Starting with SWCG - no chlorine level

[brefri]

Thank you for your quick and detailed response. It is very appreciated! We added 4 lbs. HTH 3 in 1 pool startup for salt pools which contained cyanuric acid, vacuumed the pool, then added almost four gallons of Clorox last night and ran the filter all night. This morning, the pool is still green/brown (looks like the pond). I tested this morning using the HTH 6-way test strips. The results:
Free Chlorine/Bromine = 5/10
pH= 7.2
Alkaline = 40
Cyanuric Acid = 0

I've modified my goal of being able to swim in it today. Now I'm hoping for tomorrow? I may drive to Wal-Mart right now and buy some algaecide and try that today??? I really don't know what else to do.

Thank you!

[PoolDoc]

• Do NOT use algaecide, especially from Walmart. It will make things worse, not better. Even polyquat -- which we sometimes recommend -- would NOT speed this up.
  
• Use borax -- 20 Mule Team borax -- to raise your pH to around 7.6. Add 1/2 box at a time -- slowly, to the skimmer, pump on -- wait 4 hours, and retest.
  
• Buy 10 gallons of PLAIN 6% (check the %) household bleach. Add 2 gallons immediately, and 2 more tonight.
  
• Buy a cheap OTO (yellow drops) test kit. If you go to Walmart, they may have the HTH 6-way DROPS kit -- it's an excellent starter kit. Get if if you can. 'Guess-strips' are NOT an acceptable substitute.

[Watermom]

I may be too late, but I wouldn't add algaecide. Algaecides are a pretty good preventative but not so great at killing algae, plus most of them cause other problems like foamy water. So, if you haven't already added some, I would advise against it. By the way, you do not have bromine in your pool. You can ignore that side of your tester.

[brefri]

Thank you. You caught me before I went to Wal-Mart - it is a distance from my home so I hadn't left yet. I appreciate it. I will do everything you suggested this afternoon. It has caused quite a discussion in the house - algaecide or no algaecide!

[PoolDoc]

Chlorine is -- by FAR -- the strongest available algaecide.

[brefri]

Thank you so much for your help. I've done everything you've said, except buy the test drops - I couldn't get them yesterday. The pool looks a little better. The pH is now 7.8, the chlorine is 5, alkaline is 80 and cyanuric acid is 0. I added more bleach this morning (2.84 gallons). It's a pretty sunny day here, so I will add more tonight. I believe there is a pool store about a half hour from here that is open today, so I may go get some cyanuric acid? Again, thank you.

[PoolDoc]

If you need stabilizer, and have access to a Sams Club, buy their 24lb pack of 1# bags of 100% dichlor shock. Each bag will add about 7 ppm of chlorine, and about 6 ppm of stabilizer, per 10K gallons of water. Otherwise, order dichlor from Amazon:

Kem-Tek Dichlor 22 lbs

We do NOT recommend buying dichlor locally, otherwise, at least until you are an EXPERT reader of chemical labels. The chlorinating pool chemicals sold at Walmart, Kmart, Costco, and most other local stores are diluted blends, sometimes with copper and other products with bad side-effects.

You can also add stabilizer directly, but it doesn't dissolve quickly, and people often have to clean their filter before it dissolves. So, if you buy stabilizer directly it might be better to use the sock trick: put the stabilizer in an old long athletic sock, and hang it in front of a pool return.

On your pool, with an SWCG, to reach a CYA of 70 ppm, you'll need 6# of stabilizer, or ~ 13 lbs of dichlor.

[SafetyBob]

I have the same filter/pump as you on my little Intex pool. I ordered 3 of those Unicel "B type" filters from PoolDocs link.....they are top quality everything compared to the Intex filters you buy anywhere. For example, press down on the corner of the intex filter and it will bend and the filter material with collapse with it, also, look at your Intex filter, see how the filter material is NOT evenly spaced all the way around the filter? Not so with the Unicel filters.....it takes alot of force to bend the Unicel top or bottom corners and ALL the filter material is evenly spaced (and comes out of the pump that way too).

I used to replace my Intex filters every week, now generally using the pool just as we have been I am starting week number 3 (although it could be 4 weeks I knew I should have written it down, but I didn't think it would last this long...) and the flow is still strong and my pool is nice and clean and clear, and my chemical levels are good too.....got your Taylor test kit yet?

Bob E.