vinyl
FC 11
Ph 7.5
Cya 85

Sorry for the run on.

 

[Richard320]

I am fighting to get my pool back clear with no luck. Here's a little background to this year.
Opened up the pool to a pond this year. Fought the long hard fight to get it cleaned up and it was virtually spotless and beautiful!. I did all of this before swim season, and thought, "I'll just keep it "close" to ready now that it's clean and won't check and add chemicals everyday to save the money for when it's actually time to swim."

Well guess what? Yep you're right, algae knocked at the door, and came right in. Now it's time to swim and I'm fighting to get this thing clean again. So naturally I shocked and then used a sock to try and get all of the dead algae out, but it won't clear. It's been running again 24/7 for about a week or more. I was getting it to lighten up some, but the kids have already been swimming in it and when they're done it darkens back up.

Today, being fed up, I threw 1 1/2 lbs of trichlor in and now the waters even greener? What the heck is going on here? Does too much chlorine turn water green?.


5300 gl vinyl
FC 11
Ph 7.5
Cya 85

Sorry for the run on.

What's happening is that the chlorine is getting bound to the CYA, not killing algae. pool-school/chlorine_cya_chart_shock Shock level with your CYA is about 33. You're only 1/3 there. You need to get it to 33 and keep it there by replenishing the chlorine frequently.

 

[cbaker5]

Thanks Richard, you never mislead and always help!

I had forgotten all about the shock calculator.

 

[Leebo]

Can I ask this question....You've got a CYA level of 85 and I'm guessing you're following the pool stores advice. It's going to keep going higher. With only a 5k gallon pool, maybe it would be MUCH cheaper, easier, and faster to just drain the water and refill it fresh. Then follow Pool Schools' advice using only liquid chlorine. Normaly we would suggest a TF-100 kit, but I'm guessing the kit is going to be about 1/2 the cost of the pool. Maybe just look into a Basic OTO kit and use it daily. If your levels of chlorine drop below 4....add liquid bleach. If not go swimming. If the pool ever gets green a simple drain and refill can QUICKLY clean up the pool.

 

[Isaac-1]

Yeah, to get your CYA down to manageable levels you will need to drain half the water anyway, with the algae your probaby better off draining all of it and starting over.