I’m new to having a swimming pool, so I’m learning as I go. We set up the above ground pool a few weeks ago. I was using baking soda in it. Everything was fine until 3 days ago. I went out to find green nasty water. I had no idea what to do. I don’t really want to use chemicals in our pool and we don’t live near a town where I can get supplies. I figured out that I had to shock it somehow. I used borax to scrub the sides and bottom with a mop. Then I poured bleach in it and stirred it all around for probably an hour getting out anything I could get with the pool net. I changed the filter, which was gross and probably was the reason for the problem in the first place. I added pool salt after this too. By the next morning, the green was gone and the water was a cloudy blue color. I changed the filter again. I could see stuff settling on the bottom so I added some more bleach and scrubbed it with the mop again. Today, the water is still cloudy but no settling of anything on the bottom. I used a test strip and found that the FCI is too low, the ALK is WAY too high, and the pH is WAY too high. Is this because I “shocked” it and I just have to wait for it to return to more normal, or do I need to do something else? I probably went about this all wrong! But now I just need to fix it. Thank you, in advance, for any help you can provide.
Alkalinity and pH off the charts high, FCI too low
Ask the Pool Guy Changed status to publish July 16, 2020