Need DESPERATE help! Pool non-swimmable and GREEN!

[Patty16]

Just tested the chlorine and its dropping to about a 2 so I just added another 6 bags of that powder. I need to go out this evening and get more to add tonight I think...?

Can you explain to me why I should get household bleach and not liquid shock?? Is it because its cheaper?

Do you think I should go ahead and keep adding chlorine until its steady at 15ppm?

[Watermom]

Bleach may or may not be cheaper than liquid chlorine. You'll just have to check prices in your area. But, it is readily available; you can buy it everywhere. Most of us just use the generic Walmart bleach. The concern with lots of cal-hypo granular shock is it can cause cloudy water problems and also when the level gets too high, there is no way to reduce it other than to partially drain your pool. You don't have either of those concerns with bleach.

Yes. You need to maintain your chlorine level at 15 or you will never get rid of the algae. Take a look at the Best Guess chart in my signature below.

[Patty16]

Just tested again and chlorine is at 2 and I added 12 bags today!!!!! I am heading to walmart to get bleach (probably the whole isle of it!). I noticed the ph is also going down. I will get 20 mule team borax but when should i add it and how much? Thanks!

[aylad]

Have you added any acidic chems to the pool? (trichlor tabs, dichlor powder, etc)? How low is your pH? Don't add anything to it unless it gets below 7.0. If that happens, then you can add Borax to bring it up.

Janet

[Patty16]

Sorry still learning here. What are trichlor tabs and dichlor powder? We have been adding chlorine like crazy. This morning ppm at 2 still. Have to go back out and get more chlorine. It won't stay up to 15 for more than an hour or two. The pool still looks like it did yesterday. Around noon I will shut off the pump and vacuum. What a headache...

[Watermom]

Trichlor pucks are tablets that people either put in a floater or in a chlorinator. Dichlor is a powdered form of shock.

It can take a lot of bleach to clear a pool. The reason your chlorine level won't stay up is because it is being used up killing algae. That is a good thing. As many times a day as you can test and add bleach, all the better and it will clear it that much faster. Try and keep it at 15 as best as you can.

What is your pH reading? (Don't check pH when the chlorine is high or you'll get a falsely high reading.)

It is a headache ................ but it will clear! Just keep picturing that clear pool that you'll soon be swimming in! Hope this helps!

[Patty16]

Update......

Things are getting better. Pool is now a lighter blue/gray but still VERY cloudy. Unable to see more than about 1 foot below surface.

We have continuously been adding bleach and the chlorine level has remained between 10 and 15 ppm for the past couple of days. In the past 2 1/2 days we have probably added about 30 gallons of bleach.

Now that we think (hope) the algea is dead we are focusing on running the filter and backwashing every few hours.

BUT just tested the CYA and noticed it is around 100. All other levels seem to be fine.

If I recall from other posts if the CYA is high it will require a higher chlorine count to keep sanitary? Should we just continue to add bleach or do we need to address the high CYA? If so what is the best way to do this?

Also How long should we continue to super chlorinate the pool? When is it OK to get back to normal chlorine levels?

Thanks for the help.....this forum has been a LIFE SAVER!!

[PoolDoc]

Hi Patty;

You'll need to read the "Best Guess" page in my signature -- with a CYA level of 100 (was that tested with a K2006?) you'll have to keep chlorine levels VERY high. That's not a problem, except that it makes it hard to test pH.

Can you post full K2006 test results? FC, CC, pH, TA, CH, & CYA?