I purchased a home with a pool last year toward the end of the swimming season. It is a gunite pool, with I believe around 25,000 gallons. We tried, somewhat successfully to get it up and running then. It was a complete swamp when we got it, there were grass clippings in the water, leaves, and it had been shut down for probably around two weeks during the heat of the summer. I brushed algae the entire season from the sides and bottom. So now on to this year. I'm trying to get an early start on getting it ready. There was still plenty of algae in it after I shocked it, so I went to the local pool store. He said it was more than mustard algae because I couldn't keep my chlorine levels high enough. I'm using an inline chlorinator that I keep full, and it is working. My initial readings (from local shop) were:
1.Total chlorine-.1
2.Free chlorine-0
3.ph-6.4
4.Total alkalinity-40
5.Calcium hardness-200
So on 4-9 we added (in order) 20 lbs Alkalinity Plus (sodium hydrogen carbonate), then 3 lbs 5 oz ph Plus (sodium carbonate), then 2 lbs Mustard Eliminator (sodium bromide), then 20 lbs Turbo Shock (sodium hypochlorite). My levels on 4-10 at 9:30AM were (taken with test strips first and then a drop solution from Home Depot):
1. Total Chlorine-10
2. Alkalinity-80
3.ph-6.8
4.Hardness-450
The algae seemed to die, and I brushed daily, sometimes twice a day.
On 4-11 @ 8:15PM readings were almost identical to 4-10 readings.
On 4-12 @ 12:00PM
1.Chlorine-6.8
2.Alkalinity-40
3.ph-6.4
4.Hardness-350.
We did have a rain the night of the 11th.
Pool was still green, actually got more green after initial treatment, so I went back to local store today and got the following readings:
1.-Chlorine-6.8
2.Free chlorine-5.9
3.ph-6.4
4.Alkalinity-40
5.Hardness-350
They suggested that the pool probably has metals in it so we treated it with two bottles of Metal Control (64oz?)(unknown ingredient) around 12:00PM. I tested the water again tonight 4-12, 8:00Pm and here is what I got:
1.Chlorine-.6
2.Alkalinity-80
3.ph-6.2
4.Hardness-200-250ish
I'm guessing that the Metal Control killed my chlorine levels? Problem is the pool water is still green and doesn't seem to be clearing up. I'm running the pump 24/7, and I have a robotic vacuum that I am running to make sure nothing is under the water that I can't see.
Sorry for the very long post, but I'm trying to provide as much info as I can hoping we can narrow down the problem. Any help is appreciated. I'll go back to local shop for another test/advice within the next day or so, but hopefully someone on here can point me in the right direction instead. Thanks for any help!
1.Total chlorine-.1
2.Free chlorine-0
3.ph-6.4
4.Total alkalinity-40
5.Calcium hardness-200
So on 4-9 we added (in order) 20 lbs Alkalinity Plus (sodium hydrogen carbonate), then 3 lbs 5 oz ph Plus (sodium carbonate), then 2 lbs Mustard Eliminator (sodium bromide), then 20 lbs Turbo Shock (sodium hypochlorite). My levels on 4-10 at 9:30AM were (taken with test strips first and then a drop solution from Home Depot):
1. Total Chlorine-10
2. Alkalinity-80
3.ph-6.8
4.Hardness-450
The algae seemed to die, and I brushed daily, sometimes twice a day.
On 4-11 @ 8:15PM readings were almost identical to 4-10 readings.
On 4-12 @ 12:00PM
1.Chlorine-6.8
2.Alkalinity-40
3.ph-6.4
4.Hardness-350.
We did have a rain the night of the 11th.
Pool was still green, actually got more green after initial treatment, so I went back to local store today and got the following readings:
1.-Chlorine-6.8
2.Free chlorine-5.9
3.ph-6.4
4.Alkalinity-40
5.Hardness-350
They suggested that the pool probably has metals in it so we treated it with two bottles of Metal Control (64oz?)(unknown ingredient) around 12:00PM. I tested the water again tonight 4-12, 8:00Pm and here is what I got:
1.Chlorine-.6
2.Alkalinity-80
3.ph-6.2
4.Hardness-200-250ish
I'm guessing that the Metal Control killed my chlorine levels? Problem is the pool water is still green and doesn't seem to be clearing up. I'm running the pump 24/7, and I have a robotic vacuum that I am running to make sure nothing is under the water that I can't see.
Sorry for the very long post, but I'm trying to provide as much info as I can hoping we can narrow down the problem. Any help is appreciated. I'll go back to local shop for another test/advice within the next day or so, but hopefully someone on here can point me in the right direction instead. Thanks for any help!