Ready to give up on my pool -- won't hold chlorine and getting slimy

[Willthebuilder]

A few days after filling up my pool I noticed that it wouldnt keep chlorine. I have an above ground, round pool. 16' 48" according to my yellow and red tester I have 0 chlorine and 7.5 ph . I have been looking for answers on the site and have already bought Chlorine gallons, borax and baking soda. Any recomendations would be greatly appreciated. I tried cursing at the pool already ,but no luck.

My pool has a cloudy look and is slimy.

.

[CarlD]

Cursing...yup that'll work! Just kidding.

I'd bet just about anything you have no stabilizer in your pool and the sun's UV rays--even stronger in South Texas than in North Central New Jersey--are breaking down your chlorine within as little at 15 minutes.
Stabilizer, aka, CYA or Cyanuric Acid, or Isocyanuric Acid, or Conditioner is like sun screen for your chlorine. You need it to protect the chlorine from the UV rays, and you need it to be at least 30ppm in your pool. UNFORTUNATELY, your test kit (which is fine), called an OTO test kit, doesn't test for CYA. For that you need a kit that does.

We recommend two: The Taylor Technology K-2006 or K-2006C, available only on-line, but is a bit cheaper if you click on the link in Watermom's or PoolDoc's signature is the best (The "C" has larger bottles of the chemicals). But the cheaper and more readily available is the HTH 6-way drop kit, exclusively available at WalMart. The difference, primarily is the K-2006 has a far better chlorine test (the "FAS-DPD" test) and the HTH uses the same OTO test you have, only going to 5ppm rather than 3ppm. But both test CYA levels.

What you CAN do, is go to a pool store with a water sample and ask them to test it. Don't buy anything yet, but post the test results here. Under NO circumstances let them talk you into buying calcium (vinyl pools don't need it) algaecides (most have ammonia or copper--very bad) or anything else. You may need to buy CYA--but you can do that after we see the numbers.

[Watermom]

You can get the K2006 kit through this link:> http://pool9.net/tk/

(Until you registration is completed, you won't be able to see the rest of the forum while you are logged in. So, copy that link and then paste it into a browser window after you log out.)

[PoolDoc]

. . . membership updated.

MEANWHILE, to keep your "getting slimy" pool from turning into a swamp, add 1 gallon of PLAIN 8% household bleach this evening, and then 1/2 gallon every following evening till there's not the slightest trace of slime left. Once the slime is gone, start following the Super Simple Recipe: http://pool9.net/ssr/

And even though it won't last long, if you see this before 2 pm today, add 1/4 gallon during the day. (You can still swim; just don't wear new swimsuits -- people are far, far more bleach-resistant than swimwear.)

CAUTION: It's very hard to clean up algae in Intex pools. If you don't move quickly, you'll need to drain and start over.