Yikes! Newbie needs help with...well, everything!!

[dazedandconfused]

So glad I found this forum! This is the 3rd pool I've had, but the only one that has given me problems. We purchased this home with pool 6 years ago. We've had trouble with it turning green and slimy on an almost weekly basis every swim season. It's an inground gunite. (Can't wait to go to the "Pool School" and turn it into a "trouble free" pool!)

First let me tell you that we replaced our old 2 cartridge filter with a PENTAIR NAUTILUS STAINLESS STEEL DE FILTER, model #NSS48. Of course, with our luck, the old motor went out a few days later. (I have some folks over at "the pumping station" helping me figure out which motor and pump is a good choice for me.) In the meantime DH (dear hubby) has placed a submergible pump in the deep end and I turn it on for 30 - 45 min. every couple of hours.

I need help calculating the approximate gallons my pool holds, since it's an irregular shape. *See pics. It's 3 ft. in the shallow end and 8 ft. in the deep end. (It does have a waterfall, but that's hooked up seperately.)

Now for the dreaded chemicals. I'm ordering the "good" test kit, but in the meantime I'm using the HTH 6-way kit. Here are the numbers from this morning:
CL 1
pH 8.2
CYA totally clear
TA 370ppm
TH 20ppm

Please...help me!

ps...I will add all my info to my siggy after I know how many gallons my pool holds.

 

[Bama Rambler]

You have a big lizard on your fence!

We need one more dimension. The width across it (bottom to top in the photo). My rough guess is about 9,000 gallons.

 

[melissab]

I'm sure someone else will be along shortly with more knowledge but the first thing that jumps out at me is that there is no CYA or stabilizer in the pool which will make the sun burn through the chlorine very quickly. This could explain why you are fighting algae all of the time. Of course you need to know how many gallons of water are in your pool before you can determine how much to stabilizer to add. Your ph is a little high but I think it will come down once you add stabilizer. TA also looks high to me. Maybe someone else can chime in about that.

I'm thinking you need to add stabilizer, increase chlorine to shock levels to kill off any algae then keep it level for your cya going forward.

How soon will your pump arrive?

 

[dazedandconfused]

I knew I would leave something out! The pool length is 30 ft. Also, DH replaced all the water in the pool when he installed the DE filter.

You have a big lizard on your fence!

That's "Iggy Iguana"! He shows up everywhere...he's kinda our outdoor "Elf On The Shelf" for our grandkids. :lol:

 

[Bama Rambler]

That's bigger than I guessed. I get about 16,000 gallons.

 

[dazedandconfused]

I get about 16,000 gallons.

Oh Thank you, thank you, thank you bama! :bowdown: :bowdown:

 

[jblizzle]

So, use that in the calculator and see if your chemical additions are consistently over or under predicted and adjust the volume from there.

If this is a fresh fill (not sure why that was required when changing the filter ), then your CYA is 0ppm and you need to add about 30ppm to start.