Still Struggling....any Advice?

[ryjessjo]

I posted a few weeks ago... here is the jist of my problem..

(I purchased a home about a month ago with a 18x32 inground vinyl pool. It has a sand filter and a 1.5hp pump. The house has been vacant for two years and the pool sitting there for all that time. It has been covered with a mesh safety cover. When we uncovered it was totally carpeted with green. You couldnt even see the first step. We decided that we should hire help. I hired a pool guy and he said he could have my pool clean in one week. Swim ready. Well two weeks later and about 600.00 later it is still not swimable. It is no longer green, but you can see down about two step levels and the rest is like I poured some skim milk in. About one week after we hired him, he called and said that the pool was almost clear and by the next day...we would be set. We are not living at the house yet...so we couldnt confirm. But the next day, we loaded up the kids and went over to the house and found it as described above and it hasnt changed abit in a week. He said that it was almost perfect and then a storm came and screwed it up. So last weekend, I took water in to my local pool store for analysis and they told me I needed 5lb shock, 1 bottle of algacide, some (baking soda). and some lo and slow???.. I put all that in and the pool guy returned and helped and now Monday... still no results. Anyone with any advice? Today, I bought a test kit. It said my PH was good... but showed no CL. So I added 4 more packages of shock and put 2 tabs in my inline chlorinator. Keeping the system on filtration 24/7. I backwashed also several times before I added the chem today. Any help would be appreciated! Should I have drained ite jist of my issue. )

Ok now my update.... I had my water tested Mon and these were the numbers. It is till cloudy.

TC 8

FC 6.5

PH 7.3

Tot alk 106

CYA 42

adj tot alk 93

hardness 155

Pool store told me to add 6lb more of shock. I did last night. This morning I see no change... I added this morning 4 oz of Super Blue diluted in skimmer according to pool store instructions. I dont know how long till this might work. The bottom can be seen on shallow but it is cloudy. I can see down about 8 out of 9 ft in deep but cloudy as well. I am ready to fill the thing in.

Any sugg?

[chem geek]

Read Defeating Algae. You need to MAINTAIN a shock level of the pool which is roughly an FC that is 40% of the CYA level. You need to regularly brush, keep the filter running, clean/backwash the filter. If you do not have a floor drain so that the circulation is poor, then you can consider using a flocculant and then vacuum-to-waste to more quickly clear the pool.

[melanieg]

We were in the same boat; here is what I posted to another person in our same situation. I am all for keeping it simple. The only thing I forgot in the post below is that on the day of the first shock, Mark did put some algicide in with the shock, but only that first day; we haven't used it since. It took less than a week to get things going, so I would have to question the experience of your pool person with extreme cases. Or possibly your equipment, but again, your pool person should know. A storm would not take a perfect pool to an algae filled mess in less than 24 hours. <<<Hi there! We are in the exact same position as you. We had an expert come out & teach us/open for us in case something was very wrong. Our pool is approx 27k gallons, vinyl liner also. We believe the pool was closed in the fall of 2006, so when the cover came off... EWW. It does have a safety cover (the green kind that secures into the concrete) and it was properly closed. We did not have any dead frogs in there though, just TONS of algae and some beetle looking bugs. Last Saturday (exactly 1 week ago...) the pool person (Mark) came out and took the cover off, checked the pump (it was frozen & he was able to get it going) and poured in a case of shock (4 gallons). Sat eve & Sunday morning we backflushed a few times to keep things moving along. Sunday he came back and put in another case of shock. More backflushing after the chlorine level dropped or the jets force visibly decreased. Monday he came back and put in a third case. (Each morning the day after the shock the free chlorine level was ZERO...the algae was totally dying...) He also added flok (not sure if that is spelled correctly...) but shock kills the junk and flok makes it drop to the bottom. (There was also a TOTALLY gross layer of stuff on the top; looked like the slimy stuff that comes off spaghetti! ick...) Anyway, Thursday morning he came back and did a vacuum to WASTE to get the remaining algae off the bottom & put another case of shock in. (He had to be very careful with the vacuuming as there were a couple of rocks at the bottom & he didn't want to suck them up... couldn't see them under all the funk!) He then had me add ~20 pounds of baking soda (just the big bags you get at Sams; I put in two of the 12 pound bags) and 1.5 pounds of something called pH Up. Believe it or not, by the late afternoon the free chlorine level was low, the ph was good, the pool was totally clear & sparkling, & the kids got in! As gross as it was originally we did not have to drain it. My hubby says there is one place where the liner has bubbled up, but I still haven't seen it yet so it is minor. I am just happy everything is working! I learned a LOT from this site before we ever had Mark out to open the pool. I'm still glad we had someone knowledgable help us out this time since it had been closed for so long. >>> I love reading the pool boards! I get lots of info!

[imnay]

We were in the same boat; here is what I posted to another person in our same situation. I am all for keeping it simple. The only thing I forgot in the post below is that on the day of the first shock, Mark did put some algicide in with the shock, but only that first day; we haven't used it since. It took less than a week to get things going, so I would have to question the experience of your pool person with extreme cases. Or possibly your equipment, but again, your pool person should know. A storm would not take a perfect pool to an algae filled mess in less than 24 hours. <<<Hi there! We are in the exact same position as you. We had an expert come out & teach us/open for us in case something was very wrong. Our pool is approx 27k gallons, vinyl liner also. We believe the pool was closed in the fall of 2006, so when the cover came off... EWW. It does have a safety cover (the green kind that secures into the concrete) and it was properly closed. We did not have any dead frogs in there though, just TONS of algae and some beetle looking bugs. Last Saturday (exactly 1 week ago...) the pool person (Mark) came out and took the cover off, checked the pump (it was frozen & he was able to get it going) and poured in a case of shock (4 gallons). Sat eve & Sunday morning we backflushed a few times to keep things moving along. Sunday he came back and put in another case of shock. More backflushing after the chlorine level dropped or the jets force visibly decreased. Monday he came back and put in a third case. (Each morning the day after the shock the free chlorine level was ZERO...the algae was totally dying...) He also added flok (not sure if that is spelled correctly...) but shock kills the junk and flok makes it drop to the bottom. (There was also a TOTALLY gross layer of stuff on the top; looked like the slimy stuff that comes off spaghetti! ick...) Anyway, Thursday morning he came back and did a vacuum to WASTE to get the remaining algae off the bottom & put another case of shock in. (He had to be very careful with the vacuuming as there were a couple of rocks at the bottom & he didn't want to suck them up... couldn't see them under all the funk!) He then had me add ~20 pounds of baking soda (just the big bags you get at Sams; I put in two of the 12 pound bags) and 1.5 pounds of something called pH Up. Believe it or not, by the late afternoon the free chlorine level was low, the ph was good, the pool was totally clear & sparkling, & the kids got in! As gross as it was originally we did not have to drain it. My hubby says there is one place where the liner has bubbled up, but I still haven't seen it yet so it is minor. I am just happy everything is working! I learned a LOT from this site before we ever had Mark out to open the pool. I'm still glad we had someone knowledgable help us out this time since it had been closed for so long. >>> I love reading the pool boards! I get lots of info!

Liquid chlorine (big yellow jugs) or household bleach will shock water just fine and is SO MUCH cheaper than "cases" of powder shock - save your money.

Baking Soda from the grocery is a lot more epxensive than buying soda bicarbonate in like $19.00 50lb bags from the hardware store.

Same for Soda Ash (for when Alkalinity needs to be increased) - 50lb bags for $19.00 at your neighborhood hardware store.

Hint - baking soda/bicarbonate of soda is exact same thing as PH Up or PH Plus - read the label - then save a bunch of money.

You don't need "the guy" to open or close your pool or treat water - it's easy.

4-way test kit

Get PH in good range - if low add bicarb or soda - if high add acid in two cup doses til it's low enough

Get Alkalinity in good range - if low add soda ash - if high add acid in two cup doses til it's low enough

Shock THOROUGHLY with simple liquid chlorine or bleach - expensive magic shock powders don't do it any better.

Then with a decent and powerful enough filter system a little time will fix everything.

Then keep sanitizer high enough and add algaecide often enough and you will have crystal clear water - ain't nothin else needed.

[chem geek]

Hint - baking soda/bicarbonate of soda is exact same thing as PH Up or PH Plus - read the label - then save a bunch of money.

This is absolutely positively NOT true.

Baking soda is sodium bicarbonate aka sodium hydrogen carbonate or NaHCO₃.

Most pH Up products (especially those for pools) are sodium carbonate aka soda ash or Na₂CO₃ and is identical to Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda. Take a look at GLB pH Up here or BioGuard Balance Pak 200 here (see Tech Specs) and note that this is for raising pH whereas Balance Pak 100 which is sodium bicarbonate (same as baking soda) is for raising Total Alkalinity (TA).