Stabilizer ?

[hannadock]

Thank goodness I finally got back to be able to post. Ok. I have added 18 188oz bottles of bleach and scrubbing the floor and walls. 30 X 40 pool with around 36000 gallons+. Dumb question, I can't see what I am vacuuming. Is all this bleach suppose to clear up the water so I can? I started vacuuming on waste but I couldn't see if I was doing any good yesterday.

[Watermom]

Yes, the bleach will clear up the water. As it kills algae, your pool will get less and less green, although the dead algae often clouds up the water. Is there any debris on the bottom of the pool? If so, net it out. If not, just keep socking it with bleach for now and backwashing whenever your filter pressure rises 8-10 psi over your clean filter pressure.

How many times a day are you testing your water? You need to do so at least twice (and 3 times) per day is even better. Each time, add more bleach. The key to killing algae is to sustain high chlorine readings. If you don't, it will take forever to clear the pool. You don't want to shock it and then let it fall way off before dosing it again with more bleach. Keep us posted on how it is going.

[hannadock]

When you say shock do you mean bleach? I read at 700am and 6pm before and after work. Will the bleach eliminate the cloudy water? When I checked this morning the water is cloudy but no green on the bottom. The bottom is alittle cloudy but I didn't see anything.

[CarlD]

Yup. "Shock" is a verb--it's what you do (not that it actually means much).

When you "shock" a pool, you are simply upping the chlorine in it to a level that will kill anything in it.

Bleach is Liquid Chlorine in either 5.25% or 6% concentrations. The first is called "regular" the second "ultra". "Liquid Shock" at the pool store is Liquid Chlorine in 6%, 10% or 12.5% concentrations. (Technically, Sodium Hypochlorite diluted in Sodium Chloride solution, ie, saltwater).

Packets labeled "shock" are usually convenient-sized but expensive packs of Di-Chlor, Tri-Chlor, Calcium Hypochlorite, or Lithium Hypochlorite (this last is insanely expensive). They all do the same thing as Liquid Chlorine/Bleach: Raise your chlorine level in your pool to where it kills living stuff and metabolizes other stuff (like sun-tan lotion).

But they all have drawbacks.
Di-Chlor and Tri-chlor add stabilizer, which you may or may not want. They both lower pH, though Tri-chlor does it more dramatically.

Cal-Hypo is trickier to handle, quite dangerous around other forms of chlorine when it's in effective concentrations (over 60%), adds calcium, which you DON'T want in a vinyl pool and MAY want more of in a concrete pool, and may raise your pH and be tough to dissolve.

Lithium is insanely expensive for fairly low concentrations.

ONCE they are dissolve in the water, they are all the same--chlorine is chlorine is chlorine.

But each can be beneficial. I'm using Tri-Chlor right now since my pH was fairly high, my CYA(stabilizer) was non-existent, and I had just trounced the biggest algae bloom I ever had, and the first at spring opening, so I wanted a constant chlorine level. Once I hit my target CYA, I'll stop--or when the last tablets dissolve!

[hannadock]

I didn't see my last post but I read in 7am and 6pm. running pump 24/7. Came home today and did my backwash. Water still cloudy so I can't really tell what's in the bottom in the deep end. When I brushed the walls and floor what was on the deep in came up and mixed in with the water. Added 4 more gallons of bleach. Thanks

[aylad]

Usually when the pool goes from green/cloudy to blue/cloudy it means the algae is dying, and the cloudiness is the dead algae in the water, which will be removed by your filter. Make sure your filter runs 24/7 and that you backwash as needed as the filter takes all of it out.

Janet

[hannadock]

Ok. I am backwashing/rinsing/vacuuming/bleaching everyday my water is still cloudy blue. Realistically how long will it take for my water to clear up? Thanks

[Watermom]

Usually within a week. Make sure you are running your pump 24/7 as Janet suggested. If, after a week, you are losing no more than 1 ppm of chlorine overnight and it is still cloudy, you might add a dose of Polyquat 60%. It is the only algaecide we recommend, (although algaecides are more of a preventative against algae forming rather than taking care of an algae problem) but it will also act as a clarifier which might help.

But -- give it a week. It will probably be cleared up in that time.

[aylad]

You could go ahead and add your stabilizer now if you'll put it in an old sock or knee-hi and hang it in front of a return so that it dissolves into your pool. That way the stabilizer should be registering by the time you're ready to lower your chlorine levels to normal. You don't want to put it into your skimmer until you're finished with the frequent backwashings, though. Follow label directions to dose it to 20 ppm but put it in the sock instead of broadcasting it like the directions say. It dissolves slowly, so I wouldn't bother to test for it for at least 4-5 days after you've added it to the pool.

Janet