Newbie here

[H2OLogged]

I'm another newbie as of a few minutes ago. It's July and my pool is still green. Hired a "professional service" and they were just as bad as me at keeping it green. Our pool is AG, lazy L, vinyl liner, 30K gallons. New liner last year. Well water with lots of rust/iron.
Testing results are as follows:
From hth test strips (I have read to dump these--and will)
TH=200
FC=10/20
PH=7.0
TA=80
CYA=30-50
From my test kit (I'm thinking this is not accurate either)
Chlorine=3.0+ (turns almost orange)
PH=8.2+ very purple, indicates to add acid

Had the water tested at pool store today, and they said PH was low, add PH up--which I had from "professionals".

I have bugs in the skimmer baskets---must think it's a pond!

Help!

[milynor]

First thing to do is get a better test kit!! I would start with a bleach shock and get a better number for your ph.

[mbar]

H2OLogged,
If your water has a lot of iron in it, the water may be green from that. I would put in enough of a sequestering agent - something like jack's magic, metal free, sequasol - anything that says stain and metal remover. Keep your ph low and add enough according to the directions on the bottle. IT is better to add more than enough, than not enough. Keep your filter running 24/7 - , and if you have a sand or DE filter put a chlorine puck in the skimmer. Do not put a puck in the skimmer if you have a cartridge filter. Feel free to ask any other questions you may have, and welcome to the forum.

[aylad]

H2OLogged,
Welcome to the forum! Please start a new thread with your questions instead of adding a new question to the bottom of an existing thread--it not only helps the responders keep their advice going to the right person, but it also helps keep the original thread from getting so far off topic that the original poster doesn't get their question answered.

You've got the "metals expert" from this forum on your case (Marie), I'm sure she can steer you in the right direction!!
Janet

[H2OLogged]

Thanks for the feedback. I'm still reading and trying to get a handle on this stuff. Question about test kits. I have a kit but the readings only go to 3.0 on the chlorine and 8.4? on the PH. Do the better kits show levels of chlorine up to 10 and 15? Do I need a whole new test kit or new reagents? I'm off to the store to get whatever I need. Please advise.

[Watermom]

Most test kits you can buy at Walmart, etc., will only show chlorine up to 3.0 or 5.0. To be able to test higher levels than that, you need a FAS-DPD test kit like the one Ben sells at www.poolsolutions.com. I don't know what your local pool store might sell in terms of kits. Maybe they have a FAS-DPD? Just be careful at a pool store and don't buy everything they might try and push on you.