Need help new pool owner

[monsmth123]

I am very sorry if this has been answered a thousands times, I am a new pool owner just bought a 30 foot round above ground pool from the previous owners of the my house and it was abused, it hadn't been cleaned in like a year, so after getting everything going and adding shock the past couple of days the pool has went from black to green now to a cloudy blue and I cant get it clear enough to see what the hell I am vacuuming please any help would be oh so greatly appreciated.I have added about 16 gallons of shock over the past 3 days I believe and have had great results so far but it seems I am stuck with this cloudy blue, the lady at the pool shop says to keep adding shock but I need another suggestion so I can get this thing cleaned and sparkling.thank you

[PoolDoc]

I think it's going to be answered 1,000 times THIS year, the way things are going. The warm spring has left a BUNCH of of people with stubbornly green and/or cloudy pools. The good news is, going from black to cloudy blue is a BIG step in the right direction.

Do all these things:

1. Get a cheap OTO (yellow drops) /phenol red test kit OR if it's available, get an HTH 6-way kit at Walmart.
2. Buy 16 gallons of PLAIN 6% household bleach at where ever.
3. Buy 4 boxes of 20 Mule Team borax, probably at Walmart.
4. Test your pool water, and tell us what you get (chlorine & pH -- if you get the 6-way, ALSO tell us what your stabilizer level is)
5. If your chlorine is below "dark yellow", add 4 gallons of bleach.
6. If your pH is less than 7.2, add 2 boxes of borax SLOWLY into the skimmer with the pump running.
7. Look on your pump and filter, and find the make and model number. Tell us what you find. (OR, send photos to poolforum@gmail.com)
8. If your pump is a two speed model, turn it to LOW speed!

[monsmth123]

ok Ben my
ph is about 7.8
free chlorine is at 0
alkalinty is at about 180
and pool stabilizer is at 30to 50
I have not gotten bleach yet but will get some of that and borax tomorrow

[Watermom]

In your pool, each gallon of 6% bleach will add about 2.5ppm of chlorine. Since you have no chlorine in there ( a BIG invitation to algae!) then you should add 6 gallons of bleach. That will take you up to around 15ppm which will be shock level for your pool. (See the Best Guess Chlorine Chart in Ben's signature above.) Aim for keeping your chlorine at 15 by adding the appropriate amount of bleach when you test.

Order a Taylor K-2006 or 2006C (better buy) test kit. You can do so through the test kit link in Ben's signature. While you are waiting for that kit that you are going to order to arrive, you can force your kit to read higher by using a dilution method described here. Testing Without a Good Kit

The dilution method is not super accurate, but better than nothing. It does not permanently take the place of having a good kit, though.

Your pH is ok. If it goes over 8.0 let us know.

What kind of shock were you using? Cal-hypo? Dichlor? I would suggest not using either one in your pool. Just stick with bleach.

[monsmth123]

How come I am not reading any chlorine after adding all that shock? All I want is to get the water clear enough so I can see to get it clean

[Watermom]

A few questions for you.

What kit did you buy? Can you explain how you performed the test? How often are you shocking the pool? What time of day are you adding chlorine?

It sometimes takes awhile to clear a pool up but the more consistently you can keep your chlorine at shock level, the faster it will go. Every time you test, add enough bleach to get back up to 15ppm.

The fact that your pool is so cloudy and your chlorine is disappearing so fast means you are still fighting something in the water.

[monsmth123]

Ok thanks that makes tons of sense I take my water to local pool store they are right down the road and don't charge me, I will try to keep adding shock and bleach until it clears up, I am also using liquid shock is this best?, the lady at the shop says it works better.

[Watermom]

The type of chlorine you use doesn't really matter but bleach or liquid chlorine add the fewest other things to the water which is good.

[PoolDoc]

Ok thanks that makes tons of sense I take my water to local pool store they are right down the road and don't charge me.

Hi Monsmith;

I'm not sure if you were being sarcastic, or not. Regardless, the idea that pool stores "don't charge you to test your water" is one of the most effective marketing lies in the US.

I wish I had posted a history of the development of computerized pool testing, when I started PoolSolutions in the late 90's. At that time, the guys I knew who'd watched it happen were still alive. Unfortunately, that's no longer true, and my notes aren't great. But here's the Cliff Notes' version: in the late 70's and early 80's, swimming pool chemical companies introduced "computerized water testing" PURELY as a marketing tool!

I saw one of the early pool computers installed -- it was a "mini-computer" that cost over $10,000 in 1980 dollars! There's no way that that store, or any other store of the time, would spend that sort of money merely to help pool owners. The ENTIRE purpose of those systems was to utilize the 'cachet' of "computerized water analysis" to sell you more chemicals, and especially, more of the high margin chemicals.

Here's a basic fact you need to always remember: accurate and reliable water testing and analysis HURTS pool store chemicals sales. In other words, if they do it RIGHT, they lose money. If they do it WRONG, but don't get caught, they make money!

Not all pool store owners understand this -- and the pool chemical companies don't explain that their water analysis programs work best, when they make random mistakes. But, for years, we've had pool owners who lived nearby each other collect multiple samples from the SAME pool, and then have them tested as if they were from DIFFERENT pools. As best I can recollect, it has NEVER happened that a pool store got the same results from all three samples, much less recognized (from the numbers) that they were all from the same pool!

So, whatever else pool store water analysis is, it's NOT free. Rather, it's very, very expensive.