Newbie/1st post: Black cloudy water & leaving out of town in 2 days.... Help!

[kelemvor]

Is that 2,600 or 26,000 gallons? 2,600 seems small to me for an inground pool. This is a key value when it comes to figuring out how much bleach (or acid or baking soda or whatever) to add.

As CarlD said, you aren't going to know how much chlorine to put in there until you know your CYA (Cyanuric Acid aka Stabilizer) level To know that, you need a test kit that tests CYA. Until you get the K-2006 kit in you can get by with an "HTH 6 way test kit" from walmart. They're listed at $22 on the website, but the idea is to get it from the store so you can get it today. Here's a link so you'll know what to look for: http://www.walmart.com/ip/HTH-6-Way-Test-Kit/17043668 There is also an "6 way test STRIP" kit that you do NOT want. You want the kit that uses liquid drops.

Cleaning up a problem like that (assuming it's not black paint chalking off?) takes some time. Time and consistency. If you're going out of town you can't be consistent right now. Honestly I wouldn't waste money starting cleanup until I got back...Unless your town is like mine where it is illegal to have a green pool.

Here's some reading material: http://www.poolsolutions.com/gd/the-...pool-care.html <- read first

Here's some more: http://www.poolsolutions.com/gd/best...ine-chart.html <- read second.

Once you get a test kit that measures CYA, post that number and someone here can help you get started.

[our3sonsmj]

Thanks to kelemvor & CarlD for your input ... And yes, it's 26,000 gallons. Spent the last 36 hours scrubbing walls four full times (and starting to educate myself on pool chemistry when my arms needed breaks!). Added about 4 qts trichlor granules plus four gal 6% Chlorox bleach. A bit of a shot-gun approach i'll admit, but the Cl (both free and combined) were staying elevated using the stabilized form and wanted to get things rolling at least in the right direction by adding a non-stabilized super chlorination cheaply with Clorox bleach. My TA and pH were holding and figured the disinfectant properties of Chlorox where maximized due to low pH (around 7.1). Ran the filter constantly since my first post yesterday and by about 8pm tonite the water color is blueing up .... Having low 70's and cloud cover helped. So have just shut down the pool and Kelemvor is right.. The rest will I have to wait till we get back in town.

Anyhow, just can't tell you how ! freaked out ! I was (and am) realizing yesterday that we've been swimming in a black algae coated pool for several years, even though the walls have felt rather rough like sandpaper (read.... NOT slimy until I saw the green slime) all along, so just assumed the usual blackish/grey colored walls were the color of the gunite. Wondering when hubby and I start growing a third arm or something! However, the two I have at the moment need a major rest..... So perhaps a third and fourth will be helpful.... Think there'll be a lot more wall scrubbing in the next week or two Will get the CYA test drops or Taylor kit before proceeding..... To be continued.

P.S any docs out there feel free to weigh in on the health risks?!?!

[kelemvor]

Algae doesn't really hurt you, it's just considered unsightly by most. Algae occurs naturally in lakes, rivers, and oceans. Lack of proper sanitation can leave your pool full of germs and bacteria that CAN hurt you though. However, what kills the bacteria also kills the algae as far as I know so....

As far as those trichlor granules, I would stop using them immediately. They add CYA to your water and I'm going to hazard a guess that your CYA is high if that's all you've been using for years. Overly high CYA renders chlorine ineffective.

http://poolsolutions.com/gd/avoiding...ing-pools.html

[CarlD]

To continue: "Stabilized Chlorine" makes you think it's "different" kind of chlorine from bleach. It's not. Chlorine is chlorine. But as Tri-chlor dissolves, it releases Cyanuric/Isocyanuric Acid (aka, CYA), which is chlorine stabilizer. You can get the same effect by adding bleach and adding granulated stabilizer/CYA. Tri-chlor is also very acidic and can lower your pH quickly.

While algae IS harmless (as kelemvor points out), it is the canary in the coal mine that your chlorine level is too low to kill the harmful stuff. Further, your chlorine is spent killing the algae and isn't available for the bad stuff. So killing algae is necessary to keep enough chlorine to kill bacteria and viruses.