Hi, hoping some of you have some ideas for us - we've got a new-to-us 21K gallon inground pool. Sand filter, no idea when the last time the sand was replaced though the pressure seems good. (Vinyl liner, if that matters.) The house is on a well, so the previous owners had rigged up a system to fill it from the lake, but, it's not going so well.
Here's what we've done so far:
Day 1: Took the cover off the pool (which was quite an ordeal, will be purchasing a security cover for next year). Water level was about halfway down, but the water was very clear and there was only a small amount of debris/dead algae on the bottom of the pool. Oh and about a dozen dead scorpions and baby snakes (ick!) which we fished out.
Day 2: Filled the pool with the lake water. Pool was now very full (pool store recommended filling to above the skimmer in case we needed to floc) but the water was yellow/brown and cloudy.
Day 3: began running pump, added shock, added algaecide two hours later. left pump running for 24 hours continuously.
Day 4: Water still bad, brought sample to pool store. I don't have the exact numbers on everything but they said our pH was 7.8, our free chlorine was good, our alkalinity was low, and we had iron & copper in the water. They said the pH was perfect for floc and that could also resolve the metals and cloudiness, so to do the floc that day. Returned home, added floc on recirculate for two hours, then shut down the entire system to wait for the magic to happen. (Note: it rained later in the day, not sure if this is an issue.)
Day 5: 24 hours later, no magic has happened. The pool may be marginally less cloudy, but it's hard to say. You still can't see the bottom at all in the deep end, and you can see it a tiny bit in the shallow end but that may just be because it's very sunny today.
I just went ahead and retested the water with our strips at home. This is what we got:
CH: 200
Total Chlorine/Free Chlorine: .5 (!!)
pH: 7.2
TA: 40
Stabilizer (CYA I guess?): I think this is 0 because the pad is golden yellow and the colors on the comparison chart only go from medium orange to red. So, let's assume 0. Which I think is bad.
Any ideas for what to do next? Is it possible we've still got live algae from the lake water, or...?? Any thoughts at all much appreciated!
Here's what we've done so far:
Day 1: Took the cover off the pool (which was quite an ordeal, will be purchasing a security cover for next year). Water level was about halfway down, but the water was very clear and there was only a small amount of debris/dead algae on the bottom of the pool. Oh and about a dozen dead scorpions and baby snakes (ick!) which we fished out.
Day 2: Filled the pool with the lake water. Pool was now very full (pool store recommended filling to above the skimmer in case we needed to floc) but the water was yellow/brown and cloudy.
Day 3: began running pump, added shock, added algaecide two hours later. left pump running for 24 hours continuously.
Day 4: Water still bad, brought sample to pool store. I don't have the exact numbers on everything but they said our pH was 7.8, our free chlorine was good, our alkalinity was low, and we had iron & copper in the water. They said the pH was perfect for floc and that could also resolve the metals and cloudiness, so to do the floc that day. Returned home, added floc on recirculate for two hours, then shut down the entire system to wait for the magic to happen. (Note: it rained later in the day, not sure if this is an issue.)
Day 5: 24 hours later, no magic has happened. The pool may be marginally less cloudy, but it's hard to say. You still can't see the bottom at all in the deep end, and you can see it a tiny bit in the shallow end but that may just be because it's very sunny today.
I just went ahead and retested the water with our strips at home. This is what we got:
CH: 200
Total Chlorine/Free Chlorine: .5 (!!)
pH: 7.2
TA: 40
Stabilizer (CYA I guess?): I think this is 0 because the pad is golden yellow and the colors on the comparison chart only go from medium orange to red. So, let's assume 0. Which I think is bad.
Any ideas for what to do next? Is it possible we've still got live algae from the lake water, or...?? Any thoughts at all much appreciated!