No Chlorine. . . If not Algae, then What?

[Pamsel]

Ok, I shocked the pool at sundown tonight. I did not add more sequestering agent because I had put in more than the instructions called for already, which could be part of my problem, I now realize. The pool liner guy said I needed to get that sequestering agent in right away because we have so much iron. What I should have done was get chlorine in right away, as the pool was filling, it seems. I must learn not to listen to "pool guys"! I'll keep it at shock level now until things clear up. I'll keep you posted and thanks again for all the great help.

[waterbear]

The pool guy was correct in saying to get the sequesterant in right away. The purpose of that was to 'deactive' the metals so they would not react witht the chlorine that you should have put in next!

[Pamsel]

Thank you for the further explanation Evan. I learn more about this pool every summer. By the way, when I said I need to not listen to "pool guys", I was NOT talking about You!

Last night, it turns out, that my husband and I both added chlorine to the pool which resulted in shocking it to 26! This morning the pool looks basicly the same except that when I got down to get my water sample, I could see a little further down the side. My chlorine reading this morning is:
FC - 12
CC - 1
TC - 13

[CarlD]

Thank you for the further explanation Evan. I learn more about this pool every summer. By the way, when I said I need to not listen to "pool guys", I was NOT talking about You!

Last night, it turns out, that my husband and I both added chlorine to the pool which resulted in shocking it to 26! This morning the pool looks basicly the same except that when I got down to get my water sample, I could see a little further down the side. My chlorine reading this morning is:
FC - 12
CC - 1
TC - 13

OK!!!!! That means you are fighting it and making progress. You should have immediately added bleach to raise the FC back to either shock level or 25, whichever is higher (because you are fighting so much). Check it 2 to 3x a day and add bleach whenever it drops below the shock level.

Keep that filter going 24/7 and vacuum to waste everyday--and brush it once a day too.

[Pamsel]

Thanks, Carl. We're on it! I'll let you know when it's clear and sparkling!

[Pamsel]

Murphy's Law seems to be in effect right now at our house. By this afternoon our water had cleared enough to begin to see the bottom of the pool in the shallow end. Early evening our pump lost its prime and we could not get it to prime again. We were certain there was an air leak. (We actually have suspected that we had a small leak for awhile that we hadn't been able to pinpoint before.) I guess it got worse and became a real problem so we finally had to address it and determined where the problem is. We discovered cracks in the coupling that goes from the lines to the pump basket so can't do anything until tomorrow morning. I plan to be at the pool store when it opens in the morning to get a new coupling and get things running again. So hopefully, tomorrow we can continue on with chlorination. Right now, everything has had to come to a halt, since we can't run the filter, so I'm sure it will set things back in clearing up the algae, but we'll get back at it as soon as we can replace the cracked coupling.

Pools are supposed to be fun, right??

[CarlD]

Ouch!

Do you have something to keep the water moving at least? A robotic cleaner is best as they are virtually the same as a filter--one cycle with an Aquabot, Blue Diamond or Dolphin is the same as a filter cycle. I used that a few weeks ago when the drain cap on my filter cracked--I cut out the filter and ran the Blue Diamond.

If not, do you have something like a submersible portable sump pump, just to keep the water moving?