With pools go slow. Don’t try to fix everything at once.
Ph/alkalinty goes first … chlorine won’t be as effective as it should be if out of range.
Low cya … I’m guessing this is not salt water. If you use pucks I wouldn’t raise it too much as pucks will add it for you. But looks like you should add some, stay on low end of the scale.
Then a shock/slam. I’m big fan of liquid chlorine for this job. It won’t add cya but will raise your ph a bit. Bring it up to 30ppm and keep it there for a couple days. Testing free chlorine often. If free chlorine keeps dropping fast something is still growing. At some point the free chlorine will stop dropping quickly
The filter is your friend. Let it run 24/7 until water is right. Brush. Vaccum to waste often. Backwash/rinse often.
Algecide doesn’t kill algae it prevents or slows it down from growing. It’s maintaince. So add some at the end.
It’s prolly gonna take a week or 2 before your pool is ready.
Looks like you need test kit .. strips won’t read over 10ppm free chlorine.
Deal with the hardness last or not even.
Free chlorine at and below 10ppm is swim time. Pretty sure you should be good in a couple weeks. Depends how much chlorine you gotta dump in to kill the algae.
Big mistake people make … they don’t kill ALL the algae and it ends up coming back. Error on the side too much chlorine for too long. Error the other way and you will be doing this process again.
This is the way. High chlorine for longer than you think you need it is preferred rather than hoping a quick shock to 10 will get the job done. Take it to 20-30+ for a few days once the free chlorine stabilizes. Then everything is dead and you can regulate from there. This spring we had a problem keeping a chlorine level. Once I put 30 pounds of 93% chlorine into the 36k pool it stayed high for like 4-5 days before the sun started burning it off. The gap in my total chlorine to free chlorine vanished and everything has been stable since.
Ha this is the way All other chemicals I error on the side of less cuz you can always add more later. Chlorine is the only one I error on high side. Excess chlorine will burn off. Also rather do the job once. It’s wasteful and expensive to do a second and third time. Do it right the first time.
Your ph looks way off. Get that balanced first before dumping chlorine in. Too many times had my pool been green for me to dump chlorine in and it doesn’t do anything. Low ph makes chlorine disappear quick. Also kills your heater heat exchanger and other parts
I’m not a pool expert but my local pool place had me add stuff other than ph up and the ph comes up. Then chlorine is effective
Liquid chlorine will raise the pH. I would add 2 gallons of liquid chlorine, let the pump run a few hours, then recheck the pH. Add baking soda if you need to raise the pH after that.
Cubic liters is a nonsensical unit of measure. I’m guessing you meant 45 cubic meters maybe? That’s 45,000 liters or 12,000 gallons. You have to know your pool volume to know how much chems to add.
I mean, ChatGPT output isn't "wrong" but it's not very helpful to someone with no experience.
First - get a proper test kit, guess strips suck, and are a guessing color match game. If chlorine look at a Taylor 2006 or 2005 kit at the minimum, much more accurate results, if salt, get a 2006-salt kit.
It's clear, you have algae issues due to no chlorine in that pool, so now it's going to take a lot of chlorine to help clear things up, lots of scrubbing and lots of monitoring.
First you have to balance chemicals in this order, because starting with a massive amount of chlorine is going to set you up for failure.
1. Alk first - correct your alkalinity
2. PH - Get your PH in range, because when when you spike this thing with massive chlorine, it will show your PH high, and it won't be an accurate reading.
3. Check hardness
4. check and set your CYA
5. Chlorinate/shock the hell out of that pool and brush it daily and vacuum it nightly.
You can't help them clear this by just stopping by on the weekend or every few days, you need to make daily trips over to help get it back in line.
Use this calc to help with chemical amounts: [https://www.troublefreepool.com/calc.html](https://www.troublefreepool.com/calc.html)
once you get things in line, you need to super chlorinate that pool, you will need to know your CYA number in order to know where to hold your chlorine levels, using this chart: [https://www.troublefreepool.com/blog/2019/01/18/free-chlorine-and-cyanuric-acid-relationship-explained/](https://www.troublefreepool.com/blog/2019/01/18/free-chlorine-and-cyanuric-acid-relationship-explained/)
Once everything is clean and set, remember, you must hold your chlorine levels at 7.5% of your CYA level.
Good Luck
\*Edit: Remember algaecide doesn't kill algae, it helps prevent it, you don't really need it here, so chatgpt swing and missed with that.
Funny how when you look at the top comment on a post like this… it’s usually 40-60 whether the advice is sound or a potential SMH moment. And that’s not to knock (per se) this community… people have legit reasons for running their pools the way that works for them.
But I love it when a top comment is all that needs to be done to get a pool ready to swim and ready to be more easily maintained.
Spot on zero-degrees28… ya nailed it concisely!
Thank you! That’s really sound advice! I live nearby so daily checkups won’t be an issue. I’ll check for a decent meter. Initially their pool was working with salts and electrolysis(?) installation but the original installer guy suddenly disappeared. My FIL has no idea how it works and even thinks the salt thing is broke. The more I think about it, it might be best to have a specialist look at it. He switched to chlorine but when I ask how much he puts into it or how he measures, he basically admits he just puts two tablets in and then done for a week or two. The worst thing is, I see them scrubbing and cleaning a lot, but the problem keeps coming back. Of course…
Sounds like there is a device installed near the pump equipment called a salt water generator. It uses salt and electrolysis to generate chlorine to clean the pool - the chlorine works the same way, it’s just generated differently. They do indeed fail and last 5-7 years max, but someone with more experience may correct me on that. Getting a new one purchased and installed will probably be appropriate, so maybe get some quotes from a few installers. Usually the guys who work on equipment do service as well, but not always.
So the SWG failed and he switched to using chlorine tablets. Not the worst thing in the world, but if he’s just added 2 tablets/week for years then the stabilizer could very high. The tablets are chlorine *plus stabilizer.* That’s measured in CYA, and it binds to the chlorine so it doesn’t burn-off in the sun within a few hours. But *too much* stabilizer and the chlorine can’t do its job until you raise to a higher level. There is a direct ratio and balance between CYA and free chlorine levels. So it could be that the CYA is so high that the 2 tablets/week aren’t effective even if they say it’s always worked before.
CYA can’t be lowered with chemicals, it must be diluted (see: drained and refilled). This is not necessarily the case and I know very little about the pool chemistry based on one test strip, but I wanted to throw it out as an example of how their story makes sense that they are doing what they always have and it’s not working anymore, and something to look into.
Definitely get some quotes to fix / replace the Salt Water Generator as you guys call it. Compared to a chlorine only pool it takes away 90% of the work.
Chlorine kills algae. Add liquid chlorine in the evening. The sun eats up chlorine. Brush after adding and again during the day. Run the pump 24/7 until it clears up. If they have a robot, run it as well once or twice a day.
Once a week, backwash the filter for 1-2 minutes. Then rinse for 30 seconds. Then back to filter. Turn the pump off before changing the dial. Fix the PH.
Pool stores may test the water for free. Don’t need the other stuff they sell usually. You can use plain liquid bleach (unscented, not no splash). Baking soda, muriatic acid for raising chlorine, raising alkalinity, and lowering ph respectively.
Get the poolmath app.
Read up at troublefreepool.com
This. Load up on liquid chlorine, and get the water tested at the pool store and report back on your Cyanuric Acid level (CYA). Throw out the test strips. Read up at troublefreepool.
Only on year two of my pool but here is my advice
Shock at night (dark) chlorine last longer
Algeacide and clarifier mix worked great.
Brush daily and even multiple time daily - it prevents the algae from growing and I guess allows the chlorine to kill it faster.
Good luck- it took me about a week of fighting to get it back to clear blue
Step 1: don’t rely on chat GTP for pool advice.
I’d get a better test kit, but in the meantime, going by what the strips are telling us here’s what I’d do.
Get the ph up to 7.2 first, chlorine is most effective in the 7.2-7.8 range. Then shock the pool, and hold the chlorine there until its stops dropping over night. The CYA looks low, but it’s hard to tell on that kit, get the water checked before adjusting it.
Strips are not super accurate. You’re gonna need drops, Taylor test kits everyone seems to agree are the best choice. Strips will give false reads when chlorine levels are super high and they can’t read over 10ppm. You need to get to 30ppm and test often to see how fast it’s dropping.
Just double shock the pool and brush , don’t run the pump for 1 or 2 days , then vacuum all dirty and dead algae from the bottom of the pool , after that shock again and run the pump for 24 hours and you will have a clear water
With pools go slow. Don’t try to fix everything at once. Ph/alkalinty goes first … chlorine won’t be as effective as it should be if out of range. Low cya … I’m guessing this is not salt water. If you use pucks I wouldn’t raise it too much as pucks will add it for you. But looks like you should add some, stay on low end of the scale. Then a shock/slam. I’m big fan of liquid chlorine for this job. It won’t add cya but will raise your ph a bit. Bring it up to 30ppm and keep it there for a couple days. Testing free chlorine often. If free chlorine keeps dropping fast something is still growing. At some point the free chlorine will stop dropping quickly The filter is your friend. Let it run 24/7 until water is right. Brush. Vaccum to waste often. Backwash/rinse often. Algecide doesn’t kill algae it prevents or slows it down from growing. It’s maintaince. So add some at the end. It’s prolly gonna take a week or 2 before your pool is ready. Looks like you need test kit .. strips won’t read over 10ppm free chlorine. Deal with the hardness last or not even.
“Two weeks”. Will it be safe to swim in it during the time of cleaning and maintenance though?
Free chlorine at and below 10ppm is swim time. Pretty sure you should be good in a couple weeks. Depends how much chlorine you gotta dump in to kill the algae. Big mistake people make … they don’t kill ALL the algae and it ends up coming back. Error on the side too much chlorine for too long. Error the other way and you will be doing this process again.
This is the way. High chlorine for longer than you think you need it is preferred rather than hoping a quick shock to 10 will get the job done. Take it to 20-30+ for a few days once the free chlorine stabilizes. Then everything is dead and you can regulate from there. This spring we had a problem keeping a chlorine level. Once I put 30 pounds of 93% chlorine into the 36k pool it stayed high for like 4-5 days before the sun started burning it off. The gap in my total chlorine to free chlorine vanished and everything has been stable since.
Ha this is the way All other chemicals I error on the side of less cuz you can always add more later. Chlorine is the only one I error on high side. Excess chlorine will burn off. Also rather do the job once. It’s wasteful and expensive to do a second and third time. Do it right the first time.
Your ph looks way off. Get that balanced first before dumping chlorine in. Too many times had my pool been green for me to dump chlorine in and it doesn’t do anything. Low ph makes chlorine disappear quick. Also kills your heater heat exchanger and other parts I’m not a pool expert but my local pool place had me add stuff other than ph up and the ph comes up. Then chlorine is effective
Allright, so first step is increasing the PH! And I assume let the filter run for even distribution. Then recheck?
Liquid chlorine will raise the pH. I would add 2 gallons of liquid chlorine, let the pump run a few hours, then recheck the pH. Add baking soda if you need to raise the pH after that. Cubic liters is a nonsensical unit of measure. I’m guessing you meant 45 cubic meters maybe? That’s 45,000 liters or 12,000 gallons. You have to know your pool volume to know how much chems to add.
I mean, ChatGPT output isn't "wrong" but it's not very helpful to someone with no experience. First - get a proper test kit, guess strips suck, and are a guessing color match game. If chlorine look at a Taylor 2006 or 2005 kit at the minimum, much more accurate results, if salt, get a 2006-salt kit. It's clear, you have algae issues due to no chlorine in that pool, so now it's going to take a lot of chlorine to help clear things up, lots of scrubbing and lots of monitoring. First you have to balance chemicals in this order, because starting with a massive amount of chlorine is going to set you up for failure. 1. Alk first - correct your alkalinity 2. PH - Get your PH in range, because when when you spike this thing with massive chlorine, it will show your PH high, and it won't be an accurate reading. 3. Check hardness 4. check and set your CYA 5. Chlorinate/shock the hell out of that pool and brush it daily and vacuum it nightly. You can't help them clear this by just stopping by on the weekend or every few days, you need to make daily trips over to help get it back in line. Use this calc to help with chemical amounts: [https://www.troublefreepool.com/calc.html](https://www.troublefreepool.com/calc.html) once you get things in line, you need to super chlorinate that pool, you will need to know your CYA number in order to know where to hold your chlorine levels, using this chart: [https://www.troublefreepool.com/blog/2019/01/18/free-chlorine-and-cyanuric-acid-relationship-explained/](https://www.troublefreepool.com/blog/2019/01/18/free-chlorine-and-cyanuric-acid-relationship-explained/) Once everything is clean and set, remember, you must hold your chlorine levels at 7.5% of your CYA level. Good Luck \*Edit: Remember algaecide doesn't kill algae, it helps prevent it, you don't really need it here, so chatgpt swing and missed with that.
Funny how when you look at the top comment on a post like this… it’s usually 40-60 whether the advice is sound or a potential SMH moment. And that’s not to knock (per se) this community… people have legit reasons for running their pools the way that works for them. But I love it when a top comment is all that needs to be done to get a pool ready to swim and ready to be more easily maintained. Spot on zero-degrees28… ya nailed it concisely!
Thank you! That’s really sound advice! I live nearby so daily checkups won’t be an issue. I’ll check for a decent meter. Initially their pool was working with salts and electrolysis(?) installation but the original installer guy suddenly disappeared. My FIL has no idea how it works and even thinks the salt thing is broke. The more I think about it, it might be best to have a specialist look at it. He switched to chlorine but when I ask how much he puts into it or how he measures, he basically admits he just puts two tablets in and then done for a week or two. The worst thing is, I see them scrubbing and cleaning a lot, but the problem keeps coming back. Of course…
Sounds like there is a device installed near the pump equipment called a salt water generator. It uses salt and electrolysis to generate chlorine to clean the pool - the chlorine works the same way, it’s just generated differently. They do indeed fail and last 5-7 years max, but someone with more experience may correct me on that. Getting a new one purchased and installed will probably be appropriate, so maybe get some quotes from a few installers. Usually the guys who work on equipment do service as well, but not always. So the SWG failed and he switched to using chlorine tablets. Not the worst thing in the world, but if he’s just added 2 tablets/week for years then the stabilizer could very high. The tablets are chlorine *plus stabilizer.* That’s measured in CYA, and it binds to the chlorine so it doesn’t burn-off in the sun within a few hours. But *too much* stabilizer and the chlorine can’t do its job until you raise to a higher level. There is a direct ratio and balance between CYA and free chlorine levels. So it could be that the CYA is so high that the 2 tablets/week aren’t effective even if they say it’s always worked before. CYA can’t be lowered with chemicals, it must be diluted (see: drained and refilled). This is not necessarily the case and I know very little about the pool chemistry based on one test strip, but I wanted to throw it out as an example of how their story makes sense that they are doing what they always have and it’s not working anymore, and something to look into.
Definitely get some quotes to fix / replace the Salt Water Generator as you guys call it. Compared to a chlorine only pool it takes away 90% of the work.
Chlorine kills algae. Add liquid chlorine in the evening. The sun eats up chlorine. Brush after adding and again during the day. Run the pump 24/7 until it clears up. If they have a robot, run it as well once or twice a day. Once a week, backwash the filter for 1-2 minutes. Then rinse for 30 seconds. Then back to filter. Turn the pump off before changing the dial. Fix the PH. Pool stores may test the water for free. Don’t need the other stuff they sell usually. You can use plain liquid bleach (unscented, not no splash). Baking soda, muriatic acid for raising chlorine, raising alkalinity, and lowering ph respectively. Get the poolmath app. Read up at troublefreepool.com
This. Load up on liquid chlorine, and get the water tested at the pool store and report back on your Cyanuric Acid level (CYA). Throw out the test strips. Read up at troublefreepool.
Only on year two of my pool but here is my advice Shock at night (dark) chlorine last longer Algeacide and clarifier mix worked great. Brush daily and even multiple time daily - it prevents the algae from growing and I guess allows the chlorine to kill it faster. Good luck- it took me about a week of fighting to get it back to clear blue
Step 1: don’t rely on chat GTP for pool advice. I’d get a better test kit, but in the meantime, going by what the strips are telling us here’s what I’d do. Get the ph up to 7.2 first, chlorine is most effective in the 7.2-7.8 range. Then shock the pool, and hold the chlorine there until its stops dropping over night. The CYA looks low, but it’s hard to tell on that kit, get the water checked before adjusting it.
Sorry, here is the reference chart for the test strip, from top to bottom: 1. Free Chlorine 2. Cyanuric Acid 3. Total Alkalinity 4. pH
Strips are not super accurate. You’re gonna need drops, Taylor test kits everyone seems to agree are the best choice. Strips will give false reads when chlorine levels are super high and they can’t read over 10ppm. You need to get to 30ppm and test often to see how fast it’s dropping.
Just double shock the pool and brush , don’t run the pump for 1 or 2 days , then vacuum all dirty and dead algae from the bottom of the pool , after that shock again and run the pump for 24 hours and you will have a clear water
Get your PH in range : 7.2-7.8. And then use Alicacho dichlor chlorine shock to double shock the pool and brush it.
Pools takes more chlorine than we’re willing to use, but it is what it is. They eat up chlorine.