Livestrg05 - Newbie question about switching types of chlorine in green pool

Hi all,

I'm new to the forum and looking for some advice. I live in Central Fl where it's currently pushing 90 and algae is in full bloom. I have a concrete pool, around 10-12,000 gallons and a cartridge filter. I was using LC from my local Leslie's until they pushed me to use Cal Hypo "Power Plus" stuff. A couple weeks ago over a period of days I added a gallon of Stabilizer (my reading was 0), probably 4 packets of Cal Hypo and a couple packs of Yellow algicide. It finally went clear and looked good, I got lazy and now it's back to green again.

I put in two more bags of Cal Hypo, not much of a result and found my FC level was at 2 a couple days later. I think all the chlorine was eaten up by the algae. I added two more bags and a bag of algicide and still nothing two days later. About to re-test water. My question is can I switch immediately back to LC even if there may be some Cal Hypo left in the pool still trying to kill everything? I don't want to mix stuff I'm not supposed to and was thinking of just dumping in a couple jugs to shock it quickly back to clear. I'd love for it to be clear by this weekend.

Also, when adding chlorine in a green pool, should the pump be running off the skimmer or the main drain?

Thanks for all your help!!!!

Welcome to the forum! It is fine to go ahead and use the liquid chlorine. Many of us (me included) pour the bleach slowly into the skimmer while the pump is running. It would be best for your to post a current set of water testing results for us to take a look at so we can better advise you. If you don't have a good kit, you'll need to get one. We recommend the Taylor k-2006 or 2006C. If you buy it through the following link to Amazon, the Pool Forum makes a little money on the sale. I suggest you not add anything else to your pool other than chlorine until you run some numbers past us. Sometimes, putting in too many things, many of which are unneeded, only make the problem worse.

Thanks Watermom. I'll look at getting my own test kit. I took a sample to the local pool store last night which showed my TC and FC levels were 0! I was shocked because of the amount of granular chlorine I had put in there. My CYA was 50 which had gone up somewhat because I have floating tablets. My other numbers I don't have with me but were fine. I put in 3 jugs of the 12.5% LC from Leslie's, one into the skimmer and the other two directly into the pool, running about 50/50 main drain vs. skimmer and running the pump 24/7. Hoping it'll look better by tonight

If the water is green, it can eat up chlorine very, very quickly. With a CYA of 50, you need to get your chlorine up to 15 ppm and hold it there, and it will clear quicker. I'm with Watermom on the chems--it would be better to leave off the algaecide and not add anything else but chlorine to your pool. The algaecide can deplete your chlorine almost as fast as the algae can!

Janet

And, besides algaecide is a pretty good preventative, but doesn't do a lot for you when you already have algae. BTW -- the only algaecide we recommend around here is Polyquat 60%.