Nothing but Issues

[bozzburg]

Hello All,

Major problems this year opening. Savvy pool owner here. Been opening, closing, maintaining my own pool for 14 years. My pool is a 27' x 52" ABV. Usual process, has always been the same for opening. Water is crystal clear in 3-5 days after opening. This year is a whole different story.

We have been getting TONS of rain here in NJ. Opened my pool, dark green algae. I shocked the pool, water got very blue and cloudy after about a day and a half. Went to work brushing and vac. Best I could see. Water started clearing and getting a little clearer. I noticed a huge blob in the center of my pool. Could barely see it. Then it got disturbed and it was like a nuclear bomb of algae. Long and short story is, after about 2 weeks of shocking and filtering, the water wasnt getting any better. I drained it. Cleaned the pool out with a shop vac and scrubbed it. After it was full again, I noticed light yellow blob like patches and upon looking this up, all signs poi t to yellow algae.

I went to go vac and when I turned to pump on, of course alot of it got stirred up and clouded the water again. I left the filter on all night and got up and the water wasnt even filtering after running all night. I back washed and it was mega cloudy with a yellow tint.

I've never dealt with this before. But it seems like my sand filter isnt going to get the job done here if it was all clogged up after running over night with this. Not to mention, we are going to get slammed with rain here in NJ until Friday. I'm leery about adding anything chemical wise into the pool. Advice????

 

[mknauss]

Welcome to the forum!
You need to SLAM Process. To do that, you need a proper test kit - see Test Kits Compared. What test kit are you using?
If you need to order a test kit, I suggest the TF100XL from TF-100 Test Kit ™
While you wait on your test kit, add 5 ppm FC worth of liquid chlorine to the pool each evening with the pump running.

I suggest you read ABC's of Pool Water Chemistry and consider reviewing the entire Pool School eBook.

 

[tim5055]

I'm going to guess that you have consistently used 3" tabs for your chlorination and tossed in a bag or two of granular shock each weekend? If so, you have reached the point that your pool is "over stabilized", meaning it has too much stabilizer/CYA.

I will tell you, it didn't turn green overnight and it will take time to clear. But, we can teach you how to get it sparkling and keep it that way for a lot less money than the pool store.

Not much credence is given to pool store testing around here. While you would think that a "professional" would be the best, unfortunately in most cases it is quite the opposite. Between employees who blindly trust the word of chemical sales representatives and high school kids working in the pool store for the summer you end up with poor results from their testing. Plus, the results of their "testing" is used to convince you that you need to buy things. Why do you think that testing is free?

But, what can you do?? We base our pool care system on accurate testing and only adding what the pool needs, when it needs it. To do that you need your own accurate test kit. Order a http://tftestkits.net/TF-100-Test-Kit-p4.html and at least include the XL Option. That will give you what you need while you are clearing the pool, and probably enough reagents for a couple of years normal use.

While you wait for it to get delivered, you have a homework reading assignment. Start with these:

ABC's of Pool Water Chemistry

There are several items things every pool owner should know about swimming pool water. We share details on the basics of Pool Water Chemistry.

www.troublefreepool.com

Recommended Pool Chemicals

Which should I buy? TFP's recommended pool chemicals are cheap, easy, and won't unbalance your pool water.

www.troublefreepool.com

How to Chlorinate Your Pool

Before chlorinating your pool, you should know these simple tips. Learn the best way to add chlorine to your pool.

www.troublefreepool.com

Please don't go to the pool store for a test kit. To effectively practice the TFPC methods, the FAS/DPD chlorine test is essential. The TF-100 Test Kit ™ has this test while very few other kits do. The kits sold at the pool store generally won't won't cut it, but be careful pool store employees are known to say “it's the same thing”. Generally it's not!

Until you get your kit, each day I want you to put one bottle of bleach (yes, the same stuff you use for laundry) in the pool with the filter running. Be careful, it needs to be plain bleach, no scents, no EZ-Pour and none of the new Cloramax or laundry enhancing formulas.

Continue brushing and running the filter, backwashing the filter as necessary.

 

[bozzburg]

I'm going to guess that you have consistently used 3" tabs for your chlorination and tossed in a bag or two of granular shock each weekend? If so, you have reached the point that your pool is "over stabilized", meaning it has too much stabilizer/CYA.

I will tell you, it didn't turn green overnight and it will take time to clear. But, we can teach you how to get it sparkling and keep it that way for a lot less money than the pool store.

Not much credence is given to pool store testing around here. While you would think that a "professional" would be the best, unfortunately in most cases it is quite the opposite. Between employees who blindly trust the word of chemical sales representatives and high school kids working in the pool store for the summer you end up with poor results from their testing. Plus, the results of their "testing" is used to convince you that you need to buy things. Why do you think that testing is free?

But, what can you do?? We base our pool care system on accurate testing and only adding what the pool needs, when it needs it. To do that you need your own accurate test kit. Order a http://tftestkits.net/TF-100-Test-Kit-p4.html and at least include the XL Option. That will give you what you need while you are clearing the pool, and probably enough reagents for a couple of years normal use.

While you wait for it to get delivered, you have a homework reading assignment. Start with these:

ABC's of Pool Water Chemistry

There are several items things every pool owner should know about swimming pool water. We share details on the basics of Pool Water Chemistry.

www.troublefreepool.com

Recommended Pool Chemicals

Which should I buy? TFP's recommended pool chemicals are cheap, easy, and won't unbalance your pool water.

www.troublefreepool.com

How to Chlorinate Your Pool

Before chlorinating your pool, you should know these simple tips. Learn the best way to add chlorine to your pool.

www.troublefreepool.com

Please don't go to the pool store for a test kit. To effectively practice the TFPC methods, the FAS/DPD chlorine test is essential. The TF-100 Test Kit ™ has this test while very few other kits do. The kits sold at the pool store generally won't won't cut it, but be careful pool store employees are known to say “it's the same thing”. Generally it's not!

Until you get your kit, each day I want you to put one bottle of bleach (yes, the same stuff you use for laundry) in the pool with the filter running. Be careful, it needs to be plain bleach, no scents, no EZ-Pour and none of the new Cloramax or laundry enhancing formulas.

Continue brushing and running the filter, backwashing the filter as necessary.

Hmm.... I've never used household bleach. I read the chlorinating section and read the difference between that and store bought chlorine. So one bottle of bleach a day until clear? After the pool is clear, are you suggesting I use household bleach from there on out? Should I still be using tabs? This throws a monkey wrench into things for me here. As I said, up until this year, opening the pool has been easy.

For maintenance purposes, AFTER the pool is clear, how much should I be using for a 19,000 gallon pool?

 

[tim5055]

Hmm.... I've never used household bleach. I read the chlorinating section and read the difference between that and store bought chlorine. So one bottle of bleach a day until clear? After the pool is clear, are you suggesting I use household bleach from there on out? Should I still be using tabs? This throws a monkey wrench into things for me here. As I said, up until this year, opening the pool has been easy.

For maintenance purposes, AFTER the pool is clear, how much should I be using for a 19,000 gallon pool?

You need to read thru the links I provided. Household "bleach" is the same as "store bought chlorine", just different percentages. In it's natural state, chlorine is a gas. Many large commercial pools actually use gas injection systems to chlorinate their pools. Now, to change chlorine into something we can use at home it needs to be bound to something to turn it into a solid.

The "somethings" that are commonly used are stabilizer (also known as CYA), calcium, lithium, or --- get this water. All of these add a little salt to your water, but they add something else.

Cal-Hypo add calcium,

Tri-Chlor and Di-Chlor (tabs and most granules) add stabilizer,

Lithium hypochlorite adds lithium,

liquid chlorine adds - water

All of these things can be bad for your pool (except the water) in large quantities. The stabilizer helps shield the chlorine from UV degradation, but at higher levels it also impairs the ability of chlorine to do it's work. As I said (and I think you confirmed with your comment "Should I still be using tabs?") I'm going to guess that you have consistently used 3" tabs for your chlorination and tossed in a bag or two of granular shock each weekend. Stabilizer (also known as CYA, I'm going to use this for ease of writing) builds up in the pool. It degrades very slowly Again, I'm guessing because we don't have test results that your CYA is very high.

The tabs you are using and Dichlor "shock" are roughly 50% CYA.

No, not one bottle of bleacy until clear, one bottle of bleach until you get a test kit we can rely on the numbers. Once we have numbers, we can lead you thru the SLAM - Shock Level and Maintain - Trouble Free Pool