Frustrated with algae and chlorine

[mnhwinn]

Hello all - so thankful to find this site after spending enough $$ at the dang pool store!! Hoping you can get my pool back to algae free side walls!

Info on my pool:

In ground, free form, gunite, plaster, 9 year old pool. Only started having trouble with algae last year. 16,000 gallons. Cartridge filters - run filters nightly for 4 hours. Use chlorine.

Took water today to have it tested at pool store:

FC = 0
CC = not sure what that means?
TC = 0
PH = 7.4
TA = 80
CYA = 20
CH = 340
phospates = 200

My biggest complaints are that I can't keep chlorine in the pool, and green algae is continuously growing on the plaster, as well as the moss rock that is "on beam" on one entire side of pool with rock waterfall.

Can someone please give me a recommendation as to how to claim my algae free pool back! I'm so frustrated with spending hundreds of dollars at the pool store and getting the same result........ none!

Thanks for your help ahead of time!

[aylad]

Hi, mnhwinn, and welcome to the forum!!!

It sounds to me like the algae has just gotten hold and is eating up your chlorine as fast as you're putting it in, so you're not able to get ahead of it far enough to kill it off. Just because it visibly disappears doesn't mean it's completely gone, which is why accurate testing is necessary.

First off, what method are you using for testing? We don't recommend strips--they're just not accurate and reliable enough for normal testing, let alone clearing up a problem. Pool stores often aren't the most reliable, either. We recommend that you get a good, drop-based kit. We like the Taylor K-2006, which can be found online for $50-$70 at a number of sites--can give you links if you like. I know it seems like a big expense, but it's going to be your #1 tool in keeping your pool clean and clear, and I'm betting it's less expensive than what you've already unsuccessfully put into your pool!!


First of all, TC= FC + CC. total chlorine = free chlorine (chlorine available to kill the algae) + combined chlorine (chlorine already involved in the battle). The goal is to have zero CC and have all of the chlorine in the pool available. You say that you use chlorine--what type? liquid chlorine, bleach, cal-hypo, trichlor, dichlor are all different types of chlorine, but each has its own effect on water chemistry. We need to know what type of chlorine you're using, also what chemicals (ingredients, not brand names, please) you've put into your pool since this battle began.

In order to clear up the algae and keep it away, you're gonna have to kill it first. With a CYA of 20, I would shock your pool using plain, unscented bleach to get the chlorine up to 15 ppm. In a pool your size, starting with 0 chlorine, that means 4 gallons of 6% (ultra) bleach. Test the water and add whatever amount of bleach it takes to get back up to the 15 ppm as often as you can daily, because to kill off the algae you need to keep that chlorine level consistent at 15 ppm until 1)the water is clear and algae gone, 2)the CC is zero, and 3) you don't lose more than 1 ppm chlorine when testing at sundown and sunup. In your pool, each quart of 6% bleach will raise your chlorine by 1 ppm, so you can use that as guide when figuring how much you need to add back in. If you keep it consistent, brushing the pool at least once daily, and keep the filter running 24/7, cleaning as the pressure indicates, then it will clear up. The key to keeping it clear, once those three conditions above are met, is going to be consistent chlorination--never letting your chlorine drop below 3 ppm.

[mnhwinn]

Yay! Thanks so much for the reply! I love this forum.

Answers to your questions: I am using just a cheap standard pool kit for testing - rainbow guard is the manufacturer and it is just a liquid drop kit. Nothing special. If you could supply links to a place where I can purchase a reliable kit, as you mentioned, I would appreciate that.

Ok, now chemicals I've put into my pool since this began: shocking at least once a week with either 52% calcium hypochlorite or I've also used 73% calcium hypochlorite. I have a chlorine floater that has 3" 99.4% trichloro-s-triazinetrione. After I do any of this, and test my chlorine the following morning after adding to the pool at night, the chlorine is gone..... I've also put in about a gallon of monosodium cyanurate monohydrate 35%, about a liter of phos free (can't find chemical name on the bottle??), and about 16 oz of poly[oxyethylene(dimethyliminio)ethylene(dimethyliminio )ethylene dichloride] 60%.

I will follow the directions you gave me in your last post, and if you have any more to add, I'm all ears!

When I add the bleach - what is the best way to add it?

Thanks so much!!!!!

[Watermom]

The kit we recommend is the Taylor K-2006. You can buy it through this link and Pool Forum will get a donation which will help keep us online.

http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?t=10006

Don't throw any more stuff in your pool at this point other than bleach. Test it as many times a day as you can, and each time take it back to shock level as Janet said. In a 16,000 gallon pool, each quart of 6% bleach will raise your cl by just about 1ppm. You can either pour the bleach slowly into the skimmer while the pump is running (what I do) or you can slowly pour it in front of a return jet while the pump is running.

Hope this helps. Come back if you have more questions and keep us posted how things are going.

You may want to raise your CYA level a little after the pool is cleared up. Ask us about that after the algae battle is won.

Go order a good kit ASAP!

[mnhwinn]

The link takes me to an area which says I don't have permission to be in.......

[aylad]

try www.amazon.com and then search for the Taylor k-2006 test kit. (You don't want the K-2005, make sure it's the dpd-fas kit).

Janet