Trying to avoid a green pool- please help

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Tugsie77

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Feb 25, 2010
39
Sacramento, CA
We have a Aqua Rite salt system, T-15 cell, about four years old. Had the cell cleaned about 7-10 days ago by a trusted pool service provider. We usually do it ourselves but he was here for something else (removing scale from tiles) and we were lazy. Ever since then I noticed a LOT of "white flecks" in our pool. They seem to be coming out of the pool returns.
This morning I went out to check the salt generator (like I do almost every morning) and the salt level has dropped from 3000 to 2800 in 2-3 days. Also, the check cell light is now flashing. Everything was working fine before the cleaning. Any thoughts/advice??
We leave on a 10 day vacation in a few days and I really don't want to come home to a green pool. I do plan to get in touch with our pool guy but he is off for the holiday weekend.
Thanks everyone, I've always learned a lot here!
 
First of all, have you added any water? Your salt level did not drop if you didn't add water. If water evaporated, it would increase your salt density. So you have to be sure of that reading first. That being said, 200 ppm is not much of a change in salt ppm. The tests are not accurate enough to say that there was a 200 ppm drop, even though your SWG says so.

Secondly you need to re-check that cell. Have a look at it yourself and check for buildup.

Next, post a full set of numbers. If there are issues with your SWG, you may have to find a friend or neighbor to add while you're gone. So you've got a few things to figure out, and just a few days to do it before you're vacation.

Nothing really helpful, but you need to provide numbers. FC, CC, pH, TA, and in your case CH. And a salt level if you have a way to read it other than what your SWG has told you.
 
Thanks for the reply. Here is some additional info that may help:

*no water has been added except through the auto fill.
* pool use has remained consistent, no excessive splash out or big parties.

Here are some numbers:

FC 4.0
PH 7.8
TA 110
CYA 90

Salt reading could not be provided through our local store, they ran out of test strips/solution?? I know those numbers point to the problem a bit. Any suggestions on how to remedy would be appreciated.

I looked at the cell this morning and it had a lot of buildup for being "cleaned" ten days ago. I'll try to post a pic. I cleaned it myself and my SWG salt reading went back to 3000.

image.jpg
 
I can see some buildup still of gunk in there. I would give it another acid bath. Also, your TA is a little high and PH is within range but a tad high too. With a CYA of 90, I would raise the Chlorine up a little to at least 6 ppm. If you get your total alkalinity down to around 70-80 your PH numbers would be much easier to keep in line. Use muriatic acid to slowly get your TA down over a period of at least a week.
 
The mystery is unfolding

I have posted here a couple times in the past few days. I hope I'm not wearing out my welcome. This board has been very helpful to me. Bear with me for one more post, I have a little more info, hopefully someone has had the same issue and knows how to resolve it.

6-13-14. Everything with SWG was working fine. Salt level was 3000
6-14-14 Had a pool service remove buildup from our tile line in both the pool and raised spa. This created a lot of cloudiness/debris for a couple days.
6-19-14 Same guy came out and cleaned the filter and cell.
6-19-14 to 7-3-14 Noticed a lot of white flakes coming out of pool returns.
7-5-14 Salt down to 2600 flashing low salt and check cell
7-5-14 I opened up the cell, a good amount of junk in there. Cleaned it and when I started up SWG again reading went back to 3000.
7-6-14 I turned my filter on manually and a TON of white flakes came out of pool return when the SWG started generating. Salt heading back down to 2800 even after I added about a third of a 40 lb. bag.

So... at first I thought the pool service guy did not clean the cell (but I've known him a while and he is a stand up guy so that didn't make sense.) I
My next suspicion is that all the calcium hardness that was scraped off my tile is now "swimming"around the pool and settling in the cell when the system shuts off. It seems to build quickly and make my cell go into shut down mode once it is sufficiently gunked up.

Has anyone had this happen? Am I on the right/wrong track? What is the solution?

My numbers yesterday were:
FC 4.0
TA 90
PH 7.8
CYA 110

Today my PH is down to 7.6 and FC is at 5.0.
 
Re: The mystery is unfolding

What did the pool service use to clean the tile? What is your current CH level? You should not see flakes coming out of the returns, so you may need to clean and inspect the filter grids and make sure everything is intact. The SWG is plumbed after the filter so the filter should be catching anything suspended in the water. It should not make it into the SWG. If the SWG is creating the flakes that would be another issue.
 
Re: The mystery is unfolding

aussieta said:
your chlorine level is too low for your cya level. Add bleach until you sort out your swg or you will be green soon
Click to expand...

What he said. Same with the SWG being after the filter so the water reaching it should be clean.

And how did you gain 20ppm in a day ??

As for the pool guy, maybe he forgot. Have you called him to ask if there is a chance he didn't get a chance to do it since you were having issues and you pulled it yourself and saw it wasn't that clean ??
 

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Sorry I was relying on memory and reversed the numbers- My first post was accurate...my CYA is 90 and TA is 110.

I finally talked to the pool guy today. He said my filter cartridges are wearing out which is contributing to the problem (he actually did mention this when he cleaned them back on 6-19 but thought we could make it through the summer). Our water is very hard here in Nor-Cal. That, combined with failing cartridges and all the scale that was released when he scraped the tile, seems to have created a perfect storm. When the filter shuts off I can literally see the clumps of scale sitting on the pool steps. I imagine this is exactly what is happening inside the cell when the power is off.

So I do think he cleaned the cell and it just gunked up in a few days. Which is exactly what it will do right around day five of our vacation! Timing is everything.

Do you all think that filters failing in four years is normal?
 
When your pool was blasted all the calcium on the side went right into the water. This is what you are seeing.

When you have the calcium removed from the side of the pool at the water line you should change the water
in the pool, this way the excess calcium is run down the drain. When I have mine done I also have the pool acid
and power washed, then replace the water. This way you have new water with less calcium to collect on the sides of the pool.

Cliff S
 
I would never replace my water after just having the tile blasted. That would be a small amount of CH added to the water and if it is caught be the filter and cleaned/backwashed or vacuumed to waste then it does not stay in the pool anyway.
 
Besides the filter probably not doing its job, the chemical balance seems to be promoting the scaling. I'm guessing the CH level is very high since I have not seen it listed and you will need to keep the pH in the 7.2/7.5 range. Your own test kit will go a long way to help solving your issues.
 
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