Have been shocking the pool, it's no longer green but it hasn't gotten clear.

[fivestones]

Problem: I bought a new house with a pool last fall, didn't know anything about pools. The water was crystal clear and was great to swim in for a few weeks before it got cold. Didn't do anything to the pool all winter, no testing, no chemicals, no cleaning. By the spring the water was green and the pool floor was covered with decaying leaves. (Not that I could see the bottom, but I filled a net with them every time I went across the bottom.) The pool pump was set on a timer to run about 4 hours daily during this time. The pool looked like this (plus a bunch of dead leaves):

Before shocking

I finally decided to do something about the pool, and I did a bunch of reading online, and especially at poolforum.com (but I'm posting here as it looks like whoever approves new users there hasn't been doing so for a few years). After learning some things, here is what I did:

First I bought a cheap test kit, FC was around zero. I cleaned as much as I could see off the top and bottom with a net. I backwashed my filter. Cleaned the skimmers. Set my pump to run 24-7. pH was too high for the scale on my test kit, or maybe 8.2 Added sodium bisulfate until I got the pH down to 7.6-7.8. Then Added shock (In The Swim calcium hypochlorite), a total of 14 pounds over a couple of days. Saw a big improvement in the color of the water, still greenish or blue-green but nothing like it had been. Added Kem-Tek algecide (this stuff: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00 ... UTF8&psc=1) as directed on the bottle and there was a bit more improvement, but still green-blue water. Added Robarb clarifier (https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00 ... UTF8&psc=1) and didn't see too much change. Then I was busy for a couple of weeks and didn't do much with the pool. At this point the pool looked like this:

After a couple of days of shocking

Finally I started reading about good test kits and BBB method, etc, and started to try again. I calculated the cheapest chlorine I could find was the stuff in the Wal-Mart bleach, which is $2.99 for 121 oz of 8.25% sodium hypochlorite. I bought a Taylor K-2006 test kit, FC was 1.5, CC was low as well. CYA was 30. Started adding bleach to get FC up to 12-15, and kept it there for the most part for about 1 week, while the pool color became dramatically better every day until it reached the point that it was definitely blue and not at all green, and looked clean. CC during this time came down from around 20 to < 0.5 now. But the one problem was the pool water never got completely clear. And that's where I've been for the past 2-3 weeks, with FC levels between 3 and 15 depending on if I keep trying to keep it up at shock level or not. I've gone through about 52 of those 121 oz bottles of bleach, and while the water as continued to clear to some degree (now I can make out a few places where I missed the dead leaves in the shallow end on the bottom where before I couldn't see the surface of the second step down when I started), it still hasn't cleared up to the point that I can see clearly through it. I can make out the vaccuum on the bottom of the deep end just barely now. In the past couple of days I tried adding more of the Robarb clarifier that I had left from before, added the amount the bottle says to add for regular usage one day, and saw maybe a tiny improvement, and then added that much more the next day (which according to the bottle is the amount to add for 'especially turbid water') but couldn't tell much more improvement.

So that's where I am now. I read a post of someone else asking about the same thing, and they apparently just hadn't kept shocking for long enough as 4 days later after keeping chlorine at shock levels their pool cleared up. But I've been at this for a month or so now and still haven't gotten there. The pool looks great from a distance now, but it won't become clear. Yet. Forgot to mention, I've been backwashing every day, occasionally twice a day. Here's how it looks today:

Now: clean and blue but not clear

What should I do to get it clear?

Thanks so much!



As of most recent readings:

FC: 5.5
Combined chlorine: < 0.5
pH: 7.4
TA: 70 ppm
CH: haven't checked
CYA: 20-30

My pool: 20-40', 35000 gal gunite in-ground chlorine pool
Pool chemicals: Bleach, and as described above
My pump & filter: Purex Triton II sand filter

[fivestones]

Also, is there any reason it would be not safe to swim in right now, even though it's still not clear?

Thanks!

[Denniswiseman]

Hi
Congratulations, It seems that you are on the right track getting that swamp reasonable
Providing your chlorine is at the correct ratio to your CYA you can swim up to shock level, your numbers look good
You could try adding some Diatomaceous Earth to your sand filter to raise it a couple of PSI which will improve the clarity
Check out these links
Pool School
Slam
Chlorine / CYA Chart
Pool Levels
Pool Maths
Deep Clean
You seem to be doing the right things but checking out with these might just give you the edge
When you close for the winter keep your chlorine levels up and check periodically to prevent this disaster again

[fivestones]

I think maybe I need to deep clean my sand filter. Thanks for the links!

[Denniswiseman]

You're welcome, we all need that little bit of extra help and when you think of the whole world that's a lot of experience