What have I done?

[poolbuoy]

I had a green pool also, well let me start by saying. When I pulled my winter cover off, I realized my skimmer plate fell off and no plug so I lost water down to the bottom of skimmer in my 18x33 AG. We had 10 " of rain so I pumped it out of my perimeter drain into a 55 gal. barrel then into the pool. I used a slime bag to filter it. got the pool filled and adde metal out because I knew it would turn brown. about a day later after backwashing my DE filter it cleared up. I was reading the forum here and one thread told me to add Polyqaut algecide and keep your PH low. Slowly bring up your Cl each day then adjust PH up. Did that but left solar cover on and had a HUGE Algae bloom. So I added about 5 gallons of Shock 12% and a 1/2 qt or super algaecide. next morning CLEAR. I vacuumed up the dead algae and put 1 bag of Cal.Hyp. in pool . SPARKLING!
Fc=5
tc=1
cc=4
Alk=130
PH=7.3
CYA=30

[timmie]

Janet, thanks, I have turned my pump off as i noticed that on the site that seems to be the consensus.

[MarleneK]

Good morning!

My ph this morning is up to 7.2-ish. I added more borax. I can vaguely see the bottom of the pool. Unfortunately, it will have to wait until after work tonight to get a vaccum!
Thanks again, I'm feeling much better about this!
Mar

[ivyleager]

Janet, thanks, I have turned my pump off as i noticed that on the site that seems to be the consensus.

Hmmmm, not really. The consensus is to continuously run the filter 24/7 to circulate the chlorine, and allow the filter to capture the algae. Putting a skimmer sock or old panty hose over the skimmer will capture more algae, also. Need to rinse that off several times a day, as it WILL get very gunked up. Backwashing filter will clean out the dead algae, too.

It was my experience that if I tried to 'vacuum to waste' the dead algae off the bottom of the pool, I stirred up quite a bit, AND lost water in the process. I ended up just running the filter and backwashing. Cleared in about 5 days.

Good luck.

CaryB
Go 'Canes!!

[MarleneK]

Ok, this morning my PH was back down to 7.2-ish after being 7.6 last night. My chlorine is around 4 according to my two way kit. I vaccummed this morning, and back washed 3 times. I'm beginning to think I'm dealing with more than algae. I've been sitting here thinking, and if my toilet water sits for a while, I get a yellowish ring around the water line. Could I have iron in my water? Is there a way to test for it without taking it to a pool store? Remember where I am! Further more, if it is Iron, what can I do to take care of that?
Sorry to be a pain, but thanks for sticking with me!
Mar

[CarlD]

Keep it simple. If you have algae already, a chlorine level of 4 isn't going to help. That's why nothing is happening. You need to shock your pool up to 12-15ppm (since we don't know your CYA/stabilizer level) and keep it there until the water clears. You cannot let it drop, you have to test it 2 to 3 times a day, and add bleach as needed to get it up there. You may have a clear pool in 2 days, or 2 weeks, depending on how infested it is, and how diligent YOU are.

Once you have spent several days killing anything and everything with lots and lots of chlorine, you can start wondering if you have metals as well. IF you still have a problem. Since you clearly have algae, you want to kill that NOW! Solve that first.

[MarleneK]

Is there a way that I can figure out what my ppm is based on what my two way test is telling me? Like if I'm reading a 4 on my kit, what is my pppm, and what I need to add to get it up to the ppm I need?
I forgot to say that I had been using bleach to shock the pool, but yesterday when I came home from work, my husband had filled our automatic chlorinator and turned it on, so I didn't add any more bleach.

[wollypog6]

Hi Marlene, The 4 on your test kit is PPM. Match up the colours look at the corresponding number and that is your PPM. To clear up your algae your going to have to maintain a chlorine level much higher than 4PPM. Get a bottle of distilled water and make a mix of 3 parts distilled water and 1 part pool water. Fill your test kit and take a reading and multiply the results by 4, that will be your PPM. You are going to need to be in the 15-20PPM range to knock down your algae. Get your chlorine up to that level and keep it there as consistently as possible by testing frequently and adding bleach as necessary.

[timmie]

where did you buy your borax?? I am not sure we have it in Winnipeg..............

[wollypog6]

Marlene, I forgot to mention that you will need about 8.5 litres of 6% bleach to get into the proper range. Then keep testing frequently to maintain as close to that level as possible.