Is it to late, or am I going to have to drain it??

[Brian87gt]

I swear i'll never do it again. But last year I got lazy and when it came time to close my pool I didn't cover it, or add any chemicals. So now i'm in the process of trying to open the pool. I have some pretty nasty green water. Can I put some stabilizer in it, then shock the hell out of it, and also add some algecide? It's a 10,000 gallon above ground. Any help would be great. Thanks

[grammer30]

opps, your in a bit of a mess. I can be fixed without draining. Juice the Chlorine with 70% granular to breakpiont (min 30 ppm) and let sit overnight with the filter off. leave filter running until all the powder disolves. Vacuum the pool the next day then turn your filter back on and let run for a couple of days until the Chlorine level drop to normal. You can buy chemicals to bring the level down but they can be expensive and cause the water to go clowdy, plus you will benefit from letting the Chlorine come down on its own. The water should start to clear in a day or two. Make sure you vacuum a couple of times. The Algea and crap will settle on the bottom. Backwash daily until your happy.

If that doesn't work drain 1/4 of the pool. and do it again.

[Brian87gt]

:shock: opps, your in a bit of a mess. I can be fixed without draining. Juice the Chlorine with 70% granular to breakpiont (min 30 ppm) and let sit overnight with the filter off. leave filter running until all the powder disolves. Vacuum the pool the next day then turn your filter back on and let run for a couple of days until the Chlorine level drop to normal. You can buy chemicals to bring the level down but they can be expensive and cause the water to go clowdy, plus you will benefit from letting the Chlorine come down on its own. The water should start to clear in a day or two. Make sure you vacuum a couple of times. The Algea and crap will settle on the bottom. Backwash daily until your happy.

If that doesn't work drain 1/4 of the pool. and do it again.

Well, after much researching , I went the bleach route. I have a 10,000 gallon pool, and I added about 10 gallons of store bought bleach about 3 hours after the sun went down. How long before I see some results? I have a new bottle of algecide, should I add that, or wait till the pool is up and running? Thanks

[grammer 30]

Bleach will work, but its a weaker solution then liquid or powder Chlorine. and burns off faster. Its a cheaper mainteinace option, but when you have major algea issues it might not be enough strenght. I see a lot of people promoting bleach as a cheap alternative and it is, but it's only 4-7% active Chlorine. Liquid is 13% and powder is 65%. Liquid Chlorine is cheap where I live - ONT Canada. about 20 cents a litre ( $1.00 a gallon). I don't use it to maintain Chlronie level, i use pucks, but I have a 5 gallon jug at the house in case the algea bug shows up.

Adding the ageacide anytime is fine.

[Adam]

hello Grammer30,
I am in Ontario too and I would be grateful if you could let me know where you get liquid chlorine that sheap.
Many thanks

[grammer 30]

I picked my first jug of the season up on sale this year at 21 cents a litre. Stay away from the Retail swimming pool stores. They charge way to much. 50-60 cents a litre. They work on the business that people who own pools have money and take you for every nickle they can. Not all of them but the ones I took a water sample to my local store 2 weeks ago and they tried to sell me 2 jugs (8kg) of Alkalinity Up for $35. This is just Baking Sode - Sodium Bicarbinate. I got 20 KG for a commercial supplier for $22. Look for a landscape suppier in your area, Family run business or a Seed Coop. They sell much cheaper. Another good option is to check if any of the Pool maintenace or construction companies have it for sale to the public.

My local Seed Coop had it on sale preseason. Where in Ontario are you?

[Guest]

I am in Guelph.
I am sure there is a seed coop in the area.
I awill also check with lanscape suppliers.
Many thanks.