Coating on pool surfaces.

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E

Eastern

0
Jul 10, 2014
66
Greenville, SC
Hello-this is my first post!

My husband and I have just purchased a house with an a vinyl, inground pool. We are complete novices when it comes to pool care and are so happy to have discovered TFP. We have been reading all we can on the site and have a Taylor testing kit ready and waiting. We are moving in tomorrow and will start testing then.

Every time we have visited the house over the past couple of months, the pool has been crystal clear, though we noticed a thin, brownish-orange coating covering some of its surfaces. As a newbie, I wasn't sure what this could be, but thought it might be some of our SC red dirt and sand coating the pool. When we stopped by the house today, the coating was more pronounced. I tried to scratch some of it off the stairs, but it was difficult. So now I'm wondering if this could be some sort of algae. Here are some photos:

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Sorry for the sideways pics. As you can see the water is very clear. Any idea what this is?
 
Butterfly has the right idea.....if it lightens, that will indicate irons organic stains.

Don't jump to a conclusion about remedies, though. Let's identify the stain first and then figure out how to best remove it.
 
Thanks, everyone. I will report the results later when I get them, and will work on my signature, too. We are heading over to the house soon, so I will fell the stains then.

The pool was probably filled from the well, but it can't be sure.

Can a trichlor tab be purchased at a big box store, or will I need to find a pool store?
 
Ack! I just realized that the test kit did not arrive with the rest of my order and won't be here until the middle of next week. Would it be wise to add some bleach to the pool daily until it arrives since I have no idea how efficient our SWG is (and there are five of us compared to the one person living here previously)?

I don't know the capacity of our pool yet, but it is kidney shaped and seems to be of average size.
 
Eastern said:
Thanks, everyone. I will report the results later when I get them, and will work on my signature, too. We are heading over to the house soon, so I will fell the stains then.

The pool was probably filled from the well, but it can't be sure.

Can a trichlor tab be purchased at a big box store, or will I need to find a pool store?
Click to expand...
Trichlor pucks are sold in big buckets at the box stores. I'd snoop around the house a little and see if the old owners left any behind. Pool stores sometimes sell pucks individually wrapped.
 
WELCOME! You are so going to LOVE have a TFP!!!!


It can be bought from Walmart, target, Lowes, ect. You can buy just one if you want to just to test with.

Don't forget to read the ABC of pools! That will teach you SO much! It will take quite a few reads to absorb all of info in it. Don't worry if you feel overwhelmed. It is a LOT to take in.

We love good test kits (check), Pics (Check), nice people (check)!
Kim
 

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I don't have the test kit yet, but I did purchase a trichlor tablet, and it didn't have any effect on the stain. It does feel just a little rough, and is difficult to scratch off even with a fingernail. Dh worked on a small part of it with a brush for awhile, and it lightened the color just a a little.

That's all the info I have for now. I will update in a few days with test results.

On another note, can anyone tell me how a pool light is usually turned on? We can't seem to find a switch anywhere,lol.
 
I have an unrelated but somewhat urgent question today, and I understand that we are to keep all our questions in one thread.

Yesterday while I was away from home, and the Polaris was running, the PVC connector where the Polaris pipe comes out of the ground to connect with the filter broke, and for many hours water from the pool drained out onto the ground (well exploded, really). We lost several inches of water!

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So my first question is: can I just refill the pool with water from my well, and the second, of course, is how do I fix the pipe? My teen son works with PVC pipe often for various projects, so he thinks he can fix it, but I imagine we'll need special parts.

I apologize for not adding equipment info to my sig yet- we've been crazy with our move. I will do it later today when I'm back at home!
 
That doesn't look good you may need to replace that Jandy valve. I think that white adaptor is glued into the 2" ID Jandy valve, if that is the case, I don't think you can save the valve. I could be wrong, maybe those are threads. I'm not sure what is on the other end, it looks Polaris specific, I'd hunt around online for Polaris replacement parts and see if anything looks familiar.
 
I have test result!

FC- .4ppm
CC- .2ppm
pH- 7.6
CYA- 0 (?!!)
TA-70ppm
CA-230ppm

I was able to talk to a wonderful, local pool tech today, who, through texted photos, confirmed that the Jandy valve will need to be replaced, but she won't be out until Thursday. She also found that there was no way to reroute the hose to enable us to use the filter/SWG before the repair, so I'm going to have to use bleach in the meantime. Going to the store tonight. Any advice on the amount to add based on tests would be gratefully accepted!

Re the staining, we have noticed a very strong iron taste in the water since moving in, so I wonder if that is the culprit.
 
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