My pool problem

I have a in-ground pool and no matter how much chlorine and acid I use, the pool is greenish in color and murky. So far I was using power powder plus and muriatic acid from Lesiles. However today I went to them to show my problem and they suggested me 130$ worth of chemicals and I didnt buy them. The first thing I did was to clean my filter and all four filer were dark green. I hope that running the pump would at least clear the water little bit. Below are the number from Lesiles today. Please suggest how to fix the low items and what should i do in regular to maintain the pool.

Free Avl. Chlorine (FAC): 2 ppm
Calcium hardness (CH): 200 ppm
Cyanuric acid (CYA): 0 ppm
Total Alkanity (TA): 40 ppm
ph: 7.4
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS): 650
Phosphates (Pho): 2500 ppb

Lesiles suggested me to first increase the alkanility using alkanility up. Then use 4 lb of Green to Clean. Then put 4lb of power powder plus each day for three days. Then add 8 capfuls of pool first aid. after that he will suggest me how to take care of CYA and pho.

Please help and let me know if you need more details.

You made at least two good decisions --- not buying all the stuff they wanted you to and coming here for advice!

What ingredient is in the power powder? How long has this pool been opened. I'm wondering why the cya level is 0.

Your pH is fine at 7.4. Your alk is low, but it can easily be raised by adding some baking soda. TDS and Phospates are irrelevent for 99.9% of pools.

What is the volume of the pool? Is it a liner or concrete or ??? What size and type of pump and filter do you have?

Repost with more info and we can help you get this cleared up. BTW -- Welcome to the forum!

Thanks for the quick reply.

Power powder is their best chlorine shock. 1lb treats 16500 gallons of water.

My pool is concrete. The pool has been opened since we bought the home in may and like a novice my first helping hand came from Lesiles. The filter is "american product Quantum cellular media filter". The specifications of filter are:

Filter square area: 360sq ft.
Max pressure: 50psi.

With the above spec, I think the pool capacity is approx 20000 gallons or more. right ? I really dont know the pool capacity.

Please let me know the steps to fix the problem

Since your CH is fine for concrete, and your pH is fine and stable, do NOT worry about T/A. Let's leave that for now.

I'm with Lisa: there are questions.

Power Powder seems to be Cal-Hypo, which, if that's what you chlorinate with explains why CYA (stabilizer) is 0, but doesn't explain why CH is only 200ppm, but that's OK for now.

To calculate your volume, it's basic high school geometry: Length * Width * Depth (of the water). That gives you cubic footage. Multiply cubic footage by 7.48 to convert it to gallons. But if the pool is more than a simple box (such as it has a deep end) you have to break it into chunks you can calculate the volume of, then add them together. Pump and filter size isn't enough. Sorry.

Next you are going to have to "shock" your pool. That means raise the Free Chlorine level. Personally, since you have a concrete pool, I'd go well beyond shock level (which, with CYA=0 is about 10 to 12) and hammer it up to 20 or even 30 (don't swim in it when it's that high). We don't normally recommend this because it will fade a vinyl pool liner..but you have concrete.

To do this you can use either bleach or Liquid Chlorine -- LC-- (sometimes called "Liquid Shock" but ONLY use it if it contains Sodium Hypochlorite). Bleach and LC are the same thing but you can get LC in double the strength of "Ultra Bleach". UB is 6%, LC can be up to 12%. I figure if a gallon of 12% is less than 2x the price of Ultra bleach, it's cheaper. You can pour it in the skimmer or, as I prefer, into the return stream while the pump is running.

You'll need a lot of this stuff, but I can't tell you how much without knowing at least roughly the pool volume. 1 gallon of 12% LC will raise 10,000 gallons of water by 12ppm, but will only raise 20,000 gallons by 6ppm--simple arithmetic.

I look forward to more info.

Carl

Ok. Here is the update on what happened after I cleaned my filter. I ran the filter overnight and today morning the green water is gone and I can see the bottom of my pool. It is definitely much better.

My pool is not rectangular but a more like distorted 8. So I did some calculations and the rough estimate on capacity of pool is ~22000 gallons.

What is the product you guys recommend increase chlorine ? I mean which brand liquid bleach or liquid chlorine. Also, I am going to start using BBB method and give it a try.

And as Lesiles measured my CYA to zero, what product I need to buy to get it to right level ?

Thanks WaterMom and Carl for you inputs. They give me so much confidence that I can do it right.

Many of us use plain, unscented generic Walmart bleach for our source of chlorine. In a 22K pool, each 3 quart jug of 6% bleach (which is sodium hypochlorite) will add approximately 2ppm (parts per million) of chlorine to your pool. If you buy pool store liquid chlorine that is 12% like Carl mentioned above, it will raise it by about 4ppm. Whichever is most convenient for you. Regular bleach is readily available and convenient and is fine, though.

While you are trying to clear your pool, I'd try and test at least 3x per day and each time add enough chlorine to get back up to about 15 or 20. As Carl said, with a concrete pool, it is ok to go a little higher than a vinyl pool can take. Run the pump 24/7 while you are trying to clear things up.

CYA is cyanuric acid and is also called stabilizer or conditioner. You have a couple of choices for adding it. You can purchase a container of cya at the pool store and add enough to get to about 30ppm or you can use some stabilized form of chlorine for awhile until your cya level gets to 30 or 40 and then switch to an unstabilized form after that. You do NOT want your cya to get too high. If you choose to just use bleach for chlorine, then you'll have to buy the cya and add it. If you want to use stabilized chlorine to add the cya, I'd suggest shocking with dichlor powder and then switch to bleach after the cya is where you want it.

You'll need a good test kit. We recommend the Taylor K-2006. You can buy it through the following link and Pool Forum makes a little money in the process.

http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?t=10006

Keep us posted how things are going and repost if you have any more questions.