Help opening w/green tint

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J

josephny

0
Jun 4, 2009
106
Sullivan County, NY
Hi Everyone,

I discovered TFP last season and studied and tested and put it into practice with great success -- Thank you so much to all who helped!

I started my pool opening process a couple of weeks ago and am stuck.

FC 13.5
TC .5
TA 100
PH 7.2 (it was 6.8 last night, added PH+, and got this reading 10 hrs later)
CYA -- too low to measure (which is interesting, because last season I made the mistake of shocking with packages of trichlor and my cya was about 100)

FC was 18 12 hours earlier.

I had to add about 15% of the total pool water with new well water over the past week, and the pool water is clear enough to see the bottom/walls just fine, but has a green/yellow tint.

My research lead me to a metals problem, so I got a qt of The Pink Stuff and added it about 14 hours ago. I can't tell if the tint has decreased.

The other possibly interesting fact is that my filter cartridge get clogged after about 12 hours, so it's pulling lots of stuff out. It's getting better (longer between filter cleaning).

So, here's my questions:

1) Does it sound like a metal problem or algae or chlorophyl?

1a) If metal, should I switch to Proteam Metal Magic? The reason I ask is because The Pink Stuff says it's not for iron and I don't know which metal is in the water?

1b) Does anyone know a source that can ship Monday using 2 day delivery? (can't get it locally)

2) I won't be at the pool for the next 4 days: Should I load up on clorox in the pool or use trichlor tablets to get some CYA in it?

3) Is there something I'm not realizing?

Thanks very much,

Joseph
 
If you had 0 CYA your FC would burn off at a much faster rate. Run the pump for an hour and test another sample to see if you get the same results for CYA. Did the filter start getting dirty faster only after you put the Pink Stuff in? Is there any way you can get the water tested for metals? If you can't test, I guess you can "bucket test" for metals if you have a little cash to burn. Get a white 5 gallon bucket and fill it with pool water, add a dose appropriate for 5 gallons of the sequesterant of choice, mix well and see if it helps. If you CYA really is that low, go ahead and use some trichlor to bring it up. Just be sure to keep track of how much you use so you don't overshoot your goal.
 
I had a hunch about the CYA level not really being (effectively) 0. I did the TF-100 test 3 times and used a strip with rough readings (0, 30,50,100, etc.) and the both showed 0.

Could something be interfering with the CYA measurement?

The filter did not get dirtier after adding The Pink Stuff -- in fact, it's continued to get less and less dirty.

I don't have a way to test the water, nor do I have any sequestrant -- I need to order ASAP and I won't be back at the pool until Thursday (UGH!).

I know it's not recommended to put trichlor tabs just plopped in tthe pool because of staining, but I'm not that concerned about staining. I only have 2 floater type tablet holders -- should I just fill them with the 3 (or 4) that they'll hold?

Thanks so much!
 
The best way to distinguish between algae and metals is to do an overnight FC loss test. If you are losing chlorine overnight, then you have something organic in the water than needs to be dealt with before you worry about metals.

If CYA is zero, you should lose all of your chlorine over the course of a sunny day. The CYA test in the TF-100 can read CYA levels as high as 20 as if they were zero sometimes. If CYA was 20, you should lose about 3/4 of your chlorine over the course of a sunny day.
 
I tested again and the CYA reading, at the 20 mark, was every so slightly cloudy, but I still saw the black dot just fine.

I went out and bought some stabilizer -- put about 1.5lbs in for my 24' round by 50" of water. Any idea how long before the CYA is fully dissolved and distributed so I can test again? Unfortunately, leaving this house in 6 hours, so I'll be testing before then.

Also got a qt of HTH Metal Control and added that.

Chlorine loss was substantial in past 24 hours, but how do I know if it's because of organic material or lack of CYA?

PH has also been dropping. Was 6.8, added PH+, next morning it was 7.2, then dropped again a little. TA was 100, so I put some more in to bring that up.

I'm trying to do this quickly, which I know is problematic.
 
josephny said:
I tested again and the CYA reading, at the 20 mark, was every so slightly cloudy, but I still saw the black dot just fine.

I went out and bought some stabilizer -- put about 1.5lbs in for my 24' round by 50" of water. Any idea how long before the CYA is fully dissolved and distributed so I can test again? Unfortunately, leaving this house in 6 hours, so I'll be testing before then.
Don't test for CYA for at least 4 or 5 days; however, after you add CYA, 24 hours later sssume it is there and adjust your chlorine/bleach doses accordingly.
It can take up to a week before CYA will register on a test, so don't waste your test reagents by testing too early.

Also got a qt of HTH Metal Control and added that.

Chlorine loss was substantial in past 24 hours, but how do I know if it's because of organic material or lack of CYA?
Do the overnight FC loss test that Jason listed in his post. :wink:

PH has also been dropping. Was 6.8, added PH+, next morning it was 7.2, then dropped again a little. TA was 100, so I put some more in to bring that up.

I'm trying to do this quickly, which I know is problematic.
Click to expand...
 
Got it -- Thanks!

One last set of recommendation please:

I'm leaving this house tonight until Thursday mid-day, and I'd love to be able to swim that weekend.

Should I put CH (clorox) in before leaving? If so, how much? I can't leave the filter going because I won't be here to monitor.

Thanks!
 
So here's what's happened:

I came back Thursday and the pool water was clear but green tinted, but less so than the weekend before.

PH, TA, FC all were fine.

I put 2 bottles of HTH Metal in and the water cleared.

Then Friday, it turned a little green again, and I put another bottle in.

The water was perfect and colorless. My son and I enjoyed a nice swim.

Turned the heater on and brought the water to mid-80's and now water is green again.

Is it okay to continue putting sequestrant in?

Will I reach a point where enough of it is in so keep it un-colored for the summer?

Replacing the water means tanker trucks of water -- which in my area is very expensive.

And I've got 18 ppl here for the weekend! Help please!
 

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You should be able to add enough to take care of things for now, but sequestrant does slowly wear out and need to be replaced. Usually you have to add more weekly, not nearly as much as you used originally, but regularly.
 
Hey neighbor....what are your numbers? FC, CC, TA, PH, CYA Is there enough chlorine in the pool, per the CYA chart? I know it sounds like you have a metal problem, but given the trip, I'm not convinced it's not an algae outbreak :(
 
A little more info:

I just pulled the filter cartridge -- it was dark brown (like a rust color). I rubbed my finger on it and some of the brown came off on my finger.

I had just put that filter in last night --- hose cleaned.

So the pool chemistry and filter are combining to produce a brown-red-rust like deposit on the filter (completely dissolved -- the water on the filter and in the filter tank was the same brown color).

Does that help get to the bottom of this?

Thank you so much!
 
It sounds like you are actually managing to get some of the iron filtered out, which is a good thing.

Be sure to keep your PH up to at least 7.0 at all times. Sequestrant will lower the PH a little, though it seems like the brand of sequestrant you are using is lowering the PH more than I am used to.
 
So I bought some more HTH Metal Control and put 1 more qt in (for a total of 2 this morning plus 1 last night). 2 hours later, the pool is crystal clear.

I also put some PH+ in.

I'm trying to quickly get up to speed on the whole metals in the water issue. I've read there's no way to remove them, only to hide their effect. But, my filter indicates that it's catching lots of iron (ferric?).

So, am I actually fixing this problem by the filtering?
 

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