Opening Up Pool and Chlorine Issues

Hello everyone, I was hoping someone out there can help me. A little back information. We had in ground pool put in with our new home (new as of about 8 years ago now). Everything that could go wrong with it, did. You name it, we had a problem with it.
But we'll skip all that, as I'm sure I'm not the only one who has had major pool problems. The issue I'm running in to now is that it is insanely difficult every year to get the pool water ready for swimming after opening it up once Winter is passed. Our installer pretends to have a clue, but I'm beginning to think he just randomly tells us different chemicals to purchase from him. Last year it took about 3 weeks to get the chemicals right, and the water to be clear and swimmable. This year we have put over 75 lbs of Chlorine powder in the pool (this is a 20,000 gallon pool). It finally started showing traces of chlorine last night but the pool water didn't clear up and stayed a light greenish color. Well today has come and we took the water in to be tested.. not a drop of chlorine.. so our "pool guy" recommended not putting anymore chlorine in and getting the Alkalinity up (it was low for the first time ever). Does anyone have any decent recommendations for us? It can't (and shouldn't) be this difficult every year to get this pool up and running. I've spent an average of 800-1,000 dollars in chemicals each year just to get it up and running. We're giving serious thought to just giving up on the whole thing altogether, but thought I'd see if I could find any help online. Any thoughts? :) (wall of text, I know)

BPM

Hi, and welcome to the forum!!

Chlorine is what keeps the algae out. If you stop chlorinating now, you'll have a swamp to deal with. Ignore your pool guy's suggestion to not put chlorine in the pool.

That being said, I'm sure that we can help you get it up and running (and it won't cost you nearly as much or take nearly as long!!). One of the first things you'll need to free yourself and your wallet from the pool guy is a good test kit. We highly recommend the K-2006 that can be found many places online, but at a good price at the Amazon link in my sig. Until then, if you can go to your local WalMart and see if they sell the hth 6-way drop-based kit, that is compatible with the K-2006 and will do for now. If you can't find that, then at least get the cheap OTO kit (uses red and yellow drops for chlorine and pH) and run a test with that. No strips!!

Post your test results, along with the size of your pump, size/type of filter (sand, DE, cartridge?) and a list of what chemicals you've put into the pool so far. We need ingredients, not "shock" or "algaecide". Also, what type of pool is this? Vinyl liner, gunite, plaster, fiberglass? What is your normal method of chlorination, and do you know what your CYA (stabilizer) level was at closing last winter?

We can help, but we need some concrete info to work with.

I don't have the slightest idea of the size of the pump, the filter is sand and has a vinyl liner. We've put 75 lbs of chlorine concentrate (55 pct available chlorine according to the bin), plus about 15 lbs of "shock n swim" - which shows 45 pct available chlorine. Two full bottles of "AlgaeClear 60" (poly ethylene). A half bottle of ph Up (2.5 lbs) has been sprinkled in there to keep the ph level according to the test strip. No alkalinity plus or minus thus far. Our normal method of chlorination (once the pool gets running) is chlorine tablets.
Our test results today were FCI - 0, TCI - .97, PH - 6.3, TA - 49, CYA - OR. Three days prior all are numbers were "perfect" except the chlorine was still 0. After adding about 15 lbs of chlorine yesterday, it finally registered a nice purple color on the test strips but today it registers none.
I couldn't tell you what the stabilizer level was when we closed it up, just that there was some added when it was closed. The easiest solution would be to drain the pool every year and just start out fresh, but the pool guy claims the sides will collapse.

You can't depend on test strips to be accurate enough to balance pool water. They can tell you that there is, or is not, chlorine, but won't reliably tell you how much. You really need drop-based testing, so I reiterate the advice I gave you above about the test kits. If you have zero chlorine on your test strips, it could be that you're fighting something in the water, or that the chlorine level is so high that it's bleaching out the strips. With your pool having a liner, you need to know which it is, in order not to bleach your liner out. Also, if your pH truly is 6.3, you need to get some Borax in the pool quickly, before the pH damages your liner. Anything below 7.0 is acidic and can be bad news. I encourage you to at least get the OTO kit, which can be purchased very cheaply, and double-check that number. I wouldn't worry about the TA for right now, that can be adjusted later on.

A very common scenario, and more common this year than before, is that some folks have closed for the winter with high CYA levels, and then the pool went green over the winter. There is a bacteria present when this happens that can degrade the CYA into several byproducts, one of which is ammonia. When this happens, it takes a HUGE amount of chlorine to overcome, but it must be done in order to be able to hold a chlorine level for the rest of the summer. But again, without accurate numbers, there's no way to tell whether this is the case with your pool.

I know it's tempting to drain and start over, but you really can get this back into good shape fairly easily. Besides, if you drain an IG pool with a liner, you'll float the liner and end up having to replace it.

You need to get that pH up ASAP! Readings below 7.0 are acidic and can damage your pool. Add some 20 Mule Team Borax (laundry aisle at Walmart). Add a couple of boxes slowly to the skimmer while the pump is running, breaking up any clumps. Once the ph starts moving, go with smaller additions. Aim for 7.4-7.6 although anywhere 7.2-7.8 is ok.

What is the ingredient in the chlorine concentrate and in the "shock n swim?" Don't add any more algaecides. If you used the the tabs all last season (which are trichlor and are stabilized) then your CYA level was probably high upon closing. What often happens in pools that close with high CYA levels is that it bio-degrade over the winter into ammonia which creates a huge chlorine demand upon opening. I suspect this is what is happening in your pool. The only fix for this is lots and lots of chlorine.

EDIT: Looks like Janet posted while I was typing but as you can see, we have both given you similar advice.

Wow. Yet another case of CYA => ammonia!

We must have had more of this this year, than in the last 4 years combined! If this up-tick that we're seeing is consistent across the country, this has GOT be affecting supplies of granular chlorine, since the quantities required for clean up are so huge.