Water turns green after swimmin

[302harrison]

When my hubby was taking care of the pool using the pool store, I would notice it would turn greenish after the kids had been in it. Once I found Pool School, I shocked it, and it began looking a good bit better. Not crystal clear, but very clear in the shallow end and just slightly cloudy in the deep. The kids swam today, and it turned greenish afterwards again. Didn't do an FC loss test last night, but did two in a row earlier in the week, and the water passed. The loss was one the second time. Does this mean I may have algae again? Also, I have kept my chlorine levels up above 10 because my CYA is 80-100. But I took the water to a couple of different pool stores when buying some muriatic acid, and their chlorine tests showed 4 and 6, when mine was showing 10.5. Could my test be wrong and theirs right, in which case the chlorine is too low for my CYA level? I'm doing the test as directed.

levels:
FC 10.5
CYA 80(my reading)-100 (both pool stores)
TA 100
PH 7.8

 

[302harrison]

Update: I had not tested the water since this morning, and the FC is now 5.5. Should I bring it up to shock level because of the greenish tint, or just get it back up above ten?

 

[woodyp]

What test kit are YOU using? If it's a fas-dpd like we recommend, go with your results. Kids could have stirred up some almost dormant green monster in the deep end is my guess. I'd check it again..........but there is no......"Magic Hey You Got Algae" test. Green is green and treat it accordingly (SLAM). Ask the kiddos if the bottom is slick in the deep end.

 

[302harrison]

I'm using the TF 100. I just walked out and looked again, and there appears to be a greenish tint as I look across the pool, but when I get close to the pool, it goes away and is only cloudy. Could it be the reflection of the trees? There are lots of trees around the pool.

 

[woodyp]

Sure could be......my whole back fence is covered in Carolina Jasmine the legth of the pool about 4 feet away and I've been fooled more than once.

 

[crek31]

OCLT tonight will give you your answer.

 

[Isaac-1]

Also try to lower your pH some, this may be metals showing up in the water. Sudden green tint with high pH and / or high Chlorine is a sign of metals in the water.

 

[duraleigh]

Post a pic of your pool water....that'll be very helpful. Posting more than one would be even better.

 

[302harrison]

Okay, what am I doing wrong? Last night, we went out and when we got home at 11 pm, I did a chlorine test for the overnight test, and it showed zero chlorine. I added two bottles of bleach and went to bed. My son woke me up at 1 am, and I tested again then, and it was 15.5. Tested again this morning at 6 am and got 18. The chlorine went up overnight, with no more being added. Am I doing something wrong with my testing?

I tried to post some pics, but it is telling me that "the image file I tried to attach is not valid." I'll look on the tech help section and see if I can iron that out, because the pics do show the green, which is still there.

 

[302harrison]

Couldn't find anything to help with posting the pic. Can anybody help with that?

 

[Charlie_R]

I use a hosting site, like photobucket, flicker, imageshack, etc, and link the pics into the forum. not hard. All hosting sites have the link set up to just copy/paste into forums.

Actually this may be a better way to do it, as it does reduce the load on the forum server.

 

[302harrison]

Got it. Here they are!

 

[Charlie_R]

Could you add your TF-100 to your sig? Helps to know what kit without having to scroll back through the thread.

That is definitely a case for SLAMing your pool.

The rise in FC could easily be that the bleach hadn't had time to completely mix into the water. Are you running your pump 24/7 now? That is part of the SLAM process, so any additions of bleach can come into contact with as much crud as possible.

I assume city water source.

Best to do a partial drain/refill before starting the SLAM, due to the high CYA, unless you have an SWG not mentioned in your sig. 1/3 drain, refill, test CYA. Repeat as needed to bring CYA to 40-50 ppm. This will reduce the amount of bleach used for SLAMing by quite a margin.

 

[duraleigh]

I don't see "greenish" but I do see the need to SLAM the pool. As Charlie_R suggests, it would be a good idea to lower your CYA by a partial drain first......It'll aid you in the SLAM process and make your pool water much easier to keep crystal clear after that.

read "SLAM - Shock Level And Maintain" in the How To section of Pool School

 

[302harrison]

Do you recommend getting a sump pump, or can I just use the waste setting on my filter to drain? Can I do both 1/3 drain and refills in the same day?

 

[duraleigh]

can I just use the waste setting on my filter to drain? Can I do both 1/3 drain and refills in the same day?

"Waste" is fine but you will uncover your skimmers unless you have a main drain and can pull strictly from it.

Certainly can do both drain/refills in a day but don't rush yourself. I'd do 1/3, refill, let it all circulate, TEST CYA, and then go from there maybe the next day.

 

[techguy]

You are getting some good suggestions here. It simply sounds like you are getting very close to the unmanageable side of high CYA where nothing seems to help and the water is always murky and has that slight green tinge of color.

I second all the suggestions about lowering your CYA.

 

[302harrison]

Update and two questions: We drained 1/3 of the pool today! Felt good to be tackling the CYA issue. It's refilling now, and I'll check the CYA and probably drain some more tomorrow. It looks like a swamp right now. I was brushing, and large clouds of brown stuff lifted from the pool floor. We think maybe that's what was giving the greenish tint to the deep end--all of that stuff settling down there at the bottom.

First question:

What do we do about this? I've read run the filter 24/7 and use a sock skimmer. Anything else?

Second question: Once it refills tonight, do I go ahead and test the chlorine and add some, or wait until after we drain again so that I'm not putting more chlorine in water that's going to drain into the ground near our house?

Thanks everybody for all the great help!!

 

[Charlie_R]

Whatever is in your water causing your issues will wait until you have your CYA at a more comfortable level. This will also reduce the amount of bleach you will go through in the SLAM process.

 

[302harrison]

Thank you, everyone, for the great advice! Got the CYA to a more manageable level and SLAMed it, and our pool is sparkly clear (and has been for a few weeks now.)

Quick question: We are leaving town for a week. How many pucks do we need to put in to keep the chlorine levels up high enough while we're gone? Two? Thanks!!