typasus3

The problem was faulty test kit. got a new one and everything checks out OK except for my phosphates--500. i am told that is the source of the resistant algae...glad to be back on track...was stressed there for a while. you guys are the best--and supersmart also thanks again!

also, will using bleach to help kill the algae without adding cya to the water harm my chlorine generator? can't find any info on this in the manual or the board. want to clear up the cya mystery before i add anymore to the pool. thanks again

"then your pool water is from another planet" >>hiding from the aliens<< thank you, muss51 and chem geek, for the speedy reply. the only water added to the pool recently was about 2 inches of rainwater over the last 2 weeks. for about three weeks before i had the salt system installed i added absolutely no chemicals and the water was crystal clear. i also had a zeo sand filter installed at the same time and when i got that running it clouded up the water significantly. the water cleared up again for about 4 days until i added the cya, it has been cloudy since and i can see only about 3-4 feet down into the deep end. the liquid test kit was bought last august and stored in a cabinet inside my home. every time i have used it the water never really clouded when i swirled it and the little tube would overflow and i could still see the black dot. i went for a refill of the cya reacting agent stuff and they were out, so i bought the strips instead. i had heard they weren't very accurate, but all of the readings pretty much duplicated what the liquid test kit results were. as for the algae, let's not talk too much about the algae. it defies my will. i've tried to beat it over the head with just about every type of algae killer at leslie's pool supply. the mustard yellow algae killer, the black algae killer, the green algae killer, the regular algae killer, it just never completely goes away. the best i've been able to do with it is get it down to two bad spots; one about 3 inches in diameter and the other about 7 inches. the algae killers combined with super shock, and rigorous scrubbing with both the wire brush and the plastic brush will not make those two spots go away. maybe the algae is from another planet also? i currently have the 2 alien spots of algae plus a whole bunch of other colonies that are fighting to get a good foothold. i'm running the chlorine generator 8 hours a day and the filter 24/7. thanks for the bucket test idea. will try those tomorrow and let you guys know the result.......

I bought a home with an in-ground gunite pool last august. There was a learning curve with the pool chemistry as I had never had a pool before. I could never keep the chlorine or cya levels up to recommended ppm. I added a salt system one month ago hoping to cut down on the headache of constantly having to dump chlorine in the pool. I've been checking and adjusting the chemical levels on a daily basis since then and no matter what I do, I can't seem to get the chlorine and cya levels high enough. On average the water temperature is 65*F, hardness is 400, free chlorine is 0, ph is 7.5, alkalinity is 120, and cya is 0. I've added the recommended amounts of stabilizer for my pool size to boost the cya to 30 ppm but it won't budge above 0. I've got the salt cell running on 100% (super-chlorinate) for about 8 hours per day and the filter running 24 hours per day. I also added 1" stabilized tablets and shocked 2 times this week with stabilized chlorine granules. I used both a liquid test kit and a strip test and my free chlorine is still 0 and my cya is still 0. What in the world is happening to my stabilizer and chlorine? Where is it going and how might I get the chemistry stabilized? Any advice is appreciated, the cya and extra chlorine are costing me a small fortune and not helping one bit. Thanks!