Can't get rid of tons of dead algae on the bottom of my pool

[Watermom]

You are going to have to keep adequate chlorine levels based on your CYA. If you haven't already done so, please read the Best Guess Chlorine Chart in my signature below.

[BigDave]

... I went ahead & checked the water with an HTH test strip (as that's all I have at the moment)... FC: 0 to maybe 1. The top of the square was 0. The bottom of the square was around 1...

Thanks for the demonstration of our assertion that strips are basically useless.

...I could smell chlorine in the water...

Combined chlorine has that distinct chlorine smell. This is the result of the chlorine in the pool attacking the algae. Please remember: with algae if you're not winning, you're losing - If the FC doesn't stay above shock level all the time, the algae comes roaring back.

[amillionpets]

LOL BigDave. No kidding. Okay, my problem now is that I have to wait for the test kit to arrive. I did use your link so you get some compensation for helping me! In the meantime, I have absolutely no idea how much chlorine to add to the pool, or by which means to add it for that matter. Do I pour it directly into the pool? Should I use a bucket of pool water, add the chlorine to that and then pour it into the pool? I've never done this as you may have guessed.

I did see a thread regarding a battery powered pool vacuum. I ordered that as well. The suction power of my sand filter/motor isn't powerful enough to pick up all of the sediment. It gets some, but just kind of moves the rest around to settle again. Ugh. Will be glad when this is all accomplished!

[PoolDoc]

Add 1 gallon of plain household bleach per 10,000 gallons of pool water.

Will be glad when this is all accomplished!

I've always emphasized the fact that it's much easier to AVOID algae, than it is to CLEAN IT UP. That's especially true on AG pools, and triply true on Intex-type pools.

[amillionpets]

Thank you, thank you, thank you. Will get going on this right away. Btw, I joined Amazon Prime as you mentioned. I believe, too, that it will be well worth the price! Now just waiting for my Taylor kit and vacuum to arrive........

[Watermom]

I joined Amazon Prime last summer. I order off Amazon all the time. (I'd be ashamed to admit how many times in the past year!) It has paid for itself multiples times over. You can also add a household member for free and college kids also get it for free if they use a school email address like edu I think.

[amillionpets]

Ah! Thank you for the info! I'll add my husband as we both use Amazon quite often. That's awesome that they'll add a member for free!
Oh, and just so I know that I'm doing this correctly, do I add the bleach by just pouring it directly into the pool? Maybe dispersing it by walking around the perimeter as I do so?

[Watermom]

Either of those ways is ok. The best two ways are to either pour it slowly into the skimmer (which is what I do) or to pour it slowly in front of a return jet. Both of those ways get the bleach mixed into the water the fastest.

[amillionpets]

Okay. I went out to add bleach to the pool earlier. I could still smell chlorine in the water from the 2 lbs of Bioguard shock I added a couple of days ago. I decided to wait on the bleach and went to the basement to rummage around through all of the pool stuff we had from our old Aqua Leisure Easy Set pool. I actually found what I was looking for! It was hth's test kit, although I purchased it about 1 1/2 years ago. It's been kept inside the house in a dark storage bin with a lid. I decided to go ahead and try it....what can I lose, right? Here are the results it gave me:

pH: 7.2
Chlorine: 5-10 (that's as high as this test kit can go.....who knows if it's higher??) Remember the test STRIP said 0? Wow.
CYA: 50
Alk: 80
Hardness: It says to add 5 drops of hardness indicator to the measured amount of pool water and if it turns red then there is hardness in the water. From there you add 1 drop at a
time of hardness tyrant until the water turns blue. When I added the indicator my water did not turn red. It turned kind of a dull yellow. I went ahead with the dropping
and swirling of 50 tyrant drops just in case. It never did turn blue, but it did turn a slight green somewhere around 20-25 drops. Don't know if this indicates anything.

So! I did NOT add the bleach as I don't know what the heck to do now. My water samples were taken from at least 8" below the surface about 1 foot before the surface water would reach the skimmer. My Water Tech vacuum won't be here until Tuesday. I will still have to charge it for at least 12 hours before use and it says it will only give me about 1 hour (if I remember right) of run time. I know it will take me longer than an hour to get all of the sediment off of the bottom of the pool as I'm sure I'll be busy changing out "stocking" filters as they get full. I know I'm writing a book. Sorry. You guys have been great! Again, I thank you for your continued help. I am now bowing to you.....

[BigDave]

Would you call the chlorine test Yellow, Dark Yellow, Orange or Brown?