Fighting Algae for months

[Watermom]

We're really going to have to have a good set of current water testing results taken with a drops-based kit to be able to help. The kit we recommend is the Taylor K-2006 or 2006C which you can get through the test kit link in my signature. It is only available online so you need something to use in the meantime. See if your Walmart has an HTH 6-Way kit (not test strips) that you can get. If not, at the very least, pick up a cheap OTO/Phenol Red (yellow and red drops) kit to use.

Post your readings and tell us what kit you got. Also, please fill in your pools information into our pool chart as that makes it much easier for people here to help.

Pool Chart Entry Form

[rkrgk]

Thanks!
I ordered HTH 6way test kit just awhile ago. I will pick it up at the walmart in a few minutes and will test and fill up the pool chart form.

[sabres07]

The only advice I can share with you is this forum will absolutely fix your problem, BUT ONLY if you follow their advice to the letter! If you deviate, you will increase the time you spend correcting your pool water chemistry.

I was a new user of this forum earlier this spring. After following the advice given here, my pool is crystal clear and has been all summer. Oh yea.....and get the good test kit right away....the Taylor 2006c kit. You will need it.

[rkrgk]

Thanks Sabres07! I was reading some of the information posted at this forum and it is really informative and 'eye-opening'. And like you said, I will follow what will be suggested, I can see that a lot of people benefit with this forum. And yes, planning to get the Taylor 2006C, too bad can not buy in a local store, so will wait for amazon to ship. I just wanted to start on it faster, so got the HTH kit for now.

Watermom,

I got the HTH test kit and here are the results. I posted the Pool chart Entry form as well.
Test Results
------------------
Chlorine - <0.5ppm
Alkalinity - 50ppm
pH - >8.2
Hardness - 400ppm
CYA - <30ppm

[rkrgk]

With the test strips, I get pH to be 7.2, that's the reason I had not adjusted so far. I know we can't rely on the test strips but seems quite a big difference.
So, can I go ahead and put bleach or should I lower the pH first?
Looks like pool is getting worse and worse. I got 1 gallon of muriatic acid and six 1.5 gallons of 6% bleach from Walmart. And BTW' the tabs that I use are 94.5% trichlor. Should I get some stabilizer and add before I add bleach?
Thanks again for your time.

[Watermom]

Go ahead and add 2 of those big jugs of bleach. Each of those should add about 5.7ppm of chlorine. Since your CYA is below 30, let's have you use around 12pm as your shock level. Test your chlorine as many times per day as you can, and each time, add enough bleach to take your chlorine back up to around 12. You want to continue to keep the chlorine at shock level until you can go from sundown one evening to within two hours of sunrise the next day without losing more than 1ppm of chlorine, you have a CC reading no greater than 0.5 (your K2006 kit will be able to measure this) and the water is clear. Then, keep it high for one additional day. For reference, each quart of 6% bleach will add 1ppm of chlorine in this size pool.

Until you get the good kit and are having to use the HTH kit, your limited to measuring chlorine levels to 5. But, you can force your kit to read higher by using a dilution method explained here: Testing Without a Good Kit


Go ahead and use some muriatic acid to lower your pH. Please read the link in my signature about using it safely. Please note that your pH test results will be inaccurate when your chlorine levels are high so do pH testing when the chlorine is below 5.

Run your pump 24/7 while you are trying to clear this and clean the filter as needed. Live algae clogs DE filters fast!

I would not worry about adding any stabilizer until you get the pool cleared up. By the way, look at the ingredient label on the trichlor. Any mention of copper?

Hope this helps.

[rkrgk]

I usually pour bleach walking around the pool, hope thats the right way to do it? Or putting it slowly through the skimmer is better?
The trichlor that I mentioned (tabs from costco) does not mention any copper in the label.

My pool looks like this now.