Hi all!
OK, I moved all the detailed info below, but the quick answer I'm actually looking for is this: The water is blue now, but still slightly cloudy. I think the algae is being killed, but some is still suspended in the water. I'm hoping to use the pool before it gets too cold, so I'm wondering if there is a way to speed up the process of clearing that out? Or if I don't need to wait to swim in it, though I assumed I did need to wait.
Anyway, here's the details of where I am, how I got here, and what I've done so far.
I had to be out of town for a few weeks and left someone else in charge of pool. It was a tad greenish when I got home, but I was told it had just started to do that (and the person taking care of it had a medical emergency, so it's possibly true).
Tested before beginning.
TA was 110
pH was 8.2
CYA was not measurable - guessing maybe 10?
Chlorine was near 0
It's getting late in the year, and I wanted to use the pool before it gets too cold, and I had other stuff on hand and couldn't get to the pool store for a couple of days, so I started with what I had.
I scrubbed the pool, and added 1-1/2 bags of blue Shock-plus from Wal-Mart according to directions - broadcast over the deep end (the powder kind that's supposed to shock, kill algae and bacteria, and clear the water). That was Monday night, almost 5 days ago.
Continued with scrubbing the pool twice a day from there on. Pump has been running 24/7. I've tested the chlorine only once a day, since it hasn't dropped much at all during the process.
On Tues. I added the rest of the chlorine, which had been left in the jug outside, so I don't know if it was any good anymore anyway. Vacuumed the bottom.
Wednesday I made it to the pool store, came home and added powder to lower pH (they couldn't tell me what it was - it's not labeled either). Put stabilizer in a sock and hung it in front of the eyeball. Gave it a GOOD dose of chlorine - probably too much, but I've started a SLAM before with more than that amount. I added 1-1/2 gal 10% bleach.
Vacuumed the bottom once again on Thurs, and seems that I got most of what was there.
The water today and yesterday (Fri and Sat) is pretty blue, but still cloudy. I plan to vacuum to waste again when it settles from the last scrubbing.
What's weird ... I'm using very little chlorine. Las time I SLAMed, I had to add gallons at a time several times the first few days. I'm going to add some more right now, but I haven't added in two days. Thursday it tested off the scale. Friday it was still off the scale. (Using the yellow drops - I'm out of the stuff to measure it accurately). It's stayed very dark, well more than 5. Now, three days later, it's finally down a little to maybe 4.
The pH is now 7.6. I haven't tested the CYA again, since I read I should wait a week, and I'm running low on test chemicals. It holds chlorine far better than it ever has before. The last time I did a SLAM I was having to add gallons a day at first, several times a day.
I'm getting a bit of what might be algae growing on the side. I don't know what else it could be. I scrub it off. Though I'm questioning if it COULD grow when I'm scrubbing the pool twice a day (at least) and keeping the chlorine that high? Though without knowing the exact CYA (I didn't add enough stabilizer to raise it over 25 or so at the most) of course I'm not sure how high it needs to be.
I'm still getting a little settling on the bottom every other day and vacuum it out as soon as it can be seen.
I'm debating ordering more test chemicals. If I don't have great need of them over the winter, I may wait until spring if I can so they will be fresher. Trying to get by with what I have in the meantime. I'll order more if I need to in order to finish this cleaning.
But it seems to be going exceptionally well. I've had to SLAM my pool 3 times already - once for opening, once because of a flood into the pool, and once because it got out of hand, so I'm fairly used to how things go. And this time it's looking extremely good, extremely fast compared to the other times. Maybe it just wasn't too bad yet. The pH and CYA were so bad it probably made matters worse, so getting that fixed might have helped too. Like I said, right now I just want to swim a few more times before it's too cold. Last year we had maybe 2 weeks beyond this time before it was too cold, and today the water FEELS pretty cool going down the steps to get a deeper sample.
I want a wetsuit, LOL.
Thanks!
OK, I moved all the detailed info below, but the quick answer I'm actually looking for is this: The water is blue now, but still slightly cloudy. I think the algae is being killed, but some is still suspended in the water. I'm hoping to use the pool before it gets too cold, so I'm wondering if there is a way to speed up the process of clearing that out? Or if I don't need to wait to swim in it, though I assumed I did need to wait.
Anyway, here's the details of where I am, how I got here, and what I've done so far.
I had to be out of town for a few weeks and left someone else in charge of pool. It was a tad greenish when I got home, but I was told it had just started to do that (and the person taking care of it had a medical emergency, so it's possibly true).
Tested before beginning.
TA was 110
pH was 8.2
CYA was not measurable - guessing maybe 10?
Chlorine was near 0
It's getting late in the year, and I wanted to use the pool before it gets too cold, and I had other stuff on hand and couldn't get to the pool store for a couple of days, so I started with what I had.
I scrubbed the pool, and added 1-1/2 bags of blue Shock-plus from Wal-Mart according to directions - broadcast over the deep end (the powder kind that's supposed to shock, kill algae and bacteria, and clear the water). That was Monday night, almost 5 days ago.
Continued with scrubbing the pool twice a day from there on. Pump has been running 24/7. I've tested the chlorine only once a day, since it hasn't dropped much at all during the process.
On Tues. I added the rest of the chlorine, which had been left in the jug outside, so I don't know if it was any good anymore anyway. Vacuumed the bottom.
Wednesday I made it to the pool store, came home and added powder to lower pH (they couldn't tell me what it was - it's not labeled either). Put stabilizer in a sock and hung it in front of the eyeball. Gave it a GOOD dose of chlorine - probably too much, but I've started a SLAM before with more than that amount. I added 1-1/2 gal 10% bleach.
Vacuumed the bottom once again on Thurs, and seems that I got most of what was there.
The water today and yesterday (Fri and Sat) is pretty blue, but still cloudy. I plan to vacuum to waste again when it settles from the last scrubbing.
What's weird ... I'm using very little chlorine. Las time I SLAMed, I had to add gallons at a time several times the first few days. I'm going to add some more right now, but I haven't added in two days. Thursday it tested off the scale. Friday it was still off the scale. (Using the yellow drops - I'm out of the stuff to measure it accurately). It's stayed very dark, well more than 5. Now, three days later, it's finally down a little to maybe 4.
The pH is now 7.6. I haven't tested the CYA again, since I read I should wait a week, and I'm running low on test chemicals. It holds chlorine far better than it ever has before. The last time I did a SLAM I was having to add gallons a day at first, several times a day.
I'm getting a bit of what might be algae growing on the side. I don't know what else it could be. I scrub it off. Though I'm questioning if it COULD grow when I'm scrubbing the pool twice a day (at least) and keeping the chlorine that high? Though without knowing the exact CYA (I didn't add enough stabilizer to raise it over 25 or so at the most) of course I'm not sure how high it needs to be.
I'm still getting a little settling on the bottom every other day and vacuum it out as soon as it can be seen.
I'm debating ordering more test chemicals. If I don't have great need of them over the winter, I may wait until spring if I can so they will be fresher. Trying to get by with what I have in the meantime. I'll order more if I need to in order to finish this cleaning.
But it seems to be going exceptionally well. I've had to SLAM my pool 3 times already - once for opening, once because of a flood into the pool, and once because it got out of hand, so I'm fairly used to how things go. And this time it's looking extremely good, extremely fast compared to the other times. Maybe it just wasn't too bad yet. The pH and CYA were so bad it probably made matters worse, so getting that fixed might have helped too. Like I said, right now I just want to swim a few more times before it's too cold. Last year we had maybe 2 weeks beyond this time before it was too cold, and today the water FEELS pretty cool going down the steps to get a deeper sample.
I want a wetsuit, LOL.
Thanks!