carolynm

Thanks for the reply. I've read and read and read this week. It was my understanding that it would be hard for the pool to maintain fc levels with the high alkalinity? Is that not correct? I would much rather get the pool clear, and deal with the alkalinity afterward but I thought that was WHY I'm dealing with the Alkalinity. I thought I needed to get the ph/alk balanced and then move to fc.

I have a 15' 48" aboveground intex pool with sw generator. Last year I had crystal clear water all year. I decided to leave the pool up this winter and it stayed clear until about a month before I opened it -and then it turned into a green swamp. I opened it by putting in a couple #'s of shock and starting up the SWG and cleaning the bottom of the pool, and adding 2#'s of stabilizer. I got the water to an aquagreen color and there it has stayed, I can't see the bottom of the pool I had an accurate ph test kit but was not trusting the chlorine test so I invested in a taylor kit. I tested the water: Fc=0 Alk=350 PH=7.2 So alkalinity is my problem. I tested my tapwater figuring I might just drain it and refill, but my tapwater has almost the same alkalinity (330). Today I started treating the alkalinity with muriatic acid and aerating the pool. So far I have dosed 8 oz, after the first test the alk was down to 300 - I haven't tested the second time yet as it's just been an hour since I added the 2nd dose. My question is: Can I start working on getting the pool clear by adding chlorine while I'm messing with the alkalinity or will I just be fighting a useless battle? Do I need to wait until I get my alkalinity to a tolerable range before I start adding more chlorine? It will probably take days before I get the alk to target range, and I don't want the pool to get worse while I'm doing that. I currently have my SWG turned off. Suggestions? Thanks Carolyn

I have a 5000 gallon 48" Intex pool with an Intex Saltwater system. I just came back from vacation and found that the water was green. I shocked the pool and the chlorine reading didn't budge from 0. I shocked again and nothing. So yesterday I put in 2 packages of Sock It to shock it 4X strength. I am now not sure of my chlorine test kits - I have 2 strip kits (free chlorine) and one liquid one (total chlorine). The liquid one and one of the strip ones shows chlorine over their reading limit of 5 - so I imagine it is right up there. The other test strip it doesn't budge. I have ordered a chlorine meter as I'm sick of guessing. I don't have a pool company within an hour of me so getting water tested elsewhere really isn't an option. This is what I"m getting Chlorine => 5 (not very accurate but all I have right now PH =7.6 (read with a meter -accurate) Alk=All strips point between 180-240 Cyanuric Acid: Between the 0 and 30-50 range (the color changes on the strip ever so slightly) total Hardness: 200 So right now the pool is very cloudy and whitish in color. I can only see about a foot into the water. I have the pump running 24 hours a day. Should I be adding Cyanuric Acid? Stabilizer? Or do I do this when I have the chlorine reading where I want it to end up around 3ppm? Thanks all Carolyn