first time pool owner Posted July 4, 2010 Report Share Posted July 4, 2010 well here it goes. i am a first time pool owner and im very mad and to the point of draining my pool and take it down so i need some help. i have an intex pool 16' x 48" and i have been working with my local pool company did water tests and spent over 50 bucks on chemicals and the water is not clean. the water started out brown and now its green . ive been cleaning the filter and vacuum it twice since june 29th when i got the pool. right after it was filled i shocked it and it didnt clear up so then i called the pool company 2 days later and they said to put 3 gallons of chloren so i did and now its still brown.i called on fri 7/2 and bought more shock and put it in. woke up sat morning and took water sample to the pool place and they tested it and the ph was 8 which was a little high but the chloren was through the roof . they gave me oxy kleen and a ph powder to put in and now today sunday july 4th its still green so im to the point of draining the pool and sayin the heck with it . the pump runs 24/7 i clean the filter everyday so i am in desperate help so please someone help me . ive been thinking of buying a sand filter for it to replace the one that came with the pool. has anyone done that? and i think the pump that came with the pool is just way to small so please help me................ thanks first time pool owner Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
britinusa Posted July 4, 2010 Report Share Posted July 4, 2010 Can you post a set of the test results so we know what we are dealing with? The green could be due to metals which are easily removed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
first time pool owner Posted July 5, 2010 Author Report Share Posted July 5, 2010 the results are in total alkalinity 130 ph 8 shock treatment 3.9 cyanuric acid 60 total hardness 190 total chlorine 13.9 free chlorine 10 so the first one acording to the test the normal range is 100-150... the ph range is 7.2-7.6 .... shock treatment was high cuase i shocked it twice and put 2lbs of oxy clean in it ..... oh i forgot i put in 1lb of ph minus too... the acid test range is 25-100 hardness range is 200-450 the test was low .... total chlorine range is 1-3 the test was really high .... free chlorine range is 1-3 and the test was high .. so u have the results what the heck do i do now????? i was at walmart and bought a clearifier and just put that in just 5oz per 5000 gal i only put 5oz in... im open for all help thanks first time pool owner Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
first time pool owner Posted July 5, 2010 Author Report Share Posted July 5, 2010 oh and the water balance index is 0.4 whatever that means first time pool owner Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
britinusa Posted July 5, 2010 Report Share Posted July 5, 2010 Removed my post as I was not really giving the best advice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waterbear Posted July 5, 2010 Report Share Posted July 5, 2010 Ok, If you have a vinyl liner pool you dont need to worry about calcium harness that is there to protect plaster pools. Correct to a point, you don't have to worry if it is low. High calcium hardness is a problem in any pool. You need to keep your chlorine at shock level which is around 10ppm so keep it where it is and run the pump 24/7 it may take a while to clear depending on how green and how big the pool is. Can you update your signature with all the info pool size, pump, filter type etc? Yes you do need to reduce your PH, Use this calculator to help you along, clearing a green pool takes a while but dont lose faith you will get there http://www.poolcalculator.com/ a few points: Shock level with a CYA of 60 is about 15-20 ppm with the chlorine reading 10 ppm it is very possible that the pH is not as high as 8.0. HIgh chlorine interefers with the pH test and causes it to read higher than it actually is. Do nothing about the pH right now. Actually pH on the high side is better for clearing a green pool (but I am not going to go into the chemistry of why not). All you need to worry abot now is the chloirne. Keep it between 15-20 ppm. A sand filter will make your life much easier. The pumps and tiny cartridge filters that Intex sells are way too small, even if you upsize them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
first time pool owner Posted July 5, 2010 Author Report Share Posted July 5, 2010 well today the water was cleaner after i put the clearifier in it and i bought replacement filter cartrages and the filter seems to work better but i vacuumed the pool after work everything was on the bottom so i vacuumed and the retarted vacuum dont work it just spred the dirt in the water and its brown again so i need a real vacuum anyone have a sand pump and a vacuum for sale i need one bad the pool size ios 16' x 48" with 1250 gal per hr pump thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
first time pool owner Posted July 6, 2010 Author Report Share Posted July 6, 2010 I'm. Done with the dirty water I'm draining the pool now and gonna fill it with the best water in ny state. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waterbear Posted July 6, 2010 Report Share Posted July 6, 2010 Welcome to the world of Intex pools and their sadly undersized pumps and fiters. If they only had a decent size pump and filter they would be great but I guess that would raise the cost too much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cindyh Posted July 18, 2010 Report Share Posted July 18, 2010 I've completely drained my Intex 15'x48" pool twice now because the water keeps turning emerald green. I can dump twice the normal amount of granulated chlorine and it's gone in less than 24 hours even with a brand new tablet in the floater. My pool only holds 5k gal and the tablets I'm using say put one in for each 10k, so this is ridiculous. I just refilled it yesterday but I'm going to get different chlorine tomorrow. I just read a post here that said there are different types - I had no idea - so I'm thinking that may be the problem. I used a different brand last year and never had anything but crystal clear water. I'll be sure to post after I check into it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cindyh Posted July 18, 2010 Report Share Posted July 18, 2010 PS. I spent over $200 on chemicals to try to get rid of the green last month before I found out that it's less than $50 to refill the pool where I live in Maryland. Sure, it's a pain and there's the matter of scrubbing down the walls and floor after you bail out all the dirty water, but it's totally worth it. Quicker, cheaper and less frustrating than dumping all those chemicals for nothing. I just can't get the chlorine levels to stay up, so if I miss even one testing/adding in a two day period, my water goes cloudy again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leah C. Posted July 19, 2010 Report Share Posted July 19, 2010 Don't feel bad, I'm having horrible issues with my pool too, which is why I just joined here. Have you added stabilizer to your pool? Without enough stabilizer, the hot sun (which MD has in spades right now) will burn your chlorine right up. That could be why you can't keep your levels up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cindyh Posted July 23, 2010 Report Share Posted July 23, 2010 Don't feel bad, I'm having horrible issues with my pool too, which is why I just joined here. Have you added stabilizer to your pool? Without enough stabilizer, the hot sun (which MD has in spades right now) will burn your chlorine right up. That could be why you can't keep your levels up. I added Alkalinity Balance Control (A.B.C.) last Monday but I still have to add chlorine not only daily, but in larger quantities. I used to put 8 ounces every 2 to 3 days last year. I bought liquid chlorine on Tuesday and it won't stay longer than 24 hours without dropping so low, it barely reads on a test strip. I'm afraid of what will happen if I dare to go away for the weekend. The only real difference I can think of is covering. I would cover the pool faithfully every night last year, but the string pulled away from it over the winter and the crap just falls in anyway when I pull it off so I'm skipping it this season. A close friend doesn't cover her pool, either, a 24'x48", and she isn't having the problems I'm having, so I didn't think that was the problem. Now I'm starting to wonder. I've heard good things about the solar covers but I really do not want a warm water pool. :::sigh::: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pra4sun Posted July 25, 2010 Report Share Posted July 25, 2010 Dump the crappy Intex pump/filter and hunt a real one down on Craigs List. I battled the same thing last year and wasted money on chemicals. I bought a sand filter and had clean water in a day. If you filled your pool with well water, than this solution will work to clear up the darkish, greenish water. It also will helps with chemical distribution. I have had the pump in place for about a month, and all I have added is liquid shock twice weekly, after making sure that the ph and alkaline is balanced. Originally, I thought it would make it easier to not mess with chemicals, but I dumped the Intex salt water chlorinator because the Intex pump could never keep up with the amount of chlorine the pool needed. So last year, not only did I battle the murky water, the pool ended up being covered in algae. Follow this thread to see what I went through: http://www.poolspaforum.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=20570 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulR Posted July 27, 2010 Report Share Posted July 27, 2010 Don't feel bad, I'm having horrible issues with my pool too, which is why I just joined here. Have you added stabilizer to your pool? Without enough stabilizer, the hot sun (which MD has in spades right now) will burn your chlorine right up. That could be why you can't keep your levels up. I added Alkalinity Balance Control (A.B.C.) last Monday but I still have to add chlorine not only daily, but in larger quantities. I used to put 8 ounces every 2 to 3 days last year. I bought liquid chlorine on Tuesday and it won't stay longer than 24 hours without dropping so low, it barely reads on a test strip. I'm afraid of what will happen if I dare to go away for the weekend. That's different from stabilizer (chemically, cyanuric acid). Stabilizer will help protect the free chlorine from being burned off by the sun. Alkalinity control is about pH; no effect on chlorine, really. Try this: Look for a granulated chlorine whose only (or at least primary) ingredient has a name like "sodium dichloro-s-blahblah" the "dichloro" is the important part. This is chlorine chemically bound up with stabilizer. Get about 3 lb of this stuff (if it only comes in 2lb packages, get 4lb). Use that as your chlorine source--not all at once!--until it's used up. (Probably on the order of 1/2 cup every day or two.) Then--very important!--go back to the liquid. Stabilizer is something you want enough of, but not too much of, and the stabilizer from the dichlor will stick around even though the chlorine does not. 3-4 lb dichlor in 5k gallons should get you to the right ballpark, and the liquid chlorine should start holding. Note that chlorine is constantly being used up, regardless of what you do, and you do need to keep adding more. What the stabilizer does is make sure most of the chlorine is used to clean the pool, rather than being wasted by the sun. --paulr Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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