Added Clorox to Green Pool

Algae problems in swimming pool water.
Green (cloudy) water or slimy pool walls.
Black algae. Mustard algae. Pink or white pool mold.
Ken
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Added Clorox to Green Pool

Postby Ken » Wed 13 Jun, 2007 11:57

I have a 25,000 gallon in ground pool. I'm in the same boat as a lot of frustrated pool owners where I have sunk over $500 in chemicals to try and cure my algae problem. After reading through quite a few of posts, I followed the some advise that was given. I added 7 gallons of regular strength Clorox last night. Pool looks a little better this morning but maybe that's being wishful after all these weeks of looking at green pool.
I brought a sample to the pool store this morning and here are my results:

FAC = 4
Water PH = 7.2
Total Alkalinity = 110
Calcium Hardness = 400
CYA =- 100
Total Dissolved Solids = 950

Please adivse, I'm so freaking frustrated trying to get this pool balanced I'm ready to fill the damn thing up with dirt and make it a big flower pot!

BTW - I've had this pool now for 8 years and this is the first time I'm having this problem. I switched from a DE filtering system last summer to a cartridge filtering system. Do you think that has any bearing on my problem??

HELP!


Thanks!
Ken
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Postby Backglass » Wed 13 Jun, 2007 12:09

Are you sure it's algae and not copper? Are you using algaecide?
Ken
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Postby Ken » Wed 13 Jun, 2007 12:17

yea...the algea has been growing back on the sides of the pool. i'll get it clear using the advise from the pool store...green out + tons of shock. then the water is clear for a few days (we've actually were able to swim a couple of times already). but after a few days you can see the growth start coming back on the sides and the bottom. went away this past weekend, but before i left i threw 4 bags of shock (trichlor based) in. when we retured on sunday evening the sides were green as can be but the water was clear. took my sample to the pool store on monday and had 0 FAC. so, on the advise of the pool store again, i dumped in 6 bags of shock monday night and brushed it down. next morning got up and pool looked didn't look any better. that's when i tried the clorox thing.....
Thanks!

Ken
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Postby Ken » Wed 13 Jun, 2007 12:18

and no, i haven't used any algaecide. just green out + shock, and yellow out + shock. not recently but in the course of trying to get my pool right.
Thanks!

Ken
chem geeks

Postby chem geeks » Wed 13 Jun, 2007 19:55

To answer your question, yes, your switching from a DE filter that you probably regularly cleaned with pool water that caused dilution to a cartridge filter where you no longer remove pool water and refill with fresh is one key factor in your situation.

By no longer regularly diluting your pool water, the Cyanuric Acid (CYA) levels built up over time. You were probably using Trichlor tabs and for every 1 ppm Free Chlorine (FC) you add to your pool with such tabs, you also add 0.6 ppm CYA. The problem is that whereas the chlorine gets used up, the CYA does not and continues to build up unless you regularly have a lot of splash-out, backwash, drain/refill or other dilution of the pool water.

First you need to get rid of the algae in your pool and that will not be easy to do with chlorine alone given your high CYA level. Even if you did clear your current algae bloom, you would need to maintain an FC level of at least a minimum of 7 ppm in order to prevent algae. If you instead do a partial drain/refill of your pool to get your CYA level to 50 ppm, then you would only need a minimum FC level of 3.7 ppm. With a more normal CYA level of 30 ppm, you only need a minimum FC level of 2.2 ppm.

To prevent the buildup of CYA, you have several options. One is to switch to using bleach or chlorinating liquid as your source of chlorine. You could also use Cal-Hypo instead, but that will build up Calcium Hardness (CH) over time. For every 1 ppm of FC from Cal-Hypo you increase CH by 0.7 ppm as well.

Another option is to use Trichlor but also use a weekly maintenance dose of PolyQuat 60 algaecide. This can get expensive, but it will keep the algae away and is what most pool chemical manufacturers recommend in various "programs" of theirs. Sell you Trichlor with CYA in it, have it build up and require you to use an algaecide that they also happen to sell. You can keep a lower FC level with the algaecide -- probably around 3 ppm will do, but when the CYA gets far above 100 ppm then there are other problems to deal with (very high CYA levels may damage plaster/gunite).

You can, of course, regularly do a partial drain/refill to keep your CYA levels in check when using Trichlor.

Regardless of the option that you choose, you should invest in a good test kit such as the Taylor K-2006 kit you can get at the following links (and at some pool stores, but be careful since the K-2005 that some pool stores carry is not the same and cannot measure high chlorine levels accurately).
Guest

Postby Guest » Thu 14 Jun, 2007 10:07

thanks for the reply chem geek, your analysis is exactly correct! now i understand what's going on, you've switched the light bulb on.

i added another 8 gallons of clorox last night and my pool now looks 100% better, i can even see the drain now. i'm in the process of draining water from the pool now to try and lower the CYA level. i'm going to discontinue the use of the tablets and just move to using bleach. after re-adding water, i'll add more bleach and take my water sample to be tested. i'll post my water level readings later today.

thanks for your help!!
Guest

Postby Guest » Thu 14 Jun, 2007 11:53

thanks for the reply chem geek, your analysis is exactly correct! now i understand what's going on, you've switched the light bulb on.

i added another 8 gallons of clorox last night and my pool now looks 100% better, i can even see the drain now. i'm in the process of draining water from the pool now to try and lower the CYA level. i'm going to discontinue the use of the tablets and just move to using bleach. after re-adding water, i'll add more bleach and take my water sample to be tested. i'll post my water level readings later today.

thanks for your help!!
Guest

Postby Guest » Fri 15 Jun, 2007 09:46

Ok, here's the latest results as of this morning.

FAC = 7.0
PH = 7.2
TA = 120
Calcium Hardness = 400
CYA = 100
TDS = 1200

Pool is nice and blue, clear as can be! However, I still see some residual algae that's clinging to the walls and a little on the floor. I've tried to brush off but it will no come off. Any ideas??

I'm also tryng to drain pool water every night to try and bring down the CYA level. Is that the right thing to do?

Thanks again for any help!
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Postby Buggsw » Fri 15 Jun, 2007 09:56

Keep adding liquid chlorine to keep it at a high shock level throughout the day and night for at least 2 or 3 days. When it holds the high level overnight, you've shocked it enough.

Brush and vac daily and keep that pump going until this all clears up.

Yes, if you dump and refill regularly you should see some improvement in your CYA.
sattori

Added Clorox to Green Pool

Postby sattori » Sun 19 Jul, 2009 11:44

Have you tried adding muratic acid?
I have an above ground pool that was great on all test readings only the water was green, i mean shrek green. It was horrible took a friends advice and added 2 packs of muriatic acid (in garden section at home depot) $10 for a box of 2 packs.
added 1 pack and ran the filter and it was light green
added the 2nd pck the next day and ran filter and it was all better crystal clear.

After spending a ton on algaecide and shock, i was so glad something so cheap worked.
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Added Clorox to Green Pool

Postby chem geek » Sun 19 Jul, 2009 13:08

sattori,

What you describe is what happens when the water has copper (or other metals) in it since lowering the pH helps redissolve them. However, that is more of a clear green color. If it's a very cloudy green with visible algae clumps, then that's algae that chlorine will kill. So there are two different sorts of problems with two very different sorts of solutions. To keep the green away in your case with metals in the pool, you'd have to add a lot of metal sequestrant after you got the pH lower.
Dan The Poor(l) Man

Added Clorox to Green Pool

Postby Dan The Poor(l) Man » Tue 21 Jul, 2009 11:57

That's it!!! Muratic acid should do it! I bought my house last year, and the pool had been neglected that, only God knows for how long by the previous onwner, my pool's main drain was clogged with calcium deposits all the way inside the pipe!! I tried everything I could think of to unclog it by drilling, sanding little by liitle ... but the hole is such small that I only could get so far! By the way, I forgot to tell you that the pool was full of dirty water, trash and ... frogs! I had to buy a pump to pumping out all the water. I was thinking of hiring a Rotor Rooster guy who would have a string driller to unclog it for me, or hoping he could do it! The calcium deposit was so hard that I used several gallons of LCR (sp?) to soak it for several days but to no avail!! I happend to see the Muratic acid at HomeDepo while trying to look for a larger quantity of LCR (much more expensive than Muratic acid). It costs about $9.00 for a gallon - after reading the label I decided to give it a try before I call the Rotor Rooster guy who could cost me few hundred dollars??? Man! Muratic acid broke down the calcium easily after I soaked it up for couple days! I went and bought another gallon and poured it into the pipes (PVC pipies) to make sure there isn't any clog somewhere along the pipe that I couldn't see and know. Filled the water up and have a beautiful pool running again (after I changed out the old filter pump).

This year I have so much problem with the algae. Spent several hundred dollars on the chemicals and several hundred dollars for the Chlorine ... It came right back the next week! I've been thinking how come I did not have the algae problem last year but this year and thought about that Muratic acid that I used (which remained inside the pipes) while surfing the internet for advices and solution, and I got here!!

Your reply confirmed what I have had in mind!!! I'm sharing this with anyone out there who happens get to this site and is also looking for a solution to the pool's algae problem!

Many thanks

Dan
dank

Added Clorox to Green Pool

Postby dank » Wed 14 Jul, 2010 14:28

thank you for putting helpful advice out there for us. I really appreciate it.
April

Added Clorox to Green Pool

Postby April » Sun 15 May, 2011 15:13

After reading all of this...My husband is now buying clorox. I have spent $$$ and I am just about to loose it. So we will see. The only thing is I have a sand filter so I am alittle worried but, after going to the pool store and tons of testing for a month now I am going to try this approach and I will post what happens.
chem geek
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Added Clorox to Green Pool

Postby chem geek » Mon 16 May, 2011 00:22

If you have algae, please read Defeating Algae and find out your true Cyanuric Acid (CYA) level. You should seriously consider getting a proper test kit, either the Taylor K-2006 or the TFTestkits TF-100.

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