URGENT...Need help.. grad party 7 days...cloudy foamy pool not holding chlorine level

[poolprobe]

I am so glad to have this forum and hopeful you can help us get our pool straightened out. My son’s graduation party is exactly one week away and I’m in a panic. We have not been able to use our pool for the past 2 years. 2 years ago our auto cover broke and we developed a leak in a pipe under the main drain (we closed the main drain and no longer use it). I don’t know if either of these facts matter but wanted to report in case they do.

2 yrs ago we were losing water and constantly refilling until we discovered where the leak was…resulting in never being able to truly stabilize water levels. We swam maybe 10 days all season. Pool was closed with a closing “kit” recommended by the pool supply store. Upon opening it was green, over 6 inches of debris and various living and dead frogs/tadpoles. After almost $900 in various “must add” chemicals from the pool store after over a dozen water analysis from their computer we still never got the water clear. We did not swim at all last year. They constantly had us add Phosfree for a phosphate problem. Their test always said phosphates were too high but they didn’t know how high because their test only read to a certain level…so it was hit or miss with how much to add. We also battled the algae originally, were told to use clarifiers and something to cause dead algae and other suspended particles to fall to the bottom. Pool was closed by friends using a closing kit from a pool supply store (sorry…don’t know what it was comprised of …we weren’t able to be there for closing.

So this year, we opened and the same green conditions and frogs galore. We decided to have a PROFESSIONAL pool store come and open us “properly”. That was a week ago and we are still not “open”. When they checked the chemical level all he said was that there was “nothing in it”. He instructed us to brush sides and steps and vacuum to waste until it was clean and then add algaecide and keep vacuming. He sold us $180 worth of chemicals and said not to bother to add until the algae was gone and the pool was clean. So once we used the algaecide and swept until clean, got the fill level right we began to add chemicals.
We Added:
Banish (32 oz) algaecide 4 days ago
Bioguard Maintain (smart shock, multipurpose contains 63.05% Sodium dichlror-s-triazinetrione, copper metallic 0.26% “other ingred”…Available chlorine 39%) 10 lbs, 2 days ago
Maintain by BioGuard (granulated stabilizer) 5 lbs,
5 Smart Stix Chlorine stix to skimmer (in for 24 hours…removed yesterday when we added BORAX)

No matter how much chlorine we add it doesn’t hold and we end up with a 0 reading again.
We called the pool service who was supposed to have opened our pool and they started with” bring a water sample and we’ll look at what you need to add”. I thought here we go again and got online.

Growing up we had a vinyl lined in ground pool for over 20 years. I never remember my father using anything but chlorine, occassionally shocking and very occassionally algaecide. I do remember him using baking soda less than a handful of times as well as bleach…but that was it. The pool opened every year clear and basically clean and it was not hard to maintain. So when I found your site it was like “going home”.

Last night we went to Walmart and got their 6 way test kit. When we tested we had: Chlorine =0, Ph= 6.8 (down from 7.2 the day before), Alkalinity= 200, Hardness= 310 and CYA= 32
We added 1 box of BORAX (slowly) and about an hour later added 3 gallons of Great Value Bleach (6% sodium hypochlorite, 94% “other ingredients”) . Filter has been running 24/7 for 3 days.

This morning we had white foam all over the top of the water and water is still blue but cloudy. Foam may be lessening since earlier this a.m

Test results as of this morning: Chlorine= 2.4 ,Ph= 7.4 ,Alkalinity=210 , hardness=320 , CYA=40 Water temp= 70 degrees, PSI= 19
Should we be concerned with the increase in Alkalinity?
We have an 18x36 in ground vinyl lined pool. Hayward Triton 2 sand filter (new last year) ,new pump this year (old one got struck by lightning and fried) Hayward Max Flo 2HP. We also have a 350,000BTU Starite heater but have not put it on this year (or last).
Filter PSI is 19…do we backwash to waste and if so what will happen to water balance?
So many questions swirling in my head...don' want to be impatient or act impulsively but need to make quick progress:
Do we let auto sweeper run in between vacuuming?
Do we add more bleach now or wait until tonight? How much?
Do we need to add muratic acid?
Do we need to increase Ph?
Do we need to add more BORAX?
Can we run heater when water clears?
If yes to any of the above what, how much and when.

I am hoping you can help us get our water straightened out so guests will be able to swim in 7 days. The only kind of party my son wanted was a swim party….should be easy enough right Thank you in advance and when responding use the Pool Care for DUMMIES approach…please be exact in what we need to do and don’t assume we know ANYTHING. It would help to give exact products, brands, when and how to add, how long in between adding things etc…. A recipe for success is what we need. Looking forward to learning and using this forum for a long time to come.
Thanks much .

[PoolDoc]

I'm going to try to phone you -- it may be possible, but not in time frame you have, if the normal forum back-n-forth takes place. These are the numbers I've found:

[ removed - Ben ]

[PoolDoc]

Well, I haven't heard from you - and the window to get stuff from Amazon to you by Monday is closing.

If we are handling the problems you have, here, online . . . odds are not great that you pool will look good next Friday. It all depends on how bad the water is now, and how big your filter is.

Don't worry about the alkalinity; do keep chlorine in there. Try to get up the the very dark yellow or orange-ish yellow level.

You'd probably better off using bleach right now, than any other form of chlorine, and you probably should pick up a couple of gallons of muriatic acid, since your high alkalinity will tend to cause your pH to rise.

Otherwise:

1. Backwash as needed (6 -8 psi increase over 'clean' pressure)
2. Maintain chlorine levels 'dark yellow' or above with bleach.
3. Use muriatic acid to hold pH levels below 7.8 -- see acid page in my signature
4. Do NOT mess around with other chemical levels
5. Run pump 24/7
6. You can start the heater whenever you like.
7. Vacuum manually -- an autosweep can stir things up, instead of putting the gook directly on the filter.

Good luck!

[PoolDoc]

Hey;

Go to Columbia Pool and Spa, 573-874-6972 and ask "Chris" for "Pool Season Liquid Floc Plus"

To bucket test: put 4 gallons in a bucket and add 1/8 teaspoon, and mix. Cover & wait 24 hours. If it does not settle, do not use in pool.

Before putting into pool, put filter on RECIRCULATE! Circulate as recommended on label, then turn pump off. All 48 hours to settle. Add bleach as needed directly to the pool to maintain chlorine levels.

[PoolDoc]

Here are your photos (you need to set your camera's clock!):

Equipment layout:




Equipment details: TR60 filter label, SP2715x20 pump label




More details: filter gauge, pump motor, motor label (partial)



Pool with algaecide foam

[poolprobe]

This afternoon around 6pm will be 48 hrs since we added the floc. I'm sending pics of what it looked like this morning (haven't figured out yet if I can post them directly to the forum). We are now able to at least see the bottom quite a bit more. I hope the green is dead algae (since it wasn't there before) that will be swept up when we vacuum. Still concerned about the film on the water. Can't imagine any living algae with the amount of bleach we've added and chlorine levels of +5.10 for the past 3.5 days.

I wonder if we should have used more floc than was indicated...the bottle said something about more that indicated for quicker results? Figured it was hype but just wondering.
So once it's 48 hours do we follow the directions on the bottle about vacuuming to waste and then filtering as normal? Backwash...valve at 19? I can't imagine just vacuuming will make it clearer and useable. What about brushing the sides /steps?
Chlorine this morning was still 5.10. As per your instructions we've not added anything since we put the floc in 2 days ago as chlorine is holding.




Please give detailed instructions of what to do from here.
Look forward to your reply.


EDIT by moderator: Send the pics to poolforum@gmail.com. Thanks!

[poolprobe]

Close yet so far away definitely describes how we feel at this point. The patience part is getting more difficult as we watch this water. It's clearer but again foamy. Can we still have a live algae bloom after all of that bleach?? can algaecide added almost 2 weeks ago still be the cause?? It truly is frustrating and all consuming.

So, after the 48 hours of pump off and waiting for floc to do its thing, we vacuumed to waste and refilled. Chlorine dropped to 1.5 after re filling so we added 3 gallons of bleach last night and let the pump run normally. This morning we woke to foam on top of the water again
Water test results this morning: Chlorine=5.10, Ph= 7.3, CYA= 40 (these are still from Walmart 6 in 1 test kit...still waiting for the one ordered off Amazon)
As of this writing we are planning to vacuum regularly and then backwash because of 19 pressure gauge reading. Then we'll refill and check chemicals.
After that we're unsure what to do to get rid of the foam.
Note: when water cleared there were leaves and debris on the bottom that we couldn't see before and didn't get cleaned up with prior vacuumings. Those have been removed for the most part.

My husband wonders what would happen if we just double or triple shocked...add 6 gallons of bleach to try to get rid of the foam and then deal with other chemicals later?

Would appreciate instructions from here...graduation is Friday/party is Saturday.

[PoolDoc]

I'm afraid the foam is from the algaecide you added -- and those algaecides are blended to be chlorine stable, for obvious reasons. Keeping the chlorine high may accelerate the breakdown, but I wouldn't expect it to disappear rapidly.

You can get a silicone based defoamer at pool store, however, those break down faster than the algaecide will. So, if you get some, apply it maybe 6 hours before the party.

It *will* come out on the filter, as you vacuum dirt. So backwashing frequently may help.

[PoolDoc]

Your pictures: