Help with new pool owner

I have owned my pool for about 3 months now. I have been having lots of problems with algea. My pool company told me that I have high phosphates, and that will kill my chlorine levels. So for the past month I have been spending lots of money on Phosphate removers. (I wish I would have found this sit sooner.)
Now that I have found this site, I am anxious to try the BBB method, but I have a few questions.

1. Do I need to add bleach every evening, or just every few days?
2. How often to I need to shock my pool? (With the BBB method, does this just mean adding extra bleach?)
3. My pool company told me yesterday that my CYA levels were at 140. I drained out about 18 inches of water and refilled today to try and get the CYA levels down. I am guessing that this is why I was probably getting Alge, and not phosphates correct? (My chlorine level was not high enough for the high CYA levels)
4. Can I add the bleach directly to my skimmer basket? I do not have any type of inline chlorinating system. Currently I just have a floater full of tablets in my pool?

Sorry for the long post, but after going through 3 months of frustration, I found this site, and I am very excited about taking care of my pool the correct way.

Thanks

Tim

18ft above ground pool. Vinyl liner. Sand filter. 1.5 hp pump (running on low)

First of all, welcome to the Pool Forum. Glad you found us!

To answer some of your questions:

1. Depends. Some pools need bleach every evening, others can go a day or two between doses. It really depends on several on several things --- your CYA level, the weather, how much of a swimmer load, how much organic debris drops in your pool, etc. I usually test mine every day although sometimes it might be every other day. I can usually add bleach every other day but sometimes every day. With your high CYA, you may be able to go several days between doses of bleach.

2. You only need to shock the pool if you have a measurable CC (combined chlorine) level. You won't be able to test this unless you buy a good kit. We recommend everyone buy a good kit. The one we suggest is the Taylor K-2006 or 2006C which you can get through the test kit link in my signature below.

Since the good kit is only available online, you need to get something to use in the meantime. See if your Walmart has an HTH 6-Way kit (not test strips) or if not, get a cheap OTO/Phenol Red kit (yellow and red drops).

3. Did your pool company use test strips or the "disappearing black dot test" to test your CYA? If you get a good kit, you'll be able to test your own CYA. You are right that the most likely reason you got algae is from not keeping the chlorine high enough. You need to follow the levels listed in the Best Guess Chlorine Chart which is also in my sig.
Either one of the two kits I suggested above that you should try and get until your ordered kit comes in will only test chlorine levels up to 5ppm. With such high CYA, you'll need much higher chlorine levels than that. You can force those kits to read higher by using a dilution method explained here: Testing Without a Good Kit

4. It is fine to add the bleach to the skimmer while the pump is running. That is the way I always add mine. If you have as high of a CYA reading as you report, then you should not be using those tabs. They are stabilized which means they have CYA in them. Let the ones that are wet finish dissolving and then no more. Also, no dichlor shock powder. Just use bleach for your source of chlorine.

Do a lot of reading here on the forum. (Until your registration is complete, you'll have to log out to be able to see the rest of the forum.) Also, go and read at our sister website www.poolsolutions.com. Lots of good stuff there, too.

Hope this help you. Let us know if you have further questions.

EDIT to add: Please put your pool's information in our pool chart. This makes it easier to help.

Pool Chart Entry Form

I am not sure what type of test they used. They squirted some water in a small vial, that turned cloudy, then they inserted the vial into a machine that told them what the level was. What is confusing to me, is that as little as 1 1/2 months ago (I have only had the pool for about 3 months) the stabilzer level was holding steady at 40. I have been using their stabilized chlorine, but I dont think it would have made it that high that quickly. Could it have been the insane amounts of algeacide and phosphate remover that I have been adding?

This might sound dumb, but can you explain exactly how to shock? I can look at the best guess chart depending on my CYA level, but I am reading a lot of stuff about holding a certain level overnight. What if I see my chlorine level drop overnight? Do I add just enough chlorine to get it back to the level specified by the chart, or do I need to go above that level?

I just ordered the Taylor K-2006 kit, but until it arrives I am stuck testing with strips.

I actually found out about this forum through the poolsolutions.com website. That is where I have been reading for the past 2 days.

Thanks again for your help.

Tim

Stabilized chlorine will increase your CYa levels very, very quickly. In fact, if it's dichlor you've been using, it adds 9 ppm of CYA for every 10 ppm of chlorine!! The algaecide and phosphate remover don't affect your stabilizer levels, but they DO create a chlorine demand, which is probably one reason why you have algae you can't kill.

In order to shock your pool, you look up on the chart what your "shock" level is, depending on your CYA. For example, for a CYA of 140, you need to attain a chlorine level of 25 ppm. Then you need to hold it at that level as consistently as you can by testing and adding more chlorine as needed to get back up to that 25 ppm. The more consistent you are about keeping the chlorine up, the faster the pool will clear. You need to maintain that level until you can measure your chlorine at night and again in the morning before the sun hits the pool, and not lose any chlorine during that time. At that point, you'll know it's time to let your chlorine drift back down, but with a CYA that high, you never want it to get below 8 ppm.

Janet

When is your kit supposed to arrive?

Jan is right in that dichlor (which I'm pretty sure is what you've been using --- check the bag) will increase your CYA pretty fast. But, even still, adding 140ppm of CYA in 6 weeks seems like a lot. If your kit is due to arrive within a day or two, I think I might hold off taking the chlorine that high until you can test your CYA yourself. If you find that it is actually that high, then you will need to follow the 'shocking' advice that she wrote above.

post moved to correct location; you have access now. Ben