PLEASE HELP........Totally new to this!!!

[whataguy72]

Ok, so we just purchase a 24 ft Intex above ground pool and can i say what a NIGHTMARE! After spending hundreds on getting our ground level we finally started filling the pool last Thursday evening. On Sat morning the pool was an aqua green color but we were still able to see the bottom. My husband quickly ran to Wal-mart and purchase 2 pounds of shock.

We added one pound because this is our first pool and we have no idea what we are doing. No change so that evening he added the rest. On the following day he added 2 more pounds. On Monday it was worse. It became hard to even see the bottom and i guess you could call it cloudy.

I went to a local pool store and took in a sample. They did tell me that i needed the floater and i needed a stabilizer but i could not add the stabilizer until i got the water cleared up. Ok,,,,,they told me based on my sample to add 2 cups muriatic acid , a whole bottle of a stain preventative (something like that) , and a clarifier. The next day no change.

Went back to the pool store and he told me yesterday to add 5 pounds shock because although i have the floater w/ tablets the test showed we had no chlorine at all. So i added the 5 pounds and 2 c acid last night around 7 pm and it was showing on our test strips to have a fc level of 10 or 20. It was the same at 5 am this morning. The pool got worse!!!

I came home today at 3 pm and checked and no chlorine again. I called bk to the pool store and they passed me off to someone else that has 30+ years of exp and she is telling me that my city water is bad. She is saying it is iron but when i went to the store and had my water checked for the 1st time on Mon they checked my fill water also. I am SOOOOOOOOO confused and my poor kids are so let down because they have been dying to get this pool up and running.

I held a sock over my garden hose tonight and did not see any brown. When we clean the cartridge filter (twice a day) it is covered w/ a lot of brown stuff. Looks like rust or something.

Is there anyone PLEASE that can help me or may have experienced this in the past. We are ready to take the pool back but have spent tons of money at this point and will be left w/ a huge whole w/o grass in our yard. TIA!!!

 

[DamianS]

Hi! I'm new to the pool stuff too, so I can't really give you much instruction, but I can get you going until the nice folks around here can provide the real advice.

First, read Pool School. The link is also in the upper-right corner of this site. This isn't optional, you're going to need to learn a few things, nothing too hard, but you will need to spend some time reading.

Next, you'll need to get a better test kit. You can find out more about which ones to get while you're reading Pool School. The strips are shamefully inaccurate (I can attest to this) and the pool store guys may not be performing the tests correctly (and are trying to sell you chemicals).

I'll tell you right now, your water supply alone, iron or not, is not going to cause all the symptoms you are describing.

So get reading, be patient, and have faith! You're in the right place and someone much more knowledgeable than me will be along shortly to explain what your next move should be.

 

[JohnT]

A good set of test results is the key to figuring out the solution. If there is iron in the water, shocking can cause the water to turn brown.

The first thing you need to do is run the pump 24/7 and clean the cartridge when it needs it until you have things under control. The second thing is to get a handle on your chlorination. Your chlorine levels are probably varying wildly from nothing to shock level, which is a recipe for algae. You need to have your own test kit so you can test the chlorine several times a day. You can probably get by with the ~$15 one that Walmart and other places carry, but the one at TFTestkits.net or the Taylor K2006 is a better deal in the long run.

The floater won't get enough chlorine in the water to be effective. The powdered shock you are using can contribute to cloudiness in the pool. I'd recommend you switch to bleach or liquid shock, and dose the pool a couple of times a day to maintain something around 5ppm free chlorine. If you have algae, you want to maintain the chlorine at 15ppm, and that might require testing and adding chlorine every few hours for the first couple of days.

You need to know if there is iron in the water. Take a sample to a pool store and tell them you suspect you may have metals in the water and have them test it for you. If you have iron and are not on a well, they will surely know how to deal with it, since there are others with the same problem. If it's not iron, be meticulous about maintaining the 15ppm chlorine level until the water clears.

To test 15ppm chlorine with the cheaper kits, dilute your pool water sample by adding one tablespoon pool water to three tablespoons distilled water and then testing the mixture. Multiply the reading by 4 to get the actual reading.

As was previously suggested, read the articles in Pool School for help.

John

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

Hi and welcome, I'll only add to the great advice thus far is get to know the Pool Calculator (the link's in my sig) and that will tell you exactly how much of each chemical you need to add. So you get your test results in hand, enter your pool size in the top left, and your test results are the "now" column, and then in the "target" column you set your goals. Refer to "Recommended Levels" article in Pool School - that's where you will find your goals for your pool.

I second the advice on the good test kit, most often you have to order the right kit online as 90% of the time the Pool Stores don't have the right one, and will try to sell you a poor imitation.

Remember to keep hosing off your filter cartridge several times a day and replace it weekly. Once the water is clear the filters may last 2 weeks, at most, but when clearing a pool you have to clean them and replace them more often.

 

[whataguy72]

So they are telling me it is iron in the water but the filter is pretty much clean now everyday. There is not alot of brown rust on the filter. test results from a few days ago were fc0.1 cc 0.0 ph 7.8 hardness 150 alk 140 ppm cya 0 iron 3.0 total dissolved solids 200 ppm

 

[fuzzy_dba]

So they are telling me it is iron in the water but the filter is pretty much clean now everyday. There is not alot of brown rust on the filter. test results from a few days ago were fc0.1 cc 0.0 ph 7.8 hardness 150 alk 140 ppm cya 0 iron 3.0 total dissolved solids 200 ppm

A) Read and re-read the articles in Pool School.
b) You have multiple things going on right now and the worst is the algae: Get that cleared first.

You can get by (and get by is it, it's a short term band-aid) by getting the $15 test kit wat wallyworld. It's primarily going to tell you TC (total chlorine which is the free chlorine, the good stuff, and the combined chlorine, the bad or used-up chlorine): it's a start. The better kit (TF-100, http://www.tftestkits.net/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=2 will measure the FC, CC, PH, TA, CYA, etc. and that it what you need long term. In the meantime you can have the pool store test the water, just don't buy their "specialized" chemicals, most of which you don't need.

Use Jason's Pool Calculator http://www.poolcalculator.com/ to figure out how much plain 6% bleach you are going to need. The lower portion of the calculator will tell you the volume of the pool. Put the diameter, the depth, and the shape and it'll tell you the number of gallons.
Put this number in the top of the sheet (Size), enter "0" for the starting FC, 15 for the target FC, the size of the bleach jugs (wallyworld generic is 174oz), and it will tell you how many onces the shock level is.
You need to maintain this level of shock 4+ times per day: test/treat, test/treat, etc. and you WILL use lots of bleach as water without CYA (also called conditioner or stabilizer) can loose almost all of the chlorine to the sun in a few hours! That's one reason why it's best to add the bleach when the sun is off of the pool, but in this case you need to kill the algae.
Once the algea starts dying you are going to need to brush the pool and run the pump/filter 24x7 to clean the pool. In order for that to happen the filters have to be kept clean.

Remember to keep hosing off your filter cartridge several times a day and replace it weekly. Once the water is clear the filters may last 2 weeks, at most, but when clearing a pool you have to clean them and replace them more often.

Follow FPM's and the other moderators on the board's advice: They won't steer you wrong.

BTW, exactly which "Shock" was purchased at WallyWorld?

 

[whataguy72]

They are saying that we do not have algae. There is no evidence of it. They are saying it is the iron because they tested my filter water and it came bk at a 2-3 ppm for iron. They are saying to add a liquid stabilizer and 4 bottes of the metal stain stuff preventative or metal out i believe. Thanks guys SO much for your help but we are having so many people tell us different ways of doing things and i guess i never expected this. I just thought we could do a specific test and diagnose the problem and just fix quickly. My children and myself, as well, are growing rather impatient,lol! After all we have purchased a brand new pool and this is going on 3 weeks and we have not been able to swim at all. Could it really be algae? They said that there would be evidence on the walls and the bottom would not be clear as it is now. My pool is actually a green not blue. Like a chlorine type green that i have seen on many indoor pools. I just want it crystal clear like it was while filling it.

 

[JohnT]

If your chlorine got down to 0.1ppm and your pool is green, you have algae. You'll never beat it if you don't hold your chlorine at 3ppm or more every minute of the day. To get it cleared, it needs to stay at 15ppm or more every minute of the day. Even letting it drop for a couple of hours will allow the algae to recover and take over the pool again. Test the chlorine and add as required every 4 hours the first day and every 8 hours until it's clear after that

 

[whataguy72]

A good set of test results is the key to figuring out the solution. If there is iron in the water, shocking can cause the water to turn brown.

The first thing you need to do is run the pump 24/7 and clean the cartridge when it needs it until you have things under control. The second thing is to get a handle on your chlorination. Your chlorine levels are probably varying wildly from nothing to shock level, which is a recipe for algae. You need to have your own test kit so you can test the chlorine several times a day. You can probably get by with the ~$15 one that Walmart and other places carry, but the one at TFTestkits.net or the Taylor K2006 is a better deal in the long run.

The floater won't get enough chlorine in the water to be effective. The powdered shock you are using can contribute to cloudiness in the pool. I'd recommend you switch to bleach or liquid shock, and dose the pool a couple of times a day to maintain something around 5ppm free chlorine. If you have algae, you want to maintain the chlorine at 15ppm, and that might require testing and adding chlorine every few hours for the first couple of days.

You need to know if there is iron in the water. Take a sample to a pool store and tell them you suspect you may have metals in the water and have them test it for you. If you have iron and are not on a well, they will surely know how to deal with it, since there are others with the same problem. If it's not iron, be meticulous about maintaining the 15ppm chlorine level until the water clears.

To test 15ppm chlorine with the cheaper kits, dilute your pool water sample by adding one tablespoon pool water to three tablespoons distilled water and then testing the mixture. Multiply the reading by 4 to get the actual reading.

As was previously suggested, read the articles in Pool School for help.

John

John , we were told that the iron level was pretty bad and at least a 2 or 3 ppm. But, we already added a whole bottle (32ozs ) i believe, of the stain preventative. Should this have worked to get the iron out? We still have a clear blue green pool w/ no fc at the moment. Thanks for your advice!

 

[JasonLion]

If the water is a clear transparent green, you need more sequestrant and a little more chlorine. If the water is cloudy or murky you need to shock the pool with lots more chlorine.

The usual rule of thumb for sequestrant is that one bottle will take care of 1 ppm of metals in 10,000 gallons (for a while). So you are going to need lots more sequestrant, 4 to 6 bottles total if the metals reading is correct. That is just approximate, but definitely more sequestrant if the metals test result is even nearly correct.

Sequestrants based on HEDP, phosphonic acid, or phosphonic acid derivatives are the most effective. ProTeam's Metal Magic and Jack's Magic the Pink Stuff (regular), the Blue Stuff (fresh plaster), and the Purple Stuff (SWG) are some of the top sequestrants. You can also find many other brands with similar products, some of which are noticeably less expensive. Some, nowhere near all, of the inexpensive brands work nearly as well as the expensive brands.

 

[whataguy72]

OMggodness. We added two more bottle of something called metal out made here in Houston and sold by warehouse pools and we added over night. We did not see any difference in the morning but after my husband cleaned and vacuumed the bottom of the pool it turned blue. The water is now pretty clear and we were FINALLY able to swim over the weekend. We now need to get some chlorine into the pool because right now we just have the floter but are very excited because we were ready to drain and start all over. We did not have algae though and hopefully will not get it . Thanks so much guys for your feedback.

If the water is a clear transparent green, you need more sequestrant and a little more chlorine. If the water is cloudy or murky you need to shock the pool with lots more chlorine.

The usual rule of thumb for sequestrant is that one bottle will take care of 1 ppm of metals in 10,000 gallons (for a while). So you are going to need lots more sequestrant, 4 to 6 bottles total if the metals reading is correct. That is just approximate, but definitely more sequestrant if the metals test result is even nearly correct.

Sequestrants based on HEDP, phosphonic acid, or phosphonic acid derivatives are the most effective. ProTeam's Metal Magic and Jack's Magic the Pink Stuff (regular), the Blue Stuff (fresh plaster), and the Purple Stuff (SWG) are some of the top sequestrants. You can also find many other brands with similar products, some of which are noticeably less expensive. Some, nowhere near all, of the inexpensive brands work nearly as well as the expensive brands.

 

[Mona]

Glad to hear it's cleared up. Just keep it in your mind that you will get algae if you do not add CYA and keep your chlorine levels up. It's not that difficult to maintain a clear balanced pool, but you do need to learn how to do that first. Take the time to learn.