Need Help - Cannot clear cloudy/green water

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Re: HELP- Algae problem w/ time crunch - is draining the answer?

Draining and refilling is not going to help much at all, just like you said, you still have all the algae to deal with once you have it refilled.

The good news is you should have time to get it clean before your graduation party.The real experts will be along soon and can help you a lot more then me, but if I were you I would start with this article.

http://www.troublefreepool.com/turning-your-green-swamp-back-into-a-sparking-oasis-t4147.html

Edit I see the experts are already helping you in another thread so follow there advise
 
Re: HELP- Algae problem w/ time crunch - is draining the answer?

Draining doesn't fix it. I learned that the hard way, and actually lost ground with the algae when I did this.

When I drained it down to where it was supposed to be the algae had the entire time it took to refill the pool to thrive in fresh water! :rant:


Then after I refilled, the water was as cloudy and murky as when I started, and then I had a concentration of algae.

I would suggest going to "Pool School" in the top banner. It saved me from asking a lot of questions that had already been asked, and saved me time on waiting on responses.
 
Re: HELP- Algae problem w/ time crunch - is draining the answer?

erivette said:
I am buying Clorox, it is 1.42 gallons or 182 oz of 6% bleach. I just went and looked at them to confirm. I have bought out the shelves at Walmart and HEB. Yes, after about one hour I reach shock level (16-20), by about 3 or 4 hours I am back at 0-0.5. I, too, came up with the 4-182oz. bottles needed to reach shock level and that's what I put in when I'm at 0. After a few hours if it's not all the way back to 0 I use poolcalculator.com to decide what to put in, generally another 2 bottles at least. Monday morning I checked it before work, added chlorine, and could actually see the designs on the bottom of the pool (6:30am), when I got home (3:30pm) the entire pool looked yellowish green and I couldn't see anything, not even cloudy, just very odd water. I'm having a graduation party for my son on Sunday, 5/31, and need to have the pool fixed by then. Do I stand a chance??? Should I just drain it and refill???
Click to expand...

Well I'll admit I always assumed :oops: the large Wal-Mart jugs were the same size as the large Clorox jugs...never checked, just bought the generic cause it was cheaper.

You are testing with strips, to see if you reached shock? That's one issue, you need the FAS-DPD test, part of the TF100 and once you have it you'll be better off there.

Are you running the filter 24/7? When you say backwashed, many many times... sometimes dirty sand filters better. Are you backwashing too much maybe? Does your pressure gauge indicate you need to backwash or are you just doing it often? Sometimes adding a little DE to the sand filter will help clarity. Read about that in Pool School.

It may be that the algae is all dead, and the end result now is just cloudiness that needs to be filtered out, sometimes it takes awhile for sand to do it's job. But with a full week away, you should be fine, just keep the FC up and keep filtering 24/7. Try the DE in the filter....read about it here:

http://www.troublefreepool.com/pool-school/add_de_to_a_sand_filter
 
Ok, now I am totally confused. I put 4-182oz bottles of bleach in last night at 7:00pm. I was running late this morning and didn't put anything in it. My son put 3-182oz bottles in at 11:00am. At 2:00pm he took a pool sample and went to a different pool store then I have been going to. These are the readings from 2:30pm:
FC 5.5
TC 5.5
PH 7.9
TA 150
CH 250
CYN 40
TDS 400
The pool no longer looks green, more of a blue now, but I still cannot see the bottom at all. What should I do now?
 
erivette said:
Ok, now I am totally confused. I put 4-182oz bottles of bleach in last night at 7:00pm. I was running late this morning and didn't put anything in it. My son put 3-182oz bottles in at 11:00am. At 2:00pm he took a pool sample and went to a different pool store then I have been going to. These are the readings from 2:30pm:
FC 5.5
TC 5.5
PH 7.9
TA 150
CH 250
CYN 40
TDS 400
The pool no longer looks green, more of a blue now, but I still cannot see the bottom at all. What should I do now?
Click to expand...
The fact that it's looking more blue is good.
I still don't trust the pool store readings BUT IF THEY ARE CORRECT the FC shock level for a CYA of 40 is 16, the Target FC is 5
http://www.troublefreepool.com/pool-school/chlorine_cya_chart_shock
The only way to be 100% sure is with a good test kit.

The fact that you can't see the bottom is not surprising. There's been lots of algae floating around and it WILL continue to come back if you don't shock the pool.

In addition, the PH needs to come down, as chlorine is much more effective at lower PH levels. See Jason's Pool Calculator http://www.poolcalculator.com/ to tell you exactly how to get from 7.9 to 7.4.
 
Yep,I agree w/Fuzzy.

Lower your pH first. Then shock and hold shock level best you can. Make sure to bring to shock level this eve after the sun is off your pool.

Can't wait 'til you get your TF100 and can test your own water! :lol: :goodjob:
 
Ok, at 7pm I put in 2 qts of muriatic acid per the pool calculator. At 9pm I am going to put in 3-182oz bottles of Clorox to reach shock level tonight. The pressure on the sand filter is normal so I don't need to backwash. Tomorrow we will brush and vaccuum the entire pool again and keep at shock level. I've got my fingers crossed that I'm headed in the right direction. How long can it take for the water to clear? I'm very concerned about the party next weekend.
 

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Keep bringing it up to shock levels, brush the daylights out of it and keep your pump on! DO NOT let your chlorine fall under 16ppm and you should be fine.

As suggested before, if you add some DE to your sand filter through the skimmer, you could filter some of the finer stuff out too! Just keep at it! :whip:
 
Ok, I put 3-182oz bottles of Clorox and 2 qts muriatic acid in the pool last night. I put 3-182oz bottles of Clorox in about 12pm (no sun today). These are my readings from 4pm:

FC 5.5
TC 5.5
PH 7.6
TA 160
CH 250
CYN 50
TDS 400

I don't understand how the alkalinity went up. Anyway we just finished brushing the pool and now the water is not as blue. I just put one qt muriatic acid in and was about to add bleach when the storm clouds rolled in and it started to drizzle. I will hit the pool with bleach as soon as the rain stops. I feel like I'm going backwards. What am I doing wrong???
 
erivette said:
Ok, I put 3-182oz bottles of Clorox and 2 qts muriatic acid in the pool last night. I put 3-182oz bottles of Clorox in about 12pm (no sun today). These are my readings from 4pm:

FC 5.5
TC 5.5
PH 7.6
TA 160
CH 250
CYN 50
TDS 400

I don't understand how the alkalinity went up.
This could just be a testing error. I'd ignore it for now.

Anyway we just finished brushing the pool and now the water is not as blue. I just put one qt muriatic acid in and was about to add bleach when the storm clouds rolled in and it started to drizzle. I will hit the pool with bleach as soon as the rain stops. I feel like I'm going backwards. What am I doing wrong???
Can you do the overnight test tonight? Bring it to shock level, wait 30 mins. with pump running, then retest to make sure you hit shock level. If you did not hit shock level, (use The Pool Calculator) & add enough to get you to shock level, wait 30 mins. w/pump running & retest. If you are at shock level, good, you are done for tonight. Then, in the morning, before the sun hits your pool, restest for FC and CC. If you lose 1ppm FC or less, and have .5CC or less, then you are done shocking. If this is the case, it would seem that the filter either needs more time to clear your pool or the filter may have some issues.
Click to expand...
 
Unfortunately my TS100 has not arrived. All I have to use are test strips, except for the times I have gone to the pool store. According to my strips I have been at shock level for an hour now. I will test it again first thing in the morning and update this string. My filter is running at 18psi and has very strong output. The filter and sand are less than a year old. I will look at the filter size, but it's the biggest one the pool store sold. Looks like a giant grenade LOL. Earlier I added DE to it as instructed. I have my fingers crossed, but feel like I'm getting nowhere. Of course the pool store wanted to sell me all kinds of things, but I resisted and am putting my faith in those of you trying to help me. I truly appreciate your time!!!
 
I wish the TF100 would hurry up and get here already. Without that, the best I can tell you is that according to my strips, the fc and cc haven't changed, but there's no way to get to 1ppm or 0.5ppm. The pool seems more blue again but still can't see the bottom, can only see the top 2 steps. The skimmers are still completely empty so I'm sure I've gotten all debris, filter sitting at 18psi. I did notice a few spots of an odd brownish color on the steps and ran my finger across it and it dissipated. First time I've seen anything that color. Is this something new and/or part of my problem?
 

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