Opening Pool - Added CYA and now everything is back to brownish green!

[3littlecowboys]

I've been working on opening our pool for the past two weeks. Mostly just trying to get all the leaves and pecans out for the first several days and filtering the water! (Pool is under a large pecan tree). Anyway, I'd gotten all the leaves out and the pool was clearing up but still cloudy and couldn't quite see the bottom - I could see a little darkness if there were leaves there but not really the liner. This morning I put some shock in - Just a 1 lb bag. And this afternoon I checked the chemical levels and here's what I got. (I took the water to the pool store because I was out of the CYA reagent. Also, my test says that I had no chlorine).

Here are the pool store's numbers:
Free Chlorine - 0
PH - 7.4
TA -110
CYA - 20
CH - 200
Salt - 2000
Phosphates - 500

My pool is 13' X 26' X 52" (11,400 Gal) - Using a SWG and a 175 lb Sand Filter w/ a 1.5HP pump.

I came home and added 2 gallons of bleach (8.25%). Then added 45 oz of CYA (In a stocking by the return). I kept squeezing the stocking every few minutes to help it dissolve. I went inside for maybe 30-45 min and when I came back out my water had gone from "getting clearer" back to brownish "lake water". Ugh!! What's up with that??

The only other thing that I can think may have done something is that after I added the bleach and the CYA I turned off the pump for about 45 min. and had my husband take the swg cell to have it checked out because my "check cell" light kept coming on. After he got home, we hooked it all back up and turned the pump on. (THEN I went inside for 30 min. and came back to a brown pool.)

Additional info: I was surprised that there was no chlorine in my pool after adding shock this morning - however, I realized later that I didn't have my generator running so it was only filtering and not generating chlorine.

I've also added 2 - 40 lb. bags of salt this evening.
About an hour ago I tested my chlorine and ph levels.

Chlorine was 10 and ph was 4.2.

I added 50 oz. of borax (weight).

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Swampwoman]

I don't think the CYA caused a color change. I think shocking might have. Has your water been tested for iron? If your water has iron, the slamming/shocking process can oxidize the iron, changing your water color in some cases to almost tea-colored. In some cases, much of it will be filtered out by the sand filter over time, and the rest you can sequester with something like jack's magic (pink) if in fact that's what's going on.

However, its kinda hard to tell what's going on at this point.

Have you read pool school, and if so, are you slamming to remain consistently at your shock level? I was confused because you'd mentioned throwing in a bag of shock and then leaving it all day. It went to zero because it wasn't enough...you will have to "stay ahead" of the curve with calculated, timed, and measured additions to sustain the chlorine at shock level or the water will not clear up.

So once you've done that for a few days with the filter running 24/7, and if your water continues to have a yellow or brown color/tinge, test it for iron, start with a metal sequestrant, and keep filtering 24/7 for several days. There are other things you can try if you have iron, but I think the trick is to first just get it clean and clear to determine that you're just not going backwards against algae. Post a picture if you can take one. that would help us.

If in fact you've oxidized iron in the water, there's something called "ferri-tabs" you can try -- google it fr information and see if the discussion on the website sounds like what's happening to you.

Best wishes for "pool patience"

 

[3littlecowboys]

Thank you Swampwoman!

Okay, I'm placing an order now for more R-0013 CYA and for an iron test kit. Hopefully I'll get them soon. (Wish I'd done that a week ago). I've tested my water this morning and here are my new numbers:

Ph - 7.5
FC - 8.5 (last night it was 10 before I went to bed - ran the super chlorinate all night and now I'm down a bit)
CC - 2 (last night it was 2.5)
TA - 90
CH - 160
(Can't test for CYA yet.) Thinking I should just get some cya reagent from the pool store for this week.

 

[JasonLion]

SLAM the pool according to the instructions in the How To section of Pool School. If the brown color persists after the SLAM is complete then you also have metals in the water, though chances are it is related to the cleanup and not metals.

Metals will leave the water clear and transparent, sparkling even, just tinted yellow, green, or brown.

 

[3littlecowboys]

Okay, thank you Jason. I'll keep up the slam for the next few days and repost if necessary.