Alota Bleach...

Setting: A once murky poop brown pool in Delaware that was opened one week ago by me, after alota questionable products added it turned bluish and milky overnight. Pool is owned by a 3rd year pool owner trying not to be a slave to the pool stores and find an avenue to learn about pool chemistry. Newb makes another attempt to remedy his pool, and fearfully posts info on the board in an effort to find our more without making veterans upset with his errors and newb questions and cluelessness:D .

I added 5 gallons of Kmart Shock (10% NaHypo) in an attempt to do what forum told me to do - elevate FC to 10-25 ppm because of cloudy water.

Water test at home and pool store were similar: FC 5, CYA 30, ph 7.2, Tot Alk 100, Ca 230...

So I added 5 more gallons of same stuff, and I hope to crank the FC to 10 - 25 overnight and hold for a while in an effort to get the milky, cloudy bluish pool to get right.

Used the bleach calc program I found on here in an effort to better approximate my addition of bleach.

I'm amazed at how much I must add.

I've heard a variety of days to a week or longer on the board for clearing the murky pool.

3 questions:

Paid $3.50 per gallon 10% bleach at Kmart Delaware - is that a decent/good deal?

How long do all of you think it will take to clear, demurkify the pool (30000 gal, IG gunite with DE filter)?

I also have acquired a liquid/drops home test kit - is Taylor product OK for this?

thank you

Bleach prices are up, but if you can get regular bleach for less than $1.75 / gallon, it's better than 10% at $3.50/gallon. Two gallons of regular bleach is the same as one gallon of 11.5% liquid chlorine.

How long and how much bleach do you need? Well, if you are relentless and consistent in your testing, then it will be faster and ultimately use less bleach. How much depends not just on the size of your pool, but how vicious an algae bloom you have, what kind of algae, what other contiminants, etc, and I don't know how to measure any of them. So the answer is: we don't know and cannot tell you "how long" or how much bleach.

I believe Taylor makes just about the best chemicals available for the mass market. Most of Ben's test kit is built using them. WHICH Taylor tests you have is important.

thank you.

can I overbleach my pool?

If you have a vinyl pool, definitely. It will bleach a liner if it's too high too long. Much harder to harm concrete with bleach. Follow Ben's Best Guess Table and use the Shock Level as the safe maximum for vinyl--it depends on the CYA level.

concrete pool here

Don't have to worry if it is concrete.

Success Story:

Update - I can now see 4-6 feet deep and murkiness/milky pool is clearing - all due to the suggestions of you veterans and tons of bleach

thanks

keep that filter running.

and if you see the pressure start to rise too much and bumping doesnt help......backwash and replace the DE.

i was in a similar situation as you earlier this year and now i have crystal clear water.

took a total of 30 gallons of bleach over a couple of days, keeping the FC high and 24/7 running DE filter and I added filter socks (who knows if it really helped, but they did have alota fine particulate grime in them each morning)....and now I have crystal clear water, 9.5 feet deep, all the way to the bottom I can finally see:D

Oh, they helped, alright! Congrats! You've been down a long tough road and the end is in sight. You might even be there by the time I get this posted.

I'm in a similar situation, just not so severe. I've added over 30 gallons of bleach and can't get the FC above 2 ppm, then it quickly drops off the chart. Is there another chemical I need to check? Water is milky and clearing but the water temp is 55 degrees. I didn't think algae could grow at that temp. Should I just keep adding gallon after gallon of bleach until the FC reaches 10 for the initial shock? I've never had this happen before when opening the pool.

Well done !

One of your earlier questions was about adding polyquot 60 algicide.

Most of us here beleive you do not need it ... until closing time then use a double dose so you don't open to the mess you got this year.

Some folks like to use it as a preventative during the season. Your choice. I've only ever used it at closing.

It seems polyquot is the only algicide that does not come with "baggage" Some will cause foaming. Some will turn your pool blue-green and maybe your hair and stain the plaster just for added fun.
See http://www.poolsolutions.com/tips/tip08.html


If you get the hang of keeping your chlorine at the right level for the CYA in your pool, and test regularly, you should not need an algicide.

Maybe I missed it but did what is you CYA level. You need to read Pooldocs explanation of how the maintenance and shock levels of chlorine are interlocked with your CYA levels. When the light comes on you will see that it is really quite simple and you'll feel in control of the situation and enjoy the summer much more.

I've just looked for a link to the full explanation of CYA / CL and can't find it any more. Anyone else know it ?

Keep it up.

Here is the link to the cya/chlorine chart that Brent was referring to above.

http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?t=365

Chipholder-
It would be best if you start a new thread to discuss your pool rather than tacking onto the middle of an existing thread. You are more likely to get the needed help that way and it is way less confusing than trying to help two people and two pools within the same thread. Thanks.