Miss Suzie's Algae Problem

[Miss Suzie]

Hi there,
New to the forum here. I can be very patient. My pool has maintained it's cloudiness for two weeks now. I can wait another week or two.
I hope it's obvious what my problem is. Cloudy pool. I get rid of the algae, add liquid shock and in two days algae is back, yellow and green, so I add hth brand algae guard 3x. It helps, I vacuum, add more liquid shock, then it gets cloudy. Now I add some stuff I got from Lowes that is a water clarifier. Still cloudy. I have back washed it twice. When I vacuum I put the filter on waste. All this over the course of two weeks. How can I get it clear again? I had it clear this year for a while, then got sick for a week and no help with the pool so all this happened. Help please.

[Watermom]

We are going to need some current water testing numbers to be able to help. We think that everyone needs a good test kit. The one we recommend is the Taylor K-2006 or 2006C which you can get through the test kit link in my signature below. Try and order it early in the morning while the seller listed is Amato Industries. Sometimes they sell out during the day, but usually restock overnight. Some other sellers don't sell it for as good of a price.

Since the kit is only sold online, you need something to use until you get it. Get a cheap OTO (yellow drops) / phenol test kit, or if available at YOUR Walmart (check availability), get the HTH 6-way DROPS test kit, which is compatible with the Taylor K2006. Test the pool as soon and you can, and post the results. If you get the 6-way kit, ALSO test the water you FILL the pool with, especially if it's a well, and post THOSE results as well. (The HTH is the best available kit you're likely to find locally, but it's not the K-2006. It can only provide rough measurements chlorine levels above 5 ppm, and it measures "TOTAL" hardness, rather than "CALCIUM" hardness, which is not ideal.)

Please fill in your pool's information in our pool chart. It makes it easier for us to be able to help you.

Pool Chart Entry Form
Pool Chart Results

For now, please do not add any more chemicals to your pool. Sometimes adding too much unnecessary stuff is part of the problem. Once we have the requested information, someone here will try and help you get your pool cleared up.

Welcome to the Pool Forum!

[CarlD]

Just to add to Watermom's advice:
You CAN add "Liquid Shock" but ONLY if it is Sodium Hypochlorite. Anything else labeled "Liquid Shock" will make your problems worse.
But you can also just add regular bleach (unscented, non-sudsing, and NOT "non-splash") because that is Sodium Hypochlorite as well until we know more.
But how much? We don't know until we know how big your pool is (how many gallons). So fill out the forms.

[Speedo]

To fix your problems all you need is the test kit (Taylor K2006), the "Best Guess Chlorine Chart" (CYA to FC relationship) and you can use thepoolcalculator.com (I'm sure there are others too) to estimate the amount of chlorine to add.

Make sure your FC level is appropriate per your CYA level. That will take care of all your problems.

[aylad]

To fix your problems all you need is the test kit (Taylor K2006), the "Best Guess Chlorine Chart" (CYA to FC relationship) and you can use thepoolcalculator.com (I'm sure there are others too) to estimate the amount of chlorine to add.

Make sure your FC level is appropriate per your CYA level. That will take care of all your problems.

Speedo, I think you may be over-simplifying things a bit--there are several things that you don't account for in your prescription--a few of them being chems she's already added, her current water results, her pump/filter condition and ratio, to name a few. You might want to slow down a little bit in giving advice, until you have a full grasp on all the info--that's why we ask a lot of questions before we start answering.

Janet

[aylad]

Miss Suzie,

It's possible that you have a number of things that are contributing to the ongoing cloudiness--two of them are 1) the use of algaecides, and 2)possible inadequate shock levels or not holding the shock levels long enough to completely kill off the algae, so that when your chlorine comes back down, it starts regrowing. Another could just be the dead algae that you've already killed that needs time to be filtered out (I know, two weeks is a long time, but if you still have algae growing, then you're not making any progress).

As Watermom and Carl requested, please post a set of test numbers for Cl, pH, TA, CH, and CYA--and fill out your pool info in the chart, and we can help you get it cleared up again. And...to repeat what Watermom said, don't add anymore chemicals to the pool except for the liquid chlorine, until we have some numbers to work with.

[Miss Suzie]

Thank You to everyone. I did do more reading after I posted my question. I'm ordering a kit and getting one from my local pool supply store to hold me over. (Leslie's Pool). I will try to get all the info on my pool and filter.
Yes my liquid shock is Sodium Hypochlorite.
One thing everyone should also know is the water return where you hook up a Polaris is my ONLY return. We have a leak in the pipes to my jets. It is under the pool deck. (concrete)
Can't afford to dig everything up to fix it right now. Will post my numbers soon.
Thanks again.