Deanna's swamp

[star21fish]

Hello everyone! I have been using this site for years, but never posted. I was cheap at the end of last season and did not buy a cover. Now, I have a green pool. I have been working on it for over a week. I have kept the chlorine levels high and filtered constantly. My pool is still green! I let the lady at the pool store convince me that Banish is the magic cure, but I have not been brave enough to pour it in, but right now I am so frustrated that I want to. I bought cal hyp to shock and some liquid chlorine, but nothing is working. I am ordering a good test kit from here, but right now this is what I know.

24 ft above ground vinyl liner
12,000-14,000 gallons....I'm not sure if it is 48 or 52 deep...going to measure right now.
sand filter....which I am having to backwash a lot

[aylad]

Hi, and welcome to the forum!!

First let me caution you that the pool did not get green overnight, and it won't clear overnight, so you need a really big dose of POPP--pool owner patience and persistence!!

Second, let me caution you not to add the Banish to the water. It will not clear up the problem, and it might even make it worse. Take it back to the pool store and get your money back, or exchange it for liquid chlorine.

While you're at the pool store, have them run a set of tests on the water (drop-based, not strips) and come post your results here. Once we have those, I know we can get you on the right track to a clean, clear pool.

BTW,have you added any stabilizer yet this season? Do you remember what your stabilizer (CYA) level was last year? What did you use for a chlorine source last year?

Janet

[Watermom]

I want to add my welcome as well. Get us some numbers and someone will try and help. BTW --- not putting a cover on your pool over the winter is not the reason you have a green pool. I haven't covered my pool over the winter for several years and my pool is not green in the spring. (Poconos doesn't cover his either.) Just FYI.

[star21fish]

Thanks for the voice of reason. Due to everything I have read on here, I know better, but she was a a very good saleslady. Although, she told me not to add bleach to my pool, that it would bleach my liner. I finally gave up, bought my leaf rake and brush and left.

I'm not sure they will take the Banish back, but I will try, just as soon as I am armed with photos of my clear pool. :)

Last year I used 12% liquid chlorine only. I may have added 1 pound of walmart shock to put some stabilizer in but I am so leary of stabilizer because of problems I had with my old pool. I did add one pack of it this year, but that is all stabilizer wise. No tabs, sticks, or stablized chlorine. My source for the liquid can get it for me for routine chlorination and weekly shocking, but not in the quantities needed to fix my current problem.

They ran tests yesterday, but they were the strips tests read by the computer. They gave me a huge list of things I needed to buy. She wanted me to buy 8 bags of some power shock they had(at $5.95 each). It was 56% available....dichlor. I bought cal hyp on Monday. I also bought, but already used 4 of the 1.42 gal jugs at walmart. I hope my rambling is understandable. I am still dipping leaves and some type of gooey sludge. It could be rotting leaves or the poor tadpoles :( We got the first foot of leaves out with a skimmer net. I wished I knew about a leaf rake....it is worth its weight in gold. The test she ran yesterday said I had no stablizer, but that my total alkalinity and calcium were low. I would be glad to post the numbers if you don't think they are worthless.

[madwil]

the numbers aren't worthless, just not near as good as a good drop based kit...
with a vinyl liner, don't worry about CH...
in my experience, low TA doesn't hurt, just makes the pH swing a little faster (mine is 40, and still haven't added MA in 2 weeks!)
The truly important numbers for most pools are pH, FC, CC, and CYA
With no stabilizer, you'll lose more chlorine to sunlight- astronomical amounts! any chlorine lost to sunlight is chlorine not cleaning your pool for you- so some stabilizer is good, just not to much! (mine is about 50)
keep pH somewhere around 7.2 - 7.6 when the chlorine is <10; it may read false high when chorine is higher...
keep FC at appropriate levels based on CYA in the best guess chart- keep at shock levels until you can hold FC overnight without loss and CC is <.5
run filter continuosly...
keep manually removing as much solid crap that you can
Your pool will clear
the rest of the chemicals you can worry about after the water is clear!

[dhanger]

Last year I used 12% liquid chlorine only. I may have added 1 pound of walmart shock to put some stabilizer in but I am so leary of stabilizer because of problems I had with my old pool. I did add one pack of it this year, but that is all stabilizer wise. No tabs, sticks, or stablized chlorine. My source for the liquid can get it for me for routine chlorination and weekly shocking, but not in the quantities needed to fix my current problem.


Here in Phoenix Walmart sells 10% HTH liquid chlorine in the dept. where they stock pool supplies in the summer (somewhere near the housewares dept.), I can buy as much as I need anytime. Might try them for a source, it sells for 6.97 for a 2 gallon case.

[aylad]

OK, just for grins, go ahead and post the numbers you got yesterday. We won't trust them implicitely, but it'll be a ballpark, anyway.

Assuming no stabilizer, use bleach (or liquid chlorine) to get your chlorine level up to 12-15 ppm and hold it there, by adding more as often as you can. (BTW, bleach and liquid chlorine are the same thing--the only difference is bleach is 5.25 or 6% strength, the LC is 10 or 12%. I'd be curious to see what the salesperson's response would be to the question," if bleach will fade my liner, why won't liquid chlorine?".) You can use the cheapo Chlorine/pH OTO test from WalMart to ballpark your chlorine (see the sticky in the "testing" forum about how to use dilution with the cheaper kits) . In a 12K gallon pool, each 3 cups of 6% bleach will raise your chlorine by about 1 ppm, just to use as a guide. If you can attain and keep the 15 ppm, the pool should start to clear up, and we can help you adjust your other numbers after that.

BTW, check your pH level BEFORE you shock the pool, and post it here as well....

Janet

[star21fish]

Sorry....I haven't been back. This was our last week of school and to say it has been insane is an understatement.
My water has zero stabilizer. I am going to put a tablet in the floater.....I know that won't add much, but I have to take baby steps after my experience with it. You wouldn't by chance know how much stabilizer each tab adds?
How much cal hyp do I need to add to bring it to 15ppm?...It is 65% available. I have been adding tons and I may be just wasting it. I ordered a good test kit from the link on here, but I just have to wait on it to get here. My ph was 7.2
2 weeks ago. Today my FC is .5 and my ph was 6.8. I know my free chlorine is way to low....like I said.....this week = insane. I added some soda ash and now I'm waiting on it to circulate so I can retest. The sun is getting off the pool so as soon as someone has a sec to tell me how much cal hyp I'm back at it again. GOOD NEWS...the pool looks so much better. I can see all the steps now, but not quite the bottom. The water is now a pretty aqua color instead of the swamp green. When I backwashed a little bit ago the water coming out was disgusting and brown, but that is good right?
I am not going back to the pool store until I have pics of a sparkling pool: ) They already have me pegged for a lunatic. I don't know everything about a pool, but I do know more than her. I do realize that liquid chlorine and bleach is the same thing. I have a front load washer and you can only put 1/3 c in the dispenser, so I put 12% in my white clothes. My washcloths smell so much better! :)

[aylad]

Believe me, I know what you mean about the school week--next week is our last but I've spent all day today in assemblies at 2 different schools, and still have a banquet to attend tonight.

Regarding cal-hypo, based on 12K gallons, each 2.5 oz should raise your Cl by approximately 1 ppm. 12 oz should raise it by 5 ppm. Not sure how much stabilizer one trichlor tab adds, but I think there's a post somewhere around here about it--I'll see if I can locate it.

The fact that the backwash water looks nasty is a good thing--that stuff came out of your pool!! Keep up the good work, and just think how it feels when you can show off pretty pool pics to your local store!

Janet

[star21fish]

Thank you so much for responding. I just realized there was a calculator that would have told me that instead of bugging everyone on here with questions. I hope you enjoy your banquet.

[aylad]

You are not bugging anybody--that's what we're here for!! Let us know how it's going...

By the way, in post #8 in this thread http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?5538-Trichlor-amp-PH, a Canadian poster on here called "giroup" explains how much CYA is in one trichlor puck.....your pool is roughly the size he uses in his calculations, so I guess the bottom line is you can figure approximately 2 ppm of CYA per trichlor puck you use.

Janet

[star21fish]

Thanks....I'm still plugging away..using that POPP.....haha. I just have to keep remembering how bad it was and how much work the filter is having to do. I think I can see the bottom today. I'm not sure if my eyes are playing tricks on me or not. I know the steps are looking cleaner and cleaner and I can see all of them clearly. I'm just about ready to hop in and vacumn. That is pretty amazing since one week ago I wouldn't hardly put my hand in thinking something lurking in the water was going to reach up and get me. I can't wait for my test kit. I tested this morning and it was "hot" pink ( I use free chlorine DPD reagent) but I don't have a color chart) I had the cheap OTO in my hand and put it back.....arrrgghh. So I'm pretty much guessing at chlorine levels. I shocked it to 15 last night before dark and it was still very pink this a.m. so I added my best guess to get it back to shock levels. The pool is about to be in full sun and by 5 it won't have any. Talk to you soon....and thank you again. I was very close to adding the banish before :)

[aylad]

Just think--what the Banish would have done for you is to create another demand on your chlorine--NOT what you need right now! :)

Hang in there, try the best you can to keep it at 15 until you get your test kit, and it'll all be worth it in the end!!

Janet

[Watermom]

That is pretty amazing since one week ago I wouldn't hardly put my hand in thinking something lurking in the water was going to reach up and get me.

You must be my twin sister. That's the kind of thing I would be afraid of!:eek:

[star21fish]

You must be my twin sister. That's the kind of thing I would be afraid of!:eek:

lol...yep and my hubby has had a fabulous time making fun of me for it! I got him back though....he wouldn't just grab a tree frog that was on the side last night..he tried to throw it out with the net.....lol :D

I have fabulous news! My pool water looks good enough that I can tell I need to vacuum(it's not even really bad considering where I started). I can even see the middle clearly. I think I finally made it. I am getting in today as soon as the sun eats my FC a little. I got my test kit today as well.
FC=6
CC=0
assuming I did the tests correctly.
I am testing ph this afternoon.
So....after brushing sides and bottom and vacuuming......how should I proceed? Do I need new sand? or a filter cleaner? I so do not want the green back......ever.....I need to work on my stabilizer too...I plan on adding that with a floater and tabs.

[aylad]

I think after brushing sides and bottom and vacuuming, that you should go swimming!:) No need to get new sand, or filter cleaner. To keep the green away, all you have to do is keep your chlorine levels up where the "Best Guess" chart in my sig indicates they should be, and you should be green-free all summer.

Until you get CYA in your pool, you're going to lose chlorine to the sun very quickly, so you might need to add bleach 2-3 times a day just to make sure it never goes to zero, then adjust your minimum chlorine levels up as your CYA starts to rise. It's going to take a long time to raise your stabilizer just using tabs--you might want to consider adding a dose of CYA into a sock in front of your return to target about 20 ppm, then use the tabs from there. Also keep a close eye on your pH when using tabs, they will tend to make it drop, and you don't want it less than 7.0.

Janet

[star21fish]

ok.....you talked me into a little stabilizer. I have no desire to add chlorine 3 times a day and I have seen firsthand how quickly the sun is killing my chlorine. It goes from 6-10 in the am to 0 by 5:00P.M. I never did even get in the pool or vacuum or brush yesterday. I took my daughter shopping to get us both a new swimsuit. Her swimsuit from last year was ragged and mine is falling off after loosing 70lbs since last year!!! As my luck would have it I'm not feeling so good today. I'm thinking maybe a little summertime flu? I had a flu shot, but I know several people that have had it anyway, but a milder version. Thanks for all the help. I'm going to take a little nap and then I'm swimming regardless how I feel...we are supposed to get some much needed rain on Thursday : )

[star21fish]

Good morning! I got in yesterday and vacuumed and brushed. When I got out I kept smelling something. It was my swimsuit(brand new). It smelled like the leaves I dipped out. Gross. The water doesn't smell to me when you just smell a cup of it, but it leaves the suit smelling nasty. How in the world do I fix this?

[aylad]

I would shock the pool again and see if that makes a difference...

Janet