Hi. First post.
I've been spoiled with years of easy maintenance and few problems with the pool I installed in 2008. Every year when I open, water is clear and there is just junk and bugs on the bottom to vacuum; I'm up and running in no time. Not this year. Probably thanks to an extremely warm winter, water was green and it looked like someone spraypainted the steps and other surfaces slimy bright red, and I couldn't see the bottom of the shallow end. I added the 2 gal of 12.5% liquid chrlorine I had (having expected no science project in my pool) and went back for reinforcements 5 days later.
Pool store suggested 32oz of Vanquish for red/pink "algae" and four more gallons of 12.5% liquid chlorine. Having read some of your material, I bumped up the CYA to 60-70 and checked free chlorine first (close to 0). But green was gone and most of the red had turned grey before I added the Vanquish.
I srubbed the steps and sides, added the Vanquish, and four hours later added the four gallons of chlorine at night. The next day, all the bad stuff was grey and free chlorine was low (1-2) but registering. pH was ~7.4. Water was cloudy/milky (couldn't see bottom of shallow).
Over the next several days, I added ~6 gallons of 6% liquid Clorox. Free chlorine was always registering at least 2 the next day. Tonight, I added the last gallon of Clorox and paid more attention to the readings before & after. FC was 2 (~24 hours since last add), pH was 7.5, CYA was ~60. I have test strips only for alkalinity, it looked a little high at ~220. Water was maybe a little less cloudy, but still can't see bottom of shallow. With this last gallon, I did three things at once (proably not smart). I added the Clorox putting about 1/4 down skimmer (thinking I'd hit anything in the filter hard), I turned on the heater the first time (to keep temp warm enough for SWG), and turned on SWG for first time (@ 10%). Within several minutes most of the surface of the pool was covered in foam/bubbles. It dissapated in about an hour. A half hour after doing this, FC was over the max of my test kit (5) and pH was 7.5.
My two main questions are:
1) Is there something I can do about the cloudyness, or just be patient? Pump has been running nonstop during the ~50 hours since I added the Vanquish.
2) What's up with the foam?
Thanks for any advice. Sorry, I know my chemistry test capabilites aren't where you'd like them to be.
Scott in Cleveland
I've been spoiled with years of easy maintenance and few problems with the pool I installed in 2008. Every year when I open, water is clear and there is just junk and bugs on the bottom to vacuum; I'm up and running in no time. Not this year. Probably thanks to an extremely warm winter, water was green and it looked like someone spraypainted the steps and other surfaces slimy bright red, and I couldn't see the bottom of the shallow end. I added the 2 gal of 12.5% liquid chrlorine I had (having expected no science project in my pool) and went back for reinforcements 5 days later.
Pool store suggested 32oz of Vanquish for red/pink "algae" and four more gallons of 12.5% liquid chlorine. Having read some of your material, I bumped up the CYA to 60-70 and checked free chlorine first (close to 0). But green was gone and most of the red had turned grey before I added the Vanquish.
I srubbed the steps and sides, added the Vanquish, and four hours later added the four gallons of chlorine at night. The next day, all the bad stuff was grey and free chlorine was low (1-2) but registering. pH was ~7.4. Water was cloudy/milky (couldn't see bottom of shallow).
Over the next several days, I added ~6 gallons of 6% liquid Clorox. Free chlorine was always registering at least 2 the next day. Tonight, I added the last gallon of Clorox and paid more attention to the readings before & after. FC was 2 (~24 hours since last add), pH was 7.5, CYA was ~60. I have test strips only for alkalinity, it looked a little high at ~220. Water was maybe a little less cloudy, but still can't see bottom of shallow. With this last gallon, I did three things at once (proably not smart). I added the Clorox putting about 1/4 down skimmer (thinking I'd hit anything in the filter hard), I turned on the heater the first time (to keep temp warm enough for SWG), and turned on SWG for first time (@ 10%). Within several minutes most of the surface of the pool was covered in foam/bubbles. It dissapated in about an hour. A half hour after doing this, FC was over the max of my test kit (5) and pH was 7.5.
My two main questions are:
1) Is there something I can do about the cloudyness, or just be patient? Pump has been running nonstop during the ~50 hours since I added the Vanquish.
2) What's up with the foam?
Thanks for any advice. Sorry, I know my chemistry test capabilites aren't where you'd like them to be.
Scott in Cleveland
