Murky pool, tadpoles, and an inexperienced owner!

[JV1980]

We recently bought a home with a very large above ground pool. I know it was up and running a year ago bit it was not properly covered and now we have a swamp! It's loaded with tadpoles, leaves, and who knows what else! Do I need to drain? I spent the day today clearing as much as I could see and hooked up the pump and filter to get that running. What's my next move? Call a pro!?

[Watermom]

Don't drain it as it will likely destroy your liner. Scoop out as much debris as you can.

A few questions for you:
--What is the size of the pool and volume?
--What size is the pump?
--What kind and size is the filter?
--Do you have a drops-based test kit? If so, what type?

If not, you need one. The test kit that we think is by far the best is the Taylor K2006 or 2006C (better buy). Not available locally but you can get it through this link that takes you to Amazon: http://pool9.net/tk/

But, in the meantime, go to Walmart and see if they have the HTH 6-Way drops-based kit (no test strips!) and get that. If they don't, get an OTO/Phenol Red kit (yellow and red drops) instead. Use it to test and then post your numbers. Also while you are at WallyWorld, get a bunch of jugs of their generic 8.25% bleach and a couple of boxes of 20 Mule Team Borax (laundry aisle).

Repost with requested info and some current water testing results taken with a drops-based kit and then someone here can try and help you.

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[JV1980]

thx watermom! really appreciate your help here.

I believe I have done all my homework:

Pool size: it's an oval, above ground pool 15x30ft (depth is avg..5.9ft)
pump:Hayward Power-Flo Matrix (115volts, 12 amps, 3450 BPM(?)
filter: Hayward XStream CC1000 (80 GPM)

I bought a 6-way HTH kit yesterday. Here are my initial readings:

Cl / Br test: less than .5ppm Cl / less than 1ppm Br
Alkalinity: 50ppm
pH test: 6.8pH units
Hardness: no read. drops didnt change the test water to 'red'
Cyanuric Acid: no read. 'black dot' never dissapeared.

I loaded up on bleach and Borax. Got some funny looks. Do I start to add one or both now and run filter?

Appreciate your help watermom, i'm lost without you!

(Note from mod: two posts were combined in the mod queue.)

[Watermom]

I loaded up on bleach and Borax. Got some funny looks.

Yeah, we know the look! We've all gotten it before, too!

Ignore the bromine column on your tester. You have a chlorine pool, no bromine. Also, don't bother retesting the CYA again for awhile. Until you add some, the reading isn't going to change and no need to waste the reagents.

I am estimating your volume to be around 15,600 gallons. In a pool this size, each quart of 8.25% bleach will add about 1.3ppm of chlorine and each of the 121-oz jugs will add around 5ppm. Chlorine levels are related to CYA levels which you can read about at this link:> http://pool9.net/cl-cya/

So, since you are showing no CYA, you'll want to shock up to around 10ppm, although honestly, since your pool is so green, I think I'd go up to 12-15. It isn't going to stay at that level for long as it will quickly be consumed killing algae. What you want to do is keep your chlorine level high until you have met three criteria:

1) You can go from sunup to sundown without losing more than 1ppm of chlorine.
2) You have no more than 0.5ppm of CC
3) Your water is clear.

Then, at that point, we advise holding the chlorine high for one additional day for added insurance and then you can let it drift down.

Your OTO kit won't read past 5ppm but you can use the color chart at this link to help decipher higher chlorine levels to help you judge where you want yours to be:> http://pool9.net/oto-chart/

(By the way, do yourself a favor and go ahead and order the Taylor K006 that I linked above. The 6-Way is ok to start out with since you can get your hands on it quickly but it can't compete with the K2006. It has the advantage of being able to test chlorine levels past 5ppm. It will also test CC readings which is another number that you need to know.)

Your most critical thing right now is getting your pH up! Readings below 7.0 are acidic and can damage your pool. The bad news is since your tester can't go below 6.8, it may be that your actual pH reading is way below 6.8! You need to add some Borax ASAP and get the pH up! Add a half a box at a time, wait a couple of hours, retest and keep redosing til you get above 7. Anywhere 7-8 is ok with the mid 7s usually being the best for most pools. You can add Borax directly into the skimmer (slowly!) while the pump is running, breaking up any clumps. One thing to be aware of --- your test kit cannot accurately measure pH when the chlorine is higher than 5ppm. So, either test the pH when the chlorine is 5 or less, or dilute your sample by mixing 1/4 cup pool water with 1/4 cup distilled water and then run the pH test with that mix.

It is also fine to add bleach and Borax one right after the other right through the skimmer. Some pool chemicals don't play nicely together if they come in contact with each other but for those two, it is fine.

If you want to bump your alk up a little, you can just use some baking soda. Add a lb at a time in the same way as the borax until you get into the 80-120 range. (Baking soda also plays nice with bleach and borax.)

You'll need to increase your CYA but let's do that after you get the swamp cleaned up.

Run your pump 24/7 while you are working to clear the pool and clean your filter as needed.

Hope this helps. Let us know if you have other questions and keep us posted of how things are going.

Appreciate your help watermom, i'm lost without you!

Isn't that the name of a song??

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[JV1980]

very helpful!

I was able to rather easily get the pH up. 2 boxes of borax (over a few hrs) got me to about 7.8.

the Cl was a different story.

Took 6 jugs to get me above 5ppm. Guessing b/c there's so much 'life' in there to gobble it up...

either way, I feel like I made progress.

I will keep with the filtration and Cl testing and report back soon.

Tx watermom, I see a light at the end of this murky, tadpole filled tunnel!

[Watermom]

You need to get the chlorine up to shock level or you are just wasting bleach. With algae you are either killing it or it is multiplying. There is no in between. Did you look at the color chart I linked above? Based on that, what chlorine level do you think you are at? How much bleach did you add at one time?

Test the chlorine this evening when the sun is off the pool. Based on the reference doses I gave you up in post #4 above, add enough bleach to take your chlorine back up to around 12ish or so. Otherwise, you aren't really making headway.

[JV1980]

I used up all the bleach I had on hand last night and was able to get the number up around 7 or 8 I'd guess (per chart you recommended).

At work now but will buy out all the bleach at Walmart this afternoon and get at it again. Is that unusual that after 9 jugs of bleach it only moved the ppm to 7 or 8?

Is mine a particularly challenging case?

Tx watermom, I'll report back tomorrow.

[Watermom]

Sorry. For some reason, I didn't see your post til now.

How much bleach did you add at one time?
Do you have readings from this evening?
How does the water look now?

[JV1980]

You were right, I checked this afternoon and my ppm had gone way down. I just added another 5 jugs of bleach and think I finally got it. Reading was a very very dark yellow (off the charts for my test kit).

Also added some baking soda to try to increase the alk.

Pool water is yellowish brown. Still can't see to the bottom but looks better/lighter. I suspect there are still a ton of leaves on the bottom that I didn't scoop and couldn't see.

Pump is running now and I'll test again in a few hrs to make sure my reading wasn't misleadingly high since I had just added the bleach.

I think I have cleared my local walmart of their entire bleach supply!

[Watermom]

http://pool9.net/oto-chart/

When you test chlorine again in a bit, go ahead and add more bleach to get back up to shock level. The more consistently you can keep the chlorine high, the faster it will clear.

If you think you still have debris on the bottom of the pool, try and scoop it out if you can. Otherwise, part of your bleach is going to be wasted on the organics in the pool instead of fighting the algae.