Cannot Get Balanced

[snorris0527]

The pool was green when we took the cover off, and we have added about 50 pounds of shock over the last two weeks. The water is now cloudy....no green but we can not get the water balanced. Pool will not hold chlorine. Water results showed 0 TC, 0 FC, 6.4 PH, 30 ALK, 100 CH, 0 Stablizer. I added 6 lbs of shock, 25lbs of Alkalinity and 11 lbs of stabilizer. The next day, I had 0 TC, 0 FC, 6.4 PH, 30 ALK, 150 CH, 0 Stablizer. Any ideas?

[Watermom]

Your most pressing issue right now is to get that pH up ASAP! Any reading lower than 7.0 is acidic and can damage your pool. You can use some 20 Mule Team Borax (in the laundry aisle at Walmart) to raise the pH. Until we know the volume of your pool, we cannot advise on how much to add. While you are at Walmart, pick up several jugs of plain, generic Ultra Bleach.

The cloudiness is probably a result of dead algae and also all the stuff you are dumping in the pool. It is never a good idea to add a whole lot of lots of different things all at once. We need some more information to be able to help:
-- What type and volume pool is this?
-- What type of filter and size of pump?
-- What kind of shock have you put in, meaning ingredients?

Repost with requested info and someone here can help you get this under control. By the way, welcome to the forum!

[aylad]

And one more question to Watermom's list--when you added the stabilizer, did you put it in the skimmer or broadcast it over the pool, and have you backwashed or cleaned the filter since then?

Janet