green water

[Lauralai]

Hi
I'm new to the world of pools since we just moved into a house with a pool. It was closed in December apparently, so all the leaves that were falling from the 5 trees in our back yard ended up in the pool. When we took the cover off it was black, smelled and had leaves everywhere. We have since gotten out 90% of the leaves, and have a green pool and can't see more than 2 feet down if that. I think the pool size is 30,000L but I'm not 100% sure, it is above ground and has a vinyl liner and sand filter. We have added chlorine, and as told by the pool shop algeacide and a clarifier. Neither of which have helped much if at all. I have been reading the forum for a bit today and have read that you should put chlorine in it and keep it at 15. My drop tester only tests for chlorine that goes up to 3.0 though and I have phoned local stores and no one seems to have one that goes past 4 or 5. I would order one from the net but I have no CC. I was wondedring what I should do to get rid of the green water, add more chlorine, algeacide, clarifier. We went back to the local pool shop and they said to add green free and that, that should work for the green water. Well they have said to add both algecide and clarifier and neither worked so I have given up on there advice.
When we had the water tested on the 28th here are the levels.
Chlorine 4.0
PH 7.2
Alk 95
Stabilizer 0

I have yet to get a proper test kit because I was wondering which things I need to test for? Also the chlorine should be high since I added a bunch in last night and just tested it now and while my test wouldn't read it, it was a bright yellow colour. The filter has also been on for the last 2 days.

Any other ideas would be greatly appreciated.

[jdolby]

Keep reading the posts, lots of valuable info. Keep up the chlorine levels. It takes several days or up to a week to get rid of all the alge. Your pool should slowly clear up. Sounds like you're doing the right things. Never go to pool store, unless you like to overspend on your chemicals. All you need is ultra bleach from the grocery store. A little borax and some muratic acid. Do not add any more chemicals to your pool until you get a proper test kit and post your numbers. (except for bleach) It is not unusual to add 5+ gal of bleach everyday to kill all the alge. Your PH and alk is ok.
I put 7 gals of bleach in my pool. It took 3 days to clear. Also, after you can see the bottom, vaccum out the debis and brush you liner.
Good luck.

JD

[Lauralai]

is it safe to add stabilizer to our pool even though we can't see through it? the people at the pool shop said not to since it's not clear yet, but we add bleach and get it high it just won't stay that high. meaning i added bleachto get it at sbout 8 yesterday and today it's below 2

[jdolby]

Stabilizer is cyuranic acid (CYA) and comes in many forms. I use 3" tri-clor pucks and put them in the skimmer. I remove the pucks when my CYA meaures 30 on my pool test kit (Ben's). You should test your CYA level before you add. After you vaccum and filter all the dead alge you are going to have to backwash several times. I used 7 gal of bleach per day, for 3 days to kill all the alge in my pool. Your pool may take longer. Keep adding bleach and nothing else. Yes, it is ok to add stabilizer, but you will lose some when you backwash. IT WILL CLEAR UP!
After your pool clears your chlorine demand will go down. I use about 3/4 gal per day to maintain my pool. At 2-3 ppm (depending on use)
If your chlorine readings were 8, and then 2 the next day (this is normal) just add more bleach to get it back to 8. But I would add more. If you can't measure more than 8 on your tester just add another gal and keep it there. Try to test and add bleach at least 2 times per day. Don't let your readings yo-yo up and down.
PS> If you did not remove all the leaves in the pool you will use alot of bleach. How much bleach are you using per day?

JD

[jdolby]

Hello Lauralai,

Read the post above yours "My Green Pool Saga - Help!"
Sherra and the gang gives alot of good info there.

JD

[Watermom]

You are getting good advice = keep hitting it with bleach. You need to test 3x a day if at all possible (at the minimum twice a day) and each time, add enough bleach to get back up to 10ppm. If you let the chlorine level bounce up and down, you'll never kill the algae. To make your test kit read higher, dilute your sample. Mix one part pool water and one part distilled water, test as usual, multiply your result by 2. If you still need to go higher, one part pool water, two parts distilled, multiply by 3, etc. Each time you dilute, you lose some accuracy, but it will be better than nothing. Consider buying the test kit from Ben. Well worth it.

I would hold off on adding any stabilizer (cya) until you have the algae problem solved.