Another green cloudy pool

[hulla]

I was out of town for 2 weeks and my skimmer must have went dry. I had to replace my booster pump for the polaris but my main pump is fine. Anyway, my pool turned very green and cloudy (can't see the third step or deeper).

My pool:
gunite
20000 gallons
cartridge filter (I just cleaned it).

I have been dumping in bleach expecting the color to turn cloudy blue but it barely changed in color or cloudiness. I got the best test kit they had at Leslies but it doesn't test Chlorine past 5ppm. My current chemistry is:

Chlorine >10ppm (according to Leslies and the shot glass method)
pH 7.5
CYA 100 (according to Leslies test strip)
TA 110
hardness 250

I will try to find a good test kit locally but so far haven't had much luck. If I order Ben's it sounds like it will take over 2 weeks.

If there weren't a drought in my area I would drain it and start over. Any other suggestions?

[hulla]

I got a better chlorine test kit. My current chlorine:

FC 17
CC 0.5

Since my CYA is high, Bens best guess chart says I need 25ppm FC to shock. So I dumped another 3 gallons of bleach in.

If it doesn't look any better soon, my wife is going to buy some green algecide, throw it in and claim victory over me. Please help.

[JohnInSoCal]

leslies has a decent testkit under their name brand "complete pool care dpd test kit" but I think it's just a taylor kit because all of the agents are taylor. It does just about everything except FAS/DPD chlorine but you can get that in a sperate kit from leslies called the "chlorine (extreme high & low ranges)" for $21, you can do quite a few tests with this. I particularly like the PH & chlorine test in the leslies kit. I kind of use a combination of bens kit (233) and the leslies kit. It's about time to reorder a new kit from ben as most of my agents are depleted.

as far as your green pool, you need lots of chlorine and filter time but until you get a test kit you will not know what your chlorine level is.

-- john

[aylad]

Are you just dumping chlorine in once a day? If so, your pool is probably not ever going to clear up. You need to get it to shock level, and KEEP IT THERE by testing/adding more chlorine 2-3 times daily. You also need to be brushing at least daily, and have your filter running 24/7, backwashing as needed.

Just a word of caution about algaecides--they are generally better at preventing algae blooms than they are at killing existing ones, and some of them tend to create more problems like foamy water.

Janet

[CarlD]

Leslies also has another kit:
Chlorine FAS-DPD Service Test Kit that includes the high-range FAS-DPD chlorine test. It's basically the Taylor 2006 but the one Taylor makes that's Leslie's branded.

Do not, NOT, NOT use "green algaecide". Your wife may think it's a magic bullet but there is no such thing in pool care. You will end up with more problems than you have now.

Follow Janet's advice instead. There is no better algaecide than chlorine. Since you don't have a vinyl or fiberglass pool, you can safely run your chlorine up much, much higher than Ben's shock level of 25ppm. This may buy you time if you cannot test 3x a day and add chlorine as you need it. Your pool will tolerate levels as high as 60ppm and may, as I said, buy you time before it drops below 25ppm.

But you won't kill the algae unless you hit that 25ppm mark.

You need one more ingredient, and it's vital: POP--for Pool Owner Patience. Full-blown algae blooms require a siege, not a blitzkrieg. It may take up to 2 weeks to clear your pool, but if you follow Janet's advice you should see progress in a few days. Progress, not completion.

[hulla]

Yes, I got the high chlorine test kit from Leslies. It says it tests from 0-20ppm. It comes with Taylor R-0870 powder, R-0003, and R-0871 FAS-DPD. Will this test past 20ppm?

I am brushing at least once a day and running the filter constantly. I can't backwash since I have a cartridge filter and no backwash valve.

This morning my chlorine tests at:

FC 21
CC 0

I will keep putting in chlorine.

Thanks for the responses.

[hulla]

Now my pool is clear blue. It is pretty but looks like food coloring. I can see the pool floor and drains fairly well now.

Is this the end point? Or should I keep the chlorine up until the blue goes away?

[bgray]

My recent experience and ample gut tells me that you should maintain shock levels until your water looks "right". I just went through a similar process with a cartridge filter. It's tough. I wanted to SHOOT anybody that uttered the words "... and then vacuum to waste".

One thing to remember: Keep your eye on the filter pressure. You are pushing a LOT of dead algae through there. When I was in the throes of my algae battle, I was cleaning the filter elements twice daily.

Hang in there. You're in the home stretch.