HELP, been on vacation and pool is green

[Bamagirl]

I've been on vacation for 4 days and I returned home to find my pool is green. (I can see the bottom, but barely) I've put in two gallons of bleach, 1/2 lb baking soda and the pump is running. Thats all I had on hand. I have an above ground, 15,000 gal, sand filter. My readings after doing this are
TC 5
FC 4
alk 40
PH 6.2
Should I vacuum and backwash before adding borax and more baking soda? How much of each should I add? more bleach also? and let the filter run?
What others suggestions to bring the #'s where they should be?
This is the only test kit I have so far--I have ordered a better one it just hasn't arrived.
Thanks in advance.

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

It would help to know your CYA level....

Youre gonna need a lot more bleach.

Yes, keep your filter running till your pool clears, backwash your filter. Keep your pool up to shock level, according to your CYA, see the chart.

Borax and Baking Soda do similar things so you may not need to add both products....actually washing soda may be more ideal....I'll check your numbers.

I would read the article about defeating algae in Pool School for starters, and then tomorrow morning head out for more bleach. Post any questions or updates on this same thread....

 

[TizMe]

As Frustratedpoolmom says you will need to get more bleach in the morning.
Without knowing what your CYA level is you dont know what your shock level needs to be to fight the algae in the pool, however I would go ahead and pour in what you have and give the pool a good brush. If you can wait 30 minutes or so and test the water tonight to see how much chlorine you have and then test it in the morning again just so you can see if you have any FC loss during the night.

Adding chlorine at this point wont hurt the situation ....

Good Luck! Keep us posted ...

 

[JasonLion]

You want to get the PH up as soon as possible. Washing soda/soda ash/PH Increaser would be ideal for this, as it will raise both PH and TA, but a combination of borax and baking soda will do the same job.

How sure are you of that PH measurement? Most test kits report PH below 6.8 as 6.8.

One good approach on raising the PH is to add a box of borax (or 2 lbs of washing soda), give it an hour to mix in and then see where you are. You may need to do that a couple of times, the key is to use less when you are getting near to the PH you want so you don't overshoot.

You can use my Pool Calculator, see the link in my signature, to figure out quantities of chemicals to use.

 

[Bamagirl]

Thanks guys. You confirmed what I was thinking. I'm headed out in the morning after testing again and see what my levels are to get the needed necessities. I used the BBB method all summer last year and never had a bit of trouble. Its already looking a little better after about 3 hours. I would have been in big trouble had we been gone a few more days. Its really not too bad at this moment and shouldn't take more than a few days to get back to normal. I know I really should have shocked it good before I left but I had other things on my mind. I'll update within the next couple of days. It will be sparkling again in no time. Thanks