New Pool w cloudy water and algae problem

[cokecraze]

I am a new member with a new vinyl liner pool with details as follows:

20 x 40 rectangular with deep end 8 ft deep (The pool supply stone guy told me that the capacity of my pool is 35,000 gallons

Here is test results from the store:

TDS 200
CYA 10
Total Chlorine 0 (My father took the water from where I added the tap water this morning. Therefore, there is no chlorine in the water. I wonder the test result is accurate)

Free Chlorine 0
pH 8.2
Total Alkalinity 55
Total Hardness 55
Copper 0
Iron 0
Water temperature 78

The guy from the store told me the major problem is the total alkalinity. He prescribed the following for the treatment of the water from BioGuard:

Adjust Total Alkalinity by adding 50 lbs of Balance Pak 100

Adjust pH by adding 9.25 lbs of Lo 'N Slo

Add 7 lbs of Stabiulizer 100

Adjust Total Hardness by adding 19.25 lbs of Balance Pak 300

Add shock (adding 6 bags of burn out 35)

I am new to the pool stuff. What is total alkalinity? Is it important to adjust the level to 125 to 150 as the guy said.

Is this going to solve the algae and cloudy problem in my problem? All this chemicals cost me more than $200. We started our pool installation project since late March. We have not yet enjoyed the pool yet. I hope may be next week or two we can get into the pool.

Thanks

[joanie109]

Someone with more knowledge than me will tell you what to do but I recommend reading the forums and poolsoluntions.com I have learned so much in the past two weeks from this site. Take back all the chemicals that you bought at the pool store right now and go buy some bleach at wal-mart. That will get you started and save you money. I think the people on this forum always say to get your CL in line and then pH and then alkalinity. And you can do that all with stuff from the grocery store. BLEACH, BORAX and BAKING SODA. Adjust one thing at a time and that is alot easier. Your pool will be crystal clear in no time. Good Luck!

[Watermom]

Welcome to the forum!

Your biggest problem is no chlorine in the pool -- thus algae! As was suggested above, if you can, just return all that expensive stuff you bought from the pool store and follow the methods prescribed here. Much cheaper and very effective. You should shock your pool up to about 12 and try and hold it there for a few days without letting it yo-yo up and down and that should kill the algae. Most of us on this forum use plain, unscented laundry bleach for our source of chlorine. In a pool this big, each 3 quart jug of bleach you add will raise your cl by about 1.3 ppm. (You need to get yourself a good drops based test kit so you can test yourself and not rely on the pool store. There is a great kit sold by Ben at the sister site to this forum www.poolsolutions.com that most of us use. At the very least, go to Walmart and pick up the 5-Way kit for about $15.) Test 3x a day and each time add enough bleach to bring the cl back up to 12. The 5-way kit won't test higher than 5 ppm, but you can dilute your water sample and make it go higher. Mix one part pool water with two parts distilled water. Test as usual, and then multiply your result by 3. Diluting does lose some accuracy, but until you buy a kit like Ben's, you can't test higher than 5 any other way. You can add the bleach slowly to the skimmer. Also, run your pump 24/7 while you are trying to clear the water.

Your ph is also too high. Buy some muriatic acid from Lowe's or Home Depot and add small amounts in front of a return jet. Wait several hours to let it circulate, then retest ph and redose until your ph is between 7.4-7.6. (Actually anywhere between 7.2-7.8 is OK.) With such a large volume, I'd dose it with 2 pints at a time.

You can also add some baking soda to raise your alk some. Add it slowly to the skimmer while the pump is running. Then, wait awhile, retest and redose til you get it between 80-125. It's probably going to take quite a bit (the calculator thinks around 19 lbs. of it), but just add 5 lbs. at a time. Better to sneak up on target numbers rather than try and hit it in one big dose.

After your algae is cleared up, you can address raising the cya level. But, don't worry about that for now.

Keep us posted how it is going. If you follow the advice on the forum, it should clear up easily. Read through a lot of the posts here on the forum and pay special notice to the "stickies" at the top of several of the forums. Also, read at the poolsolutions website. You will learn a lot.

By the way - in a vinyl pool, the calcium hardness reading is irrelevent unless you have a heater.

[aylad]

As usual, Watermom's got you headed in the right direction...the only other thing I can add at this point is that when you take your water sample from the pool, get it by inverting your cup/vial/whatever you're using, submerge it in the pool approximately 12-18 inches, then turn it right side up and allow it to fill. Also, you don't want to take it from an area where you've just mixed anything new into the water. Always give it a chance to circulate, then go somewhere else in the pool (I get mine in front of my skimmer, which is almost in the center of my pool) and get your sample. If you take it from where you just added tap water, then all you're testing is your tap water.

Janet

[cokecraze]

Thank you very much for all the advice.

It is too late. I already add in all the expensive stuff from the store. Since I am going on vacation tomorrow, I wish to get rip of the algae before I leave. I did not know that I do not have to adjust the other stuff before I put in the shock.

Right after I put in the shock, I saw algae floating from the bottom of the pool.

The test result from Aquachek test kit is as follows:

FC 10 (probably more than that. I will try to dilute the pool water with same amount of water and test it again)

pH 7.2
Total Alkalinity 120
CYA 0-30

The problem is that I will be away for 6 days and starting tonight until tomorrow there will be isolated thunderstorms. I wish to close the pool cover so that no more rain water get into the pool. I cannot add more shock to keep the chlorine level up for a few days. Should I take the risk to put in one more time of shock tonight and not cover the pool until I leave tomorrow?

[joanie109]

If it was me I would go by 27 gallons of bleach and throw 9 in today and shock it to get rid of the algae and then have a naeighbor throw 3 gallons in each day you are gone so that it keeps you chlorine up and you won't come back to green pool. When you get back you can balance the pH and alkalinity.

Maybe someone else has a better idea but that's my advice.

[aylad]

You are not going to be able to clear up the algae/cloudy water problem overnight. You can shock it tonight and then cover tomorrow if you want, but you're going to come back to green water after 6 days. Do you have anybody that could come by and put bleach in the pool daily while you're gone? The only way your water is going to clear is going to be to maintain your shock level without letting it yo-yo up and down (and that shock level depends on your CYA level....0-30 is an awfully big range...). If you don't have somebody that can add chlorine while you're gone, shock it tonight, cover it tomorrow, and hope for the best-- but don't expect your water to be clear when you get back.

Janet

[cokecraze]

Thank you for all your help.

It is a miracle. When I opened the pool yesterday, the water is pretty clear. I can see the bottom finally. I think the cover kept the chlorine in the water. Also, I have put in two chlorine stick in the two skimmers. That probably kept the chlorine level up. I put in 3 gallons of bleach yesterday and today to keep up the chlorine level. Hopefully, by the end of this week, I can use the pool. Thank you for all your advises. I really learnt a lot in this forum.

On the other hand, do you know what I found in the water after the water turns clear. I found a box level. Those mason people must have dropped that in the pool. I also found the head of the Polaris 150. The hose is detached from the Polaris 150 when it is operating. Since the water is so cloudy, I cannot locate the head until now. I do not like those cleaner that have to be attach to the skimmer. I have a DE filter. It always clog up the filter. I have since backwash for so many times.

I have bought the Dolphin Dynamics from Costco. I read all the posts warning people about the Dolphin cleaner. I wish to give it a try. It cleared all the dirt (seeds from spring and sand and even gravels.) from the bottom of the pool.