I am so frustrated!!!

We bought an above ground pool (17' X 48" round; 5,725 gal.) a few weeks ago to help beat this heat we've been having. It seemed like a good idea, but just a few weeks into having it and we are already wanting to close it up and be done with it. :(

We have been testing and adding chemicals according to what our readings are and the pool has still managed to turn yellow. I know the alkalinity is high, around 200 ppm. but I don't know what to do to lower it. I have read not to use muriatic acid on a vinyl pool, but i've also read that it's the only thing that will lower it to where we need it to be. I bought some Alka-minus and added the correct dose, but still no change. So i added another dose, and still no change. Our PH is is about 7.6 as of today. A few days ago, i checked our chlorine levels and it was pretty much non-existant. So I added a 3" chlorine tab to the filter and it brought it up to about 0.5. So I then added some bleach to the pool and that seemed to work. As of today, the chlorine level is about 4 or 5. I checked the CYA level a few days ago (to be honest, i have no clue what that means) but all i know is that the black dot in the tube never disappeared??

We have added clarifier, algaecide, shocked it, bought two different vacuums to try and get the crud that seems (in the morning) to sit at the bottom of the pool. But everytime we try to vacuum it up, it seems to just get stirred up. we are able to get some of it, because the filters ARE getting dirty quickly, but the pool is STILL yellow. It looks like a lake. Someone please help us! The kids will be crushed if we close up the pool but my husband and I are at our wits end. :(

Slow down and take a breath. And, don't add any more stuff into the pool unless you area advised to do so from someone here. Adding more and more pool store products doesn't usually help and often causes more problems.

What kind of kit do you have? I'm thinking you must have an HTH 6-Way kit?

It is fine to use muriatic acid in a vinyl pool but since your pH is good at 7.6, don't worry about the alkalinity at this time. There is a thread about starting up an Intex pool that might be helpful to you. Go to the sub-forum called "Pool Chemistry for Intex-Type Pools" and read the "recipe" for starting up a new pool that is near the top. (Until your registration is completed, you'll have to log out in order to be able to see the rest of the forum.) Then, come back here with specific questions that are cleared up through that thread.

I'd also like to ask you to put your pool's information into our pool chart as this makes it easier for us to help.

Pool Chart Entry Form

Also, tell us exactly what all you have added to the pool --- meaning ingredients, not just 'shock.'

Welcome to the Pool Forum!

Thank you for responding. I haven't had a chance to look at the Intex start up thread but I will!! I filled out the Pool Chart Form to the best of my ability. Not sure i put in everything correctly. :/

As far as our products go:

HTH Super shock n swim =Calcium Hypochlorite 52%
Other Ingredients? 48%
Minimum available Chlorine 49%

HTH Algae Guard 3x Concentrate= Alkyl dimethyl benzyl ammonium Chlorides 15%
INERT Ingredients ? 70%

HTH SUPER 3" Chlorine Tablets= Trichloro-s-Triazinetrione 93.6%
Zinc Sulfate Monohydrate 3.5%
Other ingedients ? 2.9%

HTH Super concentrated clarifier= Cationic Polymer

Regular household bleach= concentration isn't on the bottle

Alkaminus= Sodium Bisulfate 93.3%
Sodium Sulfate 6.7%

Ok. I would suggest just using bleach and not all these others things unless you are going to follow the directions in the 'recipe thread' I referred you to previously and use dichlor for awhile. I think that would be a good idea as it will add needed CYA along with chlorine. Then, when your CYA gets to be around 40-50,then just go with using bleach. (You don't want CYA to be too high --- that gets a lot of people in trouble!)

CYA is kind of like sunscreen for your chlorine. If you don't have any in the water, the chlorine is quickly lost to the sun. If you decide you do not want to use dichlor, you can just add some CYA separately. If that is what you prefer to do, let us know and we'll help you determine how much to buy and explain adding it.

For now, I'm going to suggest that you shock your pool up to about 10-12ppm and try and hold the chlorine at that level until the water clears, and you can go from sundown one day to within 2 hours the next day without losing more than 1ppm of chlorine. (Another criteria is that you have no greater than 0.5ppm of CC -- combined chlorine -- but your kit won't test that. You should really consider getting a good kit as it will make pool care much easier for you. The one we suggest is the Taylor K-2006 or 2006C which you can find through the test kit link in my signature above. It is only available online.)

Since your kit can only measure chlorine levels up to 5ppm, you will need to use a dilution method to force your kit to read higher. It does lose some accuracy with each dilution, but it is better than nothing until you can get that kit ordered. Information about it here: Testing Without a Good Kit

Until you pass the overnight test explained above, test as many times per day as you can and each time, add enough bleach to take the chlorine level back up to around 10-12ppm. In your pool, each quart of plain, unscented 6% household bleach (generic is fine -- lots of us use Walmart's bleach) will add about 2.5ppm of chlorine. (Look on your label. It probably says 6% sodium hypochlorite.)

Run your pump 24/7 while you are trying to clear this up and clean the cartridge as needed.

I would also suggest that you do a lot of reading here on the forum and also on our sister website www.poolsolutions.com.

Hope this helps. Keep us posted on your progress and what you want to do about stabilizer. Also, feel free to ask if you have more questions.

Ok! My hubby vacuumed the pool again this morning, got more crud out but still the yellowish/brown pool. We put in 3 quarts of bleach ( I just went by your specifications about how much a quart will bring the chlorine up and started adding from where my reading was at today, which was about a 4). The pump has been running all day. Now, will the water actually CLEAR? Or will all the crud settle to the bottom? I am praying for a clear pool tomorrow! :) I am going to order the test kit here soon.

Also, I read the Intex setup recipe that you suggested. My question is this....It talks about adding the bleach, borax, etc. right after you fill the pool. Does this recipe still work if your pool has the issues that ours is having right now???

BTW, can I just say a big THANK YOU to you??? I feel so much better knowing I have someone to talk to that knows what they are doing. We felt so in the dark and were getting so angry at the whole thing. So thank you!!! You are a God send!! :)

Just work on using bleach to keep your chlorine high. Also, run your pump. Maybe not by tomorrow morning, but if you maintain that high chlorine consistently and continue filtering, it will clear.

Don't worry about anything else right now except keeping your chlorine high, running your filter and keeping your pH between 7.2-7.6. And, get that good kit. It is definitely worth the money and will make your pool maintenance SO much easier!

And, you're welcome. Glad to be able to help you.

You've gotten some good advice already, so there are only a few things I want to add.

1. Once you are able to maintain a strong chlorine level ALL the time, THEN you'll be able to start cleaning up the pool. How long it will take is more than we can answer. Using the clarifier you have MAY help, and won't hurt . . . . but ONLY if you do not use more than recommended. Overdoses of some clarifiers can 'work in reverse', making it nearly impossible to filter the gunk.

2. The Intex cartridges are low quality. Getting Unicel cartridges will help . . . if you clean them consistently and correctly. Here's how:
http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?18044 . There are also links to Unicel replacement cartridges on that page.

3. Test kits matter. A lot.
+ Here are links to the kits we recommend:

HTH 6-Way Test Kit @ Walmart
Taylor K2006A (3/4 oz bottles) @ Amazon
Taylor K2006C (2 oz bottles) @ Amazon