Need instructions on opening a pool

[nater]

LittleHiedi,

My pool looked exactly like yours about 50 days ago...have faith, you're almost there!

I can't tell you how many gallons of bleach I dumped into my pool for about 7 days straight until I could finally tell it was working. Here are some key learnings from this experience:

1). Buy a good Cl test kit, one with the powder method that allows you to test up to 50 ppm. I'd reaaaaaaaly find a way to afford Ben's kit (or a couple of seperate kits from Taylor).
2). Vacuum the dead algae to waste at least every other day. This really helps you see a difference in water clarity (gives you some faith).
3). Keep adding Chlorine to maintain the 12-15 ppm until there's no more green. I would hit Bi-Lo, Family dollar, and Costco all in one day and fill my truck with cases of bleach. (Now I've got my Salt water Chlorinator on line and life is gooooood.)
4). Repeat step 3
5). Print out and re-read the tips on Baking Soda, Borax, Alkalinity, etc until you could recite them from memory.

Once you see the algae war being won, get you pH stabilized. I've got about 50 ppm of Borax in the pool now (added over time) and my pH is very stable....7.2-7.4 day in, day out.

6). Remeber that pool care is easy if you add enough P.O.P. (Pool Owner Patience)

[littleHeidi]

Thanks for the advice. However, I'm afraid to vacuum to waste because I"ll have to add even more water and dump in twice the amount of bleach to keep the level up. I'm doing all I can now to keep it at 12. It looks a little better every day. How often do you think I should be testing the cl and pH?

[nater]

I'm not sure what kind of filter you have, but mine is a Hayward sand filter. My pool volume is a little less than yours too (18,000). I can spend 10-15 minutes vacuuming to waste and only drop the level down about 2-3 inches. That's probably 300 to 800 hundred gallons, but a small percentage of the total volume.

I'd check the Cl at least twice a day (morning/night) and add the bleach you need to maintain the 12 ppm. Once you get things under control, you can test less often.

[Poconos]

This thread is way too long so I'm locking it. Littleheidie, if you want to pursue other specific questions please start a new thread.
Thanks,
Al