Happy to be here! We are on our 2nd year with our above ground pool (18' x30' doughboy brand). Had good success last year just using chlorine to maintain nice clear water (historical evidence in my profile picture haha), but we didn't winterize properly and then had our winter cover get damaged in a storm in late fall, leaving the pool open for the winter/early spring and unfortunately allowing it to collect a lot of debris. We got out as much debris as possible (mostly white pine needles) once we "opened it" for the season, but had a definite algae issue with dark green water. I have been treating it since by shocking and trying to maintain a high chlorine level while running the pump to clear the algae problem, and also vacuuming as much as time allowed. We also purchased a new solar blanket that we mostly leave on the pool to help chlorine last longer and keep out stray debris as much as possible. We had some set backs (left for a vacation in May and came back to green water one week, had a air leak issue with our pump that took some time to diagnose and fix leaving the pool uncirculated for a few days) but are finally seeing some progress. The water is still quite milky looking, but my visibility to the bottom is improving bit by bit. I'm also having to add the liquid chlorine much less frequently to maintain the higher levels.
I didn't realize it until I came across TFP that I was taking a semi-SLAM approach to treating the pool but with some obvious unnecessary steps (adding a lot of algaecide, also trying oxygenating shock) and lack of proper testing equipment. I've got the TF Pro test kit on order, and am very excited to get some real numbers and start actually dialing in on the TFP process. Thank you all for this wealth of knowledge and a proper approach to pool care!
I didn't realize it until I came across TFP that I was taking a semi-SLAM approach to treating the pool but with some obvious unnecessary steps (adding a lot of algaecide, also trying oxygenating shock) and lack of proper testing equipment. I've got the TF Pro test kit on order, and am very excited to get some real numbers and start actually dialing in on the TFP process. Thank you all for this wealth of knowledge and a proper approach to pool care!
When you get your test kit, start a thread in the appropriate forum and we can coach you through a