Hoping someone can give me some feedback about an algae bloom and my corrective measures.

new2agp

Member
Mar 7, 2023
7
Iowa
Pool Size
10000
Surface
Vinyl
Chlorine
Liquid Chlorine
I don't post here, but I actually read it all the time. Earlier this week, I noticed the cloudy water and realized I was out of shock, which is what I needed to do right away. I had to wait 24 hours for that to be delivered (after I ordered it online,) and by the time it got here we were fully green with bloom.

So I put in 2 bags of shock that night before I went to bed. But it is also a trichlor shock. I've never used trichlor granules.

We have cleaned the filter and done all of the vacuuming. Honestly, we have followed routine
to get rid of the green because we are having a party on Saturday.

Thursdays, before the end of the night, I had added four more bags of shock. Testing all along. CYA WAS ABOUT 65-70. Ph is 7.5 or close and free chlorine hovers around 3-4, no matter what I add.

We dumped a whole bunch of water and added new.

Since all of this started on Wednesday, I figured it would be fine by tonight. But it is not. It is still green. So today I added two jugs 6% -128 oz ounces each sodium hypochlorite.

Of course. I'm wishing I would have used my normal shock, which seems to clear up the green much quicker, but I decided to order what popped up on Amazon as cheapest, Even though I had never used trichlor.

I really don't like it. I don't know why it's not working the way I expect it.

So I'm probably creating a toxic mess of the water. And nobody's gonna wanna swim tomorrow, even if the green goes away.

I'm just at a loss why it's taking so long. Help?
 
Welcome aboard!!!!

First thing. What are you using to test? You need a recommended test kit. Order it today. Link-->Test Kits Compared

If you have a recommended test kit, then start the SLAM process. Link-->SLAM Process

If you don't, add 5ppm of liquid chlorine a day until it arrives, then follow the SLAM process.
 
I'm using Taylor test. I even put amounts in my post, hoping to avoid these questions, and get to the matter at hand. I read and heed this site. I just don't post here.

I know all about slam. I've been doing it since I opened the pool last year.
 
I'm using Taylor test. I even put amounts in my post, hoping to avoid these questions, and get to the matter at hand. I read and heed this site. I just don't post here.

I know all about slam. I've been doing it since I opened the pool last year.
You're buying powder shock and dumping it in without even looking to see what it is, you're not following the SLAM Process, you have not posted a full set of test results, and you don't really seem to have a firm grasp on water chemistry.

These are not indicative of someone who regularly reads TFP and heads its instruction, and that is easy to recognize by those offering assistance here. So if you'd like help then there's plenty of people ready to help you, but your reply isn't doing anything helpful towards the goal of fixing your water.
 
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I understand that my response might have been rather flippant, But the thing is, I bought the trichlor Not only because it was cheaper than the calcium hypochlirite i usually use and everything I read said it had a stronger Chlorine content than my bottles of bleach and I wanted to be rid of the algae FAST.
 
I understand that my response might have been rather flippant, But the thing is, I bought the trichlor Not only because it was cheaper than the calcium hypochlirite i usually use and everything I read said it had a stronger Chlorine content than my bottles of bleach and I wanted to be rid of the algae FAST.
Which raised your CYA, higher CYA consumes more chlorine during SLAM. It also takes longer. You *might* be able to do it, but I have not seen a successful slam at 70 or 80 CYA.

Higher FC than slam level FC does not make it go faster. It is just wasting chlorine.
 
My last two cc tests are above 10 and holding, all day, since I added the 2 bottles of bleach this AM. I've added no other chlorine source today. As I said in my first post, I added four packets of trichlor over the last forty eight hours, ending last night at 6 pm. Today 2 bottles of bleach and the TC reads darker than max 10+
 

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Today 2 bottles of bleach and the TC reads darker than max 10+
This is part of the problem. You need a fas/dpd FC test to accurately test your FC level. The comparator block / OTO tests are vague at best and won't even give you an idea for your 28 FC target.
I added four packets of trichlor over the last forty eight hours, ending last night at 6 pm. Today 2 bottles of bleach
This is the other part of the problem. 5 doses over 2.5 days isn't going to move things along quickly. Many people test and add 5 times a day, even when working. Some of us go the extra mile every 2 hours and for even better results.

But you need the right FC test first.

Start over and read the SLAM Process a couple of times. Not enough sank in the last time you read it. It's alot to process and totally uderstandable it didn't all register. :)
 
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