Frustrated with green pool

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D

Deb08

0
May 10, 2012
3
We had absolutely no problems with our pool last summer. But then that was a fresh fill due to a new liner. My hubby didn't cover for the winter so now we have a mini swamp in our yard. He has spent a fortune on chemicals and pool is still green. We are trying to switch to the BBB method now. When I first found this site we used the pool calculator and the test results from the pool store and managed to get water from green to milky white. Water wouldn't clear from that cloudy, milky white and had a lot of particles floating in it. We have been going from green to milky back to green for over a month.

I want the TF100 kit but have test strips and 6 way drop tester until I can order one. Getting conflicting results using kits I have so gave up and went back to pool store for a retest.

TC 1.2
FC 0
PH 7.6
TA 107 - Adj total Alk 92 not sure which # I should be using.
CH 130
CYA 5

They say we have a chlorine lock. Test shows no algae. Water looks green in pool but clear in a jar. Advised to vacuum to waste. Which we did. Pool immediately turned green again. Still had leaves & "stuff" we couldn't see. Advised to add 12 lbs of Balance Pak 100, 2 lbs Lo N Slo & 12 packs of Burn Out 3 or Shock....If I am using the pool calculator correctly that means
12 lbs baking soda & 2lbs of ph reducer but then it gets confusing. Pool calculator shows to add 128 oz of 6% bleach but I thought I read that 1 lb of granular chlorine = 1 gal of 6% bleach....Correct? So wouldn't I need 12 gals of bleach?

Any suggestions on what do to from here would be appreciated. Son is mad he can't swim yet and hubby is ready to drain the pool.
Thanks
 
You can work on dialing in your TA, but I would start the shocking process. Read pool school about how to do that. It's not a one time thing. Keep at it long enough and you will be swimming in no time.

Vacuuming to waste is a good thing, or netting out the debris. You want to get as much of the "big stuff" out as possible to help the process go faster.

Oh, and stop buying all the Crud the pool store is trying to sell you and listen to what this site says.
 
Get all you can out of the pool with a pole and a deep leaf net attached. Adjust PH to lower 7 range. Add CYA in a knee high panty hose tied up end, lying in the skimmer to a level of 30. MAINTAIN shock level of 16 or 18 until pool is clear, CC is .5 or less, no algae and pass the OCLT. Use palin old 6% bleach to shock. READ.........pool school.......TWICE.........to grasp the concepts. Your TA and CHA don't matter at this point. Forget the strips and use the drop test until you can get the TF-100. Trouble is, it's awful hard to maintain shock level with a drop kit that will only measure to 10 ppm of FC. DON"T buy any more pool store chems! Run pump/filter 24/7 until you're done. Welcome!
 
Get inspired: before-and-after-t38780.html

Start in Pool School. Get a real test kit. Stop buying overpriced pool store chemicals.

You'll need to decide if you're going to do things the BBB way - which is more about accurate testing and correct dosing than the actual chemicals used - or the pool store way, which is more about sell you something and hope it works.

Troublefree is not maintenancefree. It's like the dentist. You can spend a few minutes a day and pennies a week or go to the dentist once a year and spend a fortune. It's your choice.
 
Your doing fine shocking it, when you get the white milky cloud, that is all your dead algea. don't let it get back to green, gotta maintain the chlorine.

watch your pressure on your filter and backwash when the pressure rises 6-10psi

what type of filter do you have? I'm guessing a sand filter cause lot of that dead algea gets right thru it.

gotta use a net and get as much of the leafs debris on the bottom of the pool out.


You can buy some of that blue stuff at meijer or pool store to help clear up the water, watch your pressure on your filter as it will rise quicker.
 
TC of 1.2 with FC of 0 tells me there is algae in the pool. I don't know why the pool store would think otherwise. ;)

Don't raise CYA unless you have a salt water pool and a salt water chlorine generator. CYA of 50 is already on the high end of the scale. Certainly do not use trichlor tablets or shock products with conditioner/CYA in them anymore.
 
Smykowski said:
smooth2222 said:
You can buy some of that blue stuff at meijer or pool store to help clear up the water, watch your pressure on your filter as it will rise quicker.
Click to expand...

If you maintain your pool through accurate testing and proper chemical dosing, bleach is all you need to keep clean, clear water.
Click to expand...



He has dead algea, no amount of chlorine will clear the cloudy water, it needs to be filtered out.

obviously if you maintain your pool properly you won't get an algea, he opened the pool with a green swamp
 
You are correct about the dead algae and you are correct about it being filtered out. My point was more that the vast majority of users to this forum are reluctant to recommend any product that claims to "clear the water." Bleach/chlorine kills algae, and the filter (cartridge, DE, or sand) removes it.
 

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Thanks for the quick responses. Pool school is very helpful! I have read though it many times. lol Guess I'm not a quick student. We didn't buy any of the stuff the pool company recommended. Just listed it for reference. I just had them test the water to be more accurate. We used bleach, borax, baking soda and hydrogen peroxide to get it to the milky state it was. But when it stayed that same milky state for 3 days with no change we were at a loss. Filter didn't seem to be removing the dead algae floating around. (sand in filter was changed last week)
Pump/filter has been running 24/7 since late March. Just took a while to convince my husband that it wasn't going to clear up until he got most of the muck out of the bottom. Thought we had but yesterday proved us wrong. Got a good bit more with the leaf rake by actually getting in the pool. Vacuum doesn't seem to be picking up much which is why we thought we had most of it.

He is stopping on his way home to buy more bleach. Never had this much trouble getting a pool clean before. Trying to be patient.
Will post updates later. Thanks again for the responses. This site is fantastic!
 
If you keep "shocking" the pool as you are...the water will stay "cloudy" for some time. Whatever is in the pool is going to consume the chlorine before it has a chance to do it's job of killing anything that's in it's path. The ONLY way your pool will clear up is by actively hitting the shock process HARD. This is almost impossible to do with the pool store doing your testing. Your own kit will be one of the best investments you make. The CYA level of 50 kinda worries me. Pool stores are FAMOUS of having test results all over the place. This level is on the high end...and you will end up using a ton of bleach. We need to make 100% sure that maybe the results you are getting are accurate. What have you used in the past to add chlorine to the pool? What chemicals this year have you been using to "shock" the pool....and how much?? The vast majority of the time....cloudy water means there's algae still that needs killed.
 
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