Tsp ?? Whats this, Super green pool Help !

[JohnT]

Amen...I tried to get my sister-in-law to read the forum and use these methods last year after she kept complaining about how she couldn't keep algae out of her pool, couldn't keep PH down, all the chemicals she'd bought, etc.

No go, she didn't think it would work and couldn't believe my water was clear using bleach. Finally this spring, she asked if I could help her get her pool cleaned up. It was VERY green.

Same story with one of my neighbors. Even after her daughter commented on how my pool water "glitters" and I told her about using bleach and keeping the CYA down, she still thinks I just spend more time taking care of my pool than they do. She's always trying magic chemicals and fighting algae and cloudy water, and said she'd never be able to put bleach in her pool. Oh well...

[CarlD]

Same story with one of my neighbors. Even after her daughter commented on how my pool water "glitters" and I told her about using bleach and keeping the CYA down, she still thinks I just spend more time taking care of my pool than they do. She's always trying magic chemicals and fighting algae and cloudy water, and said she'd never be able to put bleach in her pool. Oh well...

Tell her to try liquid chlorine from the pool sto... no, never mind. Not your problem. You told her how you do it, she didn't believe you--stay WELL away!

[JohnT]

Tell her to try liquid chlorine from the pool sto... no, never mind. Not your problem. You told her how you do it, she didn't believe you--stay WELL away!

Tried that. You know the drill.....When she asks for help, I'll be glad to give it.

[spankypsl]

OK here is her numbers.....

chlorine - 0

Water ph - 7.6

Total Alkalinity - 120

Calc. hardness - 200

Cyanuric Acid - 0

Above Ground, Round, 12,000, Sand Filt. & 4 feet aprox.

She added 6 bleach 4/25 showed chlorine this morning but 0 now.

NOW here we go all help and basic walk though please !!

( Should she drain any water ?)

[Watermom]

No, she doesn't need to drain any water. She has algae simply because she has no chlorine in her pool. Even though she has added some bleach, without having any cya in there, the chlorine isn't going to stick around long especially if it is hot and sunny.

For now, she needs to test her water at least 2x a day (and 3x a day would be better) and each time, add enough bleach to get her chlorine reading back up to 8-10. This is the only way to kill algae -- to sustain a high chlorine level. If it yo-yos up and down, she'll never defeat it. Also, run the pump 24/7 while trying to clear the water.

After the water clears, then she'll need to add some cya. Add enough per label directions to get a reading of about 25 ppm for now. She can add it directly into the skimmer while the pump is running. It will take up to a week to dissolve in the filter, so during that time, she shouldn't retest for it nor add any more. Don't want to overshoot the target. It is easier to add a little more later if needed, but if you get too much in there, the only way to reduce it is to do a partial drain. Until the cya begins to dissolve, her chlorine will disappear pretty quick so she'll need to continue testing at least 2x a day so the algae won't return. After the cya begins to show up, she'll be able to just test and dose with bleach in the evenings only. Hope this helps.

PH, alk and calcium all look fine.

[chem geek]

The quickest and easiest way to get both chlorine and CYA into the pool is to use Dichlor powder. Just keep in mind that for every 1.0 ppm FC that is added, you will be adding 0.9 ppm CYA. So adding enough Dichlor to get to around 20 ppm CYA should be enough to prevent the huge reduction from sunlight while not being too much until this algae problem gets cleared up. Once the equivalent of around 20 ppm FC or CYA is added via Dichlor, switch to bleach only at shock levels to get rid of the algae.

I just figure using only bleach at this point is going to be hard since it will be burning off very quickly from sunlight in addition to getting consumed by fighting the algae. I agree that you need to be careful to not add too much, but that can all be calculated readily based on what I said above (i.e. don't add more than 20 ppm FC worth of Dichlor to the pool). It takes 3 pounds of Dichlor per 10,000 gallons of pool water to raise the FC by 20 ppm and the CYA by 18 ppm.

Richard

[waterbear]

I wouldn't suggest raising the FC to 20 ppm with a vinyl liner pool. By chemgeeks calculations each pound of dichlor will raise FC about 7 ppm rounded off) and CYA about 6 ppm. I would raise the FC like watermom suggested with dichlor until 4 lbs had been used in total and then switch to bleach to maintain 12-15 ppm until the water is clear.

[spankypsl]

Ok, Wow thank you all so much for all of your help. But... What is Dichlor powder ?? This is my first time hearing of it, When I switched it was just loads and loads of liquid bleach And I'm sorry you lost me with all of your numbers. How do I figurure this all out on just how much to add, to test and where do I buy this powder? Again I thank you all so much for your time and patience with us. By the way We live in South Florida so the sun has been very hot.