the old opening with a green pool

[mikemedic]

Ok, I usually pretty good with my pool. I opened it last eve to green water.
I have added bleach a few times and even had my free chlorine to 15 ppm but dropped to 2-3 the night before I opened it up. I have been running the filter with the cover on for several weeks for short periods.

Here are my readings this am
Free Chlorine= 20 ppm as of this am
PH- 7.6
CYA- 120 ( I used 3 '' pucks till september and bleach after that)
Alk- 100

The water is clear if you pull out a bucket of water but the pool appears green. ( I think the algae is coated the bottoms and sides)

My plan is:
run the filter 24-7, brush the heck out iof the bottom and sides
My question is : should I bump the free chlorine up to 25 ppm?
Should I try some polyquat, and what effect on the free chlorine does polyquat have?
I can't understand the green water...here in west virginia we have had frost warnings for the last few days, i thought the water would be ok till now due to it still being cold
any advice would be greatly appreciated
Mike

[PhantomAndy]

I'd hold your Cl where you are. If you have that much algae, you should probably vac-to-waste as much as you can. That will help clear the water a little faster versus brushing it up into the water - however stirring it up will help clear it too - but you will have to depend on your filter to get the dead algae out of the water.

RE: Polyquat - I don't think it would hurt to put it in now as well - but you could probably wait until later in the year to treat, and only have to do it once. I usually have to put a quart of polyquat in my pool about mid season. I always get this whispy green algae that I can't get rid of otherwise once it gets good an hot (Late July, Aug.). The polyquat takes care of it for the rest of the season.

Keep the filter running - I personally run my filter 24/7 all season long. It makes it easier to maintain Cl levels, and keeps the pool cleaner. Electircity in Kentucky is so cheap - only costs me about $10 a month more versus running 12 hours a day.

[mwsmith2]

The water in the bucket appears clear only because you are looking through 12" of water, not 4'. There's a big difference there! You are on the right track, just stay the course: Keep Cl up at 20, brush daily, run the pump.

As for no algae growth in cold water...we've had people here open to green pools with 50 degree water.

Michael

[PhantomAndy]

I can attest to green 50deg water.

Opened the Sister-In-Laws pool - water was 52 degrees - and one of the prettiest colors of green I have ever seen. Her lawn was jealous . . .

I'm sure 60 Degrees helps, but it's not a 'cut off' number. . . .

[mikemedic]

thanks eveyone !
makes me feel bad to open a green pool, wife kinda looked funny at me. I was kinda down on myself cause I pride myself on a clean pool. I think i will vacuum to waste for a while and then stir it up and let the filter take it.

Should I polyquat it now, does polycut take the CL level down?
And just keep the CL level up till we get clear water?
Any one else.

[Poolidiot]

Keep Cl up at 20,

Michael

Stabilizer . . . . . . Min. FC . . . . Max FC . . . 'Shock' FC
=> 0 ppm . . . . . . . 1 ppm . . . . . 3 ppm . . . . 10 ppm
=> 10 - 20 ppm . . . . 2 ppm . . . . . 5 ppm . . . . 12 ppm
=> 30 - 50 ppm . . . . 3 ppm . . . . . 6 ppm . . . . 15 ppm
=> 60 - 90 ppm . . . . 5 ppm . . . . . 10 ppm . . .. 20 ppm
=> 100 - 200 ppm . . . 8 ppm . . . . . 15 ppm . . .. 25 ppm


I know i am the idiot of this forum, but with CYA of 120 doesnt he need to keep hi CL at 25 and not 20?

[waterbear]

If this were my pool I would drain half the water to get the CYA down to about 60 ppm first. Then I would shock it (with either sodium hypochlorite or cal hypo) and keep the chlorine at 20 ppm until the pool clears and the FC is holding with no CC. Then I would make sure my FC never dropped below 5 ppm! And I would never, ever, ever use pucks again, just bleach!

If you are planning on keeping your CYA at 120 then you should get the chlorine up to 25 ppm and keep it there until the pool clears and the FC is holding at at least 8 ppm.

[day1]

Get some clarifier....blue quart bottles at walmart or anywhere. You can also get concentrated, which is what I get. Turn on pump and pour about 1/2 the bottle all around pool and move it around with your hand or a tool (I use an old broom). Keep pump running all nite into next day. I had same problem till I did the clarifier thing. Next day you'll have to vac pool, because clarifier will bind with particles and sink them. Best $10 you'll ever spend. Good Luck!

[Wayne LaBanca]

Different types of algae seem to thrive at different temps. I have a small pond in my yard and notice in the early spring, when the temps are mid 50s in the day, I get a profusion of hair algae. Once it starts to warm up, I see the hair algae disappear and the suspended algae forms take over.

There is another form of algae in there that survives all Winter (30-40 degrees). Of course, in the pond the algae is a good thing. Keeps the fish happy.

Wayne

[brent.roberts]

I want to support the approach suggested by Evan (Waterbear )

With your CYA levels way up at 125 you're going to need to shock at very high levels to get it effective and then continue to hold quite high levels all summer.

You've got to get rid of the algae and the easiest way to start is to pump half of it our and get your CYA levels down to an reasonable level at the same time.

I just wrote up the plan under the heading CYA help a few lines from your posting on this thread.

If the pool is concrete and you don't have a ground water level problem, you could brush and then vacuum to waste and you'll get rid of a huge amount of the algae before you start spending money on chemicals.

And I'd save the algecide until its clean. Chlorine will work better and cheaper at cleaning up the mess. Use polyquat if you think you must, as a preventative. Many of us on the list only use polyquat in a double dose for winterizing to avoid the mess you're openning to.

Good luck