Tale of my battles with cloudy water! I'm finally winning...

[ladybug_3777]

After double checking, yes the shock is indeed 12.5% chlorine. Brand (not that it really matters) is Super-Chlor.

Update:
After getting home last night the pool was looking sooo much better. What a relief to know its coming back to life! It was still a little hazy and the chlorine was only reading at about 1.0ppm so we decided to use another 5 gallons of shock last night just to make sure it stays clear. (I wonder if my pool company would advise me to start buying stock in that stuff?!)

When I got up this morning and looked down on the pool, for the first time in 2 weeks I could see the bottom of the deep end!!! What a wonderful sight. I was starting to forget what the bottom of my pool liner looked like! ha-ha!

There is some dirt settled at the bottom but its not too bad. I'm just happy to be able to finally see it so I can vacuum and know what I'm actually vacuuming up.

Tomorrow I am planning another trip to the pool store to have the water tested so we can make sure all the other chemicals stay in balance. I told my husband that once everything with the pool is perfect again and we get that little paper print out that says "balanced" with an OK next to each chemical, I'm going to proudly hang it on our refridgerator!

It was a lot of frustration, a lot of work, but finally, FINALLY our pool is getting back to normal. And thankfully just in time for our 4th of July party.

[duraleigh]

Ladybug,

This thread is very interesting. With your triple-dose of Cl, yoou added enough to get to 44.6ppm!!! Wow!

Interesting in that it worked (when less was not helping much) and apparently with no damage to your liner.

I have seen this a time or two before and have a couple of thoughts. The first is that when you shock and have a good dose of algae, you never get to shock level before the algae starts consuming Cl. Secondly, vinyl liners may be somewhat more resistant to bleaching than we think.

Post back if you see any bleaching of your liner and thanks for the posts.

A good test kit (Ben's) would be invaluable to your pool care.

[Bleach=Chlorine?]

I'm sure hindsight is 20-20 but it sounds like draining and re-filling would have been cheaper and quicker!

[ladybug_3777]

I'm sure hindsight is 20-20 but it sounds like draining and re-filling would have been cheaper and quicker!

Oh trust me.... the thought crossed our minds... but the idea of having to fix ALL the chemicals again, not just the CL made me feel dizzy!

[CarlD]

Nice Job, LadyBug!

The shock you were using is nothing more than double-strength Ultra Bleach--one gallon gives you the same chlorine as 2 gallons of Ultra....Except that unless it's VERY new, it breaks down rapidly and probably was no more than 10%. Still, if 1 gallon of 12.5% is cheaper than 2 gal of 6%, it's a good price.

You were going to need a lot of chlorine no matter what you did, but the reason we push, push, and push the high-end test kits, like Ben's, it that they allow to know EXACTLY how much shock to add. If you add the right amount 3 times a day, it will be more effective than adding all 3 doses at once.

You did the big one--lots of chlorine and persistence, but to make it easier you test 3x/day and add chlorine until it tests at the shock level (I think 15 for your CYA level).
You brush and vacuum to waste everyday, too.

It kills the algae and less chance of bleaching the liner. But I think Dave is right--you had SO many organics that the chlorine was being consumed very rapidly.

Enjoy your pool! Now stay ahead of it and NEVER have to do that again!

[ladybug_3777]

Enjoy your pool! Now stay ahead of it and NEVER have to do that again!

Oh you better believe I will. I was getting to the point where the next additive I was going to try was dynamite! LOL

Quick question: Do the tests kits ever go on sale (say in the winter time?) I would love to get one for next season! Here in upstate NY our swimming season is so short that I'd probably only get about 4 weeks of use out of it (at the most) for this season. Thanks!

[CarlD]

Oh you better believe I will. I was getting to the point where the next additive I was going to try was dynamite! LOL

Quick question: Do the tests kits ever go on sale (say in the winter time?) I would love to get one for next season! Here in upstate NY our swimming season is so short that I'd probably only get about 4 weeks of use out of it (at the most) for this season. Thanks!

I don't know. I was in a local Leslie's one day and they had the FAS-DPD test kit Taylor made for them--it's only the chlorine test, and it was about $20. But that was the last one they had.... Online, though, they have it.

I'm not sure you want an on-sale test kit--it means it's older which means the chems may or may not be dated...

[ladybug_3777]

Ladybug,

This thread is very interesting. With your triple-dose of Cl, yoou added enough to get to 44.6ppm!!! Wow!

Interesting in that it worked (when less was not helping much) and apparently with no damage to your liner.

I have seen this a time or two before and have a couple of thoughts. The first is that when you shock and have a good dose of algae, you never get to shock level before the algae starts consuming Cl. Secondly, vinyl liners may be somewhat more resistant to bleaching than we think.

Post back if you see any bleaching of your liner and thanks for the posts.

A good test kit (Ben's) would be invaluable to your pool care.

I agree! I was worried that we'd over shock the thing and end up with a white liner too! The liner (thus far) looks as good as it did before. After getting a good look this weekend I'll come back and update if I see any problems. The good thing is I don't have to worry about it too much, we know in a year or two we have to have a new one put in. We are a family that never owned a pool but bought a house that came with one. So this is our first FULL summer taking care of it. (learning a lot!) When we bought the house the liner had some creases and wrinkles on the bottom in the shallow end (which i hate) so we figure its on its way out soon.

I think one of our biggest problems is we have what's called "forever green" a small protected forest area just beyond our back yard. Its PACKED with trees. I have to empty our skimmer out daily it gets so jammed with leaves and those annoying helicopter seeds. I think the trees alone contributed to our problem when the CL levels sat at 0 while we fixed our metal problem last week. The entire time we've had this cloudy problem we never saw even a hint of green (from algea). The water was a beautiful blue, just mixed with a gross milky white. (Pollen perhaps? Tree dirt? Is there such a thing as white algae? I don't know)

To get an idea here is a picture I have that shows the trees and pool in one shot together,




We do have a home kit that tests the chlorine and ph (with the liquid red/yellow bottles). I use it daily to semi-daily. My husband calls me a mad scientist b/c I pull it out so much haha! I'd LOVE to get Ben's super duper kit (I was looking at them online this morning) but at around $80 and a 2 week wait for shipping it probably won't make it into the "must have's" for this year.

Thanks for your input! I'll be sure to keep an eye on fading of the liner. If anything interesting happens I'll keep this thread updated.

Have a wonderful 4th of July weekend!

[ladybug_3777]

Ladybug,

Post back if you see any bleaching of your liner and thanks for the posts.

Just reporting back, liner held up and looks great! I have to say, its amazing to think this is the same water I was looking at 2 weeks ago. Its so beautiful now compared to the milky mess we had before.

[duraleigh]

Ladybug,

Thanks for the liner update. This is an interesting thread and some food for thought.