Tired of a green pool

[katodude00]

I just fired the pool guy since I had my boss over this weekend and the pool was green. Water was not clear, and I have green algae growing on the sides. I have a Hayward 2 HP pool pump. The pump is running 10 hours a day now. I think the pool is about 40K gallons (the pool is 16' X 32' and 6 feet deep in the middle, that is the deepest part). I have a Hayward cartridge filter (model c17502). I will go out to the pool store to get the water tested and then post again. I will order a test kit immediately. It is NOT a salt water pool, (thinking of going that way). It is not vinyl, so I believe it is gunite (dont know what other materials there are). The pool store keeps telling me to put Phosfree in the pool, but after reading about here thats probably not the best idea.

Hopefully with some help I can get it clear and keep it that way.

[PoolDoc]

For a 40K pool with algae,

#1 - dump 10 gallons of 6% household bleach in late this evening.
#2 - use a cheap OTO/phenol red drops testkit (Walmart, Kmart, etc.) to test BEFORE adding bleach; report results.
#3 - Order a Taylor K2006 or 2006C kit. (Amazon links in sig -- make sure seller is "Amato Ind", others substitute K2005, as of this AM, you'll have to buy the 2oz bottle version - 2006C)
#4 - Post, but do not trust (we won't!) the pool store tests
#5 - Make sure your pump is on 24/7 till pool is all cleaned up.
#6 - If you got to the store, do NOT buy any goop. You can purhase polyquat 60 (see www.poolsolutions.com/gd/polyquat.html) and use that, but only when the chlorine is below 5 ppm (ie, not tonight)

More after you post info!

[CarlD]

OK, I'm going to quibble with the volume. If your pool is 16x32 and 6 feet deep everywhere, then it's roughly 23,000 gallons, not 40k.
HOWEVER, if it's gunite (or concrete, plaster, shotkrete, pebbletec or tile) then the extra chlorine shouldn't hurt, and may clean it up faster. Hard-sided pools are far more impervious to high chlorine than vinyl, which will bleach out.

Other than that, read everything you can at PoolSolutions.com (our sister site) and here, on every topic that applies to you, the stickied threads.

Welcome!

Carl

[katodude00]

Ok, you are right pool is probably around 20K gallons. Been all over town trying to find an OTO/Phenol Red kit and cannot find it. Ordering the pool test stuff from Amazon. In the mean time I dumped a bunch of bleach into the pool at night as instructed and ran the pool pump constantly. The pool is looking much better. I have also been cleaning out the filter daily.

I know you dont trust them, but here are the results from the pool store. They will have to do until the Taylor kit comes in.

FC = 5ppm
CH = 220
CYA = 100
TA = 140
pH = 7.4

[PoolDoc]

My bad; Carl's right => I should have looked at your dimensions.

Actually, those readings may not be bogus. The bogus ones look like this:
FC = 5.12 ppm
CH = 266 ppm
CYA = 109 ppm
TA = 115 ppm
pH = 7.42
and come from digital test strip readers that tend to get different results every time you stick the strip in the reader.

Anyhow, assuming the CYA levels are right, the "overdose" of chlorine was just right. Probably better add 5 gallons each evening, till you get a test kit. DPD tablets will NOT work for you, at the level of chlorine you need.

Be sure to brush, too. Algae gets in cracks and crannies. Brushing helps get it out, and expose what remains to the chlorine.

Ben

[katodude00]

Thanks for the great advice everyone the pool is beautiful now. Had to hold back the wife who wanted to keep buying that pool store garbage they keep pushing on her (she is finally a convert now). BTW. I also did a lot of reading her about some of that stuff. Specifically phosphates, so here is a little of my anecdotal evidence.

We buy the bleach from the pool store since it is actually slightly cheaper than walmart, and more convienient in 2.5 gallon jugs. So why we are they we get them to test the water anyway. Just fun to compare what they say to what I read here. So last week they tell us again that our phosphates are high (500 ppb) and keep pushing the phosfree stuff. I ignore it and keep working the methods learned here. So finally yesterday I have the pool in what I believe is algea free. I pick up my bleach for the week, and get them to test the water. Phosphates are now 100 ppb. Never played with any phosphate stuff. So either getting rid of algea gets rid of phosphates or phosphate measurements are a scam.

[aylad]

Well, getting rid of the algae doesn't get rid of phosphates....

Glad that it's cleared up for you, and thanks for the update. If you'll take the time to be diligent about your testing and bleach additions, the pool should stay nice and clear for you all summer.

Happy swimming!!