Need help cleaning green pool water

bweihl · Postby **bweihl** » Tue 21 Apr, 2009 12:16

My pool is green and I want to know the cheapest but best way to fix it. I know that's a tall order but I dont have lots of money to buy all kinds of stuff at a pool store!
I dipped a test strip in and these are the results:

Free Ch: Very low, strip is white
pH: between the 7.8 and 8.4 color
Total alkalinity 40
Cyanuric acid: low, close to the 0 color

The pool is below ground, tiled, no liner. a little below average size. Not sure of # of gallons :?:

Please help!
:thumbup:

Postby **chem geek** » Tue 21 Apr, 2009 19:58

1) Get a good test kit -- read this for good ones.

2) Read and follow Defeating Algae.

If you are just opening the pool and you had CYA in the water before you closed but now it's gone, then it can take a LOT of chlorine before the chlorine starts to hold. Add 10 ppm FC at a time until it starts to hold, and then you can balance the rest of the water. But order the test kit right away.

You can also add a small amount of CYA (say, around 20 ppm until you get your test kit) to protect your chlorine from breakdown in sunlight, but since your test results may not be accurate, I'd be careful not to overdo it.