Green Hair????

[waterbear]

If you have a cartridge filter do not put the tabs in the skimmer. Might be ok with a sand filter but trichlor tabs are VERY acidic and can damage pumps and filters if put into the skimmer. They most probably will damage a filter cartridge but sand and DE filters won't be as suseptable. Get a floater for the tabs (they are cheap enough). check around, you want the kind that allows you to adusts how big the slots are so you can control the clorine. some floaters have holes you punch out and if you punch out too many you cannot lower the amount of chlorine you feed. Do NOT just drop the tabs in the pool. they will beach out your liner and the low pH will damage it where the tab sits.
You are making real progress here. You still need to check out Walmart and see if they have the aquachem 6 way test kit that uses reagents. If they do get it! You are going to need to test for more than just TC and pH. You can test at the pool store but the fact that they combined the copper and iron readings in one test disturbs me. I don't have a good feeling about that store.

[readytoscream]

Blue Dolphin is the pool store that I use. The skimmer basket is the only outlet on my pool. Does that mean I need to get a floater for the tabs and do I still need to do something about the 7.0 reading for pH.

[waterbear]

Get a floater for the tabs, check out Walmart or Kmart for the aquachem test kit! If there is another pool store around let them test your water and compare the readings. When the metals read 0 ppm (or very close to it....not more than .3 ppm) you can procede with the water balancing and chlorine. The low pH right now is actually helping with the metals and is probably a result of the keetrol. As long as it doesn't get any lower then don't worry. If it does use Borax (20 Mule team in the green box from the laundry aisle at Walmart or the grocery store) to raise it up. Start with about 1/4 box poured into the skimmer and test the pH the next day. Repeat this process until the pH is around 7.2

[readytoscream]

Thanks. I actually let my girls go swimming today. No green hair.....thank goodness. One of them complained about the water stingy their eyes. Should this be another concern and if so what is the problem?

[waterbear]

You really should NOT let them go swimming until you get this pool straightened out. There have been a lot of good suggestions but you are not really following in them. I am trying to take you through them step by step but you need to post the test results in between so we know what is going on and what you need to do next to get this pool balanced and SAFE to swim in!
You have added the metal sequesterant. Now you need to get the water retested for metals to see if it worked. Did you follow the directions on the bottle in terms of what your chlorine and pH needed to be before you added it? If not it might not have worked. Have you looked for the Aquachem 6 way test kit that uses liquid reagents at Walmart or Kmart? You will need it or a better kit. The Aquachem is the best cheap kit you can get for under $20.
You are going to need to be testing this water and getting accurate results for more than just chlorine and pH before this pool will be swimmable!

Sorry if I am coming on strong but you need to start doing things right or we really won't be able to help you at all.

[readytoscream]

I'll take the sample in the morning to another town's pool store and get the results posted soon as I get back home. Sorry!!!! I really have learned alot from you all. I thought I was doing good!!!!

[waterbear]

I'll take the sample in the morning to another town's pool store and get the results posted soon as I get back home. Sorry!!!! I really have learned alot from you all. I thought I was doing good!!!!

You are doing good but there are seveal things going on in your pool and they need to be addresed one at a time and in proper order. Until they are I would not let your kids or anyone else swim in the pool. It just isn't safe! If the pool is still green or cloudy it DEFINITELY is not safe! Get the water tested and find yourself a decent test kit. the aquachem 6 way is the best you are going to find for cheap. If you can get an Taylor Technologies K-2006 you can test everything yourself except for the copper. It is not a cheap kit and will cost in the neigborhood of $70. Taylor also makes a stand alone copper test kit for around $20 but if you can find a pool store that can test for copper and iron separately, or just the copper, you really don't need to spend the money on it since we hope to get the copper problem under control and hopefully it won't come back with proper maintenance (which means adding the maintenance doses of Keetrol or another seqeuaterant as recommended on the bottle AND NEVER ADDING A COPPER ALGECIDE AGAIN. There are other and better ways to deal with algae, which should not come back if you care for the pool properly anyway)