pool is green

[PoolDoc]

Add some bleach NOW! You want dark yellow to orange readings while you are cleaning up.

If you can handle muriatic acid, get a gallon and add about a cup to your pool. Wear glass and gloves, watch out for the fumes, put the bottle part way into the water and then open it and pour. Recap it before removing it from the pool, and then dunk it in the pool to rinse off any splatters. Do NOT store the bottle indoors; the fumes destroy wiring!

When it's in your pool, muriatic acid is cheaper and better for you and your pool. But it's harder to handle and store, and more dangerous. But, if you're careful it's fine.

How have you been chlorinating?

[joverby]

We have been using the 3" 3-in-1 chlorine tablets, because I read on here before NOT to use the dual action due to the metal content.

[Watermom]

What are the ingredients in the 3-in-1 tabs besides trichlor?

[joverby]

3-in-1 active ingredients:
calcium hypochlorite...47.6%
other ingedients.........52.4%
total..........................100.0 %
minimum available chlorine...45%

That is all it says.

[PoolDoc]

What brand?

I've been collecting MSDS; maybe I can tell what this particular chemical hobo-stew is made of.

[joverby]

the brand is hth.

[PoolDoc]

Got it. It's cal hypo + STPP + Magnesium sulfate (why?)
Full info below.

If that's all you've been using, you've got no stabilizer in the pool. If you've got bleach at home, dump it in the pool tonight.

Get some stabilizer tomorrow -- but you can NOT let it touch those tabs. Bad things WILL happen.

Does your pool have a skimmer, or are you using a floater with the tabs?


=======================

HTH 3-in-1 Chlorinating Skimmer Tablets
EPA Registration Number: 1258-1259

CAS OR CHEMICAL NAME CAS # % RANGE
CALCIUM HYPOCHLORITE 7778-54-3 40 - 55
SODIUM CHLORIDE 7647-14-5 5 - 15
CALCIUM CHLORATE 10137-74-3 0 - 4
CALCIUM CHLORIDE 10043-52-4 0 - 4
CALCIUM HYDROXIDE 1305-62-0 0 - 5
CALCIUM CARBONATE 471-34-1 0 - 4
Sodium Tripolyphosphate 13573-18-7 0.9 - 1.1
MAGNESIUM SULFATE HEPTAHYDRATE 10034-99-8 25 - 35
Water 7732-18-5 17 - 22

[joverby]

The brand is HTH.

I have put in 1/2 gallon of bleach last night and this morning with 1 cup of muratic acid last night and this morning. No change in the green-ness. In fact it looks greener to me. How long before I will begin to see it clear up?


It has a skimmer.

[PoolDoc]

You've GOT to test chlorine levels, and report results. Go to Walmart and get some stabilizer (cyanuric acid) and an OTO / phenol red test kit. Do NOT buy any of their other pool chemicals -- they are a MESS. Instead, go to the detergent section and get a box of borax and at least 8 gallons of PLAIN 6% household bleach.

When you get back, add a gallon of bleach -- pump ON! -- and then test after an hour. If the chlorine is not above 3ppm (medium yellow), add another gallon. Meanwhile, put 2# of stabilizer in an old sock, and hang it in front of the return.

Keep dosing with chlorine till you see chlorine levels ABOVE 3 ppm. Depending on how slimy your pool is, it may take a lot.

One of the key rules of pool care is that it takes more, MUCH MORE money, time and chemicals to clean up a pool, than it does to maintain it.