Green tint

[mrmiller23]

I'm completely new at owning a pool (2-months) and have lurked these boards for answers since, but this one I'm just not sure...

Over the past few days the water has become tinted green. I had the water tested at Leslie's Pool and the chlorine level was down (the man at the store suggested shocking the pool) and the phosphate level was up (500) in which he suggested increasing my weekly addition of Natural Chemistry's PHOSfree from 1.5 cap-fulls to two.

Questions:

a. With the liquid chlorine I've got, how many ounces is required to 'shock' the pool? (I've only been adding what I believe is now the routine maintenance amount of around 13 oz a for a 9,000 gallons).
b. Is there other actions I should be taking (or chemicals to be adding) in addition to the chlorine addition and PHOSfree?

 

[JohnT]

Welcome to TFP!

There really is no maintenance amount of liquid chlorine. You add what you need as you need it according to test results. The actual shock level depends on your CYA level as you can see in the Chlorine CYA Chart Use PoolMath to calculate your chemical quantities.

The PHOSfree is pretty much a waste of money. Phosphates are algae food, but if you maintain your chlorine level appropriately, algae can't grow anyway.

 

[mrmiller23]

Welcome to TFP!

There really is no maintenance amount of liquid chlorine. You add what you need as you need it according to test results. The actual shock level depends on your CYA level as you can see in the Chlorine CYA Chart Use PoolMath to calculate your chemical quantities.

The PHOSfree is pretty much a waste of money. Phosphates are algae food, but if you maintain your chlorine level appropriately, algae can't grow anyway.

Thank you John.

So either I've gotten some bad information and/or I've misunderstood instructions given to me by Leslie's Pool Supply. (I tend to lean towards the latter.) I've also talked to a guy I work with who has owned a pool for years and he was saying that I need gallons - not ounces - of chlorine in order to shock the green away.

I'm sure I'll figure this all out yet. Eventually. Maybe. Thanks again!