Argggghhhh!!!

[no1ford]

Can I use bleach in my 18 x 48 intex pool? The pool store is out of chlorine. What do you use for ph plus and minus and clarifier?

[waterbear]

Bleach is chlorine. You should read this on the sister website PoolSolutions
and when you are done read EVERYTHING ESLE that you can on that site!
http://www.poolsolutions.com/gd/grocery.html

If you follow the advice on there you should have no need for clairfier! The only things you will need from the poolstore are Stabilizer and Muriatic Acid (although you can also find those at such places as Home Depot, Walmart, and Hardware stores!)

AND GET YOURSELF A TEST KIT. LOOK FOR THE AQUACHEM 6 WAY AT WALMART OR KMART. Best test kit out there for under $20

If you had done this from the beginning you would be swimming already!

[Watermom]

No1ford - Please go back and reread all the advice you have been given. You asked if bleach can be used as chlorine? In one of my responses above (post #13) I suggested to you that you use bleach. I agree with Waterbear that you need to go and read at www.poolsolutions.com to learn the basics. Also, read through a lot of the other threads on the forum. You will learn so much that can help you manage your pool.

This thread is getting pretty long - we are up to post #38 already. We are always glad to help but we need you to focus closely on following the advice we are giving and to inform yourself as much as possible by reading PoolSolutions. Hopefully, you will see much improvement very soon.

[no1ford]

Thank you- I am doing my best! I have been given one hundred different stories. Sorry for the long thread.

[waterbear]

Thank you- I am doing my best! I have been given one hundred different stories. Sorry for the long thread.

Maybe from the pool store but not from here. I have just reread the entire thread and you have been told several times:
1 to get a test kit, not strips, and test your own water
2 get your chlorine levels up to shock level and KEEP THEM THERE by adding BLEACH seveal times a day for as long as it takes to clear the water
3 keep your filter running 24/7
4 to read the info on www.poolsolutons.com

You were never told by us to add copper but you did. The pool store also told you to use flocculant. He is trying to sell chemicals to you, we are not. These additions have actually slowed your progress.
I truely believe that if you had followed the advice we have given you your pool would be clear and you would be swimming right now. It is not too late but it is really up to you.

Sorry if I seem to be coming down hard on you but if you don't want to follow the very good advice that has been given here then it really won't do much good.
And I happen to work in a pool store and I am the first to disagree with a lot of the 'pool store advice' that I hear! I will be the first to admit that at work I sell alkalinity increaser and not baking soda and that I sell liquid chlorine and not bleach but the store does need to stay in business. None the less I still tell people to attack algae first with chlorine before resorting to other algecides, to keep tabs on their stabilizer levels when they use stablized chlorine and be ready to either drain and refill or switch to non stabilized chlorine when the levels get too high, and I stress that good pool maintenece begings and ends with the owner taking responsiblity for their pool and doing some testing at home in between complete water tests at the store, at least testing for FC and pH and not with strips! Unfortunatly, I have found that many people just want a 'magic bottle of stuff' to pour into their pool and fix the problems. There is no such thing!
I try to educate my customers about proper pool care and it pays off in repeat business! However, there are some that just don't want to hear it no matter how much I try so I just sell them a bottle of this and a bottle of that knowing full well that it won't fix their pool becuase that is all they want. You have to decide which group you want to be in.
I learned much, if not most, of what I know about pool maintenence right in this forum and it works!
Try it for yourself and see!

[no1ford]

Thank you!

I have been reading prevoius posts and I had read one that said she poured bleach in her intex pool and completly bleached her liner! So I was curious.

My filter has been running for three days since adding the copper and I can see the bottom, although it is still cloudy. I have decided to use the flocculant and do a good vacuum.

After that I will try your style of chemicals.

I appreciate your help and I do want to try this, but it seems you all mostly have "real pools" and I have an intex. So that is why I had originally asked the question.

I am hoping to get to Walmart this week for the different water test.

[no1ford]

I have had the pool in Shock mode for 3 weeks.

[CarlD]

No1Ford:

You have not been given 100 stories by us. I have just read through this thread again and the advice you have been given here is consistent and non-contradictory. If you are having troubles understanding it, well, I can understand that. We may all be saying the same thing but it doesn't necessarily sound like the same thing. We may all need to work on our writing skills.

However, you will not be able to reconcile our advice and that of the pool stores you have been using. We DO contradict standard pool store dogma everyday--because our advice consistently works, and theirs does not consistently work.

Please go back and re-read the thread. Re-read Watermom's last thread and follow her advice. It is always sound.

You cannot solve a problem pool using test strips. They simply don't work well enough. You need at least the WalMart HTH 5-way kit.

At this point, I'm afraid my personal best suggestion is that you drain your pool, wash it out as best you can, and refill it. Intex pools are usually designed to go up and down each season. After that, stick to the basics and stop buying all kinds of pool store chemicals you don't need.

Meanwhile, I am going to lock this thread as it has gotten far too long, and nothing new is being added.