Help with algea

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Forget about pH, TA, and CH for now. All we care about is CYA and FC until the water is clear. With CYA at 20, add enough liquid chlorine to bring FC to 8 and keep it there. Test and add as often as you can, hourly if possible.

It can take several days or even a week or more to clear up. The more frequently you test and add, the faster it will go. But it will eventually get there.

Take some photos of a ladder or steps under the same conditions each day so you can see the progress. Post them here, we love photos!
 
jeffchap said:
Forget about pH, TA, and CH for now. All we care about is CYA and FC until the water is clear. With CYA at 20, add enough liquid chlorine to bring FC to 8 and keep it there. Test and add as often as you can, hourly if possible.

It can take several days or even a week or more to clear up. The more frequently you test and add, the faster it will go. But it will eventually get there.

Take some photos of a ladder or steps under the same conditions each day so you can see the progress. Post them here, we love photos!
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Whenever I added the chlorine before it never showed up am I not just wasting it?
 
Kivare said:
Whenever I added the chlorine before it never showed up am I not just wasting it?
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How much did you add, how long did you wait to test, how much organic matter was in the water? There are a lot of variables here.

Follow the SLAM Process and we'll get that swamp cleared up!
 
Kivare said:
Whenever I added the chlorine before it never showed up am I not just wasting it?
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In a pool that size, 1 gallon of 6.25 bleach would only raise the FC by 2.9 ppm. With that much algae in the water, that would be used up almost immediately. You need to add at least 3 gallons initially, and then check hourly to see how much it has dropped and add enough to bring it back to 8 ppm.
 
I only have two gallons on hand of liquid chlorine is there another option the store is out and they don't know when they will get it in? I do have shock about 15 pounds.
 
Plain unscented, non-splashless bleach is the same thing as liquid chlorine. You should be able to find this in the laundry aisle of any big box store. It's usually 6.25% sodium hypochloride, so use that for your computations in Pool Math.

Your CYA level is still a little low. We'd like to see you at 30 PPM. So yes you could use some of the shock powder too. Just be aware shock will raise your CYA and the higher your CYA level is, the higher you need to raise your FC in order to perform the slam process. At CYA of 30, you'll need to target FC at 12 ppm. SLAM level for FC is 40% of CYA.
 
Being a vinyl liner you will have to drain / refill in a few steps, but I would suggest doing so. Drain until you have about 12 inches of water in the shallow end, refill, run the pumps for a few hours, do it again.

Find a source of liquid chlorine. Tyler must have a Walmart or Home Depot.
 

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mknauss said:
Being a vinyl liner you will have to drain / refill in a few steps, but I would suggest doing so. Drain until you have about 12 inches of water in the shallow end, refill, run the pumps for a few hours, do it again.

Find a source of liquid chlorine. Tyler must have a Walmart or Home Depot.
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Why is the reason I would need to drain the pool?
 
Kivare said:
Why is the reason I would need to drain the pool?
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It will save a lot in chlorine. You do not have to do it, it is just many times cheaper and easier to remove a large portion of the organics via draining and then SLAM. Up to you.
 
mknauss said:
It will save a lot in chlorine. You do not have to do it, it is just many times cheaper and easier to remove a large portion of the organics via draining and then SLAM. Up to you.
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Yeah i get that, we have drained the pool before and had a lot of problems getting it to hold water so I don't think I want to do that again. It's pretty expensive to fill also and I'm afraid by the time it fills back up it will have the same problem. Thank you.
 
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Great. Find a really good source of liquid chlorine. I would expect at least 50 gallons, most likely more, to complete the SLAM.
 
K, I understand your frustration, especially after dealing with the pool store. The store says, add a bottle of this and a bottle of that and poof- like magic all of your problems are gone. I've been in the same boat, as have most of the people on this site at one time or another. Pool care is not difficult or magic. It can be frustrating, especially when it's a 100 degrees and all you want to do is jump in and cool off. You are currently in a situation where you have been presented with 2 choices to make your pool swimmable. 1) drain your pool and refill with clean algae free water, adding CYA and chlorine as you fill to kill what gets left behind and ensure you have a sanitary swim environment. OR 2) follow SLAM Process with your current volume of water until you have water that's clear enough to swim in. You have to weigh the costs and benefits of each. If you elect to drain your pool, you don't have to drain it all in one shot, you can drain/fill in smaller steps, just realize that it is less effective that way, will take longer, and will require more chemicals.
Kivare said:
Yeah i get that, we have drained the pool before and had a lot of problems getting it to hold water so I don't think I want to do that again. It's pretty expensive to fill also and I'm afraid by the time it fills back up it will have the same problem. Thank you.
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This i don't understand. If you had problems holding water after draining, wouldn't you still have problems now? Unless you fixed whatever was causing the leaks. In that case though, those leaks should still be fixed.
 
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crusemm said:
K, I understand your frustration, especially after dealing with the pool store. The store says, add a bottle of this and a bottle of that and poof- like magic all of your problems are gone. I've been in the same boat, as have most of the people on this site at one time or another. Pool care is not difficult or magic. It can be frustrating, especially when it's a 100 degrees and all you want to do is jump in and cool off. You are currently in a situation where you have been presented with 2 choices to make your pool swimmable. 1) drain your pool and refill with clean algae free water, adding CYA and chlorine as you fill to kill what gets left behind and ensure you have a sanitary swim environment. OR 2) follow SLAM Process with your current volume of water until you have water that's clear enough to swim in. You have to weigh the costs and benefits of each. If you elect to drain your pool, you don't have to drain it all in one shot, you can drain/fill in smaller steps, just realize that it is less effective that way, will take longer, and will require more chemicals.

This i don't understand. If you had problems holding water after draining, wouldn't you still have problems now? Unless you fixed whatever was causing the leaks. In that case though, those leaks should still be fixed.
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Yes for some reason it is holding water better, but if there is still a leak the pool company can't find it till the pool is clear so that's another things we are trying to do so they can make sure we don't have a leak or they can find it if we do.
 
Almost there my free chlorine is 5.5 and cc is 2.5 so I'm going to add a couple few more gallons and try and maintain that level. How long do I do this for? And what's next?
 
Have you read this? Please read again, if you have questions, we will help.

www.troublefreepool.com

SLAM - Shock Level and Maintain

We’ve all had to deal with a green pool. Clear algae from your pool with a SLAM! Read here to use shock level and maintain to clear your pool.
www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com

This is the process you need to follow. The more often you can test and get your FC back to the target SLAM FC for your CYA level, the better. Use this chart, click on SLAM to see your target for your FC.
www.troublefreepool.com

The Free Chlorine and Cyanuric Acid Relationship

Managing your cyanuric acid and Free Chlorine levels is key to stabilizing your pool. Learn how these two items affect each other.
www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com

Test and add liquid chlorine every couple of hours to get back to your SLAM target from the Chlorine/CYA chart for SLAM level. My pool looked like yours last year. Took about 40-45 gallons of Liquid Chlorine to clear following this process. Came here because the pool store sold me $$$ of stuff and after 2 weeks it wasn't clear. If this doesn't make sense after reading this and the articles, come back with your questions and we will help!

Using this process, it took me 5 days. Since then I follow the advice here and pool maintenance is simple.

For inspiration:How Clear is TFP Clear? Let's See (Pics Please).
 

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