Algae or Metal problem

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M

mindshank

0
May 31, 2010
8
N. Liberty, IN
I have shocked the pool and kept the fc levels above 10 ppm for at least 2 days now. I"m using strips so i'm kind of guessing but its definitely been above 10 and held that over night. My pump is not building any pressure since last backwashed well 1 psi. i have test results from 5/28/11 that i got a my local pool store i'm just showing copper and iron content, they are:
Copper- 0.3 ppm
Iron- 0.3 ppm
That was after i added a bottle of sequa-sol.
My Numbers now are:
FC- 10 ppm
PH- 7.5
Alk- 76
CYA-61
I don't have any updated copper or iron numbers. My question is do you think i have an algae problem or metal problem. Here's a link to some pictures i just took today at approx. 3 o'clock e.s.t.

http://s875.photobucket.com/albums/ab317/mindshank/
 
You really need to get a good test kit and see what your FC levels really are. For a CYA level that high, you will need to be well above 10 FC to shock your pool. If you can only read up to 10, you really don't know what your reaching.

Check out the http://www.poolcalculator.com/ and put your numbers in to see how high your FC needs to be to shock the pool. If your pool sticks showed above 10, it could have been anything above 10 so you can't truly say you held your chlorine overnight.

Example... maybe your chlorine was at 17 and overnight it went down to 11, you have no way of knowing that you lost that much chlorine with the test strips you are using. Chances are, with your water looking like it does, you're not holding your chlorine overnight like you think.

I honestly can't say if levels of iron and copper that low will produce murky water. Usually green or brown, but you could possibly be dealing with both problems. Hard to say w/o accurate numbers.

How did your pool look before you started adding anything? Is this a new fill or just opened from last year?
 
For a CYA level of 61, your FC needs to be at ~24 ppm to be at shock level. I recommend the same for getting a good test kit so you can know exactly where your FC is and if you are keeping it where it should be for shocking and maintaining after the water is clear.

The typically recommend way to add FC here, especially when your CYA is already near maintenance level, is liquid chlorine (bleach). The pool store pucks or bags of shock typically contain other additives besides bleach, which may leave you in worse shape when it comes to maintaining your numbers.
 
That is at least mostly algae. There might also be a metals problem, though I kind of doubt it. Metals will never cause the water to be cloudy or murky. You need to shock the pool, see the article on how to shock your pool in Pool School.
 
Yep it was algae, water is almost completely clear just a little cloudy. Hopefully it's crystal clear by this weekend. I've been swimming in it all day though. And I will be buying a t-100 test kit this weekend. Thanks for the help and the abundant wealth of knowledge offered at TFP.
 
Yeah, I had a copper problem last year, which a friend helped me out with. He works at a waste water treatment plant. Long story short, we raised PH to above 8 to precipitate everything, than used an industrial floc which he acquired for me (wink, wink) ;) to settle it and vacuumed it out. Then, brought ph down and went from there. From my experience, if its copper, the water will still be almost crystal clear but have a green tint to it. Algae will cause green and cloudy. Glad to see you got it clear. Happy swimming!
 
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