low alcilinity (sp?). I assume that is why the pool is a bit green. I
installed some chemical to raise it last night. Its above ground 4 feet
deep. I cannot see the bottom and keep vacuuming up leaves from the bottom.

1. is it a waste to place that chemical in there if there are still a few
leaves at the bottom?

2. cholorine is low. Just shocked. Will shocking affect the alki level?

TIA.

low alcilinity (sp?). I assume that is why the pool is a bit green. I
installed some chemical to raise it last night. Its above ground 4 feet
deep. I cannot see the bottom and keep vacuuming up leaves from the bottom.

1. is it a waste to place that chemical in there if there are still a few
leaves at the bottom?

2. cholorine is low. Just shocked. Will shocking affect the alki level?

Considering emptying your pool and cleaning it out. If your drinking
water is good - you will spend a lot less on the cost of fresh water
than the cost of all the chemicals to get that pool back to normal.

It is like working on a house - sometimes it is easier to start from
scratch than it is to renovate an older one - also sometimes it is less
expensive to start from nothing.

"oreo123" wrote
low alcilinity (sp?). I assume that is why the pool is a bit green. I
installed some chemical to raise it last night. Its above ground 4 feet
deep. I cannot see the bottom and keep vacuuming up leaves from the
bottom.

1. is it a waste to place that chemical in there if there are still a few
leaves at the bottom?

2. cholorine is low. Just shocked. Will shocking affect the alki level?

TIA.

Sounds as if you're just opening the pool for the season. Find a pool
center, and get an opening kit. It includes, a bottle of algaecide, a
bottle of clarifier, and a couple packs of shock.

Sounds like you have an algae problem. Extreme heat like we've been having
makes algae a common problem.

I wouldn't empty the pool and refill, I've had problems and you would be
amazed of how quick you can clear up the problems with proper treatment.

Do follow recommendations for treating the pool at least once a week. You
will have to take care of the pool more often with a lot of use (body oils)
and when extreme heat conditions are present. Do not skimp on the
maintenance, or you will have severe water problems.

"Harry" wrote in message
...
low alcilinity (sp?). I assume that is why the pool is a bit green. I
installed some chemical to raise it last night. Its above ground 4 feet
deep. I cannot see the bottom and keep vacuuming up leaves from the
bottom.

1. is it a waste to place that chemical in there if there are still a few
leaves at the bottom?

2. cholorine is low. Just shocked. Will shocking affect the alki level?

Considering emptying your pool and cleaning it out. If your drinking
water is good - you will spend a lot less on the cost of fresh water
than the cost of all the chemicals to get that pool back to normal.

It is like working on a house - sometimes it is easier to start from
scratch than it is to renovate an older one - also sometimes it is less
expensive to start from nothing.

Disagree. I took our 20,000 gallon pool from dirty and green to clear and
balanced in a couple of days using the $65 start-up kit from the local pool
store. Refilling the pool would have cost $80 in water plus whatever
additional chemicals would have been required to get the "clean" water
balanced.

In article ,
"Kyle Boatright" wrote:
Disagree. I took our 20,000 gallon pool from dirty and green to clear and
balanced in a couple of days using the $65 start-up kit from the local pool
store. Refilling the pool would have cost $80 in water plus whatever
additional chemicals would have been required to get the "clean" water
balanced.

I should have prefaced my answer to a certain part of the country.
Although - here in Tallahassee - water is cheap - I keep my pool
"swimmable" all year around - and do not empty it. Even over the winter
holidays - some of the guests from "up north" like to swim in cold water
just to brag and say they did :-)

I should also have commented - that in some places where the water table
is high - emptying the pool can cause damage to it.

Correct. Just opening it. I am not going to refill it as it seems like a
waste. Been in there vacuuming for a couple of hours and we are pulling up
leaves and pine needles. The pillow burst mid winter and ice and junk from
blizzards got in it.

I did dump the algiside in it but I really think that I have to get the
entire bottom clean for it to work. Have shocked it. One person told me to
increase chlorene and that would help kill off the algi.? Think that is
correct?

And will I turn purple and have my limbs fall off it the algi number is off?

TIA.

The more things ya have the more problems ya have.

"Nick Plume" [email protected] wrote in message
...

"oreo123" wrote
low alcilinity (sp?). I assume that is why the pool is a bit green. I
installed some chemical to raise it last night. Its above ground 4 feet
deep. I cannot see the bottom and keep vacuuming up leaves from the
bottom.

1. is it a waste to place that chemical in there if there are still a few
leaves at the bottom?

2. cholorine is low. Just shocked. Will shocking affect the alki level?

TIA.

Sounds as if you're just opening the pool for the season. Find a pool
center, and get an opening kit. It includes, a bottle of algaecide, a
bottle of clarifier, and a couple packs of shock.

Sounds like you have an algae problem. Extreme heat like we've been
having
makes algae a common problem.

I wouldn't empty the pool and refill, I've had problems and you would be
amazed of how quick you can clear up the problems with proper treatment.

Do follow recommendations for treating the pool at least once a week. You
will have to take care of the pool more often with a lot of use (body
oils)
and when extreme heat conditions are present. Do not skimp on the
maintenance, or you will have severe water problems.

"oreo123"wrote
Correct. Just opening it. I am not going to refill it as it seems like a
waste. Been in there vacuuming for a couple of hours and we are pulling up
leaves and pine needles. The pillow burst mid winter and ice and junk from
blizzards got in it.

I did dump the algiside in it but I really think that I have to get the
entire bottom clean for it to work. Have shocked it. One person told me to
increase chlorene and that would help kill off the algi.? Think that is
correct?

And will I turn purple and have my limbs fall off it the algi number is
off?

TIA.

Make sure you check the PH level also. Once the water has proper balances
and is treated properly, it will start to clear up and you will slowly start
seeing the leaves on the bottom. Don't expect it to clear up in a day, it
will take several days.

I've been through the exact same thing you're experiencing.

I don't know if anyone else does this, but I add a 80 lb. bag of salt to the
pool every year when I top it off. It softens the water.

I won't comment on the chlorene, because I've never over done it. I stick
to what works for me.

"oreo123" wrote in message
...
low alcilinity (sp?). I assume that is why the pool is a bit green. I
installed some chemical to raise it last night. Its above ground 4 feet
deep. I cannot see the bottom and keep vacuuming up leaves from the
bottom.

1. is it a waste to place that chemical in there if there are still a few
leaves at the bottom?

2. cholorine is low. Just shocked. Will shocking affect the alki level?

TIA.

Green color comes from algae. It can also be brown or yellow. It can be
killed by adding algaecide, or superchlorinating. Either way, clean your
filter afterward, because all the dead algae will be in there. It will just
change color, and if you leave it in there, it will turn an ugly shade.
Dead stuff is dead stuff and it behaves just like roadkill. Just gets riper
and riper.

You say you have leaves and stuff. They are prime carriers of algae and
green gook. Keep the pool as clean as you can by emptying the skimmer
regularly, and using a pool strainer to pick up all the surface stuff.
Vacuum, or get a Hayward automatic vacuum.

YES! You are wasting time and money to add chemicals to a pool that has
organic materials in it unless you want to start a composting toilet. That
stuff rots, and to neutralize it would require so much chemicals that you
wouldn't be able to swim in it without it eating your protruding body parts
off.

If you concentrate on keeping your pool clean, your problems will go down
dramatically. Get a stabilizer test kit, and stabilize your water. This
keeps the chlorine from just evaporating into the air. It keeps more
chlorine working in the water, so that it lasts longer, bringing the cost
down.

Alkalinity (ph) is easy to treat. Algae can be a REAL booger it if gets
concentrated enough to cause you to acid wash it, or change your liner.

Concentrate on keeping the gook out of it. Do you use a cover? Sounds like
you need to if you are getting that much leaves in it. Test often so that
it doesn't get too far out of whack. If your pool is green, you have not
been taking care of it and checking it as often as you should.

No offense.

Steve

In article ,
"Nick Plume" [email protected] wrote:
I don't know if anyone else does this, but I add a 80 lb. bag of salt to the
pool every year when I top it off. It softens the water.

Just to show you how things are different from place to place. I took a
sample of my pool water to be tested - and they told me to put 40 pounds
of calcium in the water to harden it.

My wife loves having the pool - she swims 100 laps a day - it is worth
that just to keep her in shape. She always dreamed of having her own
pool when she was a kid. Now at age 50 - she has one and is happy. Go
figure. To me it is just a lot of work and expense to for maybe a half
hour use a day - even here in Florida. Having a hot tub makes more sense
to me - we have much less upkeep with that - and you can use it every
day - hot or cold.

Once the leaves are removed, keep shocking uintil the chlorine load goes to
0 as evidenced by your free chlorine number rising. Add a floculant to
settle the finer particles and vacuum. Next time buy a pump to remove the
water from the cover to make it easer to remove. Saves money in the long
run. Don't get too hung up on the other numbers for a vinyl pool. PH is
probably the most important number. My pool regularly runs outside the
limits on the other numbers with no issues. I shock once on opening, after
every rainfall of 1 inch or more and once on closing. FLocculant is added at
opening and half way thru the season. Thats about it other than chlorine.
Chicago area

"oreo123" wrote in message
...
low alcilinity (sp?). I assume that is why the pool is a bit green. I
installed some chemical to raise it last night. Its above ground 4 feet
deep. I cannot see the bottom and keep vacuuming up leaves from the
bottom.

1. is it a waste to place that chemical in there if there are still a few
leaves at the bottom?

2. cholorine is low. Just shocked. Will shocking affect the alki level?

TIA.

oreo123 writes:

I cannot see the bottom and keep vacuuming up leaves from the bottom.

Don't spend money on anything but chlorine and acid to start. Keep pH very
low and superchlorinate. Chlorine alone will fix just about anything if
you keep the pH low. Chlorinator solution raises pH, so you'll need lots
of acid to compensate; this error is what confuses a lot of people. Algae
loves high pH, and high pH disables chlorine.

Once your water cleans up, you can balance it for the comfort of human
beings.

"oreo123" wrote in message
...

I did dump the algiside in it but I really think that I have to get the
entire bottom clean for it to work. Have shocked it. One person told me to
increase chlorene and that would help kill off the algi.? Think that is
correct?


Did you say 4 foot pool? I have a 4 foot pool that is 12 feet in diameter. I
assume you're not talking about one so small or you'd just empty it and
refill it.

Vacuuming and debris from the winter ice tells me you really must not have
one like mine :-D

I have had to use algaecide to get rid of algae before, but only if I slip
up and forget to chlorinate it regularly. I usually only need chlorine to
keep my pool crystal clear, but I'm not afraid to super-shock it every day
after heavy use (I also put it away for the winter). Otherwise if it's just
sitting there covered I just take it up to shock level in the late evening.
It still needs more the next morning before the kids can get in, especially
if the water is very warm (like lately).

All I have to do is stir mine and let it sit uncovered for about an hour and
the level drops dramatically when the water is warm.
I can't imagine trying to clear up water that has been sitting all winter.
It's a patient wait with algaecide, sometimes, even if the water is just a
little green.

Debris on the bottom shouldn't effect the algaecide too much, as long as
you're adding enough to kill it. You may just have to wait.