Hi guys, I have a 54 inch 14,000 gallon above ground pool with a (brand new) cartridge filter. It is chlorine, not salt. I have spent about $900 in chemicals and a filter, and my pool is still cloudy blue. I did everything the woman at the pool store told me to do. I put in 2 containers or the milky stuff, 15 pounds of baking soda, acid, 3 bags of shock, and 4 chlorine tablets. I also added a bottle of that super floc stuff that makes all my algae go to the bottom of the pool. This morning, the pool was a little better, and all the dark and yellow algae was in the middle. I vacuumed the best I could with my Pool Blaster Max CG 400, but it seemed to have made it worse. Should I drain my pool completely? It has two jets near the skimmer, am I able to drain it? I don't think I have a vacuum to waste option. I am honestly tired and stressed out. I don't know what the next step is. Should I just hire someone to fix this mess? Thank you for your time.
Tired and Frustrated - Can't Get Rid of Cloudy Pool
- Thread starter Green Hulk
- Start date
- May 3, 2014
- 62,672
- Pool Size
- 6000
- Surface
- Fiberglass
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
Welcome to the forum!
You need to follow the SLAM Process. To do that, you need a proper test kit. I suggest the TF-100/Pro or Taylor K2006C. A proper test kit is needed to get the accurate water chemistry results needed to follow the TFP protocols.
While you are waiting on your test kit, add 5 ppm FC worth of liquid chlorine / plain bleach to your pool each evening with the pump running. This will replenish the FC lost each day to the sun and also inhibit any algae in the water from growing further.
I suggest you read through Pool Care Basics - Trouble Free Pool and even look at a few of our videos TFP-TV - Trouble Free Pool
You need to follow the SLAM Process. To do that, you need a proper test kit. I suggest the TF-100/Pro or Taylor K2006C. A proper test kit is needed to get the accurate water chemistry results needed to follow the TFP protocols.
While you are waiting on your test kit, add 5 ppm FC worth of liquid chlorine / plain bleach to your pool each evening with the pump running. This will replenish the FC lost each day to the sun and also inhibit any algae in the water from growing further.
I suggest you read through Pool Care Basics - Trouble Free Pool and even look at a few of our videos TFP-TV - Trouble Free Pool
Welcome, heed the above advice. However you decide to vacuum don't do it through your filter otherwise your new cartridge/cartridges are trash.
Thanks for the replies, but this seems complicated to me. Also, wouldn’t the Algae still go to the bottom of the pool and need to be vacuumed out? Everytime I try to vacuum, it ends up going everywhere. If I drain my water halfway, could this correct the Problem? Maybe I will drain it all the way, I don’t mind risking my liner shrinking. Thanks again for the help.
- Jul 17, 2019
- 4,069
- Pool Size
- 13000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
I’ll keep it simple:
- chlorine kills algae, that’s it
- our method to kill algae is called a SLAM. It’s basically keeping your chlorine elevated until the algae is dead and gone, usually a week or longer
- to do a SLAM, you need a good test kit
- you need to use liquid chlorine as the powders and pucks have extra stuff in them you don’t want.
- pool stores are not the experts. Their goal is to keep you confused and spending $ as you unfortunately found out.
- chlorine kills algae, that’s it
- our method to kill algae is called a SLAM. It’s basically keeping your chlorine elevated until the algae is dead and gone, usually a week or longer
- to do a SLAM, you need a good test kit
- you need to use liquid chlorine as the powders and pucks have extra stuff in them you don’t want.
- pool stores are not the experts. Their goal is to keep you confused and spending $ as you unfortunately found out.
Another prospective is that even draining your pool will not get rid of the algae. There is live algae now and that needs to be killed using liquid chlorine. Buy at Walmart or Home Depot in the pool section. Then vacuum to waste to suck up the dead algae would avoid putting it through the filter. If you need to drain your pool via siphon hose then try to direct it where dead algae is sitting.
Draining the pool can only help if the algae is dead first.