HELPppppppppppp

[raptureready1953]

I think my problem must be consistancy. My five way tester only goes to 5. BUT it now is way over that, almost a dark brown. The other test strips are way over 10. That is what it has been over the last three days. I am hoping for some change soon. Thanks.

[Simmons99]

You can go to a pool store and pick up a Taylor FAS-DPD chlorine test kit - it will test up to 50ppm I believe

OR

You can purchase DISTILLED water and put like 4 parts distilled water to one part pool water and then multipy your results by 5 - but not as accurate as a good test kit.

[raptureready1953]

Oh ok, thanks. Dont have the money for any more test kits. Wish I did. I would buy one on this site. Will try the distilled water asap. Thanks for the info. Much appreciated. I am not sure what color the pool water is . To me its more a light green gray...nothing like the green of yesterday. ???

[raptureready1953]

I think I have cloudy blue today. I went out to test and I could actually see about 1/4 in into the pool . I actually saw some of the liner. LOL. My ph was super high, so added some reducer. Another gal. and half of clorox. Told dh to pick up some more clorox today, almost out.

Hope this turns clear soon. Thanks yall (probably does not help that we have humid rainy afternoons for the rest of the month. yuck)

[Simmons99]

DON'T adjust PH with high chlorine levels - the high chlorine will mess with the PH test. Err on the side of caution and wait for your chlorine levels to drop below like 20ppm.

What have your chlorine tests been looking like? Make sure you are backwashing and scrubbing - now the filter needs to start cleaning out the dead algae. Keep the chlorine levels high to make sure that none starts growing again.

[raptureready1953]

Hi My husband says that we have no capability to back wash on this vinyl pool. But I have been scrubbing. Trying to keep the chlorine level up. I only have a five way tester, and I also have strips. I go by the color on the five way. It is really brown. The test strips, the color is on the high side ..I think its over 10 on the strips, 5 on the other. I put in a gal and half a while ago. Swept, ... now later I will go out and maybe add more chlorine, and then sweep. Tonight I will vacuum if its not thundering and lightning. And add another gal and half. Does that sound about right? My pool holds aprox. 4500 gal. Its an intex vinyl.

[Spensar]

Sounds like things are coming along. Instead of backwashing, can you take out the cartridge filter and hose it off? There will be a lot of gunk to come out, and since you can't backwash, washing out the gunk will greatly speed up the process. I don't have one so I'm not sure how you you clean them without replacing them. I'm assuming you can wash it off and pop it back in instead of replacing it every time. After it's nearly clear and the bottom free of stuff, you replacing it would be a good idea.

Are you buying clorex brand bleach? If so make sure it is the plain ordinary bleach with no additives or "spring fresh", etc. You want straight sodium hypochlorate. If the is a Walmart near you, their house brand is usually the cheapest and doesn't have additives. (Just want to make sure you aren't accidently putting bad stuff in your pool!)

P.S. You WILL be able to see the bottom of the pool.

[ivyleager]

Hi My husband says that we have no capability to back wash on this vinyl pool. We also have no skimmer.

Okay, you have a small Intex pool that holds 4500 gals, and filtrations appears to be the major limiting factor. I'm ASSUMING that you've kept the filtration system (such that it is) on 24/7 and changed out the cartridge(s) as it is most likely fairly gunked up by now. If so and still no change, I'd recommend letting the chlorine drift down to almost zero, adding some polyquat per bottle recommendations, and then reshocking. Then again, dumping and refilling seems reasonable, too.

Good luck.

CaryB
Caniac