Emerald Green every few days. I'm at a loss.

[Slayd]

We moved into our current home about a year ago, our first time having a pool. We have a concrete pool, 3000 gallons, one skimmer, about 4 jets, no SWG. Last year after purchasing the home, I started the TFP method. It worked out for the first few months, but with a 1 year old and 2 year old, my maintenance slacked and I ended up switching to chlorine tablets. My pump already has a chlorinator so it's been simple. Dropping one full tablet in our chlorinator kept the pool at good levels for a week or two. Levels maintained well throughout the summer without much need for anything other than muriatic acid every now and then and chlorine tablets. My pump is on a timer to run in two hour increments twice a day. I live in central florida, so we didn't close the pool during the winter. Everything was fine until Spring started. I started focusing on the pool more to get it ready for swimming and it has spiraled. By the end of the week the pool is solid emerald green. I brush the sides, vaccuum the bottom, add tablets to the chlorinator, clean the filter, run the pump for 8 hours or so and the pool gets clear, almost blue with a slight tint of green. By the end of the week we're right back where we started. This has been going on for about a month now and after discovering another disgusting pool this afternoon, I'm at a loss. Is there something I'm missing?! I don't want to hire a pool guy because it's only a 3000 gallon pool, it shouldn't be a big deal for upkeep.

Any and all help is appreciated.

 

[Mr Bruce]

Can you post some test results?

 

[Casey]

Sounds like you have an algae outbreak.

 

[triptyx]

As mentioned, you need to provide us with test results from an approved test kit. My guess - because you've been using tablets, your CYA (cyanuric acid) levels are extremely high and have resulted in your chlorine levels being far too low to keep the pool clean and sanitary.

To get started, you'll need a good test kit - because you'll need to SLAM (Instructions: Pool School - SLAM - Shock Level And Maintain ) you'll need a good test kit with lots of reagents. The TF-100 from TFTestKits.net with XL option will have the quantity of reagents you need. You'll also have to commit to not using those tablets until we can get a handle on where your current chemical levels are.

We can stop this nasty cycle, but you're going to have to commit to the TroubleFreePool way of doing things!

 

[Slayd]

I checked the levels after seeing your post and the CYA levels were actually a little low. I like to run them on the high end of the spectrum because my pool doesn't hold chlorine well. I turned my chlorinator to high and ran the pump for about 8 hours last Sunday. Friday came and I had a blue with a slightly green tint. I checked the levels and the chlorine was little low and the pH was a little low but everything seemed to be in order. I thought the water was a little foggy, but chalked it up to pollen, as I did notice when I went out to the pool that there was an unusually high concentration of pollen and debris on the surface. I upped the running time for the pump timer and moved the times around a little. Going out to the pool this morning, I noticed the pump wasn't running, so there is an issue with my timer. Going to trouble shoot if my timer has been working at all over the past few weeks. Looks like that must have been the issue. Stupid thing to have been missing.

About your last comment though, I would love to try the TFP method again. When I purchased the house, the previous owners left two 5 gallon buckets full of tablets, so I figured I'd use those up. Once I run out, or if problems persist, I plan on trying again. I think I was doing something wrong with TFP before, and that's one part that threw me off. Again, my pool is only 3,000 gallons. Most above ground pools are bigger. I was using 4 cups of bleach per day, and every time I would check the chlorine levels the next day, I'd be at zero. So I was going through a couple gallons of bleach per week and my levels were always low. Is that normal? My CYA has always been between 50-60. I use a Taylor test kit, as recommended from these forums. I'm thinking I'll get my test results together for everything and just post on here and see if you guys can help me out. Everything I read on the internet isn't really applicable to my situation, as posts never seem to address pools as small as the one I'm maintaining.

 

[Casey]

We really need to see your pool test results from the kit. We can not possibly know how to help without them.

 

[Silver_2000]

At its core the method is simple. Add chlorine and filter time till the pool clears and stays clear. If your FC is falling to zero frequently you are never killing all the algae. With a 3000 gallon pool it should be easy and cheap to shock the heck out of it with a gallon or 2 of bleach ... Since you cant or wont post your CYA or other numbers you could just add 2 cups of bleach morning and night every day till it clears. But if the CYA is really high 2 cups may not be enough

if your CYA is 120 you would need to raise to FC of 47 to get a slam started - to go from FC 4 to FC 47 would take 1.5 gallons of 10% bleach And your minimum FC shoudl be about 13. Even with CYA of 80 you need to maintain FC of 10

Good luck
PoolMath

 

[Slayd]

FC: 3
CYA: 50
pH: 7.2

I haven't checked anything else as they were normal levels at the start of the season.

From what I'm reading though, I guess shocking is my problem. I've never shocked my pool before and have had algae issues. But I may have accidentally shocked the pool this week by raising the chlorinator to high. Usually if I set it to the lowest possible setting, my chlorine levels go to 10. So by setting to high, I imagine those levels went pretty high. I'll do the two cups of bleach all week this week though, just in case!

 

[Casey]

If you're SLAM'ing the pool, dose with liquid chlorine.