I have an above ground pool about 15 ft round and 48" deep. I have well water. I've been having so many issues since we bought it. Mosquitoes and little no see em bugs keep laying eggs in the pool. My water turned green when I shocked it. After draining it all out and refilling it, it turned brown after I added chlorine. I have never owned a pool before and i just can't seem to figure out what chemicals I need to prevent all this from happening and how often to check the levels and add chemicals. Someone please help me, In clueless!!!
Clueless
- Thread starter Trinlynn24
- Start date
Welcome! 
Water turning green or brown immediately after adding chlorine, especially if filled from a well, points to Iron in the water. Draining and refilling doesn't help, as you've discovered. It'll keep happening unless you find a new source of water. But all is not lost. Go ahead and refill. This time, pack the skimmer with pillow batting or layers of paper towels. Go ahead and add chlorine to get to 3 ppm. Let the water turn green or brown. You want that. That means the dissolved iron is precipitating out as particles that you can catch. Let the filter run a few days and change the towels when they get loaded.
Add bleach every day to stay at 3 FC. If the stuff settles out, even better. Vacuum it up and rinse the filter and it's gone. Then you can commence the rest of the balancing. You'll probably want to add a metal sequestrant. Think of the hard candy
shell on an M&M. That's a chocolate sequestrant.
You need to do some reading in Pool School, because it would take me days to type out all the answers you'll need.
Start with Pool School - ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry
Pool School - Basic Pool Care Schedule
Pool School - Pool Chemistry
Pool School - Metals in the Water and Metal Stains
Water turning green or brown immediately after adding chlorine, especially if filled from a well, points to Iron in the water. Draining and refilling doesn't help, as you've discovered. It'll keep happening unless you find a new source of water. But all is not lost. Go ahead and refill. This time, pack the skimmer with pillow batting or layers of paper towels. Go ahead and add chlorine to get to 3 ppm. Let the water turn green or brown. You want that. That means the dissolved iron is precipitating out as particles that you can catch. Let the filter run a few days and change the towels when they get loaded.
Add bleach every day to stay at 3 FC. If the stuff settles out, even better. Vacuum it up and rinse the filter and it's gone. Then you can commence the rest of the balancing. You'll probably want to add a metal sequestrant. Think of the hard candy
shell on an M&M. That's a chocolate sequestrant.
You need to do some reading in Pool School, because it would take me days to type out all the answers you'll need.
Start with Pool School - ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry
Pool School - Basic Pool Care Schedule
Pool School - Pool Chemistry
Pool School - Metals in the Water and Metal Stains
Hi, welcome to TFP! Well water frequently has iron in it, which will turn the water brown as it oxidizes. If you are able to have iron free water from another source you could drain and refill the pool, but as you top off the pool with well water the problem will return. You will need to use a sequestrant to keep the iron in suspension so it does not oxidize and turn the water brown.
Keeping the water properly chlorinated will eliminate the bug problems, and it will kill algae so your water does not turn green.
In order to keep the water balanced you will need a high quality test kit, such as a Taylor K2006 or a TF 100 . A good test kit is an investment in your pool, and is just as important as your pump and filter for keeping the water clear.
Is your pool an intex style pool without a skimmer? Does it have a sand filter or a cartridge filter? If you do not have a skimmer, then the easiest way to clear the water will be to drain and refill the pool. The brown will filter out eventually, but you would need to keep the filter running 24/7 and frequently rinse the cartridges or backwash the sand. If you do have a skimmer you can put some fiberfill pillow stuffing in it to help catch the oxidation. When the fiberfill turns completely brown rinse it out and reuse, or rotate with fresh fiberfill. Do not pack the skimmer tight with fiberfill. It needs to be loose to maintain water flow to the pump. Filtering out the oxidation will take time, possibly a week or more.
When the water is clear, either by filtering out the oxidation or refilling the pool, use sequestrant to prevent the iron from oxidizing again. Test your water and use http://www.troublefreepool.com/calc.html to calculate how much chlorine and other chemicals you may need to add to balance the water chemistry.
Read this link for more information on water chemistry.
ABCs of pool water chemistry
Keeping the water properly chlorinated will eliminate the bug problems, and it will kill algae so your water does not turn green.
In order to keep the water balanced you will need a high quality test kit, such as a Taylor K2006 or a TF 100 . A good test kit is an investment in your pool, and is just as important as your pump and filter for keeping the water clear.
Is your pool an intex style pool without a skimmer? Does it have a sand filter or a cartridge filter? If you do not have a skimmer, then the easiest way to clear the water will be to drain and refill the pool. The brown will filter out eventually, but you would need to keep the filter running 24/7 and frequently rinse the cartridges or backwash the sand. If you do have a skimmer you can put some fiberfill pillow stuffing in it to help catch the oxidation. When the fiberfill turns completely brown rinse it out and reuse, or rotate with fresh fiberfill. Do not pack the skimmer tight with fiberfill. It needs to be loose to maintain water flow to the pump. Filtering out the oxidation will take time, possibly a week or more.
When the water is clear, either by filtering out the oxidation or refilling the pool, use sequestrant to prevent the iron from oxidizing again. Test your water and use http://www.troublefreepool.com/calc.html to calculate how much chlorine and other chemicals you may need to add to balance the water chemistry.
Read this link for more information on water chemistry.
ABCs of pool water chemistry
If your pool is an Intex or similar that does not have a skimmer basket you might want to get the overhanging skimmer to do what Richard320 advises, though I imagine the cheapo cartridge filters will get some of it.
If you can follow a few simple directions and do some testing using a good quality test kit like the ones recommended here, you will save a lot of time, money and work in the long run. Might be a little intimidating at first and the good test kit price is a little scary until you realize how much it will actually save you in the long run. Read, ask questions and follow the advice and you will have a beautiful, clean, sparkly pool real soon!
If you can follow a few simple directions and do some testing using a good quality test kit like the ones recommended here, you will save a lot of time, money and work in the long run. Might be a little intimidating at first and the good test kit price is a little scary until you realize how much it will actually save you in the long run. Read, ask questions and follow the advice and you will have a beautiful, clean, sparkly pool real soon!
philc
0
I too have lots of iron in my well water and the water turns brownish green after adding chlorine. Before I got my sand filter I would take a 3 gallon bucket and cut a hole in the lid for a 1.5 inch pool pipe fitting and drill holes in the bottom of the bucket. Pack the bucket with polyester fiberfill and snap the lid on. Hook the bucket to your pump and pump the water from the pool through the bucket and back into the pool. This cleared my 22' intex in about 10 hours. This not my video but get the idea. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWHMJrvqLco Now I have a sand filter I hope this year the sand filter will filter out the brown, if not I still have my "holy" bucket.