Got algae - Am I on the right track?

[Bryan]

Swam in the pool last Sunday (6/22) and the water looked great. Then it rained a couple of days last week and I wasn't home one single night to clean/brush/etc. Pulled the solar blanket off Saturday morning and whammo: nice green murky water. And wouldn't you know it, I was leaving town at noon (only for a day, thankfully). So I dumped the last little jub of bleach that I had into the pool and left the pump running. When I got back in town Sunday (6/29) I took a sample to the pool store (no, I don't have a TFP test kit - yet). #'s:
FC = 2.5
TC = 2.5
pH = 7.9
TA = 130
CYA = ~20
When I got home, I put in 2 lbs of dry acid and 2 lbs of stabilizer, then 2.72 gallons of bleach. An hour later I added another 1.36 gallons of bleach, since my test kit only goes to 5ppm and I couldn't tell if I had lost any chlorine. Before bed I added another 1.36 gallons, and when I got up this morning I checked the FC and it was somewhere above 5. I added another jug and went to work. Oh yeah, I also brushed on Sunday. When I got home tonight (Monday), I brushed again and added another jug (1.36G). Oh, and the FC was around 5.

So, am I doing the right thing, or am I using too much bleach? The water doesn't seem to look any better. Is it too early to see a difference? Thanks for all the expert advice!

 

[JohnT]

It can take a while to see improvement. Dilute your pool water sample with 3 parts distilled water, and then multiply your chlorine reading by 4 to get your actual chlorine concentration. Shoot for 15ppm, and hold it there as much as possible. Check out http://www.troublefreepool.com/turning-your-green-swamp-back-into-a-sparking-oasis-t4147.html for more details.

 

[Bryan]

John, thanks for the tip on the chlorine reading. I'm starting to see why a good test kit is invaluable

 

[Bryan]

Thought I'd post a follow-up on my algae outbreak. I stopped by the local Aldi store after work, where the fellow behind me in line figured I must be cleaning a lot of toilets with my 24 jugs of bleach :lol: Checked the FC, but totally forgot John's tip, and guessed it to be about 5ppm, so in went 3 jugs. This was at 7pm. Just checked it (11:30pm) using John's tip this time, and it measures somewhere around the 12-16ppm mark. The water is looking much better tonight, kinda reminds me of the Caribbean So hopefully it'll be all ready by the 4th, and at a fraction of what I would have spent the pool store way! Thank you TFP & BBB!!!

 

[Swimgirl]

Probably took less time and less work than the pool store way, too! :lol: Glad it's looking better!