No Chlorine. . . If not Algae, then What?

[Pamsel]

Thank you for the further explanation Evan. I learn more about this pool every summer. By the way, when I said I need to not listen to "pool guys", I was NOT talking about You!

Last night, it turns out, that my husband and I both added chlorine to the pool which resulted in shocking it to 26! This morning the pool looks basicly the same except that when I got down to get my water sample, I could see a little further down the side. My chlorine reading this morning is:
FC - 12
CC - 1
TC - 13

[CarlD]

Thank you for the further explanation Evan. I learn more about this pool every summer. By the way, when I said I need to not listen to "pool guys", I was NOT talking about You!

Last night, it turns out, that my husband and I both added chlorine to the pool which resulted in shocking it to 26! This morning the pool looks basicly the same except that when I got down to get my water sample, I could see a little further down the side. My chlorine reading this morning is:
FC - 12
CC - 1
TC - 13

OK!!!!! That means you are fighting it and making progress. You should have immediately added bleach to raise the FC back to either shock level or 25, whichever is higher (because you are fighting so much). Check it 2 to 3x a day and add bleach whenever it drops below the shock level.

Keep that filter going 24/7 and vacuum to waste everyday--and brush it once a day too.

[Pamsel]

Thanks, Carl. We're on it! I'll let you know when it's clear and sparkling!

[Pamsel]

Murphy's Law seems to be in effect right now at our house. By this afternoon our water had cleared enough to begin to see the bottom of the pool in the shallow end. Early evening our pump lost its prime and we could not get it to prime again. We were certain there was an air leak. (We actually have suspected that we had a small leak for awhile that we hadn't been able to pinpoint before.) I guess it got worse and became a real problem so we finally had to address it and determined where the problem is. We discovered cracks in the coupling that goes from the lines to the pump basket so can't do anything until tomorrow morning. I plan to be at the pool store when it opens in the morning to get a new coupling and get things running again. So hopefully, tomorrow we can continue on with chlorination. Right now, everything has had to come to a halt, since we can't run the filter, so I'm sure it will set things back in clearing up the algae, but we'll get back at it as soon as we can replace the cracked coupling.

Pools are supposed to be fun, right??

[CarlD]

Ouch!

Do you have something to keep the water moving at least? A robotic cleaner is best as they are virtually the same as a filter--one cycle with an Aquabot, Blue Diamond or Dolphin is the same as a filter cycle. I used that a few weeks ago when the drain cap on my filter cracked--I cut out the filter and ran the Blue Diamond.

If not, do you have something like a submersible portable sump pump, just to keep the water moving?

[Pamsel]

We do have a robotic cleaner. I didn't realize it would circulate the water in the same way. I'll get that going in the pool immediately. Thanks so much, Carl. Can I add chlorine with just the robotic going . . . will it circulate the water enough to mix the chlorine and not allow it to settle on the bottom? I was thinking I might be able to slowly pour it into a stream made by the sump pump - We do also have a portable sump pump. I think I'll put that in the shallow end and keep the robotic toward the deep end, so as not to have it hang up on the sump pump. The more the better, eh?

[Pamsel]

Update -
Pool pump is fixed and working like a charm. Water is clear and sparkling. Now, back to work on lowering the TA. Thank you again for all the great help!