green pool

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BStaveley

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Sep 3, 2012
23
I have an on ground pool that we have been struggling to control algae growth.
I have my water tested at our local pool company on saturday with the following results:
temp 78
colour green
we have a salt chlorinator -it hadn't been working but was replaced on saturday so I'm not yet sure if it is working. I've added 4 bags of salt and the level is reading 6.3 or 2850
pH 8.4
CYA 35
TA 180
Ca 59
borate 45
Phosphate 300

They suggested adding 2 bottles of primer, Acid enhance for 4 days, Balance TH for the softness of our water for 3 days, 6 bags of salt (I added 4), Ultra shock 1.5 kg, Algae Clear 60-600ml

I did all of the above on Saturday/Sunday and it is still green.

Today I shocked the pool twice more and added more algae cleaner.

Currently my levels are
pH 7.0 - I'm not sure why I'm getting this reading when the pool company said it was 8.4 and I only added 2 days of the acid enhance?
FC was 10 today then dropped to 5 and I just added another shock treatment
TA 160
stabilizer 30

I added 1 cup of borax tonight to try and get the pH slightly higher

I'm not sure what else to do. Maybe I'm just not giving it enough time?

I have brushed the pool several times/day to loosen the algae.

Any advice or help is appreciated.
 
Welcome to TFP !

The first thing you should do is read some of the articles in Pool School (button at upper right of page). We recommend understanding your pools chemistry and only adding what it needs ... Not what the pool store thinks it needs. On a related note, we have seen that pool store testing is notoriously inaccurate. I highly suggest ordering one of the test kits we recommend if you want to take control of your pool.

At least read ABCs of pool chemistry and the shock process that we recommend ... it is not a one time thing. It is a proven process that can take days to weeks depending on your pool.

One problem you are having is that you do not know what all the chemicals are doing to the pool. For example, If you are using dichlor to "shock" the pool, it is very acidic and will lower the pH. It is also adding CYA which can be problematic if it gets too high.

Read some articles and please ask questions here as they come up.

Posted from my Droid with Tapatalk ... sorry if my response is short ;)
 
I am planning on buying a kit today, hopefully they still have them available as it is late in the season.
I have read numerous articles in the pump school.
Will test my pool again and enter the results on pool table and then go with the suggestions from there.
It sounds like instead of using a shock product it is better to use 6% bleach.
will keep you posted.
 
You'll be much better off ordering a kit (K-2006 since you're in Ca). It's extremely rare for any pool store to stock the kit with the FAS-DPD test in it. Some stock one with the DPD test and have been known to tell customers that they're the same but trust me, they're not.
 
or order the TF100 from the west coast distributor. See the link in my signature.

Not sure why Bama said the K2006 because you are in CA?

Posted from my Droid with Tapatalk ... sorry if my response is short ;)
 
You can't see his sig but it states he's in Ontario. I should have written Canada instead of abbreviating it Ca. :hammer:
I do realize that there's an Ontario, Cali, but since they used metric units in their OP, I asssumed it was further north. :-D
 
Currently my pool is reading:
chlorine 7.7
pH 7.6
TA 115
Hardness 79
Phosphate 300
Salt 3600

The pool is a better colour. Just has a hint of green to it.
I put my figures in the pool calculator and it suggested adding 8L of chlorine, so I added 5L of cheap bleach and brushed the pool.

What should be my next step? I will recheck the chlorine level tonight. What I'm not sure about is when it is okay to vacuum?
 
Did you buy a kit? Those numbers seem more like pool store results.

Here is where you can order the K-2006:
http://piscines-apollo.com/cubecart/tes ... -2006.html

You can vacuum whenever you want, but you still have to make sure you kill all the algae.

If your CYA is 35 ppm, you should not be letting the FC get below 14ppm ... that is all you should be focusing on.

EDIT: fixed the link
 

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Yes those are pool store #'s. I have yet to find a canadian distributor for the K 2006 so I figured the pool store was better than nothing. I think that I have found a source at Lowry Associates in newmarket ontario.
the K 2006 looks alot more expensive in canada than the states. Lowry didn't have any prices on their web site.

The pool company didn't suggest that I do anything?
 
Thanks for the support of where to buy the K2006 kits. Does it matter that I buy a kit now at the end of the season? Will it be okay to use next summer?
I hate to invest that kind of money and only use it for 1 month and then have to buy another one next summer.
 
Last night i added 2 - 5L bottles of liquid household bleach. I checked the pool late last night and this morning (sorry only had the 4 test strips to use as I haven't yet ordered the kit), the chlorine level was 10+. Now tonight when I got home the water was no longer green but had a blue tinge but it was extremely cloudy. When I checked the levels (again using those awful strips as that is the only thing available locally) all the levels seemed okay except for the chlorine which was reading 0. Does that mean I still have algae or would the sun today have using up all the chlorine. My salt machine still isn't working (having called the company again). I have added another 5L bottle of chlorine tonight.
 
All the chlorine was consumed by the algae (and the sun). The cloudiness is dead algae ... but since the FC has dropped to zero, new algae is now growing. If you can try to keep the FC registering at the high end of the strips and you might stay ahead of the algae.

Have you read the articles in Pool School about how to follow the shock process?

BTW: if you store the kit in a cool dark place, it will be fine for next season.
 
so I will keep putting in chlorine to try and keep the FC >10. If I am understanding this right i will know the algae is gone when the chlorine doesn't drop overnight (I thought I was almost there last night when it hadn't dropped this morning) and the water becomes clear.

So far I havent' backwashed or checked my pressure. At what point should I be doing this?

I'm glad I found this site as I have certainly learned alot and will put it all to practice starting next summer for a crystal clear pool.
 
To pass the OCLT, the FC should not drop more than 1ppm ... not way to test that accurately with the test strips.
You should also have clear water and no more than 0.5ppm CC before you stop the shock process.

You should clean your filter when the pressure goes up 20-25% of the clean pressure.
 
since I'm so new to this and will do a much better job next year how do I continue to fix this problem while I'm waiting on the test kit to arrive.

As well I have no idea what my clean pressure is? I'm learning though.
 

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