Somebody please tell me this is worth it....

[JenLM]

I'm about to pull my hair out trying to turn this pool from a swamp to something our family can enjoy before fall gets here.... It's such a slow process as I wait for my test kit to get here. I want to see some glimmer of hope that it will get better.

I'm being a drama llama today, but I lost my both leaf eater bag and a part of my vacuum head in the abyss today so forgive me as I have moment of pool owner remorse. ;)

I would love to hear a few success stories from former swamp owners. How long did it take for your algae to go away as well as the cloud that lingered behind??? :)

[AnnaK]

Hi Jen, hang in there. It'll clean up long before autumn.

I had a green pool once when I went on vacation for 6 weeks in September and just left it. I had shocked it, put the solar cover on, turned the pump off and drove away. It was still very warm during the days and I expected it to go green. Still, it was a bit of a shock not being able to see the bottom of my 52" AGP when I returned, to see it match color to the surrounding fir trees.

I can't remember how much chlorine it took but I do know that each day there was improvement. Getting it back to clear and sparkling took about 10 days of bleach, brushing, running the pump the entire time, backwashing the filter every other day, changing skimmer socks three times daily . . . it was a process and required frequent attention but it did clear up with just chlorine.

It takes a lot of patience though.

[Watermom]

Jen,
Take a look at this thread. Pretty miraculous.

http://www.poolsolutions.com/gd/does-bleach-kill-algae.html

Hang in there. It WILL clear!

[kelemvor]

Here's my before and after. Took less than a week in my case, following directions from this site. http://www.flickr.com/photos/14865808@N00/4857680807 Lots of chlorine bleach, a gallon or so of muriatic, some stabilizer, salt, and viola. I think I added some ployquat as well, but I've since stopped using it on a regular basis.

I scooped and vacuumed all the junk I could (maybe 4 hours or so the first day). Then let the chemicals do most of the rest of the work (along with daily filter washes). I was sure I would have had to drain/refill when I bought the house too; but that was not necessary!

[JenLM]

Thanks y'all. Those transformations are amazing. =)

[CarlD]

And they are not just odd cases. I opened to green slime and in 24 hours was 90% clear. In a week, I was crystal clear. Why? I didn't panic (I knew why I opened to algae, and what to do). I looked at my wife, shrugged, and she said: "You know what to do better than almost anyone."
It's just not hard to do if you follow the rules, and rule 1) is: You need lots of chlorine, and it's best delivered as bleach or liquid chlorine (same stuff, only more concentrated.)
It works!

Carl

[JenLM]

Where do you buy liquid chlorine?

Thanks for the pep talk. I was able to see the missing part of my vacuum this morning so I am happy about that! It will be less frustrating once my kit comes in. :)

[Ken_J]

This year was the first time I took my cover off to find the green nightmare. 3 times, before I finally put a temporary fence aroudn my pool, my dogs and the neighbor's dogs jumped on my solid cover resulting in a whole lot of leaves making into the pool. I opened my pool on Saturday, added 5 gallons of bleach, scooped out 99% of the leaves and by Sunday night the water was blue but cloudy. By Tuesday the kids were swimming! Hang in there and follow advice from the great folks on this site!

Update: Just saw your signature and saw vinly liner. My experience is that inground vinyl liner pools usually don't have drains in the deep end - mine doesn't. A couple times a week I take the vacuum head and throw it in the deep end over night to pull from the bottom instead of the skiimer. It works wonder in keeping the water clear. Before I started doing this I would occasionally get cloudy water. Since doing this, crystal clear! Also add a little DE to my sand filter when it gets cloudy now.

[CarlD]

Pool stores sell Liquid Chlorine, usually in 5 gallon drums called "carboys". I prefer the square carboys to the round ones. They don't roll when you lay them on their side.

There's usually a $6 or $7 deposit as they are reusable. I've been changing over my 3 for several years now. Look for the basic LC price to be between $16 and $20 (good bargain -- pretty expensive). You'll need a spigot to dispense the stuff easily--they are $4-$5 but last for years.

If you have the option, find the place that sells the most of this stuff. That means they turn it over quickly and it doesn't have time to degrade. The place I get it from goes through several pallets a week, and even though they say it's 12.5% (just double ultra bleach) I find it tests out at 14% usually. (To test, add 10ml of LC to 10 liters of water--that's 5 soda-bottles--in a five gallon bucket and test the water like you would your pool. The resultant FC amount is equal to the concentration level).

[madwil]

Jen
LC is available in some pool stores, and sometimes hardware stores/Home Depot/Lowes.
Not available everywhere, though... I have to use regular bleach!
Seeing the vacuum sounds like improvement! hang in there a little longer, it'll continue improving and you have lots of summer left!

[Manslick]

I'm about to pull my hair out trying to turn this pool from a swamp to something our family can enjoy before fall gets here.... It's such a slow process as I wait for my test kit to get here. I want to see some glimmer of hope that it will get better.

I'm being a drama llama today, but I lost my both leaf eater bag and a part of my vacuum head in the abyss today so forgive me as I have moment of pool owner remorse. ;)

I would love to hear a few success stories from former swamp owners. How long did it take for your algae to go away as well as the cloud that lingered behind??? :)

From your sig, you have the same story as I do. In 95 I bought a house with a pool similar to yours. The owners were in a hurry to get down to Florida so the pool became an afterthought. We looked at the house in April and moved in June. The pool went from a glittering April diamond to a June black hole. I remember my nephew diving in and coming up with branches and leaves.
I called the previous owner who came by for a look see. I was a nervous wreck but he was so calm. He tested the water and said the PH was low. He recommend I take a sample to Leslie's and follow their instructions. In a very short time the pool was back to it's crystal clear glory. It took a lot of vacuuming and back flushing but it did come back.
So don't despair it will get better.
Nothing with pools happens quickly. :)

[JenLM]

Thanks everybody! I could only find 10% chlorine at Lowes so we stuck with the 6 % chlorine until we find the other.

We can finally see the bottom of the shallow end of the pool. Yippeee! We may get to swim this year afterall!

[TonyPH12345]

JenLM: Sometimes the higher concentrations can be a good value; not for me.

I have a wal-mart on the corner that sells 1.5 Gallons of bleach for $2.00. I think it's 6%, but I know it's no less than 5%.
Lowe's, across the street from Wal-mart, occasionally sells 1 Gallon of 10% LC for $4.99, which given the concentration, is actually more expensive than Wal-Mart bleach.
So I've found that, in my case, though I have to carry more bottles, plain ol' generic store-brand 5-6% laundry bleach is just the best value.
The 5Gal 12% carboys that CarlD mentions are available in my area, but they're miles away. And $4.00 per gallon for gas adds to the equation. And they're heavy, too, at 40 pounds each... :)
A definite intangible upside to the carboys is that they're re-used. My 1.5 Gallon plastic jugs spend 3 minutes in my car, get dumped in, then a pool water rinse, then into the recycle bin.