Copper, green hair, & CuLator

[grod001]

New build at the end of last season. Teen daughter’s hair turned green from her first swim yesterday. You’d think a major world crisis just happened.

I’ve never used algaecide in it, but the builder may have when starting it up. We have mostly PEX pipes, so I doubt the copper came from our water, but could be. I’m going to test both the pool and tap for copper levels.

My question is this…. I’m considering using jack’s purple stuff assuming the copper level is the culprit. The further reading article on TFP says something about the resulting sequestered stuff being removed with a filter. I thought I read somewhere that a cartridge filter or something filtering below 10 microns would work, but not sand. Is that true?

I have been working on getting my 22k gallon fiberglass pool’s cya up, just added a bunch of salt, just got the temp above 80 with a heat pump, and would like to avoid having to incrementally drain and replace this season.

I have a pool robot with an ultra fine filter (advertised to 2 microns), so I’m hoping that will filter out what the purple stuff bonds to.

Thanks!

 

[Texas Splash]

Copper doesn't respond to mechanical filtering. Your best bet is to exchange as much water as possible to get rid of it. Periodic use of a sequestrant will end-up costing more than the water exchange.

Do you have a heater? Some have copper cores. A complete list of water testing would help. Please fill out your pool and equipment info. See mine as an example. The info helps us answer your questions.

 

[JamesW]

Can you pull the filter cartridges to show what they look like?

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Green hair can occur for lots of reasons and it may have nothing to do with your pool water. Lots of hair products nowadays contain all sorts of crazy chemicals and your daughters friends may have showered in a place where there are copper pipes. The copper ion gets absorbed into the hair and then when she went swimming in your , BAM!!, the chlorine turns the hair green when it oxidizes the copper.

So don’t be surprised if your pool water shows no copper.

 

[Bperry]

I was going to go say to get the water tested before going and adding any other stuff. Don’t fix a problem that might not be there.

But if you happened to use those Clorox tablets with the “xtra blue” name you know where the copper probably came from)

 

[grod001]

Thanks folks! Signature updated. We do have a heater, but it has a titanium heat exchanger core. Attached is a pic of the Dolphin Sigma Ultra Fine Cartridges.

Here are my latest test results from my taylor kit:

FC 5.2
CYA 40
pH 7.5
TA 80
CH 90

I did a test strip that had copper on it after my initial post today, and the color was maybe 0 to 0.5 ppm, but it was very hard to tell if anything showed up. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07WNJJVKN

Would Leslie's or another store test have a better testing set up for giving an accurate copper reading than the strips I have? And/or what would be the best test for copper that isn't going to "be an investment" (that I probably will never need to use more than once or twice)?

Thanks!

 

[Texas Splash]

Would Leslie's or another store test have a better testing set up for giving an accurate copper reading than the strips I have?

Doubtful.

What filter is that from? Robot?

EDIT - Duh. Dolphin. Ha. Okay. That's your actual cartridge? It's very clean. We wondered if there would be any turquois color staining.

 

[Texas Splash]

Based on everything you're saying thus far, perhaps Matt (@JoyfulNoise) is onto something about it being some other chemical reaction?

 

[Bperry]

Thanks folks! Signature updated. We do have a heater, but it has a titanium heat exchanger core. Attached is a pic of the Dolphin Sigma Ultra Fine Cartridges.

Here are my latest test results from my taylor kit:

FC 5.2
CYA 40
pH 7.5
TA 80
CH 90

I did a test strip that had copper on it after my initial post today, and the color was maybe 0 to 0.5 ppm, but it was very hard to tell if anything showed up. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07WNJJVKN

Would Leslie's or another store test have a better testing set up for giving an accurate copper reading than the strips I have? And/or what would be the best test for copper that isn't going to "be an investment" (that I probably will never need to use more than once or twice)?

Thanks!

Pool store testing for metals is supposed to be somewhat reliable isn’t it?

 

[Texas Splash]

Pool store testing for metals is supposed to be somewhat reliable isn’t it?

It's really hit & miss. It's true that sometimes we recommended an owner let them run a test for metals content, but besides their own testing inconsistencies (just like regular items), the pool's existing water chemistry can skew the results. It's not a perfect method, but it is an option at times.

 

[grod001]

Ah - looking for a pic of my actual robot filters - not the stock pic - got it! The robot is running right now. I’ll get a pic of the actual filters tomorrow.

Better to have the pic when I pull them dirty or after I’ve rinsed them?

 

[IceShadow]

Ah - looking for a pic of my actual robot filters - not the stock pic - got it! The robot is running right now. I’ll get a pic of the actual filters tomorrow.

Better to have the pic when I pull them dirty or after I’ve rinsed them?

Dirty - they’re looking to see if there’s any copper obvious on them.

 

[IceShadow]

Pool store testing for metals is supposed to be somewhat reliable isn’t it?

I don’t think it’s that it’s reliable so much as that there isn’t a good, reasonably priced, accurate home test.

So - at least they MIGHT get it right, and in the absence of the ability to get other data, it’s all that one can go on (unlike other chem levels that have a good way to test with accuracy at home).

 

[Mdragger88]

Pool store testing for metals is supposed to be somewhat reliable isn’t it?

It’s probably better than a strip.

@grod001 have you used anything with the words blue, blu, 4 in 1 etc. in it? Granular chlorine, pucks?

 

[grod001]

It’s probably better than a strip.

@grod001 have you used anything with the words blue, blu, 4 in 1 etc. in it? Granular chlorine, pucks?

None of that stuff myself. I’ve only used liquid chlorine, muriatic acid, and cya. The builder did the initial “startup”, which happened at the end of last season, after sitting uncirculated for a little over a month until the equipment pad was fully live. I know they threw a ton at it to clear it up.

They also opened it last month. I saw them add liquid chlorine and salt, but not sure what else they may have added.

 

[grod001]

Pic of filters attached.

 

[Texas Splash]

To me they look a bit dingy-dirty grey in color, but I'm not seeing any turquois color that is commonly present with a high copper level. Perhaps as noted above it was simply a chemical reaction from someone's hair care product?

 

[Mdragger88]

There was recently another thread that was similar (teen girl- green hair- no obvious pool related cause) other blonde haired family members had no issues. Maybe some new hair product has arrived on the market

 

[JoyfulNoise]

I would not do anything to your pool based on the data provided so far. It is far more likely this girl took a shower somewhere where the pipes were made out of copper and she had the metal in her hair already. Then your pool simply highlighted it. Human hair, especially blonde hair, is incredibly porous and made out of protein fibers. These protein fibers can hold on to metal ions and trap them for very long periods of time. Once her hair hit the chlorinated water, the metal reacted with it and formed the green coloration. I see no evidence that your pool has any copper or iron in it. You can get a pool store test if you want but the results may not be accurate or they may give you results at the very bottom of the range of detection. At that point, it will only be more confusing.

 

[JamesW]

Teen daughter’s hair turned green from her first swim yesterday.

Is the hair blonde?

If yes, it the color natural or dyed?

Can you show a before and after picture of the hair color?

Do you have other swimmers with the same color hair that did not turn green?

Is the color a slight tint or really bright green?