Low ph and green water

[poolhelper2111]

I have taken over a swimming pool and am in the learning stages. The pool ph was low 7.0, and someone added sodium bicarb instead of soda ash, now the pool is greenish and cloudy in the 10 foot deep end. The pool is 116k gallons. The chlorine is above 5 as they tried to shock it, and now i am trying to help figure out a solution. Any help is greatly appreciated. Should I be trying to bring the ph up first?

[floridapooltech]

I have taken over a swimming pool and am in the learning stages. The pool ph was low 7.0, and someone added sodium bicarb instead of soda ash, now the pool is greenish and cloudy in the 10 foot deep end. The pool is 116k gallons. The chlorine is above 5 as they tried to shock it, and now i am trying to help figure out a solution. Any help is greatly appreciated. Should I be trying to bring the ph up first?

Can you post a full panel of results?


pH:
FC:
TC:
TA:
CYA:

Also, what is the active ingredient in the shock you are using?

Sodium Bicarbonate is just a fancy way of saying baking soda, this is used to raise your TA, though it will not raise your pH very much. If your TA is now too high, muriatic acid may need to be added to bring the levels down. When muriatic acid is used for TA, make sure you administer it in a single column, rather than dispersing it as you would with pH. A helpful calculator can be used HERE.


If this is a commercial pool, make sure nobody is going swimming in it until the problem is fixed. If you cannot see the screws on the main drain, the pool is unsafe as you cannot see underwater swimmers clearly and an inspector will fine or shutdown the pool.