Our green monster! oh no!

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AllMar

AllMar

0
Jul 30, 2015
91
Columbus, North Carolina
Hello all, the hubby and I have been reading daily the posts on here and decided to join, because we are sure gonna need help! We just purchased home and this algae pool. Not sure when it was ever used but it still holds what MAY be water. The pump and filter works after a few minor repairs and a spider gasket. We have removed at least 4 wheelbarrow loads of goop and are running pump several hours per day while here working on the house. Ordering test kit tonight. What do we do while we wait for kit? Do we start adding bleach as we have no idea on numbers til kit arrives?
 
if it's a true swamp, being a swamp a few more days won't make a difference. I would wait until you get your kit. use this time to continue to remove as much solid goop as you can. stock up on bleach. lots and lots of bleach. did I mention bleach?

Welcome!
:sun:
 
Welcome to TFP! Congrats on the new pool!

You are off to a good start. The best thing you can do for your pool right now is scoop everything out of the pool. It is much better to scoop it than to try to filter it or chlorinate it. Chlorine needs to be used to kill algae and bacteria and things that can't be scooped out. It takes a lot of bleach to oxidize leaves, sticks and muck.

So scoop stuff and read these when you get tired.
Pool School - ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry
Pool School - SLAM - Shock Level And Maintain
Pool School - Recommended Levels
Pool School - Recommended Pool Chemicals
Pool School - PoolMath
 
Ok so we have worked our way thru the slam and finally passed the OCLT and our cc was .5 this morning however water is still greenish bluish grayish. This is end of week 3 of slam, we have been thru 60 or more gallons of bleach and liquid chlorine. Water just will not clear. Numbers are from tf 100 test kit as follows.. FC 20 CC .5 ph 7.2 CYA 30 TA 100. We purchased DE to help sand filter but 2 days and still cloudy with visibility of about 18 inches at best. Guess we should have drained but I was convinced we could clear it with TFP methods. Any ideas would be greatly accepted and appreciated.


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I know slam is not over til we get to 0 on cc but was so happy to finally get this far. We have a very limited amount of swim time left here in beautiful western NC Foothills. Was so wanting to get the grandson in the pool but looks like we are not gonna make it this year.


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If you are on city water, you probably don't have metals in your water but it might not be a bad idea to take water sample to the pool store and ask them to test for metals in the water.

Try one more night of the OCLT and see what you get.
 
We are on well and I swear every time I top off is seems to get more cloudy again. Hubby thinks I'm crazy because of amount of top off compared to amount in pool but I swear it does.. Also we have gotten at least 20 pennies out with leaf rake/ net. Could that have an effect on the water if there's even more in there?


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I can tell you from my pool experience that metal of any kind, even pennies, can color the water. Especially if the pH got real low at some point. In my case, my water is BLUE. It's a clear BLUE, there's no cloudiness at all.

- - - Updated - - -

It might help if you post some pics of your progress. We might be able to spot something that way.
 
Well water and pennies sounds like metals could be an issue for sure. Take a sample to the pool store and have them test for metals. Disregard the other tests and give us an update on their results.
 
Ok we will take water sample to the dreaded pool store and check for metals. Pennies we have found have been corroded so maybe, no way to know at this point if more are in there but we have cleaned and vacuumed and cleaned some more. I brush daily and have been very committed to trying to save this pool. We are shooting into the dark with all this as we have no clue when it was last used. Thanks for the input so far will try to figure out how to post some pix.. The thing is however it still looks about the same as it did as soon as the initial color change from all the bleach when we began SLAM.
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The orange stuff might be iron. It tends to look that color when it's coming out of solution. At least in my pool it does. Once I got mine clear, I found that if my pH gets too high I start to get staining. But that's a topic for when you get clear.
 
Just for grins you could make up a filter for your top up water. There are many youtube vids about it, but basically it's just a container filled with fiberfill like for quilting. Some folks use a 5 gal bucket. Some just a simple 2liter bottle. Punch a bunch of holes in one end and stuff it full of the fiberfill and then run the hose into it.

Good for collecting all kinds of stuff.
 
Every pool is different, and not sure of your set up but in the picture your water level is quite a bit lower from the deck, more tile showing than mine.
Is your level about halfway up you skimmer, plus or minus?

And in an early post you mention running the pump several hours per day. I would run it much more than several hours for circulation and filtering purposes. You don't mention how often you have had to backflush or how much the pressure is or isn't rising on the filter.


I have never, knock on wood, had to battle algae in 7 years with my pool. So others may want to comment on the pump time issue. I would be running mine 24/7 assuming it wouldn't clog up when I wasn't there.
 
It has been running 24/7 since we got past having to backwash so very much.. First few days was backwashing every 15 mins. Finally got to where it would make it overnite after about 1 1/2 weeks.. So yes for about 2 weeks and a few days it has been 24/7..

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Some metals FYI that may come in handy or help you after your SLAM:
Green right after you add chlorine is an indication of copper in the water. It can be in groundwater (exceedingly rare), but more commonly in some algaecides or mineral systems (Nature2, Frog, etc ).
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If your fill water is from a well, more than likely you have (metals) iron in the water. Iron comes in two forms, particles and dissolved metals. Dissolved metals don't really filter out, they either stay in suspension which is good, or precipitate out and stain your pool and water (especially when FC is increased) which is bad. The only way to remove metals is to drain and refill with metal-free water. Some folks are able to find metal free water and have it delivered, but it is costly. If the water starts to look like coffee, then it requires immediate action.
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Ideally, the more “pre-filtering” of iron you can do to physically remove before treating chemically the better. Some folks have had decent success placing layers of dishrags, paper towels, or pillow batting in the skimmer to catch iron/rust particles. Others place socks or other products over the garden hose as they fill. Other methods have been used such as increasing the FC and/or PH levels to help separate the metal ions and then vacuuming and/or filtering-out the residual metal from the main filter media, but this can be risky if the metal is allowed to rest on the pool surfaces and may cause staining if not watched closely. Your best and most reliable bet is to add sequestrant to the water and replenish it periodically. Sequestrant is a chemical that binds to the iron in the water so that it can't form stains or turn brown. Unfortunately, sequestrant breaks down slowly, you need to add more regularly. ProTeam's Metal Magic and Jack's Magic the Pink Stuff (regular), the Blue Stuff (fresh plaster), and the Purple Stuff (SWG) are some of the top sequestrants.
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I'm concerned that the metals discussion, worthy as it is, is distracting attention from the fact that the pool water is obviously far from clear. Metal certainly can discolor the water, but is not usually characterized by cloudiness, is it? That cloudiness looks like a filtration issue.

A few posts ago you (OP) mentioned using some DE added to the sand filter - did that lead to pressure increases, measured at your gauge?
 

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