Water issues, tried a partial drain and fill

[kenbaumx]

Hi, I'm new here. I bought a Taylor K-2006 several weeks ago and started testing my pool. I found that my CYA was off the charts. So yesterday, I decided to do a partial drain and fill. I replaced half of my water with well water. When I started re-filling, I notice my blue liner was no longer blue, it was now green. I have a water softener, but I turned it off when I started filling. I did this because my CH was low, so I thought I would solve that problem by filling my pool with hard water. When I noticed the green liner, I immediately turned my water softener back on. I estimate that I only put 300 gallons of hard water in at that time. So the remainder of the pool was filled with soft water. Now my water looks green, but I'm guessing it's actually yellow/brown due to iron in my well water.

Here are the readings before my partial refill:

CYA 128 ppm
PH 7.6
FC 11 ppm
CC 0 ppm
TA 130 ppm
CH 50 ppm

Here are the reading after my partial refill:

CYA 80 ppm (no sunlight today to do test, so I'm not sure if this reading is accurate)
PH 7.6
FC 5.5 ppm
CC 0 ppm
TA 140 ppm
CH 50 ppm

So do I have iron in my pool now? Is this water color change possible due to iron if I only put about 300 gallons in it?
Or is this algae? When I take a water sample, it looks really clear in my sample bottle.

I'm running my pump now and plan to run it all night. I'm afraid to add anything to this pool until I get some advise from this forum.

My wife is upset... She told me to not mess with her pool!!!

Thanks.

 

[tim5055]

Welcome to TFP!

I'm going to guess iron. Blue liner and yellowish iron = green looking pool.

Rather than retype a bunch of stuff, I will just quote Richard

Welcome!

Look at pictures in these threads and see if you don't get inspired. If you do, do what they did.
A Tale of Two Filters... and Ugly, Rusty Water.
Just got Taylor-2006 Test Kit. Want to verify what I should add.
Results of first TF-100 test ran on fill water - Page 2

Let the pH and FC stay on the high end and grab as much precipitate as you can, and then add a metal sequestrant to deal with the leftovers.

Check out the links to homemade iron filters.

 

[aasbury]

Your wife is right. Never bother a pool that is working...regardless of care methods used. I have turned sparkling water brown and green on 2 occasions trying to "tweak". Happy wife and kids swimming in clear water trumps any method of pool care.

 

[duraleigh]

The good news is that there is a good chance the iron from your well precipitated out as a solid and has been captured in your filter.....never to return.

Refill with that softened water......you will never regret that

 

[tim5055]

Your wife is right. Never bother a pool that is working...regardless of care methods used. I have turned sparkling water brown and green on 2 occasions trying to "tweak". Happy wife and kids swimming in clear water trumps any method of pool care.

while I can agree with the sentiment, a high CYA pool is an algae bloom just waiting to happen - and always just before a party with lots of folks invited.

 

[kenbaumx]

Thank you for all your responses. I am really surprised that it turned so fast, only after 300 gallons. I wouldn't think that algae would form that fast either. Also, when I opened my pool this spring, I filled it with my well water, but it was going through my softener. I never had issues with my well water, but I never tried turning off my softener. Lesson learned!! So do I need to add anything to work the iron out, or just keep the pump running 24x7? I already put paper towels in the strainer and we will see if that trick will work. I have a cartridge filter and I will clean that in the morning.

 

[kenbaumx]

After the paper towels were in the strainer for 30 minutes, they are already turning brown. I replaced them and I will just keep doing this all day tomorrow. I'll also clean my cartridge filter in the morning. Since I only put 300 gallons in and I could always see the bottom, maybe it won't take too many days to clear this up. I showed my wife the brown paper towels and she didn't say much. When the bottom of the pool is blue again, then maybe I'll be out of the doghouse.

One question though, should I add chlorine now, or wait until I get this iron cleared out? The chlorine level is on the edge of low at the moment.

 

[tim5055]

Higher pH & FC tend to bring metals out of solution, so yes bring it up.

 

[Casey]

while I can agree with the sentiment, a high CYA pool is an algae bloom just waiting to happen - and always just before a party with lots of folks invited.

I agree with Tim on this. Sometimes even if it doesn't look broken, it is and it needs tended too. Especially when test results confirm there is a problem on the horizon.

 

[kenbaumx]

Woke up to a blue pool this morning! You guys rock! Thank you so much for your advise! My wife is happy now, which is the most important result I can achieve.

 

[tim5055]

Woke up to a blue pool this morning! You guys rock! Thank you so much for your advise! My wife is happy now, which is the most important result I can achieve.

Great! I would keep the towels in there for a little while to see if you keep capturing iron.