Drowning!!

[Tacpninja]

Hi all, my mother in law has a 12"x24" inter above ground pool, has had it for 2 years but this year everyone stopped taking care of it. Turns out, not one person in this house knows what they are doing! The pool is green and cloudy, using test strips, we find the PH at 7.8, free chlorine 0, alkalinity 180, stabilizer 30-50.
We shocked it yesterday and put the frog with tablets in the pool yesterday but no raise in chlorine. We honestly have no clue what we are doing and have kicked the kids out at this point. Any suggestions and help would be appreciated, it's supposed to be 102 degrees here on thursday!!

 

[JEC11718]

Pool school for you and lots and lots of bleach! Lol. No worries, could it be drained?

 

[Oly]

No Free Chlorine means you are headed for more problems. The chlorine you are adding with the shock and tablets is being consumed by attacking the biology in your pool but it is not high enough to even keep up let alone getting it under control.

If you can't or don't want to drain the pool then you need to SLAM Pool School - SLAM - Shock Level And Maintain

You need to estimate how many gallons are in your pool and follow the SLAM directions for success. You can do this.

 

[Tacpninja]

I'm in pool school now and Yikes! Pool can be drained if that's what we need to do. Thought about dumping a bunch of liquid bleach to get the level up since the cya seems right.. but wanted to be sure

 

[LFrankow]

If it costs less then 100$ to drain, scrub and refill go that route
then follow this info step by step
Pool School - Guide for Seasonal/Temporary Pools
That will get you up and running/swimming you know the important stuff

 

[DebbieC]

I'm pretty new here but the first thing they will want you to do is put in your signature. Go to Forum Rules and learn about your signature and do that so the people here know what you are working with and they can help you better. You need a real test kit, not strips. Go to TFTestkits.net to order. Make sure you click on Test Kits in the Our Products column on the left. I didn't and only found refills and ordered that...expensive mistake!

It WILL see overwhelming but take your time and learn the chemicals from Pool School. At first it's a daily chore but I can't explain, I went from overwhelmed and I will never learn this to WOW, this is fun and I understand it now.

Enjoy the learning curve; it really opens your eyes.

 

[JEC11718]

The draining option will put you back to swimming faster, if the cost is less than buying alot of liquid bleach. My Ace true value has it for $1.99 gallon, Wally world is 2.50 or so. If draining you must scrub and sanitize to be rid of the algae!

 

[Casey]

You can't just drain an above ground pool without risks of ruining the liner. The only time a full on drain should be completed is to do a liner change. The risk of the pool collapsing is also a huge factor. I would highly recommend getting a reliable test kit, post your numbers and start there.

 

[zea3]

A small intex style pool can be drained and refilled without risk of shrinking. Since your pool only holds 1700 gallons you can follow the guide for temporary pools. Pool School - Guide for Seasonal/Temporary Pools

 

[Tacpninja]

Ok so update:
We have been SLAMming the pool with shock overnight, filter running, pool cover off. The pool looks a bit better, the levels are stable except PH is very high, still 0 free chlorine, CYA is still low.. We don't live with the In laws, so the best we can do is come over once a day. It doesn't seem like we are keeping up.
Also, the backwash setting on the filter is not shooting out all the dirty water like it should. It shoots water out on every other setting, the sand filter area does not habe much debris and is full of water, the filter seems to run smoothly but nothing comes out on backwash. Is it broken, contributing to the problem?

 

[Beens]

*note* OP signature updates shows 12'x24'x52" rectangle. That's going to be much more than 1700 gallons.

I can't input much right now, I'm typing from the phone but I'm going to strongly recommend you get yourself a decent test kit. One that's recommended on this site. (TF-100 or Taylor k-2006c)
You're going to be going around in circles trying to maintain that (or any pool) with test strips. You can't slam without the proper test kit. Test strips and chlorine drop tests other than the FAS-DPD test will not be able to measure your FC at that level and you'll be guessing and wasting time and money.

This can be fixed... and once the water is correct, easily maintained. But not the way its currently being done.


With the right test kit and the up front slam time investment you'll get this done!

I can't type any more on this stupid phone keyboard!