Every Pool Store Sells Me something Different.... HELP me get my water right

[Cheryl T]

We have had our pool home 3 years. The pool stores here will come out and teach you all about your pool if you will fork over $125. to $175.00, but I refuse to pay such a rate. If I had found a store that would just explain a few things to me I "might" have become a loyal customer, but the problem is getting STRAIGHT answers and every pool store tells me something different! We bought an existing home with a pool from an investor who knew nothing about the pool. It has been a frustrating 3 years with the mixed information I get from pool stores! Here is my CURRENT PROBLEM.
9300 to 10000 gallons In-ground Pool with cartridge filter. I use a Poolmaster test kit that shows chlorine - yellow and PH - pink. Last week I had Yellow Algae. The pool store sent me home with: Yellow Rid, lg bucket of Power Powder Plus, Phos free, No More Problems, lg bucket of 3" Stabilized Chlorine Tablets, and 2 - 2/12 Gallons of Liquid Chlorine. (REALLY!) Did what they said: Used Yellow Rid, and 2 lbs of Power Power Plus, brushed the sides and bottom, kept the chlorine level up and kept cleaning the filter (Ran pump 24 hours) Afterward I Had a kind of bubble scum floating on top. Used the Phos free as they said, 3 days ago. The filter pressure for my pool is usually 11 to 13 lbs when it is clean but has been going up as high as 35 with the Phos free. I got scared (worried about my pump and motor) and hosed the filter off off... it keeps going to around 20 now at the end of each day so I hose it off. Water keeps losing the chlorine and I keep adding. The water is beginning to clear but it is still a little cloudy on the deep end but can see the bottom well.
Now - Chlorine reading 0.2 or below... barely can see any yellow in the tube. PH Acid Demand = 7.4 Total Alkalinity 50. How do I raise Alkalinity? I have 20 Mule Team Borax on hand - pure Borax - not detergent. Please help me get my water stabilized. Thank you in advance.

[PoolDoc]

Ah yes.

It's what we call being "pool-stored"! And you've been pool stored in a big way, unfortunately.

OK. Do this:

+ Get your pool tested, make sure the results include stabilizer level and report those here.
+ Keep running your pump and cleaning your filter -- the phosphate products do stop up filters, and there's nothing to do except keep filtering and cleaning till it's gone. You are correct to think that those pressures can damage filters, especially cartridge filters. The more you filter and clean, the faster you'll get the goop out.
+ Do NOT worry about alkalinity or calcium, at this time.
+ Tell us what sort of pump, filter & pool you have.
+ Order a Taylor K2006 or K2006C kit. You can use the Amazon link in my signature. Wait a day if the seller is not "Amato Ind" -- some other Amazon sellers have shipped the wrong kit, and besides, they charge more. When you get the kit, read the instructions (you can ignore the booklet) and tell us the results.
+ Add more trichlor tabs, at least for now, to get your chlorine up.
+ Having added both Yellow Rid and NO Mor Problems, your chlorine consumption will be high for the next few weeks. There's no way to change that, without draining and refilling.
+ If tabs don't get your chlorine up, begin adding 1 gallon of plain 6% household bleach each evening.
+ Do NOT buy anything else from your pool store, till we've seen the K2006 test results.

[Watermom]

Hi, Cheryl. I just wanted to pop in and say hello and welcome to the Pool Forum!

By the way, it seems Amato Industries is sold out of the K-2006 kit today but they do have the 2006C in stock. It actually is a better buy, but if you prefer to get the 2006, wait a day or two and try again. They seem to restock fast.

Do us a favor, please. To make it easier for us to help, if people will create a signature line with their pool specs, it keeps us from having to reread through posts to find out basic information. You can create a signature by clicking on 'settings' in the upper right-hand corner of the homepage. In your sig, please put type of pool, volume, type of filter, size of pump, whether or not you have a SWCG or any water features and the fact that you do or do not have a K-2006. Thanks!

[CarlD]

Hi Cheryl,

Yes, you got "Pool-Stored"--don't be ashamed, it's happened to all of us. Ben is the most knowledgeable of us all with that glop they had you put in, he's the best at knowing what it will take to get rid of it.
Powder Power Plus is Cal-Hypo...
Yellow Rid is...well, Arch considers its chemistry a trade secret but it's deadly poisonous and decomposes into ammonia and sulfur trioxide and is listed as incompatible with: "Other pool treatment products, strong
oxidizers, bases, chlorates, nitrates, chlorine or bromine compounds".

Phos Free ... Nobody will say what's in it...just that it's "natural" and "non-toxic" and, of course, patented. They even warn that water can go cloudy!
No More Problems ...seems to be an algaecide, probably ammonia-based, mixed with some kind of chlorine--probably Di-Chlor. Another "Patented Secret Formula!"
Tri-Chlor tablets...we know what these are.
Liquid Chlorine...either bleach or double-strength bleach.

Three kinds of chlorine, possibly 4. Two different algaecides. Phos Free, and most of it "Secret Formulae"

I really feel for you. This is why we keep it simple.
Three/four different kinds of chlorine...but once in the water they are all the same. You really only need one kind--liquid chlorine or bleach.
Two or three algaecides, none of which are any good. We recommend two: PolyQuat and...CHLORINE!
Phosphate Removers. If we can't clear your pool up with conventional methods, then, if your phosphat level is insanely high (like 4000 or 5000) it MIGHT be a good idea.

Being an intelligent person you realized this didn't make sense...and you're right! Follow Ben's advice and that will be the fastest and most effective way to cleaning up this mess.

Carl

[PoolDoc]

Powder Power Plus is Cal-Hypo...

Good stuff, but can raise calcium a lot, and will cloud pools where the calcium is already high.

Yellow Rid is...well, Arch considers its chemistry a trade secret but it's deadly poisonous and decomposes into ammonia and sulfur trioxide and is listed as incompatible with: "Other pool treatment products, strong
oxidizers, bases, chlorates, nitrates, chlorine or bromine compounds".

Ammonium sulfate or ammonium chloride. If you follow instructions, you'll create a chloramine (CC), "monochloramine", which IS an effective algaecide, but also is irritating and hard to get remove -- requires LOTS of chlorine for clean up.

Phos Free ... Nobody will say what's in it...just that it's "natural" and "non-toxic" and, of course, patented. They even warn that water can go cloudy!

Lanthanum chloride or lanthanum something else. ALL of the phosphorous removers are based on lanthanum something or other, and precipitate lanthunum phosphate, which you then have to filter out.

No More Problems ...seems to be an algaecide, probably ammonia-based, mixed with some kind of chlorine--probably Di-Chlor. Another "Patented Secret Formula!"

Like almost all of United Chemical's products, No Mor Problems is based on sodium bromide. Many UCC products also contain sodium hexametaPHOSPHATE, which helps penetrate algae layers (NOW) and adds to your phosphate later (LATER).

Your dealer probably didn't know it, but he was selling you products to REMOVE phosphates AND products which ADD phosphates.

Sort of a racket . . . even when it's unintentional!

[CarlD]

Thanks for the de-code, Ben. No More Problems is even worse than I guessed it to be! These companies remind me of cigarette companies who refused to reveal what they were treating tobacco with that people ingest because it's a "trade secret". Your children will have it on their skin, will swallow some. They give AMAZING safety protocols--you should see the HAZMAT .pdf for Yellow Rid, how to handle it and what to do if poisoned by it....but what's in it is "secret".

That's the best thing about the B-B-B method. Sure, it's easy. Sure, it's cheap. But also we know what every chemical we are putting in our pool is, exactly. No "secret formula"!

Carl