HTH Green to Blue Shock System - PROBLEM!!

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I recently opened my pool...and of course there was major algae. So I went to Walmart (idiot that I am ) and bought HTH Green to Blue Shock System! Of course who reads the box....but apparently this product does not work with Cartridge Filters. It seemed to work, I vacuumed up all the particles cleaned the filter, etc...but now my pool is a blueish/grayish cloudy color.

I called up HTH and they tell me I need to drain the pool because I'm not supposed to use this product with a Cartridge system! No other way to fix this blueish/grayish problem! Is this true....?? Am I simply missing something?? http://www.archchemicals.com/Fed/HTH/Tr ... efault.htm

And what are the dangers of draining the pool? Someone once told me it can pop out of the ground....! Boy is my wife going to kill me! :blah:

-Barrier Reef Fiberglass Pool
-Hayward Pump
-Hayward Cartridge Filter
-AquaComfort Salt Chlorine Generator

 

[jblizzle]

Welcome

Draining is risky, but it is not required. You will just have to clean your filter a LOT!!! (which you would have to do anyway to remove all the algae.) All the HTH probably did was make the algae clump together.

Just keep cleaning the filter when the pressure goes up 25% of the clean pressure.

Also read Pool School (button in upper right) and specifically:
Defeating Algae
Turning Your Green Swamp Back into a Sparkling Oasis
Shocking Your Pool

EDIT: Looks like that stuff is just cal-hypo ... repackaged to be more expensive probably. That is also adding calcium (CH) to your pool and it is not uncommon for cal-hypo to make your water cloudy ... even if you did not have a lot of algae now.

 

[JasonLion]

Welcome to TFP!

For the Blue to Green system to work correctly you need to be able to vacuum to waste. Very few cartridge filter systems are able to do that. But that isn't a permanent problem, you can still clean up the pool in the normal way, it may take a little while, but it will work.

If you haven't already, take a look at the How To Shock Your Pool article in Pool School. It covers most of the details.

 

[[email protected]]

I came home tonight and my pressure level was around 30 and my Salt Generator "No Flo" light was on....thus the filter was clogged!

I hosed down the cartridge....very difficult to clean than normal....this "stuff" is like paste of something! After an hour I got it cleaned up reinstalled the cartridge (only 2 days old by the way) and normal water flow returned....! But after about 3.5 hours the water flow slowed down and the "No Flo" light turned on again on the Salt Generator.....thus the cartridge is clogged again....! I guess this will be a long process and continue to clean the cartridge....probably I'll have to replace it once the water really clears up...

Thank you guys for the good advice...I do have some sense of peace that I don't actually have to empty the water out of the pool...which scares the cr@p out of me...!

 

[Bama Rambler]

As you see, you'll have to clean the filter very often in the beginning but the further along you get in the process the greater time you'll go between cleanings. Once you're done you should perform a really good cleaning/soak on the cartridge(s) but I doubt you'll need to replace them.

 

[[email protected]]

*update*

WHATEVER is in this Crud HTH Green to Blue Shock treatment....it is nasty! There is still some residual powder still stuck on the "skimmer walls"....I had to scrub it off with an abrasive sponge.... DO NOT USE THIS Crud!!!

So far so good.....! I've been at it for about a week now...and the water is definitely looking clearer...! I have to wash down/hose off the filter about 3 times a day after running the pumps for about 7 hours....with each day I've been able to increase the time I run the pumps...thus making the water clearer. On Monday night I shocked the water again and last night (Tuesday) noticed the "dark yellow cotton" stuff on the bottom of the pool...so more manual vacuuming at 12AM! ....not perfect yet...but soon....!

 

[jblizzle]

Glad you are making progress, but you can not "shock" a pool one night ... correctly done, shocking is a continual process that is described in the links in my first post. You should be maintaining your FC above shock level the entire time you are trying to clear the pool.

 

[JamesW]

HTH "Green to Blue" is a three part process. Step 1 is shocking to kill the algae using Calcium Hypochlorite. Step 2 is adding a flocculent (aluminum chloride aka Aluminum chlorohydrate) to drop the dead algae out of the water. Step 3 is vacuuming to waste.

If you can figure out how to vacuum to waste, that would save you a lot of work.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUrS_nTOBAs

Green to Blue I is 52 % calcium hypochlorite. Green to Blue II is the flocculent (Aluminum Chlorohydrate).

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