I don't know what I'm doing!!!

[3superkids]

I originally posted this in the introduce yourself section. I don't think that was the right place.

Hi everyone,
I have had this pool for several years and have been unsuccessfully following the pool store's advice until I found you guys. I have to admit I am getting really frustrated with my pool and I am beginning to wonder if it's worth the trouble & expense.

Unfortunately, I did not close the pool for the winter so I started out with a DARK green mess. I was able to scoop all the debris out and I shocked it with the granules from the pool place at $4 a bag. After using 12 of them my pool went from green to brown to a blue green cloudy color. The pool store then sold me a $20 bottle of clarifier to help clear the cloudiness (nothing changed after adding it). After losing my power for the night I woke up to green water again! I have been using bleach & removed the pucks since finding this website and nothing seems to be happening. I have the 6 way test kit from Wal-mart and my CL is above 5 (its orange so I think it's above 5) PH is 6.8 (I used approx half of a 5lb box of borax to get it there) CY is about 100, Alkalinity is pretty high as I can't get the color to change to red (I stopped adding the drops at around 20)

I brush it several times a day and have been adding 2 gallons of bleach 3 times a day. Please help me figure out if I'm doing something wrong or if I need to do something in addition to what I am doing.

Since my original post I have drained off approx 7 inches of water & I am currently refilling with tap water to try to get the CY down.

 

[JasonLion]

Your CYA level is very high, which is going to make it very difficult to fight algae. You will be much better off if you can get CYA down to 80, or preferably lower. Part of lowering CYA is to stop using products that add more CYA, like trichlor tablets/pucks/sticks and dichlor based granular shock.

To effectively fight the algae you are going to want a good quality test kit. I recommend the TF Test Kit, see the link in my signature. The Taylor K-2006 is also a good choice. A good test kit is the best investment you can make in your pool.

You might want to read this article on cleaning up algae, and when you have time do some other reading at Pool School, see the link in my signature or the sub-heading of each page.

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

I agree 100% with Jason.

Been there, done that....a partial draining and refilling of your pool is absolutely necessary at this point.