Thread: swimming pool help

Bleach?? Thats a really BAD thing to do. The last thing you want is to be mixing pool chemicals w/ bleach. If they become unstable it would be extremely dangerous.

Aside from that... do you have a testing kit? You can test the water and it will tell you what you need. Or you can take a water sample to a local pool supply and they normally test samples for free and they can tell you what you need.

Have you tried vacumning it and back flushing the filter. If there was algae and it has been killed - it needs to be removed.

We had a problem with ours for a while too. DH got some Algea Stop, at Walmart. (I think thats the name of it) It was around $20 a bottle but it worked great! We would always put a little in it after we had rain and it would keep our water crystal clear.

Chlorine evaporates in heat very quickly. Keeping the pool covered helps as does having it in the shade. In the heat of summer in full sun you will probably need to add chlorine every other day if used.

I am having trouble as well. I dont want to take over op's thread, but maybe my question can help her as well sometime.

I have an above ground vinyl pool, approx 5,000 gallons. Its a bit cloudy with a green tint too it. Everything is running normal ranges except the total chlorine is a tad high and Alkalinity is running extremly low. What can I do about the Alkalinity? What do I add? Im not worried about the chlorine because it isnt really high.

We had that problem last year. Check the bottom of the pool for hair ties, or bobby pins. Any metal, but especially copper can turn it and keep it green. We fought with ours for a month, then found one of those hair ties with the little copper things on it on the bottom of the pool.

Originally Posted by lisarae

I am having trouble as well. I dont want to take over op's thread, but maybe my question can help her as well sometime.

I have an above ground vinyl pool, approx 5,000 gallons. Its a bit cloudy with a green tint too it. Everything is running normal ranges except the total chlorine is a tad high and Alkalinity is running extremly low. What can I do about the Alkalinity? What do I add? Im not worried about the chlorine because it isnt really high.

You can buy Alkalinity Increaser. If you only need to raise it a little bit, you can actually use baking soda, but if you use too much it will make your pool cloudy.

Originally Posted by Angelseyes28

This is the first time in years that I haven't used test kits, strips or anything else and believe it or not, this is the first year it has stayed clear!LMAO
I just dump chlorine and algaecide in it every few days and so far so good. Of course I never measure anything out....if the pool has a faint smell of "pool water" then I'm good.
ROTF That's the redneck version of keeping a pool clean

That's how we finally done too. Those test strips will drive you crazy! LOL So we quit using them too. Just added the Algea Stop and chlorine every so many days or right after we got some rain. Worked like a charm!

When we opened our pool this season we could have filmed "The Swamp Thing"!!! We went to our local pool supply store with a water sample and they calculated exactly what we needed to do to clear it up. In our case we had to use Acid and some Shock. They should have a shock at your pool store that does not contain clorine. This works better in hot weather. Also, once we got the green out we went back because the pool was VERY cloudy. They then gave us "Drop Out". This will drop everything to the bottom of your pool so you can vacume. After this, take them another sample and they will check all of your levels. We used to buy everything from WalMart as well for the pool but trust me a pool store isnt that much more and they have all the equipment to tell you what you need instead of trial and error which is what we did for weeks!!

Good luck!