White film on top of pool

[Janmot]

New to being a pool owner. Went through issue of chlorine turning water brown due to metals in well water. Got that fixed. Beautiful water. Now I see a light white film on top of pool. My TA has always been high but FL and PH have bee good so did not worry about TA. Today film is heavier here are my numbers...
FL - 5
PH -8.4
TA - 270
TV -290
CA - Problem with this. Test strip falls between the 30-50 & 100 mark but when I use the hth tester I get nothing so it appears to be less than 30.

Do I need to use muradic acid to lower both PH & TA? How much on a 8600 gallon above ground pool?
What is causing the white film on top of water?

Thank you for your help.

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Welcome to TFP, Janmot We're glad you found us.

Let me get this straight- you have an AGP filled with well water and iron. How did you treat this? Please tell us all the chemicals you've added to your pool and how you sanitize the water?

How are you testing? We don't like "Guess-Strips" as they're not precise enough (or accurate enough) for us to manage our pools. We only recommend two test kits- The Taylor's K-2006 and the TF-100. Both are available from TFTestkits.net or Amazon. The most important part of these test kits is the FAS-DPD FC test which goes up to 50ppm. That's important when you have problems and need to SLAM your pool.

We need to know the most current:
FC
CC
pH
TA
CH
CYA

Lets start with a short read--> ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry

Yip

 

[Janmot]

I bought those test strip and the hth test kit at Walmart before I found this site. Plan to order the proper kit as recommended on this site. We had filled the pool and everything was good until I read somewhere (not here) to shock the pool. I bought some hth shock at Walmart and poured it in. Next morning we have brown water. Hubby ran into a pool maintenance worker who told him we needed to add Metal out. Waited another day and saw the bottom of pool had rust colored stuff. I vacuumed then back washed the sand filter. Really cleared up after several back washes and vacuums. Got some Metal Out and Metal Stain from pool store. Poured in and the water turned crystal clear. Pool people recommend to add 4 ounces of Metal Out each week as we added more water and chlorine.
What do you think is causing the white film?

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Could be so many things- sun tan oils, pollen, the metal out products, etc.

Have you read this--> Pool School - Metals in the Water and Metal Stains

I'd suggest going online today and ordering that test kit. It really, REALLY is important to know what you're swimming in.

 

[duraleigh]

Welcome to the forum.

Do you have a picture of that white film? The results from the test strips are worthless. The film is from something you have added to your pool but I would only be guessing wildly without more information (i.e. real test results). A picture might help.

 

[Janmot]

I took your advice and ordered a real test kit. Took a picture but it really doesn't show what I see.

 

[YippeeSkippy]

I see what looks to be a white layer on top of the water. I think I would wonder about cosmetic residue such as tanning lotions and such. I think increasing your FC may help it....certainly can't hurt it and worth a shot. Otherwise your water looks wonderful!

Keep us posted.

Yip

 

[Janmot]

Thank you. Can't wait until the test kit comes in to make sure I am on the right track. This is a wonderful site. Only wish I had found it sooner.

 

[Kiss4aFrog]

I don't trust guess-strips either but I think in your case I would use some acid to lower that pH down around 7.4-7.6 even if all you have on hand right now is the strips.

IF ... If the people using the pool do use a lot of lotion or tanning spray/oil there is a little sponge that works great to capture it.

Not saying it's what you have or what you need but they do work well to control tanning oil. I've been using them for a few years now.

Scum Bug is a brand name but any of these work.
olympic hits under water couch reo - Google Search

 

[Redelephants]

I don't trust guess-strips either but I think in your case I would use some acid to lower that pH down around 7.4-7.6 even if all you have on hand right now is the strips.

IF ... If the people using the pool do use a lot of lotion or tanning spray/oil there is a little sponge that works great to capture it.

Not saying it's what you have or what you need but they do work well to control tanning oil. I've been using them for a few years now.

Scum Bug is a brand name but any of these work.
olympic hits under water couch reo - Google Search

Tennis ball also does the trick of absorbing oils...


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