Pristine blue to chlorine

I have had my pool 4 weeks and have made the horrible mistake of using pristine blue. I want to switch to the BBB method or chlorine! I am ordering the suggested test kit in the morning but I need to get some chlorine in my pool! I can't afford to drain and start over is there any hope??? I am so sick about this mistake! Please, please help! I don't know what to do! That's how I ended up with pristine blue in the first place. They wrote it all down and told me what to do..... Now I am soooo lost! Help!!!

You need to go get several jugs of plain, generic, unscented bleach (most of us use the generic WalMart bleach), and give us some information about your pool (volume, current test levels, type of finish, size pump, size/type of filter, etc) and we can help you go from there.

Most of that info is requested in this chart, so if you'll just fill this out with info about your pool, that will help greatly.
Pool Chart Entry Form
Pool Chart Results

Welcome to the forum!

Ok I completed the chart with the info I have... Let me know what else you need? Thank you so much for the help!!!

Just so you know -- the EASIEST way to switch is to drain and refill. Not recommending it; just letting you know.

Assuming you don't want to drain, you have two options:
1. Fast, cheap, but risking green hair and stains.
2. Slower, more expensive, but little risk.

If you're not worried about a few bluish green stains on your pool, or about green hair on family members (affects blondes and possibly 'grays') -- go with #1.

To go with fast and cheap, simply
1. Run your filter 24/7.
2. Maintain low chlorine levels (1 - 2 ppm) with small repeated doses of bleach. (2 cups)
3. Gradually raise your pH level -- a little at a time -- to 7.6 - 7.8 by adding soda ash in small repeated doses to the skimmer. (Not at the same time as the bleach!) (1 cup at a time.)
4. Then, gradually raise chlorine to shock levels (~5 ppm with no stabilizer), by small repeated doses.
(doses are for a 10,000 gallon pool)

Do this over the period of a week, and most of your copper will be gone. If you use cal hypo shock -- not a whole bag at time -- it will work even better. (1/2 cup)

Thankfully non of us are blondes but will the stains go away? I have a lot of blood, sweat and tears in the pool and I hate to stain the dumb thing in only a month. Also, talk to me like I'm 10... How often is a repeated dose?? Also, how long should I go between the doses of bleach and soda ash? Thanks so much! I'm off to walmart!

How often those doses are done depends on your test results--but you can pretty much count on every few hours...

Janet

Ok so... it has been 10 days and we have had rain storm after rain storm... I almost was there but now my chlorine level is 1...so after going through 8 gallons of bleach and still not being where I need to be...can I just pour shock in the pool??? what will that do???? can I add more bleach at a time??? my ph is 7.5 but I can't seem to get the cholorine level up. HELP!

"Shock" is a state and not a chemical or product. When you add chlorine to suddenly raise your CL ppm (the amount of chlorine in your water) you are "shocking" your pool.
Can you post all your test results like PH, CYA, TA, FC and CC? Also, are you experiencing any issues with the pool water such as cloudiness or green coloration?
More info will surely help get you back on track.

I'm sorry; we usually tell people to get a kit, but in this case we missed it.

+ 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

You need to find out your CYA levels, to help us answer your question. But, in general, you still need to chlorinate if you can't hold chlorine overnight. Rapid chlorine loss during the DAY usually means low / no stabilizer.

HOWEVER, you do NOT want to "shock" the pool, or add a lot of chlorine all at once, till you are fairly sure little or no copper is left. A large dose of chlorine will tend to cause the copper to stain!

Thanks...

I got a kit and here are my results...ph 7.5, cl 1, br 2, hardness 80 ppm, alkalinity 90ppm...and my water is clear and beautiful!

But here is the one you were mentioning...(by the way you are sooo correct!) i could NOT get the cya to turn cloudy so i could not get a reading...so I'm guessing my CYA is too low and that is why I can't get the chlorine level up????

Thanks for the info about "shock" I will NOT add the jug of "Shock" that the pool store sold me with my pristine blue. ( I called it shock b/c that is what is on the label but I am listening and I do understand now that shock is a process not a product.)

So please tell me what to do now..

Your chlorine level is fine for a pool with no CYA -- read the Best Guess page in my signature.

To add CYA you can EITHER add stabilizer directly or you can use dichlor for awhile. I'll put links for both below. Do NOT buy dichlor locally except at Sams -- you'll need to become an EXPERT chemical label reader before you tackle that. Stabilizer is usually still unblended, but even that is changing, so be careful. Adding dichlor is easiest.

Ben

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+ If you need stabilizer, and have access to a Sams Club, buy their 24 pack of 1# bags of dichlor shock. Each bag will add about 7 ppm of chlorine, and about 6 ppm of stabilizer, per 10K gallons of water. Otherwise, order dichlor from Amazon:

Kem-Tek Dichlor 22 lbs

We do NOT recommend buying dichlor locally, otherwise, at least until you are an EXPERT reader of chemical labels. The chlorinating pool chemicals sold at Walmart, Kmart, Costco, and most other local stores are diluted blends, sometimes with copper and other products with bad side-effects.

Ok...went to Sams...Now What??

I'm assuming you mean that you went to Sams Club, and bought their dichlor?

If so, start dosing your pool with dichlor at the rate of 1/3 lb or 3/4 cup, per dose. Make sure NOTHING is in your skimmer or feeder -- no tabs, pills, gizzmos, etc -- and then add the dichlor directly to the skimmer, while the pump is running. Make sure the pump runs for at least 1/2 hour after each dose.

You can add multiple doses in one day, but space them out. Adding too much at once is more likely to result in any remaining copper turning into stains!

Once you've added a total of 4 lbs, you'll have about 20 - 25ppm of stabilizer, and should begin to see your chlorine last longer. Here's how to track your stabilizer level:
Lbs added = CYA ppm
4 -----------> 24
8 -----------> 48
12 ----------> 72
(for ~10,000 gallon pool)

Evaporation won't lower your CYA, but splash out and leaks will. However, before you get to 10 lbs of added dichlor, let's work out an over all treatment plan for your pool. OK?

Meanwhile, read the Best Guess page linked in my signature, so you kinda get to understanding it, before you have to do so.