New comer, not seeing improvement

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bonesmtb2

0
Jun 20, 2012
26
Wynantskill, NY
I just bought my first house that came with a 24' above ground pool with a sand filter. So there has been a steep learning curve to try and get this thing ready to swim. The previous owner had emptied the sand out of the filter. I bought sand and figured out how to work the filter after some tinkering. I have been backwashing when the pressure has increased about 6psi. The pump has been running 24/7 for 4 days.

However, my water is cloudy and green. 4 days (Sat,) ago I started adding some shock that I bought from the pool store, but I think I did it too slowly. Over the course of 2 days I added two 1 lb bags of dichlor and two 1 lb. bags of Cal Hypo 73%. I have a brush vacuum attachment that I have been using every night as well.

Starting 2 days ago (Mon.) I switched to just using bleach after reading more and more on this forum. I have been following the "How to turn your green swamp into sparkling oasis". Last night I added bleach to shock level 3 times and then it seemed to hold.

http://www.lesliespool.com/Home/Pool-Chemicals/Water-Testing/Test-Kits/81330.html I have this test kit. It doesn't have the DPD powder that I see some people talking about.

These are the current levels I can remember, I will update tonight when I can get home and test again.
FC = 10 (although it is hard to distinguish the colors of pink)
CYA = 0 (or very close to, doesn't look cloudy at all after adding reagent)
pH = 7.2 (I think it was below 7, I have been adding Borax slowly)
CH = 80

Can't remember TA.

How quickly can I expect to see improvement? I thought it would be cloudy and gray this morning showing that I got most of the algae. I think algae is the only thing that causes a green color.
Any advice would be much appreciated. It is going to be very hot soon and I want to get this thing open.

Thanks!
 
That test kit is basically a Taylor K-2005 repackaged. All it is missing is the FAS-DPD chlorine test, which you should purchase separately.

You want CYA around 30 when fighting algae. Figure out how much dichlor you already used to get an estimate of your current CYA level, and then add enough stabilizer/conditioner/cyanuric acid to raise CYA to 30.
 
How quickly can I expect to see improvement?
Click to expand...
Welcome to the forum. :lol: A lot of the answer is how diligent you are to replenishing the FC as it depletes. Adding the CYA as Jason Lion suggests will help you.

Another part of that answer is how often you are backwashing (use a 25% increase...not 6 psi), how often you are brushing, how often you are vacuuming, etc. In other words, the steps you are taking to help physically remove the junk in your pool.

Lastly, prehaps the most important part is how bad was your pool to begin with, No way to figure that out but I am only saying each pool is different. You have truly been shocking less than 48 hours.....it often takes a week or more of diligence to get your pool sparkling clear.
 
You will also need a way to test to make sure you are maintaining the right shock level, with a low CYA level it is possible to do this with the DPD test kit you have now (with only a bit of guessing). Assuming you raise your CYA level to 30 as Jason suggest, your target shock level will be 12 ppm, of course your DPD test only reads to 5 ppm, but you can get in the ballpark by diluting your samples 2 to 1 with chlorine free water (bottled water will be close enough to do) then multiply your results by 3, and keeping your shock level around 15 to make up for induced error on the test. Having said that the better answer is to buy the stand alone FAS-DPD test that Dave sells, see his web address in his signature above. Adding this to your current test kit will basically make it the same as the K-2006 kit.

Ike
 
Got home after work and pool looks much better!! Just a hint of green, and I can see the bottom.
I tested the FC and brought it back up to 10-12. Then I vacuum brushed the entire pool. So nice to be able to see the dirty spots now. So satisfying to be able to watch them get vacuumed up.
So, I am just going to maintain it at shock level as much as possible and brush everyday after work.

Without having the FAS-DPD stand alone kit (waiting for it to arrive) to test the FC drop overnight, how can I tell when I can stop shocking? I would like to be able to let the FC level drop down to swimming levels for this weekend. So excited to have my first swim!
 

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