Overwhelmed with pool chemistry

[muundance]

I recently found this site and would like to switch to the 3 B's. I don't know how to start. I have the last 3 sticks of chlorine in our chlroinator now. Do I need to wait for them to dissolve before using liquid bleach? Also, my water is a nice green shade. I added floculant and vacuumed to waste. When the water level was down I noticed brown staining on the walls. Could this cause the green color? I know to get rid of this I need the m. acid. I tested my water yesterday and the alkalinity was high. Everything else was fine, I think. The chlorine got yellower as it sat a minute. Do I use the immediate yellow or the yellow after letting it sit. If I use the immediate yellow, it was .05 ppm, after sitting it was 3.0. What should I do first and how do I do it? I have a 10,000 gal. fiberglass pool with a sand filter that I cleaned already this year.

[mas985]

When the CL test gets yellower with time, this usally means high combined chlorine. That with the green water may mean that you have an algae bloom.
Use this chart to determine what amount of chlorine you may need to shock the pool:

http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?t=365

Also, can you post all of your readings PH, CYA, Alkalinity, hardness?

[CarlD]

Hi:
First thing is get some good test numbers for us--you can take a water sample to a pool store and have them test it--don't buy anythng yet, just get the results.

Here's what we need to see:

FC (Free Chlorine--the good stuff)
CC (Combined Chloramines--used up chlorine)
pH
TA (Total Alkalinity/Alkalinity or T/A)
Ca (Calcium or Calcium Hardness)
CYA (Cyanuric Acid/Stabilizer/Conditioner)

Also, if they can test for metals then that's good too--Copper (Cu), Iron (Fe), Silver(forgot the symbol).

Tests I couldn't care less about:
Acid Demand
Base Demand
Total Dissolved Solids
SI

If it's not copper making your water green, it's algae. Once you know it's algae (Cu is VERY low) you can add 3 gallons of regular bleach (5.25%) or 10 quarts of Ultra Bleach (6%). I would just pour it in the skimmer with the filter running.

But that's just a start--we'll need the other numbers.

If the green is from copper, the bleach will be the wrong thing to do.

If it is algae, do NOT add algaecides--bleach/liquid chlorine is the BEST algaecide.

[muundance]

Here are the results of the water test. Not good.

FC - 0
CC - 2.6
PH - 7.4
TA - 135
Ca - 135
CYA - 20
Cu - 0
Fe - 0

They didn't test for silver, however manganese is a no.

I appreciate your help with this.

Valerie

[JohnT]

Get three gallons of bleach in there to get your chlorine up to 15, and keep it there. Check it several times a day, as algae will use it up. Add bleach as required. You can check with a standard kit by diluting the water sample with three parts distilled water and multiplying the result by four.

[mas985]

Looks like you have an algae problem. With a CYA of 20, you will need at least a FC of 12 ppm to kill the algae but better to start at 24 ppm since it will be used up fairly quickly killing algae and converting your high combined chlorine. For 12% chlorine, 24 ppm is 2 gallons of chlorine per 10000 gallons of pool water. For 6% you will need twice as much. Keep the CL level to at least 12 ppm until the algae is gone and the pool is clear. Once you kill the algae, the pool may turn cloudy. This is good. Keep a watch on the chlorine so it does not drop during this period. Also, keep the pump going 24/7 and vacuum the dead algae up when you see it on the bottom. Good luck.

[muundance]

Thank you for you help. Any idea where I can find the 12% chlorine?

[JohnT]

Thank you for you help. Any idea where I can find the 12% chlorine?

Poolstore.