swamp battle!!

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E

eden

0
Aug 24, 2016
13
North Richland Hills, Texas
Hi. I finally registered but I've been trolling for quite some time. I can usually find the information I need in other posts and this forum is awesome. However, I'm feeling a bit frustrated right now and must be doing something wrong. Everything was working so well until about 10 days ago. I'll spare you all the history and just start off with where I am now. Pool is a deep green swamp. Can't see the bottom. It's been this way for the past week but I seriously started to work on it Monday. I've been following the SLAM instructions and here are my current numbers:
FC 12
CC .5
PH 8.2 after SLAM 7.4 at the start
TA 80
CYA 30
Pump running 24/7
working out my "tank top muscles" with all the brushing and vacuuming
48 plus hours later, it is just as green as when I started.
Help!!!!
 
It's cloudy and murky looking. I took off on Monday to test, retest, brush, etc. Otherwise I work on it in the morning and the evening, so, twice a day. I've had FC up to 14 and it hasn't gone below 9. There has been no change at all in the water. I cleaned the filter before I started.....I'm just at a loss.......I have not added anything else....
 
Try this for me and see if you can do it:

-Test and dose with first cup of coffee

-test and dose as soon as you get home and take off your shoes

-test and dose right after dinner with a glass of wine

-test and dose right before bed

This will be 4 times instead of 2 and might help speed it up some.

Another thing you can do is take a picture of the pool looking down at the steps every day and post it here. Your eyes will not see the change but the pictures will show it to you and us.

It works. It can take a while but it works! Keep it up and it will be easy once you get done.

:kim:
 
eden said:
The chlorine isn't in a free fall. I'm only dropping 1 or 2 points, max. I just tested and my FC only dropped .5 overnight. I will take and post a pic as soon as the sun comes up.
Click to expand...
Please post pictures.

It's quite peculiar that with a 'green swamp' you only have a CC of 0.5ppm & only lose 1 or 2ppm over 12 hours or so (testing 2X a day).
 
Swamp 08_25_16.jpg

So, here is the swamp. The sun was "almost" up when I took this, lighting not the best. If I really stretch my imagination and hope I could almost say that maybe there was a slight change in the hue this morning but it would be a real stretch..........
There is a lot of shade over the pool - you can probably see the reflection of the trees in the water. The entire pool is never in full sun all at once. It was cloudy/rainy last week which didn't help my situation, I'm sure. I would feel a lot more hopeful IF the chlorine levels were dropping but they are staying pretty steady. Hence, the mystery. I'm stumped!!
 

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When you brush, can you see algae 'poof' up and cloud the water? Those pictures, albeit green, look like the water is somewhat clear......

Do you fill from a well, or use algaecide or mineral packs?
 
I was seeing algae poof up. I can't see the bottom so it's become more difficult to tell. I no longer have the layer of algae on my tanning ledge like I did a week or so ago. No well water, no algaecide or mineral packs. Only 3 things have gone into my pool since the new plaster in April - 1: Concentrated chlorine bleach, 8.25%, Aldi brand 2:MA 3: A small amount of baking soda, 1 time. That is all I've needed and it had been crystal clear, beautiful!! We had a 12 day stretch of 100+ degree days and the water warmed up to about 86/87 degrees - that is the warmest it has been and it seems like it started to go downhill toward the end of that heat stretch and I just haven't been able to recover. I don't have a heater, I read the irons/metal thread and it just doesn't seem to fit but I am open to anything/everything because the SLAM, brush, vacuum, test doesn't seem to be touching it. Granted, I was not as diligent as I should have been prior to Monday (72 hours ago). I did take a "vacation" day to work on the pool all day - SLAM, test, brush, etc. Once I got the chlorine up to SLAM level it did not drop the entire day, has only been dropping .5 - 1 overnight. arrrrggghhh!!!!
 
Interesting thread. I'm not familiar with the N. Richland Hills area, but you might still want to take a water sample (from your garden hose not the pool) to the pool store just to see if they show any iron in the water. Even some municipalities have elevated iron levels. Once you elevated your FC to combat the algae, it may have reacted with the iron "IF" that's even an issue (not saying it is yet). But it would be nice to rule it out.

In the meantime, I'm hoping the recent color changes are a positive sign it's just an algae issue, so continue to maintain the FC of 12 based on your CYA of 30 and we'll try to help you figure this one out.
 
I will take a garden hose water sample to the pool store and see what shows up there. The only other thing I'm wondering is if it's my pump or filter? I'm thinking if the pump weren't working, I would know that right away. It is a bit on the older side but seems to be chugging away like it always does. The filter cartridge is about a year old and hasn't been used too much, I was rotating it with the old one and finally got rid of the old one after the new plaster when I decided it wasn't worth the effort to get all of the "blue" out of the old filter. Been using the new one since then. Thorough clean and MA/TSP soak several times over the past few weeks with the last one Monday morning as I was preparing for my full time diligence. The filter housing needs to be replaced - the needle fell off of the pressure gauge but I can still get a good estimate based on where the center "pin" is. The release valve stripped a few years ago and my engineering husband (who passed away about a year ago) - and could fix everything - replaced it with a metal bolt. Not ideal for pressure release but it hasn't been an issue. I don't think any of this should be the cause of my green but want to throw it all out there so we can consider all options. Pressure from the return valves is good - really good - circulation shouldn't be the issue. I was running a Dolphin robot every other day but stopped when I raised the FC. Prior to that, there was some green in the Dolphin bag but not as much as I would expect. There was green running out of the filter during the last cleaning but again, not as much as I would expect. The prior cleaning (about 10 days before) had a lot more green - pea soup colored. The last cleaning, not as much, not as dark. Again, I don't know if any of this is helpful but just trying to give as much information as I can to help get to the bottom of this.

I appreciate all of your help and suggestions!!!
 
Proper water flow is certainly important. If your pump is running properly, there should be good pressure from the return jets as water re-enters the pool. Before the pump, that "pump strainer basket" with the clear lid should be full of water when running. As for the cartridge filter, I have a single cartridge filter that I replace once every couple years or so. But it should never be blue or green. Green would be from algae and blue ... well.. not sure. Maybe from the filter itself unless something was added to the water, but you already said nothing else was added to the water (i.e. algaecide). A TSP soaking is fine, but sometimes a filter just needs to be replaced. When that happens, you can find good prices on-line like on Amazon or INYOPools.com.

The pressure gauge and air relief valve are a bit important. Knowing that the pressure has increased by 25% from when it was lower (clean) tells you it's time to clean the filter. Of course if there is air trapped in the top of the filter housing you have no way to get it out if a bolt is in there.

In the end though, green water from algae is a chemical issue and the best solution is the proper amount of regular/plain bleach. Stick with it and make sure to review the SLAM page once a day to stay fresh on your daily requirements. Hopefully the pool store test for iron will be low to non-existent. You can let us know that later.
 
Hi Eden
Like you I am surprised that your chlorine demand in the pool seems low. Just thought it may pay to recheck your CYA as that test is a little subjective and tricky to do correctly. These instructions helped me with the test


Proper lighting is critical for the CYA test, so you want to test for CYA outside on a bright sunny day. Taylor recommends standing outside with your back to the sun and the view tube in the shade of your body. Use the mixing bottle to combine/gently mix the required amounts of pool water and R-0013 reagent, let sit for 30 seconds, then gently mix again. Then, while holding the skinny tube with the black dot at waist level, begin squirting the mixed solution into the skinny tube. Watch the black dot until it completely disappears. Once it disappears, record the CYA reading. After the first test, you can pour the mixed solution from the skinny view tube back to the mixing bottle, shake, and do the same test a second, third, or fourth time to instill consistency in your technique, become more comfortable with the testing, and validate the CYA reading.


- Some ppl prefer to fill to a line, glance at the dot, fill to the next line, glance etc

You have some of the best mods here posting in your thread, so I am sure they will get your pool back on track asap. And yes hope is always a good thing, but I am sure you will see progress soon :)

Actually on seeing progress, take a photo of your pool at approx the same time daily, looking over your steps. Sometimes you dont notice the day to day change in person, but by comparing the photos you can see changes

 
Greetings, Eden. When you're gone for several hours, are you dosing a bit higher than target so that your FC stays at slam level?

If you aren't, that means you are below slam level much of the day, which will slow you down. Don't go crazy, but see if by adding to about 2 ppm above Slam level it holds til you get home. I suspect that will get things moving.
 

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