New house, first season with AGP quickly goes blue to green

[Camman]

Hi All,
I just bought a house last July, we are first time home and pool owners and we had the pool operating for about a month using the standard shock it once a week and use chlorine pucks method, all the chemicals were things left behind by the previous owner. I did a best effort job of closing the pool last year, not really knowing what I was doing and opened it up last weekend, I brought the water level back up to a little half the height of the skimmer and I had ordered a "pool startup kit" that contained; 2 bags of granulated shock (cal-hypo), a bottle of algecide, a bottle of "stain away", and a bottle of "clarifier", I started running the filter/pump 24 hours a day for the last few days and added the 'stain away', algecide and shock (one bag the first day, second bag the second day). It looked like the pool was doing pretty well, water had turned from green to a slightly cloudy blue, I added some chlorine pucks to the skimmer (trichlor), things looked decent so I had some folks over for a swim yesterday.

Well, this morning I woke up to find that after my 'pool party' the pool has changed from that 'slightly cloudy blue' to a murky swamp looking green, it actually looks even worse than when I initially opened it! I had been using the 'Aqua Check' strips and this morning the FC is showing zero, and PH, TA, and CYA are all showing low, looks like my pool is in trouble.

I had started reading 'pool school' on your site over the last week but I had figured since the water was starting to turn blue and clear up that the shock and puck method was working out, turns out I was wrong.

So, long story short, I have been feverishly reading pool school and I just placed an order for a Taylor K-2006 test kit so I can get things back on track and looks like from all the pool school info and posts on this site that a decent test kit and not the 'test strips' that come from the store is really required before I can start making some intelligent moves to get my pool looking good.

A couple of initial questions; I read the guide on putting my pool info in my signature, and I measured the depth of the water in my pool at 42" today and I know it's 24ft across, so the gallons I should list is the amount of water in the pool based on the current height of the water and not the total depth of the pool, right?

Second question; all the pool school info is based on the test kit results, is there anything I can do now to get the ball rolling with the minimal info I can get from my 'test strips' or should I wait it out until my test kit arrives towards the end of the week/next weekend? I bought a bottle of 'Original' Chlorine while at the store since I had started reading pool school and knew i would need some, but it really looks like I'm going to be making a trip back for quite a bit more. Based on my low PH, TA and CYA it looks like I'll need to pick up some Borax, baking soda, and some stabilizer from the pool store.

I know there's not much that can be done for help until I get that test kit but I just wanted to introduce myself, say thanks for the great website as I am already learning a lot, and see if there was any preemptive measures I could take while waiting for my new test kit to arrive.

Thanks again!
Cam

 

[TomTinNC]

Re: New house, first season with AGP quickly goes blue to gr

Use the pool calculator and get your pool up to shock level with chlorine or bleach...as you said, you'll need more than a bottle. Go get 4 times what you need to get it to shock level, because all that algae will consume bleach as well as the sun. Chlorine is now your new best friend. Once you get the pool up to shock via pool calculator, add about 1/2 gallon of bleach or so each night to try and keep the levels up until your kit arrives and you can accurately measure where your FC's are at. That'll give you a head start on killing the algae bloom. Don't use the cal hypo shock you have......I made that mistake, and now my CH is 890! Which is nuts. Don't worry about anything else right now but the algae. The algae must die, and once its dead, it'll take your filters awhile to clean it out.

Read this article too, it helped me massively: Click here for Article on curing your swamp

 

[duraleigh]

Re: New house, first season with AGP quickly goes blue to gr

so the gallons I should list is the amount of water in the pool based on the current height of the water and not the total depth of the pool, right?

Correct.

is there anything I can do now to get the ball rolling

I just really hate advising anyone based on test strips or even pool store testing because it proves so wrong over and over. You could do this.......It would be fine to buy 30 gallons of bleach (it'll get used up eventually) and put two large jugs in the first evening and then 1 large jug every evening thereafter until your kit gets in. Immediately post those test results and we'll all help.

You would be smart to buy NOTHING else from the pool store and wait on your own good test results before you buy anything at all except bleach.

 

[Camman]

Re: New house, first season with AGP quickly goes blue to gr

Thank you guys for the quick response! I have added the additional info on my pool in my signature and I also read the 'Green Swamp' article but I need to continue reading through (and reading again to drill it into my head) the pool school, lots of acronyms to learn!

I'm going to go out and purchase a bunch of bleach to have on hand and follow your advice of adding a bottle daily and then once my kit comes in I'll post the results, hopefully it won't take too long.

I currently have trichlor pucks in my skimmer basket, would it be best to remove those for now until I get my own test results since I read they can increase CYA?

I like the "do it yourself" approach this website has, I always felt like it was kind of a contradiction to have water tests done at a place who's business is to sell you chemicals and it seems like trying to chase down and correct problems using traditional pool store chemicals is really hit or miss as the advice they provide is varied and at the end of the day its just more money out of my pocket with no results.

Thanks again!

 

[Richard320]

Re: New house, first season with AGP quickly goes blue to gr

I currently have trichlor pucks in my skimmer basket, would it be best to remove those for now until I get my own test results since I read they can increase CYA?

YES.

I like the "do it yourself" approach this website has, I always felt like it was kind of a contradiction to have water tests done at a place who's business is to sell you chemicals and it seems like trying to chase down and correct problems using traditional pool store chemicals is really hit or miss as the advice they provide is varied and at the end of the day its just more money out of my pocket with no results.

Thanks again!

I predict success here. Welcome!

 

[Smykowski]

Re: New house, first season with AGP quickly goes blue to gr

Glad to see you've started with pool school before making your first post. I agree with Richard. Success is coming.

Based on the fact that you're full of initiative (we're all a little type-A, otherwise we wouldn't be here), it's going to be very difficult to wait on that kit. That being said, besides duraleigh's advice on bleach until you get the kit, spend your time waiting reading as much as you can. If you hit the ground running when your kit comes, the process will be much, much less overwhelming.

Welcome!!

P.S. Please take pictures now and during the process. We all like to live vicariously through the people that claim victory over algae.

 

[RobbieH]

Re: New house, first season with AGP quickly goes blue to gr

Even if CYA were not in pucks, they should not be out in your skimmer anyway. When the pump is not running they cause a very high chlorine concentration in the skimmer which can cause corrosion of your equipment.

 

[Camman]

Re: New house, first season with AGP quickly goes blue to gr

I will definitely be spending a lot of my timing waiting for the kit carefully reading through the pool school material, I am always looking for a way to save a buck and spending hundreds of dollars at the pool store vs. doing a few hours of reading and learning seems like a no-brainer!

Thanks for the tip on the chlorine pucks, I didn't even think about the chlorine building up in the equipment line but I should've since when I opened up the pump to clean the strainer basket a few days ago I was hit with a cough inducing cloud of chlorine upon cracking the seal, yikes!

Here's a couple of "before" pics to show the mess I have in front of me! Doesn't look too bad from afar but it gets worse as the pics get closer!

[attachment=2:150di157]pool1.jpg[/attachment:150di157]
[attachment=1:150di157]pool2.jpg[/attachment:150di157]
[attachment=0:150di157]pool3.jpg[/attachment:150di157]

 

[duraleigh]

Re: New house, first season with AGP quickly goes blue to gr

What a nice setting for a great looking pool. That'll be a chip shot! Some folks have to get the fallen trees off the bottom before they scoop up years of dead leaves....they don't see the bottom of their pool for the first week of the shock process.

Where is Raymond? I used to fly into Mt Washington frequently. You live in a beautiful state but just a little nippy for us good ole' boys down here!

 

[Richard320]

Re: New house, first season with AGP quickly goes blue to gr

Oooh, this is gonna be good!

Another green-to-clean thread I can bookmark and link to!

 

[TomTinNC]

Re: New house, first season with AGP quickly goes blue to gr

Beautiful pool. Just a thought here. Your deck is pressure treated lumber that isn't stained or varnished. While you're waiting, if you have access to a pressure washer, I'd pressure wash the deck. The dark splotches in the wood may be holding algae. Get the deck clean so people don't track algae in there.....underneath that carpet too.

What a great looking pool and deck though, very, very nice.

 

[march2012]

Re: New house, first season with AGP quickly goes blue to gr

Thank you guys for the quick response! I have added the additional info on my pool in my signature and I also read the 'Green Swamp' article but I need to continue reading through (and reading again to drill it into my head) the pool school, lots of acronyms to learn!

I'm going to go out and purchase a bunch of bleach to have on hand and follow your advice of adding a bottle daily and then once my kit comes in I'll post the results, hopefully it won't take too long.

I currently have trichlor pucks in my skimmer basket, would it be best to remove those for now until I get my own test results since I read they can increase CYA?

I like the "do it yourself" approach this website has, I always felt like it was kind of a contradiction to have water tests done at a place who's business is to sell you chemicals and it seems like trying to chase down and correct problems using traditional pool store chemicals is really hit or miss as the advice they provide is varied and at the end of the day its just more money out of my pocket with no results.

Thanks again!

my pool store sells the taylor CYA reagent. the pool store probably has the measuring tube. If you dont mind having two of the tubes you might be able to measure your cya immediately. They also will possibly carry the pH reagent. They most likely will not carry the powder for the chlorine test (FAS-DPD)

 

[Camman]

Re: New house, first season with AGP quickly goes blue to gr

What a nice setting for a great looking pool. That'll be a chip shot! Some folks have to get the fallen trees off the bottom before they scoop up years of dead leaves....they don't see the bottom of their pool for the first week of the shock process.

Where is Raymond? I used to fly into Mt Washington frequently. You live in a beautiful state but just a little nippy for us good ole' boys down here!

Thanks for the kind words! Raymond is in Southern NH, we are about 2 hours south of North Conway/Mt. Washington area, my in-laws have a place up there so we have been able to visit the mountains more frequently, it's a beautiful area. It gets a little too nippy for me sometimes too, I have to whip this pool into shape since I have such a short window of opportunity to use it!

Beautiful pool. Just a thought here. Your deck is pressure treated lumber that isn't stained or varnished. While you're waiting, if you have access to a pressure washer, I'd pressure wash the deck. The dark splotches in the wood may be holding algae. Get the deck clean so people don't track algae in there.....underneath that carpet too.

What a great looking pool and deck though, very, very nice.

I've been wondering about the deck, it looks like it has seen better days, my parents own a pressure washer so I could go borrow theirs sometime this week, I was wondering if I should stain/seal the deck to hopefully make it last a bit longer as it looks like it is getting a bit weathered. As for that carpeting, I am planning to rip that out because it has some holes in it anyway and it looks a little grungy, I just need to go to lowe's and see if they have some sort of outdoor carpeting that I can replace it with. Thanks for the comments about the pool, hopefully I can get the water looking little less like the trees that surround it!

my pool store sells the taylor CYA reagent. the pool store probably has the measuring tube. If you dont mind having two of the tubes you might be able to measure your cya immediately. They also will possibly carry the pH reagent. They most likely will not carry the powder for the chlorine test (FAS-DPD)

If I get a chance to make it out to the pool store before my kit arrives I'll have to scope it out and see if they carry the CYA reagent, thanks for the tip, I am anxious to get started!

 

[Camman]

Re: New house, first season with AGP quickly goes blue to gr

So, my K-2006 kit arrived this evening and I immediately ran some tests, and the results seem to be saying my pool water is in rough shape, here it goes:

Chlorine - the water did not turn pink after adding the DPD powder so I could not continue with the FC and CC portions of the test, does this mean my pool has 0 PPM Chlorine? I have been adding 1 bottle of bleach per night since Sunday and testing with strips which also indicating 0 Chlorine, I had pucks in there for a few days last week after opening but pulled them after I started adding bleach, this appears to be indicating that my pool has NO chlorine in it, yikes?

PH - Registered less than 7.0 PPM

TA - 30ppm

CYA - the black dot did not dissapear, the solution only became slightly cloud but not enough for the dot to dissapear in the amount of space in the tube, does this indicate extremely low CYA?

CH - 90ppm


Keep in mind I have done very little to the pool since opening 2 weeks ago, I shocked it using cal-hypo packs a few times before joining this forum and I was using trichlor tabs for just a couple of days before I began adding bleach.



The strange part of this result is that my pool has actually been looking better since I started adding the bleach, the greenish color has started to fade and I have been removing dead algae and backwashing the filter daily, compare the pictures I originally posted above to these ones taken tonight:

[attachment=2a3abutw]pool4.jpg[/attachmenta3abutw]

[attachment=1a3abutw]pool5.jpg[/attachmenta3abutw]

One point of concern I have though is the algae that is still clinging to the side of the pool, you can see it in this pic:

[attachment=0a3abutw]poolalgae.jpg[/attachmenta3abutw]

So, given all that, I'm assuming I should start by adjusting the pH? I purchased Borax and Baking soda a few days ago but I haven't started adjusting anything until the test kit arrived today.