Cloudy ,Cloudy,Cloudy... for a week now.

[uwinsome]

Thanks again. Yes, I did have an algae bloom . Had it nice and improving and went out of town and came back to an algae bloom mess.
I will run the pump on low and I will take a sample to the pool store. I have to wait for the pool test kit until my next paycheck on the 15th.

[Watermom]

Ok. In the meantime until you get a CYA reading, go ahead and keep adding doses of bleach to get the chlorine up to 12ppm. I'm assuming your volume to be around 13,500. So, each quart of 6% bleach will add about 1ppm. As often as you can test and add bleach, the better. Until you are able to get the good kit, go to Walmart and buy a cheap OTO/Phenol red kit (yellow and red drops.) It will only read chlorine levels to 5 but you can force it to go higher with a dilution method described here:

Testing Without a Good Kit

Once we know the CYA, we'll tweak the recommendation for the shock level if needed.

[uwinsome]

Back from the pool store, My CYA is 4 and the reading shows no chlorine . I added a couple of Trichloro tabs 99% to the skimmer and added CYA as well . I will add 4 gallons of Bleach and go from there. It is 4:00pm and lots of sun.

[Watermom]

Well, there is no way a pool store can differentiate a CYA reading of 4. It is just not that precise and it also usually cannot detect levels lower than 30. So, we'll assume basically 0. How much CYA did you add and how did you add it? If you have some trichlor pucks in the skimmer, make sure you keep your pump running 24/7 while they are in there.

Go ahead and get some bleach in there. A pool with no chlorine can turn green FAST!

[uwinsome]

0 was the CYA strip reading then he tested it on a machine. I broadcasted / sprinkled a 1/2cup of the CYA throughout the pool and 1/2 cup in the skimmer. The other readings where right on ....

[Watermom]

First of all, if there is still CYA laying on the pool floor, vacuum it up and let it dissolve in the filter. Secondly, keep your pump running 24/7.

Maintain the chlorine level at 12ppm as consistently as you can as I outlined in post #6 above. Test as many times per day as is possible --- no such thing as too often --- and each time, add enough bleach to get back up to 12. When you can go from sundown one day til sunup the next without losing more than 1ppm of chlorine, then you can let the cl drift down and keep it between 3-6 all the time.

Add about 3.5 lbs. of CYA to a sock and hang it in front of a return jet or slowly add it to the skimmer so that it won't clog the pipes. Then run the pump 24/7 for at least the next 4 or 5 days to get it all dissolved.

Your pH is a little high. You can use a little muriatic acid to lower it a little. Add about a pint slowly in front of a return jet. Wear gloves, glasses, stay upwind of fumes and pour close to the water surface to avoid any splashing. After a couple of hours, retest pH and add more if needed until the pH is somewhere between 7.2-7.8. Do NOT test pH when the chlorine is high or you will get a falsely high pH reading. Test it before adding chlorine.

[uwinsome]

Thanks again for all of your advice and instruction. I am a Flight Attendant so I am away for days at a time with no one to care for the pool . I bought a floating despenser to keep the tri tabs clorinating the pool and the pump running on low when I am away and my water is Sparkling.... I use the BBB method and I am pleased .