algae problems

[kchamp]

I been fighting with algae for a few weeks now and it just keeps getting worse.
free chlorine 7.3ppm

I been fighting with algae for a few weeks now and it just keeps getting worse. I have shock it and shock it but no luck, the pool store told me to drain it and start over, but I said that wasn`t a good option for me, so they gave me a bottle of 32oz. algae control 60, and four gallons of liquid shock to try. I have a sand filter hayward and a 24x52 about 15000 gals.
free chlorine 7.3ppm
total chlorine 7.3ppm
combined chlorine 0.0ppm
ph7.7
hardness 210ppm
alkalinity 0ppm which I got on my test strips that this was 120ppm
cyanuric acid 90ppm
copper 0.04 ppm
iron 0.09

Edit: Merging info from two posts into one--aylad

[aylad]

If it's green algae, and if you're using enough chlorine and persistance, it shouldn't take that long. But, we should be able to help get it cleared up, but we need to know some things:

1. what kind of algae is it (green, black, mustard)
2 How are you testing the water (you're going to need a drop-based kit, because strips aren't reliable enough to help you clear up a problem)
3. Can you please list for us all of the chems that you've put into the pool so far (please give ingredients, not just generic product names like "shock")
4. What do you normally use for chlorination?
5. Please list a complete set of test results on your water
6. Please take a few seconds to fill out this form about your pool and equipment--it will help save back-and-forth posts where we're trying to gather basic equipment
Pool Chart Entry Form (http://goo.gl/cNPUO)
Pool Chart Results (http://goo.gl/PXaLu)

Once we have the info we need, we'll be glad to help!!

Edit: After I modded in and answered this post, I found your other, duplicate post. I have merged the two together and will delete the other one, to try to keep it all in one place.

With a CYA of 90, you're going to need to shock the pool up to 20-25 ppm of chlorine, and hold it there by testing and adding more chlorine as necessary as many times a day as possible. You need to hold this level until you can go from sundown one night til just before sunup the next morning without losing more than 1 ppm of chlorine. This probably will take more than one day, so you're going to have to be persistent about it, but if you let the chlorine yo-yo up and down then you'll never get ahead of it and will have a perpetually green pool. After you can pass the overnight test, then hold it at shock level for one more day, then you can start letting the Cl drift back down, but never lower than 6 ppm. With your CYA that high, you're going to have to always keep the chlorine between 6-10 ppm to keep the algae gone. I would also suggest that you stop using stabilized chlorine, because that's usually what has driven the CYA up that high.

[GOINGDEEP]

We go out of town often in the summer. If we come back and the pool has a green algae bloom in progress the best thing I've found is, go to the dollar store and get 5-6 gallons of bleach. Pour them all in the skimmer and it will knock the green out in about 12 hours with pump running. It also drops all the dead algae on the floor for easy cleaning.

No $20 bottle of algaecide.
No $20 bottle of drop out.

$5-6 of bleach does the trick in my 22,000 gallon fiberglass.

[kchamp]

thanks for all your help thought I lost my other post. I filled out all the pool info. last week I added 2 x 1qt. hth metal control (hydroxyethylidene diphosphonic acid) and 4 x hth pool shock 1lb bag (calcium hypochlorite 47.6%) (minimum available chlorine 45%) did do anything and the guy at the pool store told me the green was to much chlorine in it that is why it is green, so I let the chlorine drop back down, still green, so we pull the steps and cleaned the algae off them and left them out. I don`t know if it is algae, black, brown ect. the pool is green like pea soup and you can`t see the bottom. Last night I poured in one gallon jug of shock (sodium hypochlorite 12.5%) available chlorine 12.5% and 32oz. of algae control 60 (poly oxyethylene (dimethylimino) ethylene (dimethylimino) ethylene dichloride 60% and still didn`t do anything. I see what you are saying about the stabilizer, how much should I add to the pool, more of them 1bs bags or should I go get 5 gallons of chlorinating solution that has 12.5 sodium hypochlorite in it or maybe regular bleach. I really just not sure what to do.

[PoolDoc]

Pour them all in the skimmer and it will knock the green out in about 12 hours with pump running. It also drops all the dead algae on the floor for easy cleaning.

While I'm glad that works for you, it's not a reliable method. A week can be long enough to grow a swamp that take MUCH longer to clean up than 12 hours in some pools. NOT recommended.


last week
+ I added 2 x 1qt. hth metal control (hydroxyethylidene diphosphonic acid) (HEDP)
+ 4 x hth pool shock 1lb bag (calcium hypochlorite 47.6%) (minimum available chlorine 45%)
Last night
+ I poured in one gallon jug of shock (sodium hypochlorite 12.5%) available chlorine 12.5%
+ 32oz. of algae control 60 (poly oxyethylene (dimethylimino) ethylene (dimethylimino) ethylene dichloride 60% (POLYQUAT)

the guy at the pool store told me the green was to much chlorine in it that is why it is green, so I let the chlorine drop back down, still green, so we pull the steps and cleaned the algae off them and left them out. I don`t know if it is algae, black, brown ect. the pool is green like pea soup and you can`t see the bottom. I really just not sure what to do.

1. Stay away from that bogus pool guy. (Too much chlorine?? Get real!)
2. Stop using stuff that 'might' help. HEDP is a good thing, but unless you have metals, it does nothing for you.
3. Stop using chlorine + goop mixtures, like the HTH pool shock (cal hypo should be at least 68% available chlorine - otherwise, leave it on the shelf!)
4. Polyquat is good stuff . . . but it's not the best thing for cleaning a swamp, at least at first. The large doses of chlorine you need are going to destroy most of it.
5. Don't use pool store liquid chlorine, unless you are SURE it's fresh. 12.5% bleach, stored at current Chattanooga temps (>100 degrees) will be less than 5% bleach in a week. Use PLAIN 6% household bleach from an air conditioned Walmart!


I been fighting with algae for a few weeks now and it just keeps getting worse.

Lots of people 'fight' algae, but never engage in a all-out "you die, or I die" combat. As long as you keep 'fighting' algae, it (and the pool store) wins. Pool stores make $$$$$'s from people who 'fight' algae all summer.

You have a ~13,000 gallon pool; PF:9. So, 1 gallon of plain household 6% bleach (0.5 lbs Cl2 equiv x 9 = 4.5) will add a little more than 4 ppm of chlorine to your pool. Add SIX gallons (24 ppm) this evening, and every subsequent evening, till the algae turns gray or bluish. Then, add 6 more, and brush the heck out of the pool.

Run your filter 24/7 during this whole process. Clean it as need.

And, get a good test kit -- 'guess-strips' help support the whole pool store racket, with their bogus results.


HTH 6-Way Test Kit (http://www.walmart.com/ip/HTH-6-Way-Test-Kit/17043668) @ Walmart
Taylor K2006A (3/4 oz bottles) (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0002IXIIG/poolbooks) @ Amazon
Taylor K2006C (2 oz bottles) (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0002IXIJ0/poolbooks) @ Amazon

[kchamp]

thanks for the input really appreciate your time, I just went before you posted and bought 4 5gallons 20 gallons total of chlorinating solution that has 12.5 sodium hypochlorite, should I say suppose to have 12.5 so I will have to use it up. do you think pour 10 gallons of that in tonight and maybe 5 gallons in the morning and then the other 5 tomorrow night

[PoolDoc]

I would add just 3 gallons, or maybe 5. Your 12.5% bleach *may* actually still be 12%, depending on how it has been stored and handled, and you don't want to overdose and bleach your liner out.

Tomorrow, get an OTO / phenol red test kit. With a vinyl pool, you really don't want to go past 'medium orange', until we have a reliable read on your CYA level. (If the HTH kit is available, it is an OTO kit, at least the chlorine test is)

[kchamp]

ok so the green is gone should I keep the bleach to it or let it come back down, it is like a blue whitish cloudy color now. which I new how to post picture

[PoolDoc]

email them to poolforum@gmail.com OR post them using the code, and links to Picasa, Photobucket, Webshots or Flickr.

[aylad]

The way to tell for sure is to measure your chlorine at night and again in the morning, and make sure you're not still losing chlorine to something in the water. However, if you're sure that all the green is out, and you've thoroughly brushed the pool to make sure there's none hiding in ladder steps, light niches, etc, then you can let the chlorine level come back down--but you need an accurate CYA number to know how far down you can let it drift. If your CYA is actually 90 ppm, then you need to not ever let it get below 5, and you really need to keep it closer to 7-8 ppm. If you let it come down below that, you're going to have algae growing again (see the best guess chlorine chart linked in my sig for more info and the chart).

The chlorine you put in the pool killed the algae, now it's the filter that's going to remove the dead algae from the pool and clear up the cloudiness. Keep your filter running 24/7, cleaning the filter each time your pressure rises 6-8 psi over your "clean" pressure.

[kchamp]

before
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-VBAQ1PmzsWE/T_INIlkVtTI/AAAAAAAADeA/it21jTr4TT8/s800/0629121656.jpg. . . afterhttps://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Gpnei3gQmjM/T_INIkvp2iI/AAAAAAAADeE/yZfQfHcLy-4/s800/0702121603.jpg

http://i437.photobucket.com.KILLED/albums/qq94/kchampney/0629121656.jpg
http://i437.photobucket.com.KILLED/albums/qq94/kchampney/0702121603.jpg

[PoolDoc]

Looks good, but BRUSH the pool, while the chlorine is high. You may stir up hidden piles of algae, that will turn the pool green again, if the chlorine is not high.

Then filter, filter, filter. Using polyquat (http://www.poolsolutions.com/gd/polyquat.html), once the chlorine drops into the normal zone (per Best Guess chart) will simultaneously help protect against a recurrence and help filter out the dead algae. However, there's no need to keep using it, once the pool's all cleaned up.

[kchamp]

thanks for all the help, she cleared right up, Should of found this site a couple of hundred dollars ago.

thanks Kevin

[Watermom]

Glad you got it cleared up!