HELPppppppppppp

Ok, will go to town later and get distilled water. Right now, it is still cloudy. Looks like someone poured milk in it. I want to go swimming so badly. It has been almost two weeks like this. Chlorine level is still high even with my five way tester.

Ok this beats all I ever saw. If I did the distilled water / pool water right, it came out to 25> Does that sound right? Also, my ph was way below norm levels . I did that with just the pool water. NOW WHAT ??? Oh my... I never in my lifetime......................

Did you dilute the sample for the PH? Dilution only works for the chlorine. Did you add acid? Did you get a lot of acid rain - PH usually doesn't bounce from one extreme to another.

Cloudy usually means that it needs to be filtered - however without complete test results we cannot be positive.

Is the chlorine level holding overnight? If so - then you have killed all the algae.

Ph Is high. Still, yes I added PH Decreaser. Chlorine is holding. It is still 25 this morn. But pool is still cloudy. I do not understand it at all. Pump is running good ... (I tested ph with strip, threw strip away and used my 5 way tester). Would it be ok to dump only half the water and refill ? I hate to do that but I do not know what else to do. Would CYA make pool cloudy? I dont have a skimmer, and had to putit in a coffee filter inside the puck holder. (floater). I wish I had my husbands camera at home I would take a pic. Thanks so much for the help.

went and tested cya again. Its about 25... was 30 last wk. Chlorine is still way up there. Pool still cloudy. We decided to empty some of the water and refill. Hope this works. Looks so pretty blue, but so milky. REREAD why pools can get cloudy. Well it cant be algea then if my chlorine level is holding, right? So I give up. must be the ph balance is out of whack. Going to refill a little more than 1/4 of the pool then start over.

You can try the refill - it could be a high calcium level - but it's hard to tell without test results.

PLEASE remember that the PH test is not accurate (drops or strips) above like 10-15ppm of chlorine - it will give you a false high reading. Best NOT to adjust PH when your chlorine levels are high.

Water hardness is 50. I dumped about 1/4 of the pool water out and noticed brown stuff on the bottom in places. I vaccumed it up and refilling now. Will retest chlorine level and see what happens after it is filled.

Hi again. I refilled the pool . I had only dumped about 1/4 of it. Water temp is cooler, but still cloudy, but not as cloudy. I can see the bottom of the pool now. It is blue with milky color? I noticed brown stuff as I said on the bottom in places. I vacuumed it up, and came back out later and more is there, I vacuumed that too. The pump runs 24 /7. New filter. Chlorine level is still about 25. And holding. What else can be wrong? Is that brown stuff alegea? Why is the clorox not killing it if it is algea, and the chlorine level still so high?

Ok, now for the PH. Most said do not bother with it until I get algea/chlorine problem fixed. I did the five way tester. The one where you add the pool water and then the drops. The color comes up really light, but then turns to purple after a few seconds. So that is going from low to high on the numerical scale. From add soda ash to add acid. ?????? How can that be. Is there a time to tell the number, color? Right after dropping in the drops? Or wait a few seconds for color to change?

Thanks again everyone. If that brown is not algea, I will wait for chlorine to go to safe swimming level and then I am jumping in. LOL.

Rapture, here's a thread (fingers crossed :D ) that describes a persistant form of algae that takes hold this time of the year (at least in some locations) http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?t=5612
As Simmons said a couple of posts above, with that much chlorine in the water, the pH test is useless (Waterbear, I believe, addressed the chemistry side of why - something to do with high chlorine changing the scale of the test). Getting the algae completely removed from the pool should be the first concern, then you can play with the other perameters of your water once the cl levels have dropped to normal range.
Please give the thread I linked a read and see if it sounds like the stuff you have, if it is, follow the advice there for dealing with it, then we can get you back on track with your other chems.
Sorry I couldn't give you the 'magic answer' to your problem, but sometimes these things just take a little time, patience and perserverience :) - good luck, keep us posted - Waste

WOW that sounds just like my pool exactly. So what to do. I read it. I have had levels up to 25 for three days now. Still some cloudiness, and brown trying to go back to the bottom. OK. So if I now get rid of it, and I let my chlorine level go back to the norm for swimming, wont it just return? WOW. MY bil has the same stuff. We live on a dirt road so I thought it was just dust. And also mowing the lawn. Geesh. What a mess. Thanks for the link though. At least I know its algea and not dust/dirt from the rd. Going to go and increase chlorine even more. Thanks again.

the brown stuff on the bottom is most likely dead algae, the blue cloud is a sign the algae is dead. Your filter isnt working really fast and you will have to keep that clean for the pool to clear up.

Your vacume is not helping as its just stirring the dead algae up, might as well stirr it around with the brush. Adding raw water is changing the balance also.

If you were getting rain daily that added to the algae growth that you were fighting so long. You are in the clear now, just wait for the filter to do the trick.

whatever you do DO NOT mess with the PH or other issues until the pool clears and the chlorine drifts back down.