Help !!!! House came with pool....now what??

[homeschoolmom]

We are newbie to pool ownership. Pool had sat untouched for two years while the house sat empty. Concrete pool built in 1969. It holds 28500 gallons. Since we only have one pool store in town that is where we went. We got sent to "pool school". Ended up purchasing Optimum plus and ALOT of other Bioguard products. We did a complete drain and refill ourselves to save money on pool servicing. After about 3 weeks we finally had what toe pool store called perfectly balanced water. Well that lasted all of 3 days. Chlorine kept disappearing, every time we tested something else was amiss. I even decided to not add the chemicals they suggested and went back to have water tested and got a bell ring for perfect water again!!

About 2weeks ago the floor of the pool looked dirty (we live in OK, very dry and windy). I decide to sweep pool and it became very cloudy. I thought it would settle and use the vacuum but it continued for four days. Couldn't hold chlorine. Went to pool store and ask them if it could be mustard algae. They said that usually comes from the lake. They told me to use 6bags of shock and have the water tested the next day. Went back on day two instead and no .5 chlorine. They had me use copper algicide along with more shock. Water finally cleared up after four more days. Still can't hold chlorine and PH is at 7.

Skip to DIY......I added 1box of borax last night then added the rest of the granular chlorine that I had left from pool chemicals (Bioguard). After about 6 hours I added another 2 gallons of 8.25% great value ultra bleach (121oz each). Test results as follows:

TC: It looks as yellow as 5ppm I'm sure its higher
PH 7.2
TA 180
TH 190
CYA 25 could barely see black dot when filled to top above 30 line

Any advise appreciated

[Watermom]

What kind of test kit are you using? It sounds like maybe it is an HTH 6-Way? Take a look at the chart at this link. It shows how to decipher colors on the OTO test that are past the colors on the comparator tube. http://pool9.net/oto-chart/

I wish you hadn't used the copper algaecide. I bet you didn't know that it is copper, and not chlorine like most people think, that stains things and turns blonde hair green!

Tell us exactly what all you have put in the pool, meaning ingredients and not just 'shock.'

Tell us what size pump you have and what kind and size of filter. While you are trying to clear this up, run your pump 24/7, cleaning the filter as needed.

In your pool, each of the 121-oz bottles of bleach will add a little less than 3ppm of chlorine. Use that as a reference to help you figure out doses of bleach to add. Try and keep your chlorine in the 15ppm while you are trying to clear this.

Stay out of that pool store!

((Until you registration is completed, you won't be able to see the rest of the forum while you are logged in. So, copy that link and then paste it into a browser window after you log out.)

[PoolDoc]

. . . membership upgraded.