Slight greenish tint but not cloudy

[toad871]

Although this is my first post, I've been lurking for quite a while. With the help of this site, I was able to defeat an algae bloom near the end of the season last year and we coasted through the rest of the summer. A good ending last year but not a good start this year. We set up the pool just before Memorial Day. Since then the water has had a slightly greenish tint without the cloudiness we've seen with algae. I've had the SWG on for 5 hours a day starting at approx. 7:30 a.m. The first 4 days we had no swimmers; since then no more than 4 kids at a time for less than 2 hours a day, some days none. I shocked with 43 oz. of 6% Fri. night, then the same last night, followed by 96oz. this morning. I only tested the water today (couldn't find the kit), here are the results from 2 tests, 6 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.:

FC 11.5 10.5
CC <.5 <.5
pH 7.5 7.3
TA 40 40
CH 70 70
CYA don't have everything needed to measure that

I've brushed at least 6 times today and I can stir up a little something but not enough to change the clarity of the water. When I clean the filter it's just slightly brown now but it was really ugly the first few days (brown, not green). We also have a lot of cotton from our neighbor's cottonwood. I try to get as much of that as I can with the net.

So where do I go from here? By the way, I'm off work all week, so I've got time to care of this.

 

[jblizzle]

First step would be to get really required reagents to do a full set of tests.

How can you be sure what level of FC to maintain and what level to shock to if you do not know the CYA level? That can change a lot over the winter.

That said, the green looks like it could be due to metals in the water and not algae. Have you used algaecides with copper in them? Did the color change with higher levels of FC?

Posted with Tapatalk ... sorry if I sound short ... hate typing on phone

 

[toad871]

Well, I had to guess on the shock. I figured something was better than nothing, I did NOT want another algae outbreak.

The color has been that way for most of the fill. It took a while to fill from the hose (we're having water pressure issues) but the rain took care of a lot it, so I assumed that brought some algae. If it's due to metals in the water, how is that corrected? We've never had this problem before.

 

[JasonLion]

Don't worry about it until your levels are all balanced. If the green is still there after that then it is most likely metals in the water and there are ways to fix it. But there are several simpler possibilities that will be fixed by simply getting everything in balance.

 

[toad871]

Thanks for the help, I'll work on water balance. In the meantime, here's the big question: is it safe to swim? Tomorrow is the last day of school and the kids will be begging to go in.