Persistent yellow water

[Soonerbred]

Here are the particulars:
FC 10
TC 15
PH 7.6
TA 90
CYA 60
First post and first question. Here is the back story. We bought this house at the end of last season, August. I did not get the pool closed and we have a monster 110 ft oak 12 ft away from the pool. Obviously TONS of leaves in the pool and started with the blackest smelliest swamp I have ever seen, dead squirrels and 1 river rat included. It took me about 6 weeks to get it all cleaned up and the chemistry pretty good with the water, somewhere near 40 trash bags full of leaves with roughly 10 leaf vacuum dumpings per bag. I have been dedicated! Here is my problem, the water once it cleared up is yellow. It sparkles just like any pool I have ever seen and the water is CRYSTAL clear. The local pool store says it could be pollen but I see no particulate matter either on the surface or on the bottom when I vacuum to waste. Could this pollen be still suspended? I have had the chemistry "right" for nearly a month with elevated chlorine levels in case this was an algae of some kind. The liner is not stained that I can determine but I can't get this yellow out! Please help! I don't know if I can hear my 4 year old daughter tell me again that I "forgot to make the water blue today daddy"!

Thanks in advance.

Boomer Sooner!

 

[johnfromphilly]

I am new to this but to get you started it looks like your pool chemistry is not "right". With your FC @ 10 and TC @ 15 that means your CC (combined Chlorine ) is @ 5 which is too high- it should be .5 or less.

From the pool school:
CC - Combined Chlorine

Combined chlorine is an intermediate breakdown product created in the process of sanitizing the pool. CC causes the "chlorine" smell many people associate with chlorine pools. If CC is above 0.5, you should shock your pool. CC indicates that there is something in the water that the FC is in the process of breaking down.

Read up on pool chemistry on the Pool School (top right of this page) and that should get you started in the right direction until the pros show up to answer more clearly.

good Luck

 

[JasonLion]

A clear transparent yellow can be iron in the water. Sometimes it will go away if you let the FC level come down and then lower the PH a bit. A better solution is to add a metal sequestrant.

 

[Soonerbred]

Thanks for the advice, I am having to use the calculator method on my test kit as it only goes as high as 5. There is a difference there between the FC and TC but I question whether it is really 5 points. Any brand name suggestions on the sequestrant?

 

[JasonLion]

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. You can also find many other brands with similar products, some of which are noticeably less expensive. Sequestrants based on HEDP, phosphonic acid, or phosphonic acid derivatives are the most effective.

 

[Soonerbred]

It Worked! I have victory over what started as the blackest swamp you can imagine! I will be my daughter's hero! Thanks Jason for the advice. The girl at the pool store had no idea what I was talking about and handed me a bottle of sequestrant I purchased and went home. I didn't fully read the directions until it was in the pool but the bottle only treated 10K gallons so it didn't work and I felt stupid. I went back and bought enough to treat my nearly 30K gallons and 2 days later it is perfect. Stains are lighter too. Thanks again Jason. Also is this something I can expect based on our tap water here or is this the result of something else?

You're the man making me the man!

Boomer Sooner

 

[JasonLion]

Iron almost always comes from the fill water. It is very common in some parts of the country.

Remember that sequestrant requires regular maintenance doses or the problem will come back.

 

[Soonerbred]

Well Jason it did come back, literally overnight. We swam yesterday and I told my wife that the water looks a little less clear today and we decided to go to the pool store and get some more metal out to add today. Woke up this morning and very yellow pool. Went to the store got the stuff and added it to the pool and it cleared back up in an hour and a half. I am about to get this down!