green pool with high chorline

[PoolDoc]

Two things: lower your pH, and raise your chlorine. You also need to run your pump and filter 24/7 till you've got everything cleaned up.

You need to do both, but unless you have access to dealer testing with a pH meter, you can't get an accurate pH reading once you lower your pH.

So, go to Lowes or Home Depot and get a gallon of muriatic acid. Use gloves and glasses, and avoid the fumes, but add about 2 quarts (1/2 gallon) to your pool, tonight if possible. Wait 2 hours (or till the AM) and retest. If your pH is not below 7.6, add the rest.

Once you've got the pH below 7.6, you can start raising your chlorine. Add 12 gallons (no typo -- I mean "12") of 6% household bleach to your pool. You can pour it into the deep end, but make SURE your pump is running.

Do NOT try to fix anything else - TA, CH, phos.

Read the BBB method and Best Guess pages as you have time. Repost, as you get test results or things change.

Good luck!

Ben

PS: Lisa (Watermom) was posting as I was writing. What she's telling you is also correct, but it's a little longer term view than I'm taking. I assumed you'd want to clear up the water first and then address the high CYA. But, you can make that choice now, if you like. However, it will take high chlorine to remove the algae when you have high CYA. The "Best Guess" pages explains why this isn't necessarily a bad thing.

[CarlD]

Pour the Muriatic Acid SLOWLY into the return stream and be careful not to breathe the fumes. That way the acid will be diluted quickly and won't sink and damage your liner.

Carl

[madwil]

+1 to what Carl said- I've been playing with chemicals for almost 40 years, and yesterday sloshed the MA a little; didn't spill, but the fumes were pretty potent!

[CarlD]

I inadvertently sniffed a bottle not knowing it was MA a few months ago...it was a rough few minutes and I was lucky for having been incredibly dumb! REALLY dumb. NEVER do that!

Carl

[TominTx]

Thank you all so much for your advice. I went to Home Depot and poured in the muratic acid into the return stream at the deep end.

Is there a way to know how high the cya levels really are? I am afraid that if they are really high it will cost a fortune in bleach, but on the other hand it costs $400 to drain and to fill it up again. I will order the test kit from your signature.

I have taken before pictures and will post the after ones when I get this cleared up.

Tom

[madwil]

it's not real accurate, but you can do a "shotglass" test with CYA...
1 shot pool water
1 shot distilled water (tap would probably be ok, since there shouldn't be any CYA in your tapwater)
then do the CYA test and multiply by 2 (if you still read 100, you'd have to dilute more- it could be over 200!)

[CarlD]

Distilled water is really important for the shot glass method when you are testing chlorine, as tap water frequently has chlorine in it.

While it's probably better for the CYA test, I think madwil is probably right that tap water should be OK, if you don't have distilled.

(BTW, Steam Distilled water is available at most supermarkets and drug chains)

Carl