Brown/green super smelly water when opened

[Scarlettgrey]

Hi all! We have opened our above ground pool for the summer. However, we've run into some trouble. Back in the late winter/early spring we had some bad wind here in Ohio. The winter cover was partially taken off and in the pool. We have no deck so access to the water is difficult. I happened to have an extra winter cover so I just put the extra one on top for the next month and a half. Fast forward to now: we took both covers off/out and the smell was 7 shades of foul. The water is a brownish/green. We have removed as many of the leaves that we can get and ran the filter for the past 48 hours (with several backflushes). We've also put 6 gallons of bleach in. The temp is far too cold to get in and clear any debris out, plus I don't know if I'd come out unscathed! any suggestions of what kind of chemicals to use would be fantastic! Chlorine levels were nil and the PH was lowish and the alkalinity was high when we did the test strips. I just want to avoid pouring in money on chemicals if they're not going to work. Thanks for your advice in advance!!

[Denniswiseman]

You can always recover a neglected pool
First of all get a decent test kit (Taylor K2006C or TF100) as you will need to get often, accurate testing of your levels. Pool stores and strips are widely inaccurate
Get as much debris out as possible, brush to stir up the muck, continue filtering and backwashing
I would assume you need CYA and Bleach
Check out these links
Pool School
Slam
Chlorine / CYA Chart
Pool Levels
Pool Maths
They will get you on the right track for a sparkling clean pool

[wendyheath]

Hello, I think you should clean the tank as early as possible. According to me you should hire professional cleaners who can provide you cleaning service. I have heard good reviews about movers Brooklyn ny who provides debris cleaning service. I think you can also ask to your friends and coworkers to suggest good professionals.

[Denniswiseman]

Hello, I think you should clean the tank as early as possible. According to me you should hire professional cleaners who can provide you cleaning service. I have heard good reviews about movers Brooklyn ny who provides debris cleaning service. I think you can also ask to your friends and coworkers to suggest good professionals.

I think you are missing the point of this forum
It's here to help pool owners maintain there pools without the cost of professionals
They come here because they don't trust, can't afford, have had a bad experience or just want to be independant
This forum is not an advertising space for professionals, albiet there are some professional contributors who give sound advice and it's gratefully received

[ChetsJug]

It's my understanding that a gallon of chlorine is equal 7 gallons of laundry bleach. You poured in the equivalent of... almost a gallon of chlorine. So your not going to notice much change in a green cloudy pool.

Algae hates acidic environments. Check your Ph and put it slightly on the acid side. I live on the west coast so we are always adding acid. If the Ph drops a little to low the chlorine becomes useless. I added 4 gallons one time and... nuh-thing! Bright green algae was laughing at me for 2 days while I struggled to vacuum. Finally it hit me to chick the Ph and I was running Deep Purple (great band, horrible Ph levels) hehe. I poured in a quart of acid over 30 minutes and walked away. after supper I walked out and was in shock... the water was blue! A little cloudy, but blue none the less. Swirls of brown/dark green dead stuff was on the bottom of the pool looking like mini sand dunes.

Then i got to thinking, algae is like any other plant. it has roots, stalks and "leaves". Dead it takes up much less room on the filter. I vacuumed the entire pool with one filter cleaning, not three! Echos of my fathers words as a teenager came flooding back... "Always kill the algae before you vacuum" All I can say now is what Homor Simpson says... "DOH!

I drive trucks and leave for the week, maybe two. I always leave the acid on the high side and come home to a test that still in range. Before I always returned to a green mess.

[Denniswiseman]

Liquid chlorine is bleach (sodium hypochlorite) strengths vary but can be adjusted using pool maths
You should never lower pH to make the pool water acidic to kill algae as it could damage your equipment
Follow the links and advice in my previous post to get your pool pristine