Thanks for that.

Well, My water was crystal clear yesterday but I apparantly didn't stay on top of it. This afternoon, I noticed yellow algae and whitish water. I tested the FC, and it was I would guess .7

Well that explains it.

I went to My grocery store and bought 6 x 1.4gallon of 6% bleach; generic (3.15 a bottle). I added 2 of them tonight. WOW, I tested 1 hour later and it's off the chart! It cost me 6.30 plus tax for this treatment, where as 3 bags of lithium would have cost me over 32 bucks.

Off the chart of my cheap tester means over 3ppm.

Man, I can't wait for the good tester to get here, so I can see where my CYA levels are !

I never put pencil to anything. I always assumed the liquid bleach was very weak, diluted. I guess that I thought the granulated chlorine was some kind of super chlorinator; packing a lot more whollop with it's explosive action. Well, tonight totally negated that myth.

With everything I am reading here, I might be able to afford to keep this thing awhile longer.

Thanks so much to everyone for Your help and expertise !

I guess now I need to vacuum, as there is visible dirt and algae; I probably should have done that first, but it was gettting dark on Me and the neighbors were swimming and didn't want to bother them (in my own pool, haha).

I guess vacuuming released the algae so that it is in suspension and killed easier by the shock?

Gary Gipson