new water

[ginogag]

hey guys , newbie here ,
just changed above ground 15x24 liner and filled with fresh water . 10,000 gallons of new long island water water is a little soft, ph and alk levels are a little low. Shocked the pool with 2 bags of shock , waited a day, and water still green/cloudy. Added mineral remover ,waited a day ,and still green/cloudy. Went back to pool store talked to guy and he said probably not algae because its new water. I explained that 10 years ago , i had same situation for about a week or 2 and finally added about 2 gallons of bleach ,and it finally cleared up with bleach. He told me that bleach is only 6% chlorine and that i should take a 1lb bag of shock, mix with water and pour around pool, because shock has 64% active ingredient. DID THAT AND STILL NO HELP. So i had purchased some other stuff catatonic something or other ....no help......Im thinking of just buying 2 gallons of bleach , and trying that again , as i did 10 years ago..........any suggestions??????? thanks ginogag

[aylad]

Yeah...stay away from the pool store!!

Two gallons of bleach in 10K gallons of water will give you 12 ppm of chlorine. In order to clear the pool, you need to get to the 12 ppm and hold it there, filter running, until the pool clears up. In order to do this, you've got to be able to test your water yourself. Please do yourself and your pool a favor and look into buying either the K-2006 test kit (there's a link in my sig where you can get it at a good price through Amazon), or the 6-way drop kit sold at WalMart for around $20. In the meantime, at least get a cheap OTO kit (red and yellow drops) and test your water. No test strips--they're not reliable enough to do major water adjustments.

You say your pH is "a little low"--but depending on how low it is, it may be eating your liner. So you need to (quickly) get an accurate pH reading and make sure your pH is between 7.0 and 7.8, If it's lower than 7.0, you'll need to add Borax (also available at WalMart--laundry aisle) until you get it above 7.0. Don't worry about the alk for now. Adjust your pH, get that chlorine level up, pump and filter running, and don't add any of that other stuff from the pool store--it's only going to make your problems worse.

Welcome to the forum!!

[Watermom]

How many days ago was the pool filled? Was the water green when it was first put into the pool? If not, did it turn green before you added shock or only after you added it? How many days after it was filled before it had any chlorine in it?