Green Ring on Steps & hair/white suits turn Green

[Cprtrails]

Hi - I’ve been following TF Pool methods and test kit for three years and my water has been crystal clear and never green. I do however notice a green ring at water level on the stairs. My wife keeps complaining of our daughters hair getting a slight green tint and yesterday a guests white top started to get a green tint to it. I bought copper test strips and both times I tested in past year it shows ideal. Pool is 40x20 liner with IC40, DE filter. Photos attached and screenshot of pool levels. FC low at 3 ppm but I just increased cell run time now that we’re in the hottest period. Up until last week it was hovering around 5ppm.

 

[JamesW]

What copper products do you use?

What is the "ideal" level of copper?

 

[JamesW]

Put a vitamin C tablet on a spot.

 

[Cprtrails]

What copper products do you use?

What is the "ideal" level of copper?

No products. I was referring to Algaecide Test Strip kit I bought from Amazon that tests for copper sulfate and copper sulfate pentahydrate. It looks like the scale is in mg/L and ideal range on the scale is 0-1 which is where my water tests.

 

[JamesW]

Put a vitamin C tablet on a spot.

 

[Cprtrails]

Put a vitamin C tablet on a spot.

Scrubbed a spot with a tablet and it did start to clean it.

 

[JamesW]

Stain ID Kit | Jacks Magic

jacksmagic.com

 

[duraleigh]

JamesW had it figured out. It is most surely iron on your steps.

Copper is about the only thing that contributes to green hair so it sounds like you have some dissolved in your pool water

 

[JamesW]

The vitamin C test points to iron, but the color is strange and the location is strange, so I suspect that it is more than just iron.

 

[Cprtrails]

The vitamin C test points to iron, but the color is strange and the location is strange, so I suspect that it is more than just iron.

Thank you both for the replies. I’m going to start with a full test of water on my own and take a sample to two different places to compare results. Once I’m confident in my results I’ll try the stain kit. I couldn’t think of anything copper but completely forgot my Raypack heater has a copper core.

I did have an issue with heater shutting down and whistling last year. After some research I ordered a unitherm governor which apparently is a common issue. It looks like a car thermostat. It had some corrosion on it and heater has been working flawlessly after replacing at start of season. I could see the copper core when I replaced this valve and it was squeaky clean, no corrosion or discoloration.

One thing that has concerned me upon closing the last two seasons was the condition of the anode plug that is integral on the inlet side of the manifold of the heater. Raypack added this a few years ago, prior models didn’t have it and you just used an inline anode. The company that installed my pool equipment installed an inline anode after the pump so I have two anodes. The thing that has bothered me is that the inline anode hasn’t been changed and shows no sign of wear or breaking down however the Raypack anode which I pull off during winterization is always corroded and flaking a lot. It has chunks coming off of it. I believe this anode material lodges in the unitherm valve and corrodes it or cause it to stick. I wonder if this is contributing to metal levels. I guess it’s also possible the water delivered to fill my pool or my tap water has high levels of iron or copper. I had my home water tested before, I’ll have to find the results.