Almost 2 Weeks & Still "Sea-Foam" Green!

[psbailey]

Hello, everyone.

I have a 22 x 40, 45,000 gallon rectangular in-ground pool. It has a Jaccuzi Sand Filter and a Polaris 380. The pool has a LOOP-LOC Mesh Safety Cover that has been patched. I don't think the patches are holding, because the water was black when we opened the pool.

Its been almost two weeks and the water is a light green color and I can't see the drain in the 10 foot deep end. The Polaris is not filling up and the basket in the pump housing has been clean for a few days now.

Here are the pool's "stats" after being tested this morning:

Saturation Index: -.052.
Free Chlorine: 3.5.
Total Chlorine: 3.5.
pH: 7.0.
Total Alkalinity: 83.
Adj. Total Alkalinity: 72
Calcium Hardness: 303.
Cyanuric Acid: 32.
Copper: 0.
Iron: 0.

I am using a 10% liquid chlorinator from the local pool store and 3 in. pucks in the chlorinator for water sanitation.

Any help you can give me would be appreciated. Thanks. Paul

[Watermom]

Shock your pool up to a free chlorine level of 15 and try and hold it there. Test your water 3x a day and each time, add enough chlorine to take your reading back up to 15. The key to killing algae is to sustain the high cl reading and not let it yo-yo up and down. Also, run your pump 24/7 while you are trying to clear your water.

Also, your ph is low. Add some Borax to raise it up to 7.4-7.6. Pucks are acidic. They will drive your ph down. They also add cya. A cya reading between 30-50 is good. After it gets higher than that, you can begin to have algae problems if you don't keep your cl levels high enough. (See the chart at the following link.)

http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?t=365

Hope this helps. Welcome to the forum.

[Sherra]

Get your chlorine level up to 15 and keep it there until your water clears up (as per your CYA level according to Ben's Best Guess Chart). Use the Bleach Calc to help you figure out how much chlorine to add. Your alkalinity could be raised a little 90-120, which may raise your pH to more optimum levels also. Your CYA is fine...don't add any more. I'm sure I missed something, so expect some messages from the more "knowledgeable" members of the forum with more info. In the mean time, get that CL up!

(edited to add...Watermom was posting at the same time as me...follow her advice!)

[psbailey]

Thanks, Watermom and Sherra.

Do you (or anyone else) know where I can find a testing kit that measures Chlorine up to 15 ppm? My "dropper" kit only tests up to 5 ppm. When I did measure the water again, it was off the charts and looked bright orange!

Also, at what level do you keep pool(s) for swimming? When is it safe for the kiddies to swim?

Thanks,

Paul

[Watermom]

The best kit you can buy, and the one that most of us use, is the one that Ben sells at the sister site to this forum www.poolsolutions.com It will measure chlorine levels up to 50. Consider getting it. It is well worth the money and will test for any and everything you need to test for.

In the meantime, you can extend the range of your kit by diluting the sample. Take one part pool water and one part distilled water, mix, test as usual and multiply the result by 2. If you need go higher -- one part pool water, two parts distilled, multiply by 3, etc. Of course, you lose a little accuracy with each dilution, but it is better than nothing and usually better than a pool store will do.

What level you keep your pool's chlorine level at is dependent on your cya reading. See the chart at the following link for more about that.

http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?t=365

[psbailey]

A Follow-Up Note:

It took about 2-3 days, but the light-green color in the pool is gone. I do have some cloudiness, but it seems to improve a little every day.

I ordered Ben's kit and am waiting for it to arrive.

Thanks, everyone.

Paul

[Watermom]

Continue shocking and holding your cl at 15 until the cloudiness is gone. Also, keep running your pump 24/7. Glad it is looking better.