Small Pool, Cloudy Water

[mikemerritt]

Hello Pool Forum,

Super glad to have found this lifeline to my pool problems. This question I am sure is answered somewhere in this forum but time will not allow me to research.

The pool is 1000 gallons, above ground, vinyl with the small D size filter canister pump. I am using test strips (and the whole forum groans and rolls their eyes) and according to them the chemistry is fairly close. The first couple of weeks the water was crystal clear with only slightly low PH and free chlorine between 1 & 2 PPM and total chlorine at the low end of OK on the strip. I missed a day or so of checking on the pool and it bloomed green. I read up and dealt with the bloom. Here is my problem, I can't seem to get back to clear water. I'm using new filters every day or so and washing them every few hours. They are filtering and slowing the flow of water until cleaned. My guess is I don't have enough filter capacity. Are there any tricks to help this situation and if not what would the best filter be for this pool. I see there are many different styles of filter and really would not like to spend 200.00 + if I can help it.

Any help would be greatly appreciated,

MikeMerritt

[Watermom]

Hi, Mike, and welcome!

Just to clarify -- is this a 1000 gallon pool or a 10,000 gallon pool?

We actually need some numbers to be able to help. You have already figured out that we don't trust test strips. Can you at the very least pick up a 5-Way kit from Walmart (drops-based) and use that? (I think they are approximately $15.) Also, tell us exactly what all you have put in the pool -- ingredients, not just "shock." Then somebody here can take a look and help you get this cleared up.

[mikemerritt]

Thanks for the reply Watermom,

The pool is just 1000 gallons. Its not much larger than a good hot tub and is mostly for a 5 year old. The pool was filled with treated city water and all that has been added to the pool is 2 lbs. of 15% multifunctional shock as needed over 3 weeks. That powder was bought by a newbie desperate to do something on a Sunday afternoon to make the water safe for the kid. You see, we live in the deep south and its like a pressure cooker here...Monday showed a heat index of 110 and 99 actual degrees.

I looked at Wal Mart last night and all they had for testing was 2 refill bottles for some sort of kit. No full kits and it seems no place for them on the shelves. I suppose I need to know the best place to get the Taylor or whatever kit you folks like so well.

I have been out of the powder mentioned above since Sunday afternoon and risked waiting until Monday evening after work to add bleach which I have gone to after reading here. I waited until this morning (Tuesday) to look at the pool and .......you got it.....GREEN. I nailed it with bleach even though I haven't had the time to do the math on how much to add. I put 1/2 gallon of 3% in. I never thought missing a day could matter but both times I bloomed a nice crop of algae.

I'll get the proper test kit and will do whatever we can until the numbers are available. This little pool will be crystal clear yet.

Thanks a million,
Mike

[Watermom]

Uhhh --- my guess is that your pool is now clear?? In your small pool, 1/2 gallon of 3% bleach is gonna take the chlorine level to 15ppm!

Can you please tell us ingredients of 15% multifunctional shock?

The best price anyone has found so far (to my knowledge) for the Taylor 2006 is at this place:

http://www.amatoind.com/taylor-k2006-test-p-555.html

BTW -- in 1000 gallons, 1/2 cup of 3% bleach will raise your cl by 1ppm and 1/4 cup of 6% bleach will do the same. As soon as the pool is clear, you should try and keep your cl between 2-5 all the time right now because I doubt you have any cya in there. In your hot pool, algae's gonna want to grow fast. You'll probably need to add bleach morning and evening until you get some cya in there.

Repost with ingredients and we'll go from there.

EDIT -- Does your pool have a skimmer basket? You may want to try some skimmer socks to help filter out a lot of the stuff which is most likely dead algae. That could help with the cartridge clogging problem.

[mikemerritt]

Yeah.....not green anymore! Its back to the milky white that I posted about at the start of this thread.

The shock is sodium dichloro-s-triazinetrione 15%. Other 85%.

I ordered the kit. Could you point me to the skimmer sock setup? This pool has no skimmer. I vacuum with the SIMPLE 15.00 water hose rig and a pool net.

I'll have a real pool someday!

Mike

[Watermom]

Skimmer socks won't work if you don't have a skimmer. Basically a skimmer sock is a little sock that you wrap around the skimmer basket to help catch little stuff. If you have no skimmer, no need for skimmer socks.

You know what? I think if this was my pool that only held 1000 gallons, I'd just dump the water and start over. You are going to really struggle to clear it I think with no skimmer and most likely an inadequate cartridge filtration. Dead algae is most likely not going to be caught in that vac net thing.

Now that you know how fast an algae bloom is gonna start in your hot climate, just be diligent about chlorination so one can't get started. You've ordered the good kit which will hopefully arrive quickly and we can help you tweak things once you can test.

That is my opinion. What do you think?

[mikemerritt]

I have no problem with starting over with this pool. I will have the new kit and we will try to keep the water clear. We will step up to a 5000 gallon or so pool no later than next spring & I see that I will be able to learn what I need to know here.

Thank you so much for taking time to help me.

[Watermom]

You are very welcome, Mike. Let us know when you refill and get some good testing numbers. We'll help you get all your levels balanced. In this case, refilling and starting again are a good decision.

[drako4]

Hi,

I am also in the process of setting up a 1700+ gallon 12 x30 Intex pool for my kids.. It also has no skimmer. Once I fill the pool am I going to be at a disadvantage as far as maintaining the pool as a result of this. Have a 530 gal/hr pump and cartridge. Hopefully this does an adequate job????
I am not really in favor of paying the $170 for the Taylor test kit up here in Canada. Only reason being, the kit is more than the whole set up. Can anyone recommend another way or test kit that may be cheaper and do close to the same thing as the Taylor... Maybe I am dreaming!
I had no idea this whole pool thing was going to be such a hair puller!

Cheers,
Carrie

[sturev]

Hi Carrie, in your other post there were some alternate kits mentioned, did you check on those? I wish there was something we could do to get you the good kit at the USA cost... How far from the boarder are you? Do you have any friends/family in the USA?

The Intex pools are notorious for not having adequate filters/pumps, but since it's a pool that will only last a few years it's probably going to get you by... You'll just need to NEVER let it get fouled up as there will be no way for you to quickly clean it up with that setup. That's one of the main drivers for you getting a good test kit! You could easily end up spending a lot more than the kit cost trying to fix an issue if you get algae or something else.