Re: Also in Louisiana, COMPLETELY new to pools
Hi James, and let me start off by saying thank you for your service!!
It sounds like you inherited a real mess, but it doesn't sound hopeless, by any means, but it will take some patience. The good news is that we (I'm in Louisiana, too!) still have at least 2 months worth of swimming left, so you still have time to get it cleared up and swimmable before this season is over.
The key to clearing the algae is to bring the chlorine up to shock level, and hold it there while the algae dies off. Do this with chlorine, not algaecides. Some algaecides, like Polyquat, are much better at preventing algae than clearing up a bloom. Other algaecides, like the cheaper ammonia-based ones, can actually make your problems worse. the pre-packaged "shocks" that they're selling these days are mostly a hodge-podge of chemicals because the chemical companies keep adding more "goop" to the formulas so they can be marketed as "new and improved". So....we recommend either plain, unscented, Wal-Mart generic bleach, or dichlor powder, which can be bought from either Sam's club(PoolBrand brand name) or online through Amazon (Kemtek). The dichlor powders from other places, including WalMart, contain a bunch of other goop that make it more expensive and less effective.
So...to clear your pool, you're going to need to bring your chlorine to "shock" level. I'm assuming you have no stabilizer in the pool, because what you did have would have broken down with all that algae. So assuming a CYA of 0, you need to bring the chlorine to 12-15 ppm and hold it there, by testing for chlorine and adding whatever amount of chlorine necessary to get back up over the 12 ppm mark, as many times as possible throughout the day. The more consistent you are about maintaining that shock level, the faster the pool will clear. It will take several days, but just remember that it took awhile for that pool to get in the shape it's in, so the cure won't be overnight. It will take lots of chlorine, and lots of patience--but it will work. You will need to brush the pool at least once daily, right after a chlorine addition.
In 25K gallons of water, each gallon of 6% bleach you add will raise your FC by 2.4 ppm--the large WalMart jugs of bleach are 1.42 gallons, and one of those will raise your FC by 3.4 ppm, so you can use those amounts as reference to know how much more needs to be added each time after the initial shock. To go from 0-15 ppm in your pool, it will require 6.2 gallons--6.5 gallons would be fine, and easier to measure
You will need a test kit that will allow you to measure chlorine levels that high, which is why we recommend the K-2006 test kit linked in my sig (until your registration is completed, you'll have to log out to be able to follow the links, but that should only be temporary). If you have one of the OTO kits (uses red and yellow drops for pH and chlorine), you can force it to read higher by diluting your sample 1:1 with distilled water, testing from that sample, and multiplying your result x 2 (or dilute 1:2 and multiply result by 3). It loses a little accurace with each dilution, but it's a good ballpark number.
We also need a little more info about your pool, filter, etc....please take a few seconds and fill this chart out for us so we can get the info we need to better advise you without wasting a lot of back-and-forth posts asking for info... ]Pool Chart Entry Form
Welcome to the forum!
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by Watermom
Bookmarks