Pool green and out of balance

[mvcarroll02]

I'm trying to help a friend with a green pool. I used pool time 6 way test strips ie hardness 1000, Total chlorine 10, Bromine, 20, Ph 6, akalinity 40, stablizer very low. Their website recommendation is for a 20k gal pool. plaster in ground, water changer a little over 3 years ago. Their recommendations: 6# stabilizer, 27# alkalinity increaser, 28oz algacide, 2.25 lbs ph down, In reviewing this site what should I do

[CarlD]

Normally, we only deal with pool owners, not people doing service on them or friends.

But I can tell you this, and please don't take it wrong:

You're whole approach is wrong and test strips are utterly unreliable. I "cheat" and use test strips to give me a ball park idea of levels, but I don't rely on them. Every pool is a balance of measurments. There are recommended levels for when the pool is clean, and when the pool needs to be cleaned.

The Bromine measure you cited is only meaningful if you sanitize with bromine, instead of chlorine. The chlorine/bromine test on most kits assumes you are testing chlorine or bromine, because you cannot do both.

We also don't know what "very low" stabilizer means. 0-5ppm? 10ppm? 30ppm?

I suggest you start reading at our sister site poolsolutions.com and read the tips and techniques there if you want to help your friend. You (or your friend) WILL need a proper test kit---the Taylor K-2006 or K2006C, which is much less expensive than all the chems they are recommending. And do NOT add the algaecide they are recommending unless you want a big mess. The ONLY algaecide we recommend, and with caveats, is Polyquat 60%. If the only active ingredient is "Poly....<something long>.... 60%" and nothing else, that's the stuff. Anything else will do far more harm than good. Chlorine / bleachis the best algaecide in 99.99% of situations.

Basic pool care comes down to 3 things:

Chlorine levels based on stabilizer levels

pH levels

Stabilizer (CYA) levels matched to chlorine levels.

Everything else in ancilliary.

Good luck and happy reading!

[PoolDoc]

To follow up on what Carl said:

1) You should not do *ANY* of the things the pool store told you to do, at least not now. Instead, add 4 gallons of plain 8.25% household bleach EACH EVENING (not: morning or midday) until all the algae is gone.

2) By the time that happens, your friends K2006 kit should have arrived. Report test results, using that kit.

3) We have very limited patience with 'relay pool care', where a 3rd party (you!) keeps running between us and the pool owner. It's hard enough, helping with pools we can't see. If you don't have authority to act, have your friend register.

[CarlD]

I agree with Ben:

BTW, if your pH is 6, there is absolutely, positively NO WAY you should add pH Down! That's a powdered acid and the pool is already seriously acidic! You do NOT want it more acid. If you goofed and it's actually pH Up! they recommended, then you should know that Arm & Hammer Washing Soda (in the yellow box in the laundry section) is EXACTLY THE SAME CHEMICAL as pH Up!

BUT---as Ben says, what you NEED is chlorine, and that is easiest to add by adding plain, unscented, bleach. And, without proper testing, anything else will mess things up AND none of the things they told you to add actually kills algae.