Swampy Cloudy Water...

[Merrick]

HI All,

I have been trying to get our pool going for several weeks now, and I simply have not been able to get it right. It is still kind of green and cloudy. The numbers on my test kit seem to be right, with the exception of the Chlorine. I don't know if the algae is eating it off or what, but the last time I put any shock in I put in 3 bags (our pool is approx 13,000gal), when I tested it a few hours later and then again early the next morning I did not get any readings for Chlorine (free or otherwise) on either test. The rest of the numbers are as follows:

pH: 7.2
TA: 120
CYA: 40

I have not had this much trouble in the 4 years we've had the pool. I am basically following CarlD's sticky post at the top of the forum, the only difference is I'm using the 1lb shock bags instead of ultra Bleach. Please let me know if you have any recommendations, Thanks in advance.

All the Best,
Merrick

[aylad]

Keep in mind that "shock" is a verb--something you do TO your pool, not a product you put in it. Shock means simply to raise the chlorine level. what product you do that with is up to you. That being said, your one pound bags of "shock" are either cal-hypo or dichlor. Can you look at the ingredient list and tell me which it is? The reason it's important is that dichlor will also raise your CYA, which you don't want to do.

If you will raise your chlorine to 15 ppm, whether you do that with bleach or cal-hypo and keep it there by testing and adding more 2-3 times daily to get back up to 15 ppm, until the pool turns cloudy blue, and run your pump/filter 24/7 during the process and backwashing the filter as the pressure indicates, your pool will clear. The trick is to get the chlorine up and KEEP IT UP there. If you let it yo-yo up and down it will take a lot longer to clear up. THe more consistent you are about keeping it at or above 15, the quicker it'll clear up.

Welcome to the forum, glad to have you here!

Janet

[Merrick]

Hi aylad,

The product I've been using is Aqua Chem Shock Plus. I'm not at home right now so I can't post the ingredients, I can do that later if it would be more helpful. I don't think it has changed the CYA because that has stayed pretty much right on the mark since originally added the stabilizer to get it up to 40ppm.

In all honesty the chlorine has probably been yo-yoing up and down, I have only been working on it once a day, sometimes twice. What threw me off was that I did not get any kind of reading.... period after adding 3lbs of this aqua chem product just a few hours after adding it to the pool, nor again the following morning. The reason I stopped using liquid bleach is because it seems they have quit making Ultra Bleach, I can never find it anywhere. Is there really much of a difference between that and the regular bleach? Thanks again.

All the Best,
Merrick

[aylad]

Regular bleach is 5.25% sodium hypochlorite, ultra bleach is 6%. Same stuff, just takes a little more! WalMart still sells ultra bleach in Great Value brand. The bigger jugs sometimes gets hard to find as summer goes on, but they always have the smaller ones.

Janet

[chem geek]

In the U.S., Clorox Regular bleach is now 6% (in Canada it's still 5.25% while Clorox Ultra is 6%) while off-Brand Ultra bleach is 6% and off-brand regular bleach can be only 3%. There isn't any Clorox Ultra bleach in the U.S. anymore as far as I can tell.

[Merrick]

Thanks for the responses. i generally buy the wal-mart brand, how can I tell if it's now 6% or 3%?

Thanks Again,
Merrick

[Watermom]

All the bleach I have bought at Walmart has been 6%. It will tell you on the label. It will say 6% sodium hypochlorite.

[Hillboy51]

I buy my bleach at Family Dollar stores. They carry both Clorox & the Family Dollar brands in the large bottles (1.35L) for $2.50 ($3.50 for the Clorox). Both are 6%. Big Lots carries a generic brand in 1 gallon bottles for $1.50 a bottle. It's also 6%.

[Watermom]

Thanks for the info and welcome to the forum!

[aylad]

Big Lots carries a generic brand in 1 gallon bottles for $1.50 a bottle. It's also 6%.

That's nice to know. I'll have to check again with my Big Lots, the last time I looked there the bleach in 1 gal jugs was only 3%.

Janet

[vanman2501]

I had the same problem and then I tested just pure chlorine and still didn't get a reading. I found it was my test kit. I have had that happen a few times with test kits. I also found as soon as it spent a few days in the laundry room I could test everything but chlorine.

vanman2501