Need DESPERATE help! Pool non-swimmable and GREEN!

Hi! I am so happy I found this website. We bought a new house in February and we are now owners of a inground pool. When we opened it in May it looks great. It was actually pretty blue. Then it slowly turned cloudy now to swamp green. We have been taking samples to the pool store and have been following their directions and have spent WELL into $1,000 of dollars and our pool looks like a swamp. My husband is about to close this money pit! We had a big party on Memorial Day and it has gone downhill since then. I am sure part of the problem is us since we are new and learning. We have young children and we have not been able to use the pool now for 3 weeks nevermind inviting people over to use it.

Its about 28,000 gallons
Liner
Sand filter which we just changed yesterday.

Levels:
FC - 0.2
TC - 0.9
Combined Cholrine - 0.8
PH - 7.4
CYA - 50Total Alkalinity - 138
CH - 148

My plan for today is to SHOCK the heck out of it! I am going to dump 3 bags of powder turbo shock with 78% chlorine into the pool and 3 bags into the skimmer as suggested from the pool store. I also got 4lbs YellowRid to kill green and yellow algae. Let the filter run for 24 hours then vacumn and brush sides, stairs etc.

Can someone please reply asap to let me know this is the way to go? I want to do this soon so maybe we can actually use the pool this week.

Thank you so much for any input!

Patty

What is the ingredient in the shock? Dichlor? Cal-hypo? Don't add the YellowRid.

Welcome! I think we can help you clear this up! Please tell me that you did NOT fill from a well. We have had so many pools recently that were filled from a well and that brings a whole other set of problems!

Nope not well water.

Active Ingredient:
Calcium Hypochlorite - 78%
other - 22%
Min available chlorine - 75%

Poolife Turbo Shock - here it is:
[link removed by mod] so the post could be modded in faster.

I just brushed the sides and was going to do the rest. why should i not use the yellowrid? what should i do now?

Thank you!!

With a CYA of 50, you need to shock your pool up to about 15ppm and try and hold it there. You can use cal-hypo, although with a vinyl pool, you do not need calcium and large doses of it sometimes will cloud up your pool pretty good. I do not know how to gauge the amount of cal-hypo to use. Maybe the label will give you some indication. We typically just recommend that people just use plain, unscented household bleach for their source of chlorine. It is 6% sodium hypochlorite and will not cloud the water. If you ant to go that route, add 6 gallons slowly to the skimmer while the pump is running or slowly in front of a return jet being careful not to splash it on you or the liner.

At least twice per day, and more often than that is even better, test the chlorine and each time, add enough bleach to bring the cl back up to 15ppm. In a pool this size, each gallon (4 quarts) will add 2ppm, so use that to help you figure out how much to add.

Run the pump 24/7 and backwash anytime the filter pressure rises 5-10psi over your clean filter pressure.

Don't add the yellowrid. It will further complicate things and you do not need it. If it is unopened, see if the pool store will let you return it.

All you need to clear algae is sustained high cl levels.

You'll need a good test kit if you don't already have one. The one we recommend is the Taylor K-2006 or 2006C (same kit, larger bottle of some reagents). If you buy it through the Amazon link in my signature, the Pool Forum makes a little money on the sale which helps us keep this form online. Only buy if the seller is Amato Industries, however. Some other sellers are substituting the K-2005 which you do NOT want.

In the meantime, you can use a dilution method to test higher cl levels than your kit will be able to measure since you're going to be shocking up to 15ppm. More info about that can be found in the following link. It is a temporary aid until you can get a better kit.

How To Test Without a Good Kit

Hope this helps. Keep us posted how things are going and glad to hear you didn't fill from a well!!

I had already put in 3 bags of the shock around the boarder of the pool and 3 bags into the skimmer. I will test shortly to see where we at. Next I think I will try the bleach. I was told I do need calcium because over time things will start to damage. We do have a metal ladder and bolts sitting in the pool. Should I let the filter run for 24 hours, shut it off then vacumn tomorrow?

Thank you again for your help. I will keep you updated.

You do not need calcium in a vinyl pool. You can try shutting off overnight to see if anything is on the floor that can be vacuumed up but we typically say run 24/7 while trying to clear a pool.

If you choose to use cal-hypo, it appears that 26 oz by weight of 73% cal-hypo will raise 28K gallons by 5 ppm, so you can use that as a guide--but I agree with Watermom that bleach is a great way to go, because you can more precisely calculate your doseages and don't run into cloudy water problems with it.

Janet

Just tested the chlorine and its dropping to about a 2 so I just added another 6 bags of that powder. I need to go out this evening and get more to add tonight I think...?

Can you explain to me why I should get household bleach and not liquid shock?? Is it because its cheaper?

Do you think I should go ahead and keep adding chlorine until its steady at 15ppm?

Bleach may or may not be cheaper than liquid chlorine. You'll just have to check prices in your area. But, it is readily available; you can buy it everywhere. Most of us just use the generic Walmart bleach. The concern with lots of cal-hypo granular shock is it can cause cloudy water problems and also when the level gets too high, there is no way to reduce it other than to partially drain your pool. You don't have either of those concerns with bleach.

Yes. You need to maintain your chlorine level at 15 or you will never get rid of the algae. Take a look at the Best Guess chart in my signature below.

Just tested again and chlorine is at 2 and I added 12 bags today!!!!! I am heading to walmart to get bleach (probably the whole isle of it!). I noticed the ph is also going down. I will get 20 mule team borax but when should i add it and how much? Thanks!

Have you added any acidic chems to the pool? (trichlor tabs, dichlor powder, etc)? How low is your pH? Don't add anything to it unless it gets below 7.0. If that happens, then you can add Borax to bring it up.

Janet

Sorry still learning here. What are trichlor tabs and dichlor powder? We have been adding chlorine like crazy. This morning ppm at 2 still. Have to go back out and get more chlorine. It won't stay up to 15 for more than an hour or two. The pool still looks like it did yesterday. Around noon I will shut off the pump and vacuum. What a headache...

Trichlor pucks are tablets that people either put in a floater or in a chlorinator. Dichlor is a powdered form of shock.

It can take a lot of bleach to clear a pool. The reason your chlorine level won't stay up is because it is being used up killing algae. That is a good thing. As many times a day as you can test and add bleach, all the better and it will clear it that much faster. Try and keep it at 15 as best as you can.

What is your pH reading? (Don't check pH when the chlorine is high or you'll get a falsely high reading.)

It is a headache ................ but it will clear! Just keep picturing that clear pool that you'll soon be swimming in! Hope this helps!

Update......

Things are getting better. Pool is now a lighter blue/gray but still VERY cloudy. Unable to see more than about 1 foot below surface.

We have continuously been adding bleach and the chlorine level has remained between 10 and 15 ppm for the past couple of days. In the past 2 1/2 days we have probably added about 30 gallons of bleach.

Now that we think (hope) the algea is dead we are focusing on running the filter and backwashing every few hours.

BUT just tested the CYA and noticed it is around 100. All other levels seem to be fine.

If I recall from other posts if the CYA is high it will require a higher chlorine count to keep sanitary? Should we just continue to add bleach or do we need to address the high CYA? If so what is the best way to do this?

Also How long should we continue to super chlorinate the pool? When is it OK to get back to normal chlorine levels?

Thanks for the help.....this forum has been a LIFE SAVER!!

Hi Patty;

You'll need to read the "Best Guess" page in my signature -- with a CYA level of 100 (was that tested with a K2006?) you'll have to keep chlorine levels VERY high. That's not a problem, except that it makes it hard to test pH.

Can you post full K2006 test results? FC, CC, pH, TA, CH, & CYA?

Patty, all the advice given was based on your reporting of CYA of 50. With it being 100, that changes things. (And,since kits can't differentiate past 100, it might actually be higher than that.) Like Ben said, look at the Best Guess chart. Your shock level should be 20 instead of 15. Just for good measure, I'd shock it up this evening to 20 and see what the reading is in the morning within 2 hours of sunup. Hopefully you'll find that you didn't lose more than 1ppm of cl. As he requested, post a complete set of new numbers.

(How did you get the CYA reading of 50 before?)