algae disaster in TN

Algae problems in swimming pool water.
Green (cloudy) water or slimy pool walls.
Black algae. Mustard algae. Pink or white pool mold.
bcraft

algae disaster in TN

Postby bcraft » Sun 27 May, 2007 08:19

I have a 33ft above grnd pool / 25,000 gal H2O. Didn't cover over the winter (live in the south) and started season with clear water with some leaves and debris on bottom. Before we could get it cleaned up - began to turn green.

Have used (at pool company's recommendation) - over 31 lbs of shock, 8 lbs stabilizer, 4 bottles of agicide, alkalinity booster, phosphate decreaser, and cleaned the cartridge filter daily - (in addition to running the automatic chlorinator and throwing some tablets in the skimmer basket just for good measure.) All equipment is running fine. But current status is still: green water (maybe getting clearer), no chlorine showing up on test strip or at pool store, still unstable pH (getting better, but not there yet).

Any ideas on what to do? We've spent well over $200 in the past week, and don't know if we need to just stop and drain/scrub, refill and start over, or keep going with chemicals.


Buggsw
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Postby Buggsw » Sun 27 May, 2007 19:13

Based on what you've spent it may have been about as cheap to have drained and refilled depending on the price of water in your area. However, that could be bad for water conservation.

What are your test readings now? Did you get all the crap out of the bottom of it?

Don't add anything more except liquid chlorine - it's cheaper anyway.
You can use store bleach, store ultra/super bleach, or pool store chlorine.

Get rid of the tablets, at least for now, possibly. They may be adding more CYA and lowering your PH/ALk more than you need. What swings in ph are you seeing? High or low?

Get your chlorine up to around 25 ppm and keep it there for 2 or 3 days.
Clean your filter 1 or more times per day and run your pump 7/24. Brush/vacuum daily. Vac to waste if you can - which will be easier on your cartridge and add fresh water to your pool.

1 gallon of 12.5% pool store bleach will raise your ppm by 12.5 ppm per 10000 gallons of water. So for your pool, 2.5 gallons will raise it by 12.5 ppm. I'd put 5 gallons in, then you may need to add more every day to keep the level up.

Regular store laundry bleach (5% strength), 1 gallon will raise your ppm by 5 ppm per 10000 gallons of water. For your pool - 12.5 gallons and add some daily to keep the level up.

Since your pool is AG vinyl, be sure to keep an eye on that ph. Don't let it go below 7.2 but don't let it get too, high, either.
Guest

Postby Guest » Mon 28 May, 2007 09:15

since posting yesterday before getting your reply - added the following yesterday:
1 bottle of algicide (again..)
2 large bags of baking soda
9 more lbs of chlorinated shock
2 more 3" tabs in the basket...

Water may be clearer green, but still green this AM. Per test strip this AM:
Free chlorine - zero (I don't get it... We've added almost 40 lbs of shock in the past 4 days)
pH still low at 6.8
alkalinity - btwn 80-120 (at least that's corrected).

Havent started vacuming yet (was waiting for the bottom to come into site, but we're just going to blind vacumn today)

Will try liquid chlorine now. Thanks for your help.
Buggsw
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Joined: Sun 13 May, 2007 23:26

Postby Buggsw » Mon 28 May, 2007 14:51

Yep, adding shock also adds CYA/stabilizer and lowers your pH. Get the tabs out of there.

The more CYA you have the harder and higher level of chlorine you need to use to shock the CC's.

Just use liquid chlorine, brush, vac, backwash and aerate and a large dose of patience. That's all you need to do.

It's very important when trying to shock the CC's out, that you don't do this gradually. Get that level up fast and keep it there.

If your CYA is high enough, you may have no recourse but to dump some of your water and replace with fresh. You cannot get rid of CYA any other way.

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