desperate newbie

[nanniesrock]

Good Morning All,
I know you've all answered this question thousands of times before (I did go back & do a quick search). Here's a quickie synopsys of my problem.
I have a vinyl 16*32 inground pool about 25,00 gallons sand filter, so chlorine feeder hooked up. I dont know what a nature 2 system is. I usually use liquid shock + 3" slowpokes to chlorinate. Last week the store was out of liquid shock, so I bought granular. Pool turned cloudy almost overnight. I vaccuumed, backwashed, and left for the weekend (filter running). We had housesitters who used the pool. CAme home 2 days later & my pools very green & cloudy, can't see hte bottom.
From what I've read here, it would seem algae is my problem. I have to work in a bit, but I'm going to stop at the store & buy lots of chlorine & borax. Also, I've been having trouble this year getting my chlorine to convert to free chlorine. I will bring a sample of my water with me to have it properly tested. Pool store near me is good for this, but otherwise useless (I think).
It's been stated to test & add 3x per day, right? I have the little strips, and drops. Are one of these sufficient? Should I just be testing chlorine levels (assuming the PH is OK first)?
If the PH is < should I add the borax to the skimmer basket? This is Borax similiar ot Ajax or Comet?
My nephew is supposed to be having his birthday party here on Sunday, so I'm really hoping that if I'm diligent, I can get it looking better by then.
I'll post the results from the water test as soon as I can. Thanks in advance for any help you can give me.
Oh yeah, we just bought the house last year & have never had a pool before, so I'm very NEW. Also, my filtration system is over 20 years old. (This is what the pool man who worked for the previous owner stated. Previous owners are deceased.)

[JohnT]

Borax is used to raise pH. It is a laundry product, not a cleanser.

[Simmons99]

You need to post all your test results here before anyone can help you.

Your problem is probably from a low level of residual free chlorine - then the algae started to take over. Again post your levels (including CYA) and we can tell you what level you need to get your free chlorine.

Chlorine starts as FC (free chlorine) - if it changes to CC (combined chlorine) then it means it is fighting some organic material in your pool. TC (Total Chlorine)=FC + CC

Get a good drops based test - there should be a 6-way test available at Wal-Mart to use immediately, however you will really want to spend the money and get a good one. There is one available on the sister site http://www.poolsolutions.com, or Taylor makes a good one that will work

[nanniesrock]

OK,
I went to my local pool store. These were the readings:
alkalinity=120
PH=7.8
free chlorine= .5
cyanuric acid+10
I believe those were the only levels. Hopefully it's enough info. The guy at he store felt that even though the PH was slightly high, it wasn't that big a deal.
He recommended adding conditioning & stabalizer today, then this evening brushing the walls, then shocking.
Is there any other advice you can offer me? I desperately want to be able to host my nephews party on Sunday as planned.
Thanks for your help ~Andrea

[nanniesrock]

on the last level it should say acid =10. The + sign was a typo.

[Simmons99]

Okay here's what you need to do:

1. Go to the supermarket and pick-up generic 6% ultra bleach. Use one gallon to raise your chlorine level 6ppm per 10,000 gallons of water (so you need to add about 5 gallons to get to ~12ppm). You can search the forum for the "bleach calculator" to get a link to download a program to help you determine how much you need to add.
2. Then go purchase a drops-based test kit. A FAS-DPD test for chlorine is best, but if you cannot find one then a OTO test can be used (yellow gauge that tests up to 5ppm).
3. Add enough bleach to your pool to bring your chlorine level to 10-15ppm.
4. Keep your pump/filter running 24/7
5. Test your water 3X per day. If you get the kit that only tests up to 5ppm for chlorine, then you will also need some DISTILLED water. Take one part pool water and one part distilled water and test - then multiply your results by 2 (to test to 10ppm) OR 1 part pool water to 2 parts distilled water and multiply your results by 3. This isn't extremely accurate - but it's better than guess strips/running to the pool store.
6. Every time you test your water - Add more bleach to raise your chlorine level back to 10-15ppm.

While your chlorine levels are high - it will throw off the PH test. If you want you can lower the PH in the pool to 7.2-7.6 BEFORE you start adding all the bleach, but 7.8 won't hurt

You can add more CYA - but before you do - what are you using to normally chlorinate your pool? If you use pucks/sticks then you are adding CYA with those already.

[nanniesrock]

couple more questions:
* should the bleach be added around the perimeter, or to the skimmer basket?
* I have 1 gallon of algecide left. Should I bother adding it?
* Is there such a thing as too much bleach?