My only question about the iron being in my water - We have had this pool for 4 seasons - this is the 1st time something like this has happened! I have been attributing all the issues to the fact that we left it up this past winter (had a mild one) and of course, lots of yuck got into the pool - but when I opened it Memorial Day weekend - we drained it - I scrubbed everything down with Chlorine and when I filled it back up I did have a milky brown color for some time - so I drained on June 14th - down to around that one inch mark - because I don't know how to get rid of that last 1 inch of water in these Intex pools without taking down the pools and flipping it over, which is what we do when we take it down (sidenote: hoping ot find some help on this forum on how you get ALL the water out of these pools) - Anyways...after refilling it - I just maintained my levels, vacummed it every couple days - didn't add anything other than liquid chlorine and all was fine until this past weekend! I was actually doing a happy dance the weekend o June 29th - because I felt like I had finally conquered the POOL ISSUES - ugh - how sadly I was mistaken. I probably will throw the paper towels in tonight and see what that result is - I can tell you my filter cartridge is black (would that mean iron or copper) - I have been rinsing that every night as well, but I do have concerns that my liner is stained and my tubes are stained and even the inside of my filter is not lookin' too pretty right now - I'm almost ready to drain and put a sign on - take it - and I'll go buy another - ugh!!!
Help! My pool water is brown and I don't know why?
- Thread starter StressedPoolOwner
- Start date
Wouldn't hurt to get a current test on the pool water tested for metals.
I think it is likely since you ph got very high, that the metals precipitated when you added the bolus of chlorine...sort of the perfect storm.
Two approaches here:
1. Using the paper towels as swampwoman suggested, and lowering your ph down to 7.2 (and keeping it low...7.2-7.4), and adding a metal sequestrant (as mentioned in the pool school article link in one of my previous posts), should reduce the tinting and may reverse the staining on your pipes, etc.
2. Drain and refill (don't worry about the little that is hard to get, but you could siphon it out with a hose) and be more vigilant on holding down ph and adding chlorine in the proper amounts daily not as a bolus weekly.
I think it is likely since you ph got very high, that the metals precipitated when you added the bolus of chlorine...sort of the perfect storm.
Two approaches here:
1. Using the paper towels as swampwoman suggested, and lowering your ph down to 7.2 (and keeping it low...7.2-7.4), and adding a metal sequestrant (as mentioned in the pool school article link in one of my previous posts), should reduce the tinting and may reverse the staining on your pipes, etc.
2. Drain and refill (don't worry about the little that is hard to get, but you could siphon it out with a hose) and be more vigilant on holding down ph and adding chlorine in the proper amounts daily not as a bolus weekly.
OK
You are too far away for me to take a look at it. I think your water comes from lake ontario. If so the iron content of it should not be too high
You are too far away for me to take a look at it. I think your water comes from lake ontario. If so the iron content of it should not be too high
Oh bummer danpik - It's funny you mentioned coming to take a look at it - because when I was at the pool store on Monday, I begged (a little exaggerated - lol) the clerk to come and look at it (only because I've been in so much this season, I feel I should add her to my xmas card list - lol) and of course she couldn't. But that is exactly what I am thinking about the iron too - we've had this pool for 4 summers and this is the 1st one that I am having this issue - I've never even had a green pool, let alone, brown. I know in Irondequoit (Irondequoit Bay, dumps into Lake Ontario) our water is hard, but again, never had any issues. I think the metal got into my water from using the Copper Algaecide and even though I emptied it and refilled, I couldn't empty it completely and not doing a better chlorine regimen I messed it up pretty bad this time!
I think my only course of action is to empty and start over! Thanks for the thought of coming to look at it and help me tho!!! The water company will love me - 3 pool fills in only 3 months of summer weather - lol! I do have concern about the staining on the liner and the plastic tubing that goes from the pool to the filter - should I replace the tubing? Thoughts?
I think my only course of action is to empty and start over! Thanks for the thought of coming to look at it and help me tho!!! The water company will love me - 3 pool fills in only 3 months of summer weather - lol! I do have concern about the staining on the liner and the plastic tubing that goes from the pool to the filter - should I replace the tubing? Thoughts?
Stressed, I don't know that it would help, but you *could* post pictures for us. Maybe we'd recognize something about the water...
Maybe - let me see what I do tonight - quick question...I also use Pop Up Portal and it is really hard to upload pics on their forum - is it as hard on this one?
here are some pics! [attachment=2:1fgfniwj]ImageUploadedByTapatalk1342670920.423405.jpg[/attachment:1fgfniwj][attachment=1:1fgfniwj]ImageUploadedByTapatalk1342670973.739617.jpg[/attachment:1fgfniwj][attachment=0:1fgfniwj]ImageUploadedByTapatalk1342670994.170510.jpg[/attachment:1fgfniwj]
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Hi there -- I found the long thread where the pool owner used paper towel ultimately to filter -- here's the link i-may-be-a-chemist-but-the-pool-is-smarter-than-i-am-t44884-20.html
In the pipe, it looks like iron to me, but I've also never seen what precipitated copper looks like either.
Are you on well, or city water? Can you test your fill water? Eg. For iron specifically? Aquarium kits have iron tests, and municipal water facilities can tell you if they've had iron lately (because sometime this happens in the summer even when they don't normally have it.) if you've never had iron in the fill water, it could be copper though I am just not sure what it looks like if copper precipitates -- maybe someone else will chime in.
Either way, the high ph is likely what spawned it, so if you do decide to refill instead of filtering it, keep the ph in
check and consider using a metal sequestrate. Do you normally add a metal sequestrate?
Let us know if you try the paper towel trick what it looks like.
In the pipe, it looks like iron to me, but I've also never seen what precipitated copper looks like either.
Are you on well, or city water? Can you test your fill water? Eg. For iron specifically? Aquarium kits have iron tests, and municipal water facilities can tell you if they've had iron lately (because sometime this happens in the summer even when they don't normally have it.) if you've never had iron in the fill water, it could be copper though I am just not sure what it looks like if copper precipitates -- maybe someone else will chime in.
Either way, the high ph is likely what spawned it, so if you do decide to refill instead of filtering it, keep the ph in
check and consider using a metal sequestrate. Do you normally add a metal sequestrate?
Let us know if you try the paper towel trick what it looks like.
Ps here's another link that show a pic of the paper towels a-tale-of-two-filters-and-ugly-rusty-water-t46130.html
I am late to this thread but if you had a system that was working, I would go back to it. Draining and refilling would probably cost less than $30.00 and may or may not fix the issue but it is an inexpensive attempt.
I is VERY difficult to ever remove iron from your pool once it is in there.....you can only keep it in suspension but that costs money, too.
I is VERY difficult to ever remove iron from your pool once it is in there.....you can only keep it in suspension but that costs money, too.
That looks similar to the out of wack Total Alkalinity problem I had last year. I could shock the pool back to clear but, 24-36 hours later it would look like that again. Got the TA adjusted and within 12-14 hours the pool was crystal clear. Has the pool store checked for this?
Yes DanPik. On Monday all was high - ph, chlorine, alkalinity - they had me ph balancer and on Tuesday...add pool 1st aid - and told me not to add anything else. Tuesday before I added pool 1st aid...everything - according to dipstick testing - was low!
The pool is now drained - will get in tonight and scrub liner after I drain the last inch or so - I just realized that I can hook two hoses to my pump to get the last little bit out!!! I'll keep you all updated on the refill!!!
The pool is now drained - will get in tonight and scrub liner after I drain the last inch or so - I just realized that I can hook two hoses to my pump to get the last little bit out!!! I'll keep you all updated on the refill!!!
Oh my gosh......I just wrote a long post and it deleted the whole thing!
Anyway.........I wanted to let people know that I finally in 4 years have clean, clear, blue water! Not cloudy white or blue-green but clear, clean water. I wanted to share what I did because I know how frustrating it is.
I have a 15x3.5ft Intex pool and well water super high in iron! Everything that happens to you happens to me. We get about 2-3 days with clean water then comes the green and when we add chlorine........bam brown water. I know why......the iron reacts with the chlorine and turns brown. I have tried everything but this time FINALLY I got it right. This is what I did:
I went to the pool store (I know, I know) and was treated like....well, I had a cheap pool and he didn't want to be bothered by me...ha, ha! He did give me a chemical to try for people who have well water......do tell I said. It's called GLB Super Sequa-Sol. He said to drain my pool and use this product first before I add any chlorine. I went home, cleaned and drained the pool (all the way, using a wet vac for the last inch) I then took a 5 gal bucket with lid (home depot) drilled 1/2 inch holes all over it and a 2inch hole on the lid- I took two new pillows and rolled them up and put them in the bucket-I then put on the lid and inserted the hose into the bucket....deep into the pillows and filled my pool. I took out the cheap paper-like filter out of the pump and let the chemical flow unrestricted for 12 hrs....The next day we still had clean water but a few hours later it started turning green and well, you know the routine....then I shocked it and then it turned.......you guessed it .....BROWN! Which made me see RED! I googled to see if anyone this year had figured out a miracle cure and well.....nope! Not to give in I went and bought some Super Iron Out and even though I read not to use it on some of the websites and threads, I thought since I use it in my water softener and we shower with it why not? I put it last year but I still couldn't get the brown color out but it did make the water clear- So this time, still leaving out the cheap filter from the pump, took two washcloths and folded them over once for a total of 4 layers.....I zip tied them on the output of the pump (the one flowing into the pool) and by morning the washcloths were dark brown and my pool......ta da.....clear and blue! ! ! Even touching the washcloths (be careful the dark metal soup will drip off) I could see what I did wrong last year.....I didn't filter the rust after the chemical reaction. Now, I'm not sure if the chemical GLB had anything to do with it or the fact that I used a bucket filter to fill the pool but something worked this time and me and the kids are so happy. I can say to use iron out.....some say not to but it's up to you... So far the pool is still clean and clear after swimming for 2 days...I can't tell you how nice it is to wake up to a crystal blue pool. :-D
Anyway.........I wanted to let people know that I finally in 4 years have clean, clear, blue water! Not cloudy white or blue-green but clear, clean water. I wanted to share what I did because I know how frustrating it is.
I have a 15x3.5ft Intex pool and well water super high in iron! Everything that happens to you happens to me. We get about 2-3 days with clean water then comes the green and when we add chlorine........bam brown water. I know why......the iron reacts with the chlorine and turns brown. I have tried everything but this time FINALLY I got it right. This is what I did:
I went to the pool store (I know, I know) and was treated like....well, I had a cheap pool and he didn't want to be bothered by me...ha, ha! He did give me a chemical to try for people who have well water......do tell I said. It's called GLB Super Sequa-Sol. He said to drain my pool and use this product first before I add any chlorine. I went home, cleaned and drained the pool (all the way, using a wet vac for the last inch) I then took a 5 gal bucket with lid (home depot) drilled 1/2 inch holes all over it and a 2inch hole on the lid- I took two new pillows and rolled them up and put them in the bucket-I then put on the lid and inserted the hose into the bucket....deep into the pillows and filled my pool. I took out the cheap paper-like filter out of the pump and let the chemical flow unrestricted for 12 hrs....The next day we still had clean water but a few hours later it started turning green and well, you know the routine....then I shocked it and then it turned.......you guessed it .....BROWN! Which made me see RED! I googled to see if anyone this year had figured out a miracle cure and well.....nope! Not to give in I went and bought some Super Iron Out and even though I read not to use it on some of the websites and threads, I thought since I use it in my water softener and we shower with it why not? I put it last year but I still couldn't get the brown color out but it did make the water clear- So this time, still leaving out the cheap filter from the pump, took two washcloths and folded them over once for a total of 4 layers.....I zip tied them on the output of the pump (the one flowing into the pool) and by morning the washcloths were dark brown and my pool......ta da.....clear and blue! ! ! Even touching the washcloths (be careful the dark metal soup will drip off) I could see what I did wrong last year.....I didn't filter the rust after the chemical reaction. Now, I'm not sure if the chemical GLB had anything to do with it or the fact that I used a bucket filter to fill the pool but something worked this time and me and the kids are so happy. I can say to use iron out.....some say not to but it's up to you... So far the pool is still clean and clear after swimming for 2 days...I can't tell you how nice it is to wake up to a crystal blue pool. :-D