Filled pool with well water - water is clear but a few new questions

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J

jessman1128

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Jun 20, 2018
47
Galesburg, MI
Hello. I'm just about ready to put up our AG 16' x 48" pool. We are in a suburban area and have a private well. I received my TF-100 test kit in the mail the other day. Haven't opened it yet, but I'm thinking I should do some testing of our water before I start filling the pool. Should I do all of the tests in the TF-100? Is there anything else I need to get tested that the TF-100 doesn't do?
 
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Re: Filling pool with well water soon - need advice

Test the pH, TA, and CH of the fill water. No need to do CYA as it is zero until you add it.

I would suggest getting the fill water tested for metals since it is well water. Most pool stores will test for iron and copper.

Take care.
 
Re: Filling pool with well water soon - need advice

Thanks, Marty! I tested the water from our hose this morning.

pH: 7.2
CH: A healthy pink. No idea of the level. I missed the step of adding the R-0012 until it turns blue, so I'll have to repeat this one tonight.
TA: 320

I'm looking into testing for metals at some area stores.
 
Re: Filling pool with well water soon - need advice

Well, with that fill water, have lots (I mean several gallons) of muriatic acid on hand when you fill. Your pH is much lower than I thought it would be with that TA, but with any aeration, the pH will rise. You will then add MA to lower pH back to 7.2, repeat. The high TA will have a consistent push on the pH higher.
 
Re: Filling pool with well water soon - need advice

After filling pool from a well for the past several years I found the easiest way to keep it from turning brown or some other funky color from the chlorine. Fill pool and adjust ph. Let filter run for a few days before adding chlorine. I slowly brought up chlorine levels over a few days. If I followed this it never changed colors on me..
 
Re: Filling pool with well water soon - need advice

Thanks, Marty!!

Zrock, do you know what causes chlorine to turn the water brown? I've never heard of that. I'm wondering if that happens when one of the other water chem parameters are way out of range.
 
Re: Filling pool with well water soon - need advice

Another way to know if you have iron, is to check inside your house. Are your toilet tanks and shower rusty? Do your white clothes turn orange? Is your landscaping rusty from being watered by a sprinkler system?

If so, chlorine will most likely oxidize the iron, and you will probably get staining and see it in your filtration system. Mine is very obvious, it's bright orange rust coming out of the filter. I've seen it suggested here you can perform a test in a 5 gallon bucket. Add water plus bleach and see if you get a oxidation ( not sure of the dosage).

My pool looked pea soup green. I originally thought it was algae, so I started a slam, only to find out it was iron, not algae. Once I filtered out the iron, I was good to go. (I don't have to top off with well water).

Some use sequestrants. Some fill from a softener, some use a prefilter from Amazon. Some truck iron free water in. Some use a 5 gallon bucket filter. If the ppm is low enough, you can let your regular filtration system clear out the oxidized iron.

So many choices! For me it is simple, I can't backwash, and I stay topped off from mother nature, so once I filtered it out 3 years ago, no more issues. If I had to top off every week, I'd probably have to use a prefilter and sequestrant. Take the time to understand what is happening with the iron, understand the options and good luck.



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Re: Filling pool with well water soon - need advice

Thank you!! I'm fairly certain I don't have to worry about iron in our water. I haven't had our water tested for it yet, but I've never seen even a hint of rust coloring on anything from our water.

I covered the bottom of the pool this morning with water, and in the process of smoothing out the floor wrinkles I discovered a fair amount of water underneath the floor. I found - and patched (or so I thought) - 5 pinholes this morning, so now I need to determine if there's another hole that I missed, or if the patches aren't working.
 

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Re: Filling pool with well water soon - need advice

I filled with well water, but mine did not turn the water brown like that. I have what "looks" like rusts dust on the bottom. So perhaps the same , but mine settled out. Just gonna have to vacuum it up. Or maybe it is something other than iron from the well water. Same thing happened every summer when I would fill my 15foot intex I use to use. I often wondering if running a magnet along the bottom would pick it up. I never tried.
 
Re: Filling pool with well water soon - need advice

mknauss said:
Well, with that fill water, have lots (I mean several gallons) of muriatic acid on hand when you fill. Your pH is much lower than I thought it would be with that TA, but with any aeration, the pH will rise. You will then add MA to lower pH back to 7.2, repeat. The high TA will have a consistent push on the pH higher.
Click to expand...

Muriatic acid doesn't seem to be readily available in my area. Would I be ill-advised to use Clorox Pool & Spa pH Down in its place? It's 93.2% Sodium Bisulfate and 6.8% "Constituents ineffective as a spray adjuvant."

Edit: Disregard. I just found a store that does carry MA.
 
Re: Filling pool with well water soon - need advice

I added my first dose of chlorine and chlorine stabilizer tonight. Intended on checking levels again tonight but ran out of time. Will see how things look in the morning before I head to work. pH was up a tiny bit this evening to 7.3/7.4, but nowhere near high enough to call for adding MA just yet. I do have a couple gallons of MA on hand though.
 
Re: Filling pool with well water soon - need advice

Test readings yesterday evening before adding chlorine:
FC: 0
pH 7.3
TA: 400
CH: 300
CYA: 0

Test readings this morning after adding 21 oz of 12.5% chlorine and a bit of stabilizer last night:
FC: 4.0
pH: 7.5
TA: 280
CH: 275
CYA: 0

I'm not surprised at the CYA reading. I only got 1/3 of the recommended starting amount in the sock, and only part of it has dissolved out of the sock yet. It'll likely be at least a few days before CYA shows up at a noticeable level, or so I assume. My goal is to make sure what's left in the sock gets dissolved out this evening with some help from me, then I'll refill it with the second 1/3 of the overall amount (21 oz).

How often should I expect to be adding chlorine while CYA is low? Every day?
How often do I need to test TA and CH?

Also, we have a SWG, but I read somewhere on this site that it'd be best to wait to add it into the mix until after I get my chlorine levels stabilized, so I'm thinking I'll likely add that in next week sometime.
 
You need to add chlorine every day.

Test TA once a week. CH is not an issue with your pool unless it gets above 400 ppm.
 
mknauss said:
You need to add chlorine every day.

Test TA once a week. CH is not an issue with your pool unless it gets above 400 ppm.
Click to expand...
Ok, thank you! Things are going well with the water so far. pH has been slowly creeping up over the last few days. It registered at 7.8 this morning so I added 8 fl oz of MA to bring it back down. I've been adding chlorine every day, keeping the levels between 1.5 and 4. I've added 14 oz of dry stabilizer so far. Going to add 7 more tonight, and then measure the CYA level tomorrow to see where it is.
 
OK -- your minimum FC you ever record should be no lower than 3 ppm. So you must add each day to account for the loss during the day so when you test your FC is 3 ppm or higher.

- - - Updated - - -

You will then adjust that minimum FC based on your CYA using [FC/CYA][/FC/CYA]
 
mknauss said:
OK -- your minimum FC you ever record should be no lower than 3 ppm. So you must add each day to account for the loss during the day so when you test your FC is 3 ppm or higher.

- - - Updated - - -

You will then adjust that minimum FC based on your CYA using [FC/CYA][/FC/CYA]
Click to expand...

Oh, I didn't realize that! I thought 1 was the minimum. What's the highest acceptable FC level for swimming then? I had FC at 4 at one point late last week and I thought that was getting close to being too-high for swimming. I just found this page though and it recommends FC 3-7 for vinyl, so 7 must be safe for swimming?
 
You can safely swim in a pool with the FC above the minimum and at or below SLAM level based on your CYA. You must also be able to see the bottom of the deep end of the pool.
 
mknauss said:
You can safely swim in a pool with the FC above the minimum and at or below SLAM level based on your CYA. You must also be able to see the bottom of the deep end of the pool.
Click to expand...

Thank you!! I didn't realize there was a relationship between the CYA level and the FC level's safety status, because I didn't realize that the CYA level affects the effectiveness of the chlorine. I just learned that at the 123-ABC page. The water was still crystal clear when I left for work this morning, so no current concerns on that front. I'll keep my FC levels between 3 and 5 until I have a definite reading on the CYA test; after that I'll keep that FC/CYA chart handy.
 

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