Bought a house with a pool last autumn. Didn't seem to be too difficult to take care of last year, though I was only taking care of it for two months.
This year...so much rain, busy schedule...pool seemingly hasn't been 100% clean at all.
30,000 gallon concrete bottom with fiberglass walls, DE filter.
I have been maintaining free chlorine at ~3-5 ppm and shocking once a week and adding algaecide once per week as per instructions from pool store lady. When I bought the house I was super busy and didn't have time/energy to do research and take care of it, so I just took her a sample of my water once in a while and she told me what to put it, and everything was good.
This year...eh. I have been using chemicals she sold me (really I owed her my business, she helped me a ton in her personal time, walking me through backwashing, cleaning grids, etc). Powder shock, chlorine sticks w stabilizer, and a algaecide. I had been using test strips throughout spring.
Few weeks ago I bought the K2006 test kit so I could do this better.
So fast forward to today. After struggling with algae buildup along the ledge of the pool and some green spots on the bottom maybe 1 foot round and very light green for a month that would not go away despite doing what I thought was shocking, I again shocked the pool last night, hard.
Before it was at 6.5 ppm FC, 0.5 ppm CC, and ph was about 7.2-7.25. Shocked with Wal MArt shock and added some algaecide too.
Few hours after this, I went outside with a flashlight and looked at the ledge of the pool. Algae had turned a brow color. Dead! Awesome! I can clean it up in the morning!
Went out today around noon and algae is back to green. Took measurements. 10.5 ppm FC, 0.5 ppm CC, pH 7.3, TA is around 150-160 (little high I know), and cyanuric acid is off the scale but probably just above 30.
Help!! Will my pool not be clean until I shock hard, vacuum up dead algae, and CC is at 0? Do I need to chemically clean my grids?
Edited to add that I also have a leak in my pool heater that hasn't been fixed yet. Pool store said I need a new heater (or fix currnet one for half the price...but current one is ten years old). Due to the pool never being clean I have been running the pump a LOT. A lot of the time it's 24/7.
This year...so much rain, busy schedule...pool seemingly hasn't been 100% clean at all.
30,000 gallon concrete bottom with fiberglass walls, DE filter.
I have been maintaining free chlorine at ~3-5 ppm and shocking once a week and adding algaecide once per week as per instructions from pool store lady. When I bought the house I was super busy and didn't have time/energy to do research and take care of it, so I just took her a sample of my water once in a while and she told me what to put it, and everything was good.
This year...eh. I have been using chemicals she sold me (really I owed her my business, she helped me a ton in her personal time, walking me through backwashing, cleaning grids, etc). Powder shock, chlorine sticks w stabilizer, and a algaecide. I had been using test strips throughout spring.
Few weeks ago I bought the K2006 test kit so I could do this better.
So fast forward to today. After struggling with algae buildup along the ledge of the pool and some green spots on the bottom maybe 1 foot round and very light green for a month that would not go away despite doing what I thought was shocking, I again shocked the pool last night, hard.
Before it was at 6.5 ppm FC, 0.5 ppm CC, and ph was about 7.2-7.25. Shocked with Wal MArt shock and added some algaecide too.
Few hours after this, I went outside with a flashlight and looked at the ledge of the pool. Algae had turned a brow color. Dead! Awesome! I can clean it up in the morning!
Went out today around noon and algae is back to green. Took measurements. 10.5 ppm FC, 0.5 ppm CC, pH 7.3, TA is around 150-160 (little high I know), and cyanuric acid is off the scale but probably just above 30.
Help!! Will my pool not be clean until I shock hard, vacuum up dead algae, and CC is at 0? Do I need to chemically clean my grids?
Edited to add that I also have a leak in my pool heater that hasn't been fixed yet. Pool store said I need a new heater (or fix currnet one for half the price...but current one is ten years old). Due to the pool never being clean I have been running the pump a LOT. A lot of the time it's 24/7.