Cloudy, then green with a never ending chlorine demand

[cleancloths]

I cannot seem to feed my pool enough chlorine. Woke up after a heavy rain last week to find the pool milky white. Chlorine was down to about 1ppm and pH was low. Started adding bleach, about 5 96oz bottles. Pool turned dark green, and pH was even lower. This weekend I have added 20 gallons of bleach, and 3 boxes of 20 mule team Borax, pH is only up to 7.2 and chorine levels reached about 3ppm. I have never had a problem like this and am quite confused. Pool is a 20 x 40 IG vinyl pool. There is no slime or sliperyness, just green. Yesterday the shallow end finally looks clear and the deep end is only light green. Today I added three more gallons bleach. What happened?

[CarlD]

I cannot seem to feed my pool enough chlorine. Woke up after a heavy rain last week to find the pool milky white. Chlorine was down to about 1ppm and pH was low. Started adding bleach, about 5 96oz bottles. Pool turned dark green, and pH was even lower. This weekend I have added 20 gallons of bleach, and 3 boxes of 20 mule team Borax, pH is only up to 7.2 and chorine levels reached about 3ppm. I have never had a problem like this and am quite confused. Pool is a 20 x 40 IG vinyl pool. There is no slime or sliperyness, just green. Yesterday the shallow end finally looks clear and the deep end is only light green. Today I added three more gallons bleach. What happened?

OK: to clear your pool of algae, a pH of 7.2 is excellent. Let's stay with that.

I'm wondering if you have a metal problem and not an algae problem.

Please post all your numbers,
FC
CC or TC
pH
T/A
CH
CYA (VERY important to know!)
and, if possible, Cu content.

The two obvious choices are you are fighting a serious algae problem and need even more bleach to get it to shock levels

or

You have a heavy meal content that the bleach keeps making worse.

There may be a third, but without more numbers we cannot tell.

[cleancloths]

Well I'm going to have to go out and buy some more reagents to do those tests, but it appears to be getting better finally. Its just strange how it went from crystal clear on Weds to milk white on Fri, and dark green on Sat. Its now clear in the shallow end and slightly green tinted in the deep. I did add 4 pounds of CYA on Saturday, as I have not added any in a year or two and figure between rain dillution and filter backwashing I have lost a bunch.

This is the first time in 10 years I have ever had a problem. You are not going to believe how I normally test my water and determine when to add bleach. Not scientific, but it has worked well -- I use the taste test. Yes I am serious.

[Watermom]

Hmmmm......... now, that's different.

BTW -- Welcome back. Nice to have you back on the forum this year!

[cleancloths]

Today pool is fairly clear in shallow end but still has a green tint in dark end.

Total and Free Chlorine both read 2.0
pH is 7.0
Total Alk is 50.

I just added another 4 pounds borax, 12 pounds baking soda and 1.5 gallons chlorine.

[aylad]

If it's still greenish in the deep end, I'd go back to shock level and hold it there until it all turns blue..

Janet

[CarlD]

What is your CYA reading? With that, we can tell you what an effective chlorine level is.

[cleancloths]

What is your CYA reading? With that, we can tell you what an effective chlorine level is.

Need to go out and get that tested. I did not add any last year, and only used about 20 pucks all year. When this mess started I added 4 pounds, but that is all I have to go on right now. I just don't understand why the pH keeps dropping.

[cleancloths]

Just checked pool this morning after making yesterday's additions:

Cl Free 0.75
Cl total 1.5
pH 7.3
Total Alk 100

So, except for chlorine it is looking much better. Added another 3 gallons bleach.

I'm going to take a sample to the "pool store" and have them test it today to find out what the CYA level is.

[cleancloths]

So I went to the pool store and had them test the water. They have a fairly sophisticated setup. They have a bunch of square-sided "testtubes" that each have powdered reagents in them for a set test. They use a pipet to inject water into each one and then use a computer controlled colorimeter to directly measure and record the readings into the computer. Any way, here is what they came up with:

Chlorine Total and Free both 3.8
pH 7.7
Alk 90
CU & FE ~0
Stabilizer 10 ah ha!, BUT wait...

How can we believe the stabilizer is only 10? Wasn't it on Saturday that I added four pounds of CYA to my 20x40 IG pool. Doesn't that increase the level by about 30 all by itself? So, now what????