3 days of Green Swamp

The basics of swimming pool maintenance.
New swimming pool owner's questions.
Help getting started with daily pool care.
vshayEvich
I'm new here
I'm new here
Posts: 3
Joined: Mon 28 May, 2007 06:41

3 days of Green Swamp

Postby vshayEvich » Mon 28 May, 2007 07:04

Happy Memorial Day Everyone! This is my first post, as I am a new pool owner. We bought a house with a pool and the previous owners told us that opening the pool would be easy. They told us all about the DE and how the filter works, showed us how to use the pump, etc. Our pool is an inground with a vinyl liner. According to my calculations it holds 19,200 gallons. The previous owners told us that all we need to do after taking the cover off and filling the pool to the middle of the skimmer is to add 4 bags of Leslie's Chlorbrite and that it'll clear everything up. 4 bags later and probably about 5 hours the previous owner came over and tested the water and told us to put in 2 more bags because for some reason the chlorine levels weren't up high enough to shock the pool. 2 more bags and probably 12 or so hours we still had a green swamp. Took our water sample to Leslie's and they told us that the Ph was 7.0 and the alkalinity was down to 60. Our Hardness was 90. They told us not to worry about the Chlorine, but to worry about all the other things. We added 3 pounds of soda ash yesterday. I expected to see some kind of change this moring, but NO. I woke up to a green swamp yet again. We're supposed to put in 25 pounds of hardner this morning. I'm wondering IF that's really going to get the green out and how long will that take? I know I sound impatient, but we're dying to get in there sometime this week as we will not be in town next weekend. Any advice on how to clear up our water? We're VERY new to this! HELP!!! Thanks so much :D


Buggsw
Swimming Pool Superstar
Swimming Pool Superstar
Posts: 421
Joined: Sun 13 May, 2007 23:26

Postby Buggsw » Mon 28 May, 2007 21:53

The reason your pH and TA are low is because of the ChlorBrite.
Stop using it, at least for now. Is this plaster or viny or fiberglass?

The reason the green isn't going away is because you don't have enough Chlorine in it, yet. Using ChlorBrite may also be increasing your CYA too high which if it is too high will cause chlorine lock which means you'll need even more chlorine or else you'll need to dump at least some of your water and refill with fresh.

Use liquid chlorine and keep it high at shock level for at least 2 or 3 days.
Your pool should turn blue within minutes to a few hours. It will probably be cloudy, then which is a sign of dead algae floating around. Keep your pH around 7.2 and your TA within range during this period.

Brush, vacuum (to waste if you can and refill with fresh water) and run your pump 7/24. Backwash at least once per day during this out of balance situation - don't forget to recharge hour DE after backwashing.
DE filter should blue this up in a day if you had enough chlorine in your pool.

Test your water at least twice a day so you know how it's going. If you don't have a decent test kit, get one.

You can post all your readings here. Post a good set. I'd like to see:

CL - Chlorine
CC - Combined Chlorine
FC - Free Chlorine
pH
TA
CH - Calcium Hardness
CYA
vshayEvich
I'm new here
I'm new here
Posts: 3
Joined: Mon 28 May, 2007 06:41

Thanks!!

Postby vshayEvich » Tue 29 May, 2007 09:08

Thanks for all your advice. We took our water back to Leslie's yesterday morning after we dumped in the 25 pounds of Hardness Plus, which they recommended. Everything looked good minus the Chlorine. It was at 0. They told us to dump in 4 more bags of Chlorbrite last night and add 10 pounds of Alkalinity up this morning. We woke up to a clear blue swimming pool with some junk from the winter at the bottom which we have to vacuum this afternoon. Chlorine looks like it's at a normal level right now. In the future do you suggest liquid Chlorine to raise the cholorine levels quickly? Oh and to answer your other question the pool has a vinyl liner :) Thanks again for all your advice. I'm sure I'll have a million more questions in the future.
Buggsw
Swimming Pool Superstar
Swimming Pool Superstar
Posts: 421
Joined: Sun 13 May, 2007 23:26

Postby Buggsw » Wed 30 May, 2007 00:43

I prefer liquid chlorine myself.

It's cheaper and doesn't add other things you may not need.

Happy to hear your pool is looking better.

Return to “Basics for New Pool Owners”

Who is online at the Pool Help Forum

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 14 guests