New pool owner

[Rainemargoliner]

Ok so just to start I would like to say hind site is 20/20 but here we are. I was “talked into” buying a minimum maintenance pool by salesman. I have a 24ft x 52 in round above ground pool with inline power ionizer and printed vinyl liner. I was instructed to run the pentair sand pump about 12 hours a day with the ionizer and setting 3. I also am to put 1-2 gallons of regular household bleach once a week. I was told upon purchase that is all the maintenance required. Having my 9 year old son I was excited about not having massive amounts of chemicals or Chlorine in the pool however I want it to be sanitary. I am having trouble keeping it clean even though I follow directions. The 2nd week my water got cloudy and had white algae floating. I took sample to Leslie who sold me clarifying phosphorus remover and 2 bags of chlorine free shock. Pool was clean for about a week and now I wake up to green water. When I took sample to the local pool company they tested water and here are results:
Free chlorine 1.4 pH 8.1 total alk 147 hardness 85 CYA 24 Copper 1.1 and the temp was 101f when I checked on ionizer screen. Also there is very low traffic in my pool, usually only my son and I a few days a week. I was sold today 2 bottles of mineral remover for the high copper and said run pump for 24 hrs then 6 bags of 1 lb shock to use after. My son has a pool party for his birthday a week from tomorrow and nobody can get in the pool right now, I don’t want to ruin his party. I also need some daily or weekly maintenance tips to prevent this from happening. I don’t mind putting a bit more chlorine if need but I don’t want to ruin ionizer. I have thought about removing ionizer and going with regular maintenance but I was told it will void my warranty on the pool I just spent thousands of dollar on. Please help! Thanks in advance and sorry for long post!

 

[YippeeSkippy]

OH Rain.... i hate to hear/read stories like this! You have been entirely misled by the pool seller. Your pool most certainly does require chlorine, in a daily dose. Ionizers are a joke on outdoor pools- the small amount of water that passes over the light *might* get cleaned, but there is nothing residual in the water for once it hits the rest of the pool water and swimmers.

Chlorine gets used up by contaminates in the water (sweat, dirt, pee, etc) and also by the sun naturally. So to help chlorine last longer we "stabilize" it with CYA stabilizer.

Copper is a horrible thing to add to a pool as it stains the pool and turns blonds into green haired elves. "Mineral Remover" isn't *really* a remover.

You need to stop going to all pool stores and read PoolSchool. We teach you to test your water yourself and what to add to have sparkling clear water.
Please order either the K-2006C or the TF-100 test kit (www.tftestkits.net or poolsupplyworld.com or Amazon) The TF-100 direct from TFTestkits is the cheapest and ships quick from NC.

Any chance you could drain and refill the pool?? That's going to be your quickest fix. Just leave a foot of water in the bottom so that the liner doesn't shift and refill. Are you on city or well water?

Then you'll learn to test daily or every other day, and add either liquid chlorine or plain household bleach for your chlorine needs. You'll need very little else, but your testing will show that.

Can you do that?

Maddie