Okay, i've shocked, super clarified, and vaccumed the pool. It is still cloudy green. Not slimy at all just cloudy green.
I even put 1.5L of bleach it it as the chlorine was 1ppm and the bleachcalc said add 1.5L of bleach to bring it up to 3ppm.
My pool is yucky and the kids are driving me crazy to get in it. What can i try next to get it clear again? I also cleaned the filter but i have absolutely no idea how to "backwash"? I'm beginning to think even for $50.00, this wasn't worth the trouble. I thought i could just use BBB and not have to have the other chemicals, not so?
HELLLLPPPP!!!!
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manual
I don't have the owners manual as the pool was bought through a church yard sale. It came with all the necessities but the manuals.
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chem geek
- Pool Industry Leader
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If I remember correctly from your earlier posts you have an 18' diameter round EasySet pool that is 4' deep. That would be a volume of 3.14 x (18/2)^2 x 4 = 1018 cubic feet which is about 7600 gallons or 28,800 liters. One jug (which is 96 ounces or 3/4 gallon) of 6% bleach (Clorox Regular or off-brand Ultra) would raise the Free Chlorine (FC) level by 6.1 ppm. 1.5 liters of 6% bleach in 28,800 liters would raise the FC by 3.2 ppm.
I'm not sure what you shocked with, but depending on your CYA level it sounds like you do not have nearly enough chlorine. You need to shock the pool to raise the FC level to about 40% of the CYA level unless such level is really high in which case it is better to do a partial drain/refill to reduce the CYA level. You need to maintain the high chlorine level in order to kill the algae -- you don't just dump it in once. You usually need to add chlorine several times the first day because the it will get consumed quickly killing the algae. Typical shock levels are 15 ppm FC or higher.
Just remember that when adding bleach or chlorinating liquid to a vinyl pool that you must do so slowly pouring in front of a return flow and should brush the bottom of the pool to mix the water after you've added the chlorine. This is because pools without a floor drain have very poor circulation on the bottom and you don't want the chlorine to settle there (it's denser than water until fully mixed).
To prevent algae in the first place, you needed to keep a minimum FC level of 7.5% of the CYA level and usually target 11.5% of the CYA level to give yourself a little cushion for error. This usually means you start off with a higher chlorine level so that the next time you add chlorine you are always above the minimum level. If adding chlorine every day is a pain, you can look at using The Liquidator for automatically dosing the pool.
It sounds like you have heard about the "grocery store" vs. "pool store" aspect of BBB without learning about the FC/CYA levels required. If you cannot or do not want to maintain sufficient chlorine levels then I suggest you use a weekly PolyQuat 60 algaecide or an expensive phosphate remover dose to prevent algae even if you do not maintain sufficient chlorine. There's nothing wrong with doing that, but doing a pure BBB for minimal cost does require more diligence.
I don't know why "Pool User" keeps recommending the most expensive form of chlorine, Lithium Hypochlorite. It has the advantage of being a fast-dissolving powder so you don't have to worry about how you add it as much (you can just distribute it around the perimeter or can add it into a return flow), but other than the extra care needed for bleach or chlorinating liquid (to prevent damaging the vinyl), the end result is no different and bleach is far less expensive for the same FC level.
I assume the pool was first dull, then cloudy, and then green which would indicate algae. If instead you had earlier added a copper-based algaecide and then shocked with a hypochlorite source of chlorine (Cal-Hypo, bleach, chlorinating liquid, lithium hypochlorite), then the green could be copper precipitating out as copper carbonate as this happens at higher pH.
Richard
I'm not sure what you shocked with, but depending on your CYA level it sounds like you do not have nearly enough chlorine. You need to shock the pool to raise the FC level to about 40% of the CYA level unless such level is really high in which case it is better to do a partial drain/refill to reduce the CYA level. You need to maintain the high chlorine level in order to kill the algae -- you don't just dump it in once. You usually need to add chlorine several times the first day because the it will get consumed quickly killing the algae. Typical shock levels are 15 ppm FC or higher.
Just remember that when adding bleach or chlorinating liquid to a vinyl pool that you must do so slowly pouring in front of a return flow and should brush the bottom of the pool to mix the water after you've added the chlorine. This is because pools without a floor drain have very poor circulation on the bottom and you don't want the chlorine to settle there (it's denser than water until fully mixed).
To prevent algae in the first place, you needed to keep a minimum FC level of 7.5% of the CYA level and usually target 11.5% of the CYA level to give yourself a little cushion for error. This usually means you start off with a higher chlorine level so that the next time you add chlorine you are always above the minimum level. If adding chlorine every day is a pain, you can look at using The Liquidator for automatically dosing the pool.
It sounds like you have heard about the "grocery store" vs. "pool store" aspect of BBB without learning about the FC/CYA levels required. If you cannot or do not want to maintain sufficient chlorine levels then I suggest you use a weekly PolyQuat 60 algaecide or an expensive phosphate remover dose to prevent algae even if you do not maintain sufficient chlorine. There's nothing wrong with doing that, but doing a pure BBB for minimal cost does require more diligence.
I don't know why "Pool User" keeps recommending the most expensive form of chlorine, Lithium Hypochlorite. It has the advantage of being a fast-dissolving powder so you don't have to worry about how you add it as much (you can just distribute it around the perimeter or can add it into a return flow), but other than the extra care needed for bleach or chlorinating liquid (to prevent damaging the vinyl), the end result is no different and bleach is far less expensive for the same FC level.
I assume the pool was first dull, then cloudy, and then green which would indicate algae. If instead you had earlier added a copper-based algaecide and then shocked with a hypochlorite source of chlorine (Cal-Hypo, bleach, chlorinating liquid, lithium hypochlorite), then the green could be copper precipitating out as copper carbonate as this happens at higher pH.
Richard
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