roadrunner
05-31-2006, 11:12 PM
someone please help! i am pulling my hair out here. i had an AG last year so learned a little and now bought a house with an IG, which i think is 12x36 so i figured roughly 10,000 gallons+. no idea what type of pool. filter is a cartridge filter.
when i moved in it was winter and previous homeowner said she just put a chlorine tablet in weekly to keep it clear looking til summer so i contd that til a few weeks ago and let it slip as i just kept forgetting with a busy schedule to buy some more. now the pool is green, clear green but solid green. i have ran pump, sprayed filter several times to clean, and put lots of chemicals in which i think have messed it up worse. i started last week with 2 bags shock and 3" tablets x 2 in skimmer basket x2 in floaters. no avail. so resorted to 3 gallons 6% bleach after reading on this forum. still no avail. filter running 24/7. FC continues to show 0. so i added more 3" tablets, added x2 more in floaters equalling 6 total. still FC of 0. pH was low so i added pH plus. 3 days later, still nothing happening.
today, i added 2 more bags shock, bought the premade chlorine floater from wal-mart. 6 hours later, nothing. here are my readings:
total hardness: 400
chlorine: 0 (i assumed this was free chlorine but container doesn't actually say that, it only says chlorine - HTH strips from Wal-Mart)
pH: less than lowest on scale of 6.4 so lower than 6.4
TA: 40 (slightly a little less as color wasn't totally matching 40)
CYA: i'd say about 20 as it looked between the 0 and 30-50 color.
after reading some posts about the 3" tablets being acidic, i took all of them out just before posting this. so what i have done today is the 2 lbs shock and have the premade chlorine floater punched out to 10,000 gallon marks. when putting in the shock, i got a frothy/foamy skim on top of water but that has cleared now about 6 hours later.
from what i gather after reading/researching here, i need to leave it alone to allow the pH to bring itself up. i have pump running which i have 4 jets over my steps so i think that will circulate/aerate well? then i also read to bring up the pH and alk before water will clear up so i plan to get some borax and baking soda tomorrow for that. any idea how much i may need? then i figured i would start with the bleach and someone had suggested to another poster 10 gallons? am i on the right track or making things worse?
TIA!!!!!!!
when i moved in it was winter and previous homeowner said she just put a chlorine tablet in weekly to keep it clear looking til summer so i contd that til a few weeks ago and let it slip as i just kept forgetting with a busy schedule to buy some more. now the pool is green, clear green but solid green. i have ran pump, sprayed filter several times to clean, and put lots of chemicals in which i think have messed it up worse. i started last week with 2 bags shock and 3" tablets x 2 in skimmer basket x2 in floaters. no avail. so resorted to 3 gallons 6% bleach after reading on this forum. still no avail. filter running 24/7. FC continues to show 0. so i added more 3" tablets, added x2 more in floaters equalling 6 total. still FC of 0. pH was low so i added pH plus. 3 days later, still nothing happening.
today, i added 2 more bags shock, bought the premade chlorine floater from wal-mart. 6 hours later, nothing. here are my readings:
total hardness: 400
chlorine: 0 (i assumed this was free chlorine but container doesn't actually say that, it only says chlorine - HTH strips from Wal-Mart)
pH: less than lowest on scale of 6.4 so lower than 6.4
TA: 40 (slightly a little less as color wasn't totally matching 40)
CYA: i'd say about 20 as it looked between the 0 and 30-50 color.
after reading some posts about the 3" tablets being acidic, i took all of them out just before posting this. so what i have done today is the 2 lbs shock and have the premade chlorine floater punched out to 10,000 gallon marks. when putting in the shock, i got a frothy/foamy skim on top of water but that has cleared now about 6 hours later.
from what i gather after reading/researching here, i need to leave it alone to allow the pH to bring itself up. i have pump running which i have 4 jets over my steps so i think that will circulate/aerate well? then i also read to bring up the pH and alk before water will clear up so i plan to get some borax and baking soda tomorrow for that. any idea how much i may need? then i figured i would start with the bleach and someone had suggested to another poster 10 gallons? am i on the right track or making things worse?
TIA!!!!!!!