On Aug 10, 1:43*pm, wrote:
On Fri, 10 Aug 2012 09:31:41 -0700 (PDT), "





wrote:
On Aug 10, 12:14*pm, wrote:
On Fri, 10 Aug 2012 09:23:19 -0400, Kurt Ullman
wrote:

In article ,
"Don Phillipson" wrote:

"Kurt Ullman" wrote in message
news:tfOdnX_UjajnjrnNnZ2dnUVZ_sudnZ2d@earthlink. com...

Thanks. I used almost $500 of shock and chlorine last month and still
wasn't able to get the chlorine up where it needed to be and pool has
been cloudy. After multiple shocks, one time double shock three days in
a row, with little increase in free or total chlorine, this is the
latest guess.. er suggestion.

You are obviously getting poor advice at the pool supply store.
Unless you can find a competent pool store, better open a thread
here describing the colour problem in detail, *with all values
measured by your pool test strips. * You probably need to adjust
pH and total alkalinity as well as chlorine levels. *Another likely
cause is a defective filter or dirt particles so fine they are not
trapped in the filter.

The color is white and cloudy. I haven't been able to see the main
drain, but I have a fountain running about half way down the pool and I
can see the hose to that all the way through.

I would dump in 5 gallons of liquid chlorine (20%, not the 10% they
sell at the grocery store) That should clear it up.

Bleach at the grocery store is typically 6%. *Don't know
what you have where you are, but all the pool stores here
have 12%. * *I would target 20 ppm of chlorine. *How much
he needs and of what depends on the size of the pool.

My pool store has 20% in their bulk tanks. *(commercial grade)
The 5 gallons is based on a typical 15k gallon home pool.

That was what it took to clean mine up from the "milky" problem a few
years ago

I am not sure what you use to test up to 20PPM. Any pool test kit I
have seen will saturate at 4-5 PPM.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

He doesn't need to test up to 20ppm. I just meant
put enough chlorine in so that if it was just pure water
with 0 chlorine he'd end up with 20ppm.

If you want to test to higher levels with the typical
test kit you can take 1/4 pool water, 3/4 bottled
or distilled water. Test it and multiply the result
by 4. Or 1/8 and multiply by 8 etc. For me it's
good enough to see it turn brown with one drop
of test solution. Then you know it's way above
the normal range.

With 5 gallons of 20% chlorine he'd take a 15,000 gallon
pool to 70ppm, assuming nothing eats up some of
it. I probably wouldn't go quite that high,
but putting more in up front is generally agreed to
be better for problems like this than doing a little
at a time. I've heard pros recommend 40ppm for
algae problems. So, I think we're on the same
page. One thing for sure, with a 5 gallons of
12 or 20% chlorine he'd get a lot of chlorine,
shock the hell out of it and it wouldn't cost
much at all.

When I was first learning about pools, one of
the first things I learned was how expensive it
can get when you take a trip to the local pool
store and do what they say. It was "You need
30 lbs of Balance Pack 200", You need 25 lbs
of Super Shock Z, and so it goes. When you
learn what the chemicals are, it gets cheap
fast. Just put two bags of baking soda
totaling 25lbs from Costco in last week.
That cost a whopping $14. At the pool store,
it would be 3 or 4X that.