Frustrated with algae and chlorine

[mnhwinn]

sorry! One more question: do I take out the chlorine floater with the tabs in it?

[Watermom]

It is fine to keep it in. Your CYA is low so that tab will also be adding CYA as well as chlorine. Just make sure it is away from where the bleach is being poured in. You will not want to use the tabs indefinitely, however. Once your CYA gets to around 40, I wouldn't use any more trichlor tabs. Probably run your CYA test again in a couple of weeks and see where it is. Don't want the CYA to get too high or that starts a whole different set of problems.

[mnhwinn]

Ok, added 4 gallons of bleach last night, left the pump running all night and day and is still currently on. Was unable to test the water until this evening when I got home from work. CL level test this evening is 0.3!!! Where do I go from here? Should I add another 4 gallons, and test every 4 hours? Problem is, I'm at work for a majority of the day - including tomorrow.

[Watermom]

As often as you possibly can, add enough bleach to get back to shock level. There is no such thing as doing it too often. The more often, the faster it will clear up.

[mnhwinn]

Ok, looks like I'm on my way to getting this resolved! Thanks so much! I have been able to moniter the pool for the last 24 hours checking frequently, and it seems that it is getting better. Is is at least holding chlorine for several hours at a time now. My question now is, I am leaving for vacation in a week and am wondering what I will need to do to keep it clear. I plan to clean the filters when the pool is holding the chlorine at 15 ppm from sun up to sun down (hoping that will be within the next 4 days), and then after that, what are your recommendations before I leave on vacation?

[CarlD]

If it's not clear before you leave then it will be tough and I'm not sure what to tell you other than keep the pump running and have someone add chlorine everyday. If you can keep it covered as well that should help.

If it is clear then I suggest the following steps.
1) Make sure you test values are where you want them.
2) Add 1 quart of Polyquat 60% and wait 48 hours.
3) boost your FC to shock level and cover the pool
4) have someone add a gallon of bleach every other day

That should hold....and that's what I do.

[mnhwinn]

At what point should I let the kids back in the pool?

[aylad]

You need to keep the shock level up until you're not losing any chlorine when measuring at sundown and sunup. After that you can let the chlorine start to drift back down, and the kids can get back in. Once it gets below 8 or 9 ppm I wouldn't have a problem getting back in, although I'd wear old suits in case of fading and rinse their hair well after getting out to make sure the chlorine doesn't dry it out.

Janet

[mnhwinn]

Ok, my pool is looking SO much better, and I am SO happy! My kids keep asking why the pool looks so blue! I know it's on its way to being algae free! It hasn't looked this good in a couple of years.

I have been scrubbing the entire pool every night for the past week. I'm wondering, though, the stuff that I can see floating in the water (at night with the light on when I scrub) that looks like jelly fish texture - see through floaty slime - is that indicative of an algae problem still? It has gotten a ton better since I began this process a week ago, but it is defintely still there when I stir things up and scrub.

[aylad]

It is probably just the slime/biofilm that algae produces that you're getting off the walls of the pool when you scrub. The filter should take care of it.

Are you still shocking, or have you reached the point yet where you can let the chlorine come down?

Glad it's improvig. It's really nice to see that clear, beautiful blue color again, huh?

Janet