cloudy/green water??

[nov.mommy]

We just got a Summer Escapes pool and have been using it pretty regular. Now the water seems to be getting cloudy/green. My stepdad "shocked" it and put in algaecide... nothing has changed. What are some other tips I could try? Haven't been able to swim in it for a few days. :(

We have the floating chlorine canister and even tho the fliter in the pump can hold chlorine we do not have any there. We only turn the pump on when we swim and when we don't use the pool, we turn it off. Sometimes we don't swim for 2 days. Is there something we should be doing different? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much.

Jennifer

[Watermom]

Hi Jennifer and welcome to the Pool Forum!

We need some more information to be able to help. Can you tell us the volume of the pool? We also need some current water testing results taken with a drops based kit. Do you have a good kit? If not you'll need one. We recommend the Taylor K-2006 or 2006C (same kit, larger bottles). Take a look at the Amazon link in my signature. It will show you the kit. However, we only suggest purchasing it from Amato Industries and their website is down right now. (Other sellers are shipping the K-2005 by mistake and you don't want that one.) So, until the website is up, orders have to be made by phone. Their number is 800-992-6286.

Also, please tell us exactly what all you have put in your pool meaning ingredients and not just product names or "shock."

Then, somebody here should be able to help. Again, welcome. Hope you enjoy being a part of the forum!

[nov.mommy]

Hi. Here is a link to the type of pool we have - exact same size.
(link removed by mod--this is a summer escapes 12 x 36 easy-set pool, roughly 1800 gallons, with a 600 gallon/minute cartridge filter) As for the ingredients, I am not 100% sure on that as my stepdad was the one who put them in... he is on vacation and I am unable to get a hold of him right now. When I try to vacuum out the pool, it gets up some of the debris off the bottom but most of what is on the bottom gets pushed around and starts floating around but still can't get it with skim net. Here is the vacuum that we have for our pool. You can connect the garden hose to it. (link removed by mod)
Hope this helps some and you can better give me some tips. Thanks so much! :)

Jennifer

[aylad]

I removed the links in your above post in order to speed up the process of getting your post out here on the forum. It looks like part of the problem is that you probably don't have any stabilizer in the pool, so your chlorine is getting used up by the sun and not working on "gunk" in your pool, so you have an algae bloom trying to start. Also, the water is not being filtered while the pump is off, so the pump needs to be running every day, whether you swim or not, for long enough to turn your water over at least once. I'll let the equipment guys jump in here for how long it needs to run, but I would say at least 3 hours daily, and probably more if you get a lot of stuff that blows into your pool.

When you have a pool, it's going to require daily attention to stay clean and clear--you can't just tend to it when you're actually using it. It's not hard, though--in 5 minutes or less a day you can have a pool ready to get into at any time, as long as you're diligent about keeping your chem levels right.

So...either take a sample to a local, reputable pool store for testing (make sure CYA is one of the tests they run), and come back and post results here--but PLEASE don't buy any of the stuff they're going to try to sell you, no matter how insistent they are--no calcium, no phosphate remover, nothing....OR go to WalMart and get the 6-way drop-based kit they have for about $20, and run a set of tests yourself and post them here. Or better yet, order the better kit that Watermom suggested in her post above. Either way, you're going to need to be able to see test numbers in order to keep the pool clear. Whichever testing route you take, post the numbers back here,and we can help you get things cleared up. While you're at WalMart, get a couple of jugs of plain, unscented, generic bleach--if I'm right, and you have no stabilizer, you're going to need very frequent chlorine additions until you get some in the pool.

In the meantime, I would put 3 cups of bleach into the pool, pouring slowly into a return stream, each morning, afternoon, and night until we get some better numbers to look at.

Janet

[nov.mommy]

Thank you!

Can I ask, what do you mean by return stream? I had heard somewhere to put bleach in but wasn't sure if that was correct to do or not. Thanks again! We do have a test kit and I am going out there now to do a test.

[Watermom]

The return stream is in front of the little eyeball where water is returned to your pool after being filtered.

[aylad]

Wow--I had already answered this but it disappeared--must've been while Ben was taking care of the spammer.

Anyway--as an alternative to the return stream, you can always drizzle the bleach in the pool from a cup held as far out over the pool as you can reach, and then stirred up with a clean broom, boat paddle, etc...the idea is just to disperse the chlorine in the pool as quickly as you can to prevent pockets of it against the liner.

[Watermom]

Jan,
I saw your reply in the other "spammer thread."