Hello all,
My pool had been sparkling clear for the last three years, and I had my water tested by a local pool store. Upon coming back from a week-long vacation last month, I found my pump motor was not running. I had no idea when it stopped working. I took it to a local pool store, and was told that a capacitor needed to be replaced. It took a week for the part to arrive, and I had no water circulation during that whole week plus the unknown number of days since the motor stopped working.
Due to extreme heat in South Texas recently, I became lazy and did not test my water for that whole period of time. I just put three chlorine tablets in the floating chlorinator every week. By the time I got my filter system up and running again, the water already turned green. I did have problem with algae a couple of times in the past after hurricane Ike and a few big rain storms, but it went away after I shocked my pool a few times and increased the number of chlorine tablets used per week. The problem persists this time though, and my pool water has turned deep green after three weeks of treatment with high chlorine level. Since the pool store cannot accurately measure high level of chlorine, I have not had them test my water. Thus, I have no idea how high my chlorine level is.
A Google search brought me to this forum, and I learned the importance of knowing one's pool water chemistry to effectively combat algae. I've already ordered the K-2006C kit from Amazon, but it will take a few more days before it arrives. I bought a basic test kit (OTO) for pH and chlorine from Wal-mart to test my water in the mean time. The kit shows that pH is around 7.8. The chlorine test solution turns orange so I know it's high, but I don't know exactly how high.
I'd like to know if I can continue to add chlorine (I bough six bottles of 182 oz Ultra bleach from Costco for $2.77 each) without knowing exactly how high it is until the K-2006C kit arrives. Is it bad if I add too much chlorine and does not know the stabilizer level? My pool has never looked this bad before. Please help!!!
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