Just pulled cover off.. green swamp water

[madwil]

1 gallon is close to 1 bag of shock...
1 gallon 6% adds 6ppm to 10k gallons
1 lb bag I think adds 7ppm- so slightly more, but not twice as much like the price!
PoolDoc note: This used to be true, 15 years ago. But unfortunately more recent 'flavors' of shock include widely varying 'blends' with varying levels of available chlorine. So, it is no longer a generally true statement -- it is true only in the specific case of unblended calcium hypochlorite shock with 68% available chlorine.

Also, most/all bag shocks add other things- either cya (stabilizer) or calcium; so they're ok on a temporary basis but over time will add up to problems

[slade8200]

I now have all the leaves and visibile dirt out of the pool. The water is now cloudy with a light green color, but I can see the bottom. My chlorine is at 4, pH is 7.4, alkalinity at 80, cyanuric acid level is pretty much non-existent. Could this be contributing to my cloudiness? What's the best way to raise it? I have one of those 2.5" chlorine tabs in the skimmer at all times, and I have been adding 3/4 gallon of bleach when my chlorine drops to 1. My DE filter is still clogging after 2 hours of running, so I guess it's picking up a lot of crap in the water still. Any help is appreciated, thank you.

[PoolDoc]

Maybe I'm missing something, but it doesn't sound like you've been using the 4 gallon doses of chlorine bleach recommended. As noted earlier, your DE filter will clog up much less once the algae is dead.

Trying to maintain just 1 ppm of chlorine is kind of 'spitting into the wind' here.

Ben

[slade8200]

The stuff in the filter is now more of a brown instead of the green it used to be. Is this dead algae or something else? I'll keep up the 4 gallon dose to keep the chlorine above 4.

[Watermom]

Probably dead algae. Don't quit the fight just yet. Keep adding the big doses of chlorine as Ben said and keep filtering. Sounds like you are making progress.

[slade8200]

The water's been clear for 6 or 7 days now. My cyanuric acid level is still 0. Should I add stabilizer to correct this or does it not matter since the water is staying clean? I keep 2 HTH dual action chlorinating tablets in the skimmer and the chlorine level seems to stay at the right level.

[PoolDoc]

Watch out for the dual action tabs!

What are they? Tri-chlor plus borax?

Argh-h, no! I found the MSDS. Check and see, but it looks like they are trichlor + copper + alum. What a witch's brew!

#1 - Yes, you need to add stabilizer.
#2 - Do NOT get any more multi-action chemicals. (If you have a lot of those tabs, we need to know, and work out a plan to use them up without causing pool problems!!)
#3 - You need a REAL testkit. You don't have to use it all the time, but while we're getting things fixed you need it, and occasionally after that.

I'm glad that the pool is clear now . . . but that is only a TEMPORARY condition unless you get all the basics of pool chemistry under control. And it is far, far easier to do it right, than it is to fix it once it goes wrong.

So, hurry!