The Princess and the Algae!

[duraleigh]

The key ingredient to clearing the pool will be accurate test results. Stop by Lowe's/HD, Wal-mart, etc. and find one that will measure Chlorine, Alkalinity, pH, and, Importantly, CYA (stabilizer)

Chlorine will clear your pool. You're gonna' need lots of it but we can't tell you how much to put in safely and accurately without the test results for CYA.

The kit will probably be unavailable to you today, so if you want to get a jump on the clearing process, you can safely put in 4 gallons of 6% Clorox this evening. It'll be virtually gone by tomorrow AM or when you post test results....that's okay, it's doing it's job.

Essentially, this will be the routine....test and add Clorox...probably for the next few days.

If you try shortcuts by purchasing "miracle" products from the pool store, it will confuse all of us and probably slow down the clearing process. The pool can be cleared but it may clear more slowly than you like.

Post those test results as soon as you can and you'll get lot's of folks here to help you get the water sparkling.

PS.....Give the sticks to someone you don't like...they're worthless

[gregugadawg]

test stips are actually an approved commercial means of testing by many health departments now so I don't see why you guys give them such a bad name

[waterbear]

Gregugadawg,
Test strips don't have the precision and resolution needed to do any more than tell you if the water is within a range parameters. (just look at the jumps between color blocks on the CYA, Total Hardness, and pH tests, for example!) They really aren't useful for making adustments to pool chemisty. The errors in reading test strips can be much higher than using a liquid regent with a comparator block or a titration, which is the most accurate short of a properly calibarated meter.

Hope this answers your question.

BTW, questions like this are best started in their own thread in the approprate section.