chill123

thanks - i thought however that the pool should go a milky grey/green/blue colour when the agae is dead. mine as stayed bright green!

Pool: In ground, concrete lined Capacity: 50,000 liters Filter: Sand (not sure of make) Test Kit: DPD/Phenol tabs for chlorine/ph + dip sticks (best i've got) Local Water: Hard First off i Know i need a decent kit but I haven't been able to find a decent kit here in the UK for a sensble price. THis is the best i have for now. When I opened it up: Having taken the winter cover off (just a leaf cover really) the pool was green. When I first did this the water was pretty clear but there looked to be green algae on the bottom. Since I netted out some leaves etc a couple of weeks ago the water has been green. The pump has been running 24/7 since. Currently I can see about 3 steps down into the water. 1 week ago: After testing the water about 1 week ago the pH was off the scale (over 8.2). Over the period of a few days I added about 4kg of ph minus (i think it is Sodium Bisulphate). Until the pH was down to 7.6. I've been backwashing every other day or so to stop the filter getting clogged. 4 days ago: With the pH down to 7.6 i added 20 litres of 14-15% Sodium Hypochlorite. After this i was expecting the pool to go a nice milky colour indicating dead algae. It has however remained the same. Since then i've re-shocked a couple of times with chlorine granules (about 10ppm at least) and added sopme copper based algaecde. The pool looks no different. Using the crappy dip sticks the results for TA and CYA were: Total Alkalinity: 100 (AquaChek result) Stabalizer/CYA: 40 (AquaChek result) I'me going to rty and get a prioper test done by a pool store but for the mean time (the next few days) this is the best I have. Am i doing something wrong? What should I do in the meantime? I can continue to shock with either stabalized granules or liquid chlorine.

ok, a bit of an update. i managed to get the cracked filter lid fixed. i've been trying to get a proper test done on the pool water but have so far been let down by 2 local pool companies and am unable to find a decent test kit for sale in the UK that i can afford. With the tab test kit i have the levels are: TA - 170ppm Cl - 7ppm ph - 7.5 With some dipsticks I have the following results are obtained: CYA - 50 I know the dipsticks are un reliable but this is all i have for now untill i can get a proper test done. I've continued to keep the chlorine levels up (>5ppm) using stabalised granules. the pump has been running 24/7 for the last 2 weeks. The pH naturally keeps up meaning i am adding about 250g of pH minus granules every 2-3 days to keep it in range. I was back washing almost daily for the last few weeks but after leaving it for the last week the water seems to be very slowly clearing. I can now see the bottom in the deep end though it is far from crystal clear. Any advice on what i can do to speed up the process or what i may be doing wrong? I realise i need a decent test kit. Any suggestions of a reasonably priced one available here in the UK? What do i need it to test as a minimum?

yes, i was only backwashing daily while trying to clear the dead algae. unfortunately i now have a crack and small hole in the clear plastic on the top of my sand filter. it'll hopefully be repaired today. also the engineer will check the sand inside to see if it needs replacing (which may be a reason why the pool was being so slow to clear). fingers crossed!

i was told to backwash regularly (daily) whilst opening the pool and getting rid of the algae. i've never paid much attention to the pressure (apart from a quick glance to check it is not too high. i'll keep an eye on it over the next few days.

yup - tried turning the pump off for 24 hours ish and there was no real change. assuming the pump is running 24/7 how often should i be back washing?

Chlorine test was DPD. Sorry, i'm a bit new to all this!

Only the CYA was tested with strips. The rest were done with a proper kit. TA 120 pH 7.4 CYA 50 FC 5 The granular chlorine was Sodium Dichloroisocyanurate-Dihydrate (here's the exact product) i'm not sure what the ingredient of the algecide is. i'll check tonight...

Hi all, This is my second year owning a (11,000 gallon) pool. After taking the cover off I dumped in two large drums of liquid chlorine to shock. Left with the pump on 24/7 for 48 hours before adding in a bottle of liquid algae killer. This was 2 weeks ago. I expected the pool to clear up after a few days (like last year) but it hasn't. It remained a milky blue colour. Actually i went away for 4 days so didn't backwash too much and the chlorine had burnt off while i was gone. When i got back i checked the pH which was a little high (7.8) so i lowered that to 7.6ish and reshocked this time with granule chlorine. Again i threw in half a bottle of algecide i found left over by the previous owners. All this time I backwashed the sand filter maybe once every 2-3 days. Still no joy shifting the milk so i bough a litre of water clearing stuff and put that in - no effect. I rechecked last night and the chlorine is still high (5ppm), pH is 7.4 (stable) and Cyanuric acid seems about the 50 mark which seems about right. What do you think it could be? Maybe i just haven't been backwashing enough?

thanks for the comments. clarification: yes, i am using dichlor (stabilized chloring granules) to shock and maintain chlorine levels. footie - i actually have one of those kits (i use for the main pool). historically i've only used it to test chlorine and ph but i'll dig it out tonight and see what else it measures and order the relevant tabs... endorfin - so you're saying i should use regular bleach to shock the tub once refilled and then once per week? how much regular bleach (the stuff i use in my toilet?) should i put in? also, what is MPS?

Hi All, Apologies for what must be obvious question. I've had a good hunt around the forum and can't find the answers i am looking for. I moved house recently hand as a result gained both a outdoor swimming pool and a hot tub/spa. So far I do the following to maintain the hot tub: - Drain/clean and refill every 12 weeks (use is light) - Once refilled shock with chlorine granules - If required use acid/alkaline granules (same as i use in the pool) to adjust the pH - Test with test strips every few days to ensure pH/chlorine levels are ok. - Top up chlorine granules most days after use (a couple of teaspoons seems to maintain CH levels) - Was the filter out every week To date i've not experienced any problems. My questions are: 1) Does the above sound about right or am i doing anything drastically wrong? 2) After cleaning/refilling and shocking at the weekend i've tweaked the chlorine and ph levels to be where i want them. However the 'Stabalizer' reading on the test strips is very low. Also there is a bit of a strong chemically smell coming from the tub. Any ideas on how i can increase the stabilizer and get rid of the smell? Many thanks in advance