nikolasmor Posted July 17, 2010 Report Share Posted July 17, 2010 Here are my pool specs 16' x 48" Intex Ultra Metal Frame AGP with 4000gph filter and SWG in-line. Holds about ~5000 gallons. When I opened the pool after leaving the water in all winter(a harsh winter at that) I started with a TON of algea. My plan was to bleach and run for an hour or two each week during the winter but it was just too cold, which is abnormal for us. After lots of algeacide and shock the green has been gone for about 3-4 weeks. However a cloudiness remains that I cannot get rid of to save my life. After getting a decent tester(I know, I know I need the taylor or HTH, its ordered) I got this reading yesterday 16-Jul 17-Jul Hardness ~200 ~200 Total Chlorine 0 1 FC 1 8 Bromine 2 20 Ph 8.4 6.9 TA 0 160 CYA 0 0 Yesterday after doing the reading I added 2 pounds PH- and 2lbs Stabilizer 3 96oz bottles of bleach(6%) and 3 oz clarifier. I then ran the pump and SWG for 8 hours and turned it off overnight. About an hour ago I tested and got the above numbers. I added 40oz of Borax to raise the PH without affecting the TA levels, now I need to get the TA down and the CYA being at 0 is killing me! I will go out for stabilizer in an hour or so. My plan is to add about 80 oz of liquid stabilizer to get the CYA in line, Monitor the FC and get th PH back in line. Reading the directions on the Super Clarifier is appears to work the same as Floc...... any thoughts on making this this crystal clear? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeffro Posted August 11, 2010 Report Share Posted August 11, 2010 I am new to this form. I have had my 18x36 inground vinyl pool for four years and this is the first year I have had any problems. About 4 weeks ago the water went from crystal clear to green it seems like overnight. I checked and did not have any cholorine levels, so the fun began. After several trips & $$$$$ at the pool store, I started reading this forum. I bought a Taylor K-2006 test kit and it came in yesterday. Test results, FC-0.2, CC-0.2, TC-0.4, TA-80, ph-6.8, Calcium Hardness-210, CYA-35. I adjusted the TA & ph, also added 5 gallons of bleach. The retest 3hrs later FC-2.8, CC-5.2, TC-8.0, TA-130, ph-7.2, Calcium Hardness-210, CYA-35. This morning, FC-4.0, CC-0.5, TC-4.5, TA-120, ph-7.4, Calcium Hardness-180, Cya-30. Two weeks ago I drained about 1/3 of the water because it would not clear up and I would shock it, check it 3~4hrs later with a dip strip and it would not have any TC or FC. The water is still cloudy with a hint of green. Water temp is 85~88, before I drained it, it was 100~105. Did I mention that I evicted the devil from his house? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dscriterium Posted August 12, 2010 Report Share Posted August 12, 2010 Jeffro, You are not keeping enough chlorine in your pool. Shocking your pool will get it crystal clear but shocking is a process that takes a while. You cannot clear the pool with a single dose of chlorine. Shocking the pool properly involves bringing your FC up to around 15ppm or so FC and then making sure you keep it there by testing and adding more chlorine as often as you can but twice daily at the very least. Secondly, while you are keeping your FC up around 15, you must brush and vacuum as frequently as practicable to keep everything stirred up. This will allow the filter to do it's job which means you must backwash/clean your filter as necessary The whole shock process may take a few days but the result will be a crystal clear pool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeffro Posted August 12, 2010 Report Share Posted August 12, 2010 Thanks Dscriterium I have been adding 10 gallons of bleach per day for the last three days and the FC still will not get above 4.0 and then it will it will not stay there for long. Maybe 3~4hrs. To make matters worse, in about 3hrs I am going to have hernia surgery!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulR Posted August 12, 2010 Report Share Posted August 12, 2010 Sympathies on the surgery! Here's a testing tip -- CH and CYA change slowly, there is absolutely no need to test them every time. Even once a month is a lot, if you're not doing something likely to change the readings (like draining and refilling). TA also is unlikely to change rapidly, although it can change faster than CH or CYA; testing TA weekly is plenty. Chlorine and pH are the ones to keep an eye on all the time. --paulr Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chem geek Posted August 12, 2010 Report Share Posted August 12, 2010 With the amount of bleach you have been adding, I'm suspecting that the pool was "let go" for some time with the FC getting to zero and bacteria may have converted some CYA into ammonia which takes a lot of chlorine to get rid of (the green was from algae that takes at least a few days to develop, though initial growth won't always be visible). If your CYA level was previously higher (such as from using stabilized chlorine, Trichlor or Dichlor), then this is probably what happened. The pool will start to hold chlorine at some point. You can read about my own experience with this in this thread. Adding chlorine and getting CC quickly that then breaks down over hours is indicative of this problem of having ammonia in the pool. If you want an estimate of how much chlorine it will take before it will hold, you can do a bucket test using 2 gallons of pool water where every 1/4 teaspoon of 6% bleach would be 10 ppm FC so you can see how much you need to add before the chlorine holds. You could also get an inexpensive ammonia test kit from a pet/fish/aquarium store, though I think you may now be past the stage of having ammonia and are now getting rid of partially broken down CYA. The other possibility is that you added something in your pool that is consuming lots of chlorine though the green algae would seem to rule that out (though some algaecides, if you used any, use up chlorine over time). The key, regardless of cause, is to add chlorine frequently and try to get it higher to a shock level if possible -- at least 12 ppm FC. If this were a smaller pool, it could be less expensive to just replace the water, but your pool holds a lot of water so that's probably not a decent option and you seem to be getting closer to licking this problem anyway. Note that if you don't get the FC to shock level for your CYA level, then you won't get ahead of algae growth and it will take a lot longer to clear the pool. With your Taylor K-2006, you will be able to reliably measure the higher FC levels needed for shocking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pedro Posted June 24, 2012 Report Share Posted June 24, 2012 My Connecticut pool was let go until mid-June and we had a warm winter in CT. We were out of the country until then. It was salt and I am converting back to normal because the salt water generator quit working. The pool was black--added Green Away (supposed to kill green algae instantly) then added 2 bags of shock after 24 hours as directed. Pool has been vacuumed several times and backwashed and rinsed (sand filter) and is mostly clean but green tinge remains. Shocked with 2 more bags of Turbo Shock and pool tested ZERO chlorine after about 2 hours but STILL green. What the heck is going on? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waterbear Posted June 24, 2012 Report Share Posted June 24, 2012 IF it is still green and you have no chlorine then, simply put, you have not killed the algae and it is consuming all the chlorine. Post a full set of test results (inlcluding CYA) not done with test strips so we know what is going on and please list the ingredients in all the chemicals you have put in the pool. FWIW, marketing claims aside, there is no product that kills green algae instantly. The product you added is either sodium bromide or an organic ammonia compound, based on the instructions to shock after adding. If the first it temporarily converts the pool to bromine and is effective if the algae bloom is caused by high CYA. If not it won't do any better than just adding chlorine and possible would do worse. The second converts the chlorine into monochloramine, which is an effect algae killer. However, both create a huge chlorine demand after use (for different reasons--I won't go into the chemistry now since it does nothing to solve your immediate problem.) Also, if your pool was a bad as you say then it is very possible that bacteria consumed whatever CYA was in your water and converted it into ammonia, which will also create a huge chlorine demand. IF this is the case it will take a LOT of unstabilized chlorine (bleach or cal hypo) to get rid of the ammonia. You can get an inexpensive aquarium ammonia test kit to see if this has happened since pool water is not normally tested for ammonia. Hope this helps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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