We had our pool closed by a pool service last year as I had just bought the house and had a baby and really didn't have time to worry about the pool. I've never owned a pool and kinda thought I'd take the mesh cover off and it would be a little green but mostly clear. Well I was soooo wrong. I had a little anxiety attack when I saw it. It was nasty dark opaque green. I guess you guys call it a swamp. I also thought paying $270 was for them to get the pool up and running. They dumped 3 bags of shock, 1 bag of algaecide and said to bring a water sample in 2 days later. Well, the next day it wasn't much better at all. So I tested using the strips that the previous owner had left. And the Ph, Alkalinity, FC and Stability were so low they weren't registering. I read a little online and bought and dumped in a box of borax and baking soda. Then 'shocked it' with 2 bottles of mega shock. Until I read this forum yesterday, I thought you just dump in a couple bottles of shock and its shocked. Day 3 I took a sample in and they said all I need was a little chlorine and to bring my alkalinity up. He also said my calcium was a little low but not to worry about that until my chemicals were stable. He didn't give me the print out. They said once it was up the ph would go up. I bought 3 bags of calcium hypochloride (I think thats what its called) because it had more chlorine and I figured it was low on calcium so it was ok. I also bought 4 bottles of 12.5% liquid chlorine (for 2.99 good price) And after the 3 bags of cal.hypo. in 30 min. showed .5 on the strip. Added 2 bottles and tested a couple hours later....back to 0. So then I found you guys online yesterday. I read a lot and think I'm heading in the right direction. I added 15 bottles of 12.5 chlorine last and finally got it to 10 ppm. I have a sock with stabalizer in it but the stabalizer is still reading so low that my strips won't really pick it up. This morning woke to 8 ppm. Now this is a rough estimate because all I have is strip tests and didn't know there was anything else til yesterday.
But heres the thing...pool is greener than it was yesterday. I've been brushing but I can't see past a few feet. Tried to scoop anything on the bottom and either theres not much debris or I'm not seeing it and missing. Heres the numbers according to strips.
FC 8
PH 7.2 barely
TA 80
Stability not registering
So...do I keep it at shock level? Should I wait until night time to shock because of the low CYA or should I just keep dumping in shock and keeping it high? Can I use my dolphin? the shallow end of the pool shows a little debris but not much. Its super murky looking and greenish. Please help me! Wish I could just tear the pool out.
But heres the thing...pool is greener than it was yesterday. I've been brushing but I can't see past a few feet. Tried to scoop anything on the bottom and either theres not much debris or I'm not seeing it and missing. Heres the numbers according to strips.
FC 8
PH 7.2 barely
TA 80
Stability not registering
So...do I keep it at shock level? Should I wait until night time to shock because of the low CYA or should I just keep dumping in shock and keeping it high? Can I use my dolphin? the shallow end of the pool shows a little debris but not much. Its super murky looking and greenish. Please help me! Wish I could just tear the pool out.