New guy. Copper in water

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bac078

Member
Apr 23, 2024
15
Kansas City, MO
Pool Size
36000
Surface
Vinyl
Chlorine
Salt Water Generator
Alright, I am new here and am starting my second season in Kansas City with my pool. I made the awful mistake of opening my pool and using an algeacide with copper in it. Clearly I did know about this forum sooner or I'd have avoided this mistake. Previous test showed 0 PPM copper. Now I am at .5 PPM. When I opened my pool it was greenish brown and pretty bad. I shocked it and it turned milky white. I got pools stored and bought a bunch of unnecessary stuff, to include this stupid algeacide. Once the algeacide went in, the water became green-ish. Before I make the next dumb move, I thought I would ask the question. Is my only option drain and refill? I did my searching and found this to be the best option. Some other forum which I no longer track said to shock after algeacide and it should help. It made it more green.

I bought the TFTest kit but will not be here until tomorrow. But as at least a point of reference. The pool store numbers (I know, trust them lightly) are as follows.

FC - 1.35
TC - 1.89
PH - 7.3
TA - 73
Calc Hardness 189
CYA - 70
Copper - .5
Iron - 0
Phosphates - 273
Salt - 3100

Any advice would be great. If the best thing to do is drain it down some and refill (so as not to slip the liner) that is what i'll do. Im on city water and filling it up last season did not add any metals.
 
Welcome to the forum :wave:

YOur situation is quite saveable :)

Buying a kit is a huge, smart step forward and I suggest you wait 'til it is in your possession to get started.

Meanwhile, can you post a pic of the water.......that is always helpful. If no pic, describe the color and opacity.

Secondly, put about one gallon of plain bleach (no additives or scents) in your pool daily until your kit arrives and you can test.

Post those test results and we'll all help you get your pool crystal clear.

Don't worry about the copper (your new kit will NOT have that test)...............it's fairly easy to fix.
 
IMG_4763.jpeg
This was the pool before the algeacide
You can see that it was milky, white, here is the pool now with the green tint. Still quite murky
 

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Alright. Got my test an hour ago. Results are as follows. Chlorine will be off as I have been adding bleach each day until I got the kit as instructed. So 3 gallons in total over 3 days.

FC 8.5
Ph 7.3
TA 90
CH 100
CYA 75
Salt 3400

Currently raining so pic is hard to tell. But its already much more clear. Still has a green hue. I have been brushing walls and floor 3 times a day in hopes that my filter captures more stuff
 

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bac078 said:
Alright. Got my test an hour ago. Results are as follows. Chlorine will be off as I have been adding bleach each day until I got the kit as instructed. So 3 gallons in total over 3 days.

FC 8.5
Ph 7.3
TA 90
CH 100
CYA 75
Salt 3400

Currently raining so pic is hard to tell. But its already much more clear. Still has a green hue. I have been brushing walls and floor 3 times a day in hopes that my filter captures more stuff
Click to expand...
Everything looks normal, even the chlorine for regular operation. If you are going to slam then, obviously you want to raise that to the appropriate level, which is always rounded up to the nearest 10 so yours is 80

I guess I’d check your calcium hardness again as that’s kind of low for a plaster pool.
 
Bperry said:
Everything looks normal, even the chlorine for regular operation. If you are going to slam then, obviously you want to raise that to the appropriate level, which is always rounded up to the nearest 10 so yours is 80

I guess I’d check your calcium hardness again as that’s kind of low for a plaster pool.
Click to expand...
Its a vinyl liner pool
 

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Based on your test results, I wouldn't change much right now.

Are you simply trying to get your pool completely clear and opened for the season? It appears you are on the right track. FC is a bit high for your CYA but not high enough to worry about.

I would keep FC about 5-7 ppm CH can be adjusted up to 250 but I would do that AFTER I had the pool completely clear.

Run the pump 24/7. Your pool water should show improvement in clarity a little each day. What is your current psi? What is at after you backwash?
 
duraleigh said:
Based on your test results, I wouldn't change much right now.

Are you simply trying to get your pool completely clear and opened for the season? It appears you are on the right track. FC is a bit high for your CYA but not high enough to worry about.

I would keep FC about 5-7 ppm CH can be adjusted up to 250 but I would do that AFTER I had the pool completely clear.

Run the pump 24/7. Your pool water should show improvement in clarity a little each day. What is your current psi? What is at after you backwash?
Click to expand...
Yep. Trying to get it open for the season. Water is at 64, so I have a bit before we brave it. FC is at 7.5 this AM. Been running the pump 24/7, brushing constantly to hopefully stir up this oak pollen thats everywhere here in MO.

PSI on the pump runs at 12-ish. Before and after backwash. I have been backwashing a lot lately just because I just opened it and was trying to filter out and keep my sand as clean as possible. Last night we got 2 1/2 inches of rain so I was backwashing plenty this morning just to also lower my water level.

Also getting some foamy bubbles that dissipate sorta quickly. Didnt have that last year, not sure if that's from the algicide or what, maybe someone can tell me what could be causing that
 

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Bubbles are probably the algaecide. They will subside slowly if you keep your FC right about where it is.

Pool looks cleaner! It looks to me like you will be ready for the OCLT test tomorrow night. Post back if you don't know how.

You may fail, but it will be a good indicator you are getting close.
 
How many algecide bottles have you added ? I don't see one causing any issue. Did you ever use pucks, or any 'Xtra blue' product ?

Leslie's metals tests are off by up to .3 at .3. So 0 to .6 is questionable. That's what they claim to prove how accurate they are. :roll:. I imagine it gets worse without regular calibration.


100 CH is fine for Vinyl with no heater. 👍

Was antifreeze used in the plumbing over winter. Sometimes it foams for a bit after opening. Or do you add any household bleach ? They all have splashless / scents / chloromax technology which are polymers that cause foaming.
 
Yep. Don't know what the heck OCLT test is. But i'd love to learn.

I did two gallons of algeacide. No pucks used but did put about 10oz of Chitosan as a clarifier but used it last year with no issues.

Yes on the antifreeze. It was used to close. And yes, i did put bleach in, made sure it was plain old always save brand with no scents. I did not look for splashless on the label
 
Chlorine test showed no drop in chlorine. Still had some cloudiness in it. Been brushing and stirring the water several times a day and running pump 24/7. Just wasn't capturing the fine silt. I had already deep cleaned my sand so I did the DE into my filter and brushed the entire pool every 3 hour. Holy cow. Huge difference. Pic is the 8 foot deep end

IMG_4845.jpeg
 
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Chlorine test showed no drop in chlorine. Still had some cloudiness in it. Been brushing and stirring the water several times a day and running pump 24/7. Just wasn't capturing the fine silt. I had already deep cleaned my sand so I did the DE into my filter and brushed the entire pool every 3 hour. Holy cow. Huge difference. Pic is the 8 foot deep end
 

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