New Guy Needing Help. Fresh Filled Pool looks like a Lagoon

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M

ManBearPig

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Jun 28, 2017
16
Nashville, TN
Hi all, this is my inaugural first post here to the forums. I found this site by searching various pool related help topics on google.

Just as a quick introduction to let you know where I'm coming from....I am a 100% complete newbie to pools. Two weeks ago, I didn't know any more about pools than I did about performing brain surgery. I was aware that both of these things existed, but that was the extent of my knowledge.

Several weeks ago, A friend of mine offered to give me an inexpensive Wal-Mart pool. He bought it last year as a cheap way to see if his kids would actually use a pool enough to warrant spending a significant amount of money one a good one. They used it almost nonstop last summer, so they began construction of their new pool earlier this summer, and offered me this one. I'm not much for pools honestly, but my wife is. We swam in this pool once or twice at my friend's house last year and it was enjoyable enough that I figured it would be worth putting up if I could get into it for free. The pool is an 18'x4' "Summer Waves" above ground model. It uses a paper cartridge filter and by my math, holds about 6700 gallons. I spent a week prepping the site where the pool needed to go, which was in itself way more work than I had bargained for. Had I known what would be involved to level out what already appeared to be a level spot, I never would have taken this pool. But after several days I had reached the point of no return and would either end up with a pool in my yard or a big muddy mess, so despite my better judgement, I carried on and got everything ready to go. We put up the pool Monday afternoon. We got it all set up and it was a bit dirty. Apparently he didn't clean it very well when putting it up for storage last year. It had a fair amount of sand all over it, some dead grass, and some lightly discolored areas...probably just from being stored in a shed all winter. I spent about an our with a brush and some simple green getting it cleaned out. Rinsed it down and used a shop vac to get most of the dirty water out. Looking back...I should've spent much more effort getting it perfectly clean. But I got it good enough given the temporary nature of the pool, and began filling. After about an hour and a half I got in and waded around before dark. It was shin deep at this point and was looking great. Water was clear, pool looked clean. I was happy and went to bed. I figured that it would be full by about 2am, so I set my alarm for 1am to get back up and turn the water off. I wanted to make sure I didn't overfill it accidentally. At 1am It was really only about half full but I turned it off anyway and went to bed. It was dark out, so I didn't notice what the water looked like at this point. I got up Tuesday morning and was disappointed to see that the pool looked like a lagoon. It was about 2.5-3' deep at this point and you could not see the bottom. The water was a murky aqua color. Not green like some pools I've seen pictures of, but definitely greenish-blue and not even remotely clear. I was disappointed but went on to work, and spent most of my day searching about what to do. I started reading and became hugely overwhelmed. There are so many abbreviations I don't understand, and so many chemicals I see recommended. I'm already starting to see dollar signs here. I asked my friend for advice...he said he never experienced anything like this. His routine was to always keep a chlorine tab handy, shock the pool every week or two, and test ph and chlorine levels every few days. His pool always looked crystal clear doing this. I picked up some shock on the way home (the stuff he used...Clorox Xtra Blue) to put in as soon as the pool was full. As I waited for it to finish filling, I used the test kit he had given me. I'm sure this is a cheapo kit and you guys will recommend a better one...but this is what I had at the time. The tester showed a chlorine level of practically zero (no surprise..I hadn't even finished filling yet) and a ph of 7.4. My tester does not test for anything else, although there are at least a dozen other levels that can be tested I've seen here. I finished filling the pool last night, turned on the pump/filter, broadcast half the bottle of shock (per the instructions on the bottle for this size pool) and went to bed. I hoped to see a drastic difference this morning but it looks the same. Pump has now been running for just over 12 hours. Chlorine and ph are both now showing way high....higher than the tester goes. I added 6oz of Clorox algaecide about an hour ago because I found some in the kit my friend gave me. I'm working from home today so I can keep an eye on the pool, but at this point I'm not sure what else to do. I know the "correct" thing to do is order an expensive test kit and spend hours of homework learning about pools. I'll be honest...I'm not sure I'm willing to do that. Summer is only going to last another 2 months here. If I spend another 3 weeks and several hundred dollars trying to get this thing in decent shape, it completely defeats the purpose of putting this pool up. If that's what I'm faced with I may just take it down and give up. But before I do...can anyone recommend what I should try next? Maybe some light reading a new guy could understand? Some cheap chemicals, or something easy I can try?

Thanks for reading my novel, and I appreciate any input
 
To make sense of all the abbreviations: ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry

You are correct. We are going to tell you to buy an expensive test kit. That's the only way to measure the chlorine levels as high as you'll need to go. You won't have a huge amount of debris in the pool since it just filled, so it shouldn't take but a few days to clean it up, done properly. The kit will likely last two seasons before you need refills. Weigh that expense against the copay if one of the kids gets an ear infection, pinkeye, or Pseudomonas Dermatitis aka Hot Tub Rash.

If you aren't willing to do it right, drain it and unload the thing on craigslist.
 
Welcome to TFP!
ManBearPig said:
I know the "correct" thing to do is order an expensive test kit and spend hours of homework learning about pools. I'll be honest...I'm not sure I'm willing to do that. Summer is only going to last another 2 months here. If I spend another 3 weeks and several hundred dollars trying to get this thing in decent shape, it completely defeats the purpose of putting this pool up. If that's what I'm faced with I may just take it down and give up
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I understand you are coming from deep frustration with your water, but if that is how you are starting out then I suppose we can only wish you luck in taking down the pool. We can help you get things correct and never have to deal with this sort of problem again, not just fix this problem but prevent more in the future. But that relies on proper information to base our advice and your additions on. If you don't do something differently then you are going to get the same results, so it is up to you if you are willing to do something different to get those different results.

I'm glad you found this site, but if your first post essentially says "I'm not going to give you the information you require, just tell me some stuff to dump in the pool to clear it up" then I'm afraid you are going to be disappointed. You can possibly get that kind of advice from a pool store, but then you will have to invest far more money than any test kit and will still almost certainly be disappointed.
 
I was also overwhelmed at first, but learned very quickly that it's really fairly easy once you learn a few critical concepts (examples: chlorine is king, FC/CYA relationship, getting your pH in range). The reality is that, to do this, you have to have a good test kit and test yourself. If you're not willing to do that, this approach won't work. This site is FULL of experienced and helpful people that can really guide you, but because they can't test the pool themselves, they rely on your testing. Pool store results are generally not trusted as a source for guidance. I will say I spent probably $300 in chemicals my first year, and still spent all my time fighting algae. I bought the TF-100 for $80 or whatever it was in year two, and that's basically all I've spent since then aside from the occasional bleach, salt, and cyanuric acid for maintenance.

As others have noted, it's up to you whether it's worth it relative to the benefit you get from the pool... but to me, it's been a sound investment.
 
First off excellent username. Love that episode of south park

Don't put anything else into your pool right now from the pool store. What you need is liquid bleach. Ordinary house hold liquid bleach. You also need stabilizer also known as CYA. If you click on pool math at the top of the page you can calculate the value of what you need.

You do really need one of the recommended test kits. It's an big upfront cost, but after that you will only be spending a small amount on bleach and maybe other household items relating to PH levels.
 
richierich said:
First off excellent username. Love that episode of south park

Don't put anything else into your pool right now from the pool store. What you need is liquid bleach. Ordinary house hold liquid bleach. You also need stabilizer also known as CYA. If you click on pool math at the top of the page you can calculate the value of what you need.

You do really need one of the recommended test kits. It's an big upfront cost, but after that you will only be spending a small amount on bleach and maybe other household items relating to PH levels.
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ok guys, you're right. I was pretty frustrated when I posted above. Ive done some reading and realize I need to get a proper test kit. When I do, can I post up my results here and get some assistance in making adjustments? These readings will be a good baseline but I don't know enough to know which level to correct first, although it seems as if CYA may be the first level to correct and adjust others afterward. I'm still a bit concerned that even after reaching correct levels, the pool will still look funky. There's an awful lot of something murky in that water. I've been rinsing out the paper cartridge filters every 2-3 hours and they are always saturated with yellow funk. Rinsing them out turns the filter back to bright white and I'm good for several more hours. Does this indicate some kind of chemical imbalance, or some kind of algae? The pool has only been filled for 24 hours now be the pump has been running non stop since it was full. Should I drain, and not refill until I have the test kit handy? The kit may take several days and I'm afraid matters will only get worse in the meantime. Is there anything I should run to the store and pick up while I wait? Some bleach, cya acid...anything else?
thanks again
 
It is entirely possible I did not get all the simple green out. However, I didn't use much. Maybe a dozen sprays from a handheld bottle total. I don't believe we have high iron in the water. Never really noticed an issue with anything else before. Something I forgot to mention is that the cheapie tester I have shows the chlorine level is sky high. Higher than the color gauge registers. I'd think this would kill off anything in the water but I've seen zero difference between now and when I first tested the water at a near zero chlorine level last night.
 
Test strips are so bad I wouldn't even use them. No or little cya in the pool means your clorine is probably already gone.

If I were you, I would do the following:

Order tf100 test kit, others are too small or too big.

Pour in 20-32oz of bleach a day at night, this is a guess to keep things from growing or getting worse. Brush the pool more.

Look at what you put in already and figure out how much cya is in those products, then add more cya to get to 30 ppm, again math and guessing but it will get worked out when you get your kit.

Buy a cheap sand filter and pump off eBay for $120, then buy pool sand locally, you will hate the paper filter and undersized pump.

You can research all above on here for more in depth information. Pools are easy.
 

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cfherrman said:
Test strips are so bad I wouldn't even use them. No or little cya in the pool means your clorine is probably already gone.

If I were you, I would do the following:

Order tf100 test kit, others are too small or too big.

Pour in 20-32oz of bleach a day at night, this is a guess to keep things from growing or getting worse. Brush the pool more.

Look at what you put in already and figure out how much cya is in those products, then add more cya to get to 30 ppm, again math and guessing but it will get worked out when you get your kit.

Buy a cheap sand filter and pump off eBay for $120, then buy pool sand locally, you will hate the paper filter and undersized pump.

You can research all above on here for more in depth information. Pools are easy.
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my water company has the following water quality report on their website listing various chemicals present. I have no idea how to interpret this. Does anyone else know what to make of it?


http://pvudwater.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/2016-CCR-Surface-Water.pdf

thanks
 
As with most Drinking Water reports, they don't list most of the things critical to pool care, but just the contaminants which are regulated for DW standards. Things like Lead, and Chrome 6. They don't have to list secondary contaminants like Calcium, or other things that interest you such as pH, and TA. The only way to know is to test them yourself.
 
I used well water to fill my pool. It looked great at one foot deep. By the time the pool was filled, I couldn't see bottom. Some well water has A LOT of suspended solids in it. It took my sand filter several days to clear my pool on the first fill. Each time I do a fill to open the pool, I can expect my water to look bad for a day or two.

And yes, like the others have mentioned, you will need a good test kit.
 
Ive tried to attach some pictures here....not sure if it's working. My concern now is that our city water is hard and has lots of minerals and the water is simply dirty, not necessarily chemically off. Will a test kit and the proper chemical levels being obtained clear up dirty water?
 
IMG_0307.jpg
S1ngram said:
I used well water to fill my pool. It looked great at one foot deep. By the time the pool was filled, I couldn't see bottom. Some well water has A LOT of suspended solids in it. It took my sand filter several days to clear my pool on the first fill. Each time I do a fill to open the pool, I can expect my water to look bad for a day or two.

And yes, like the others have mentioned, you will need a good test kit.
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we didn't use well water, but I'm wondering if our city water is just gross. We experienced the same...t a foot deep it looked great. Once half full it was blue-green and nasty. Will the proper testing and chemicals clear this up if do just have dirty water?

IMG_0306.jpg
 
This is a cheap pool and I'm concerned the pump/filter is really only designed to maintain good water. I doubt it's efficient enough to clean up nasty water. It's pulling lots of nasty stuff out, but has not made a detectable difference in how the pool looks after 24 hours of running nonstop
 
Keep going. But it is hard to help further without knowing your water chemistry. Once you have readings from a reliable test, then we cna give better advice. The most expensive thing you will need to buy is the testing kit. After that, the chemicals you will need will be very cheap. If you go to the pool store, you will receive advice base don likely inaccurate tests and they will recommend hundreds of dollars of magic potions that may or may not work, and will add things in the water that you may not want. The method recommended here is cheaper and ultimately better. Once your pool is clear, it is very simple to maintain and you will see that. You can leave the deep thinking parts of water chemistry to the experienced members here. I have learned a great deal and learn more each time I search this forum. But keeping your pool crystal clear has become amazingly simple by following the advice given here.
 
Bandit5 said:
Keep going. But it is hard to help further without knowing your water chemistry. Once you have readings from a reliable test, then we cna give better advice. The most expensive thing you will need to buy is the testing kit. After that, the chemicals you will need will be very cheap. If you go to the pool store, you will receive advice base don likely inaccurate tests and they will recommend hundreds of dollars of magic potions that may or may not work, and will add things in the water that you may not want. The method recommended here is cheaper and ultimately better. Once your pool is clear, it is very simple to maintain and you will see that. You can leave the deep thinking parts of water chemistry to the experienced members here. I have learned a great deal and learn more each time I search this forum. But keeping your pool crystal clear has become amazingly simple by following the advice given here.
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my concern is that I'll get the test kit and get all levels where they need to be and still have a murky pool due to my hard water and inefficient pump/filter. Or will that not be a problem once all the correct levels are reached?
 
ManBearPig said:
my concern is that I'll get the test kit and get all levels where they need to be and still have a murky pool due to my hard water and inefficient pump/filter. Or will that not be a problem once all the correct levels are reached?
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Welcome to TFP!

Nope, once all your levels are in the right range, you'll have beautiful clean water! Don't get me wrong, it will take a little bit of time to get that cleared up because there's no such thing as a magic potion that you add once and be done.

Hard water will not be an issue, there are easy ways to manage that.

Read up on the SLAM article. It will be your best friend until your water is clear.

Since this is a used pool, there may have been some "stuff" left on the pool or in the filters when it was put away and that's come out now to cloud your water.

And no more "blue" products, only bleach. The items with "blue" in the name have copper in them.
 

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