Help with green tinted pool..please

acuser

0
Jul 1, 2009
12
Great site I hope you guys can get me squared away. Put up a new 24' AG pool this weekend It has a 22" sand filter with a 1.5hp pump Holds appx 13500 gallons. Ok here are the events as best I remember.

SUN: 12:00pm started filling pool
7:eek:opm Had appx 1 foot of water and already has a green tint but can still see bottom.

MON: 3:00pm pool is full still has green water. Its a light army green color. Can use pool brush and can see it
appx 3ft down. Added 2lbs of cal-hyp no color change
3:30pm took water to pool store the only number i came away with was TA 290. Put in 4 gal of muratic
acid. told to return with sample tommorrow.
6:00pm put in 2lbs of cal-hyp

WED 12:00pm had water tested again and was told to put 2more gallons of muratic acid. I mentioned I had
iron stains at home. Put in 1 quart of metal free(phosphate free)
TA 160
CL 4
ph 7.5

Went to wal-mart and bought 5-way test kit a bunch of bleach, some stabilizer and clairifier
tested water the only numbers I remember are CL 0 ph 6.8

Used pool calculator and put 280oz of bleach and 4lbs of stabilizer(I dont have any cya
numbers I thought i read in here somewhere not to test for a week when using granules)
added 15oz of clarifier I know I know that was my own idea lol

THURS 6:30am cl 4 ph7.0 ta 80 ....added 180 oz of bleach. still no color change in water

11:00am cl appx 10 TA 100 ph 7.2 no change in water


OK guys thats where Im at now. I dont know what else to do other than keep the cl at shock level. It looks like if this was alge there would be some sort of change with all the clorine I have put in it. Also wouldnt it be quick to have alge after just 7 hours of filling from my well?

What should I do now. thanks for any advice
 
OK...I'm just curious here...6 gal of MA is an aweful lot of acid, unles you are aerating to conteract the PH drop? Not sure how you are still in the 7 range on your PH with all that acid added in that short period of time?

I would suggest you re-check all your levels with a drop based test kit...chances are your FC is higher than 10 and you are getting a false high reading on your PH as a result...I'm worried about your liner if your PH in reality is below 6.8ph. And from the sound of it, I'm not trusting your pool store advice thus far....TA is the least of your worries...we need to get your PH around 7.2 with your FC level below 10ppm...and then you can start shocking...after your done shocking and clearing the pool...we can worry about your TA....which at this point is probably in range with all that MA added.

Hopefully Jason or Water bear will jump on shortly to give you their expert advice
 
I have my return breaking the surface for some aeration. I mentioned the aeration to the guy at the pool store and he said "I've been to a lot of chemical classes and never heard of that" So I think my best bet is this site.
I am mixing half pool water and tap water when testing for clorine so Im sure its not to accurate.
 
Take it from someone who lowered their TA (me :oops: ) from 300+ to 80, with my contraption you can see in this pic http://s702.photobucket.com/albums/ww30/dmanb2b/?action=view&current=CopyofIMG_1066.jpg aeration raises PH without raising TA...muratic acid lowers TA and PH.

As you can see in the pic...I was a lot more agressive than just breaking the surface, and it took me about a week and 8 gallons of MA :roll: to lower it...the point is that is was a slow process even with all that aeration as I couldn;t let my PH drop below 7.

FYI...it only takes about 1/2 a gallon of ma to drop your PH from 7.8 to 7...and we have the same sized pool...so that why I got really worried about how much acid you added.

My suggestion,( in hope of making sure your liner will be OK and we will worry about shocking later) is to let your FC drop below 10 and then test your PH...also if you really did drop that much acid in, you may consider dumping a box of 20mule team borax, while the FC is dropping.

I hope I am not worrying you to much, but hopefully the experts will chime in soon.

I would be visting the store clerk you spoke to told him he needs to read pool school :hammer:
 
wife has went to get borax in case i need to do that.

Wed evening I had a zero TC I put 280oz bleach and the next morning 180 oz of bleach. Would that be a high enough level of clorine to throw my ph off that much? My test is still showing 7.2 ph
 
it could be...460oz of 6% bleach would raise your FC about 17ppm...what level it is at now depends on how much has been burned off by organics and sunlight. The only way to truly know is beain able to accurately measure your current FC level...also if the mrs is heading out your local walmart or even hardware store or pool store will at least have a drop based PH/CL kit that you could buy for 5-10 dollars to get a more accurate PH reading...but again those are ussually off some when the FC is above 10. By the sound of it...I don;t think your FC is that much over 10 now and the fact your measuring 7.2 is a good thing...I just struggle understanding how it can be at 7.2 with that much MA added in such a short time frame.

I know the test kits I mentioned can seem pricey, but they are worth it and help greatly in keeping the pool water trouble free...I promise you won;t regret having the convenience of being able to test your water and know your getting accurate readings on a daily basis.

Pool stores are notorius for providing inaccurate results...and a lot of time they are done so that they can sell you more chemicals.
 
Can you say more about what the water looks like? Is it a cloudy/murky green? Or a clear transparent green? Or something else?

Also, it would be a big help if you could post a full set of water test results. It is a little tricky to try and figure out what the pool store people thought they were doing without knowing what the water test results are. You post some of the numbers now and then but not enough of them and not frequently enough to really keep track of what is happening.

I agree with dmanb2b, your PH is probably way way too low at this point.
 
Jason the color is a light green, not really transparent I can use the white brush as a reference and it dissapears from view at about three feet.

At what clorine level will my ph test be accurate? I quess I will order a better test than the 5-way I got at wal-mart. In the mean time what do you think I should do. I do have a box of borax now.

test results 3:30 pm

TC >5 (50% dilution TC 4 to 4.5) (3 parts tap water 1 part pool water TC 1 to 1.5)
TA 100
ph 7.2
TH 400
CYA 30
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
duraleigh said:
I am not versed well enough to coach you on metal problems but I think that is your issue rather than chlorine.

I agree that it does sound like you may need more sequestrant.

It would be a big help if you added your pool and equipment specs in your sig.
Go to User Control Panel (upper left under TFP logo) and select Profile, then select Edit sig. :wink:

Welcome to the forum :wave:
 
Thanks for the welcome butterfly. This site is great and I have learned a lot reading pool school.

My pool still has the green. Im taking a sample to a different pool store this morning, hopefully
this store can test for iron.

If this test yields a CC of .5 or less that would mean shocking was done and the green would
definately be metals, is this correct thinking or does it need .5 AND a 1ppm or less fc drop
overnight to be done shocking?
 
My neighbors just put up there new pool a few weeks ago. As we were filling, even at a foot, we could see the green tint also. We filled it up, it was very green, they shocked, & in a few days had a crystal clear water pool. Our city water is very high in iron, & TA. I would suggest some patience. It takes a while for the iron to drop out & get filtered. I'm sure that's what your problem is also. It's easy to get impatient waiting for clear water, but it does get there. If you have a drop test kit, Let the chlorine level back down by itself so you can measure it, so you can get a valid reading on the PH. Get the ph back in range by aerating, & give it some time. Other than maybe CYA, don't add anything more from the pool store & don't believe what they say. It doesn't happen instantly or overnite the first day. When it's clear enough to see the bottom, hook your vacuum up & slowly vac to filter. I start by dropping the vac in the middle of the pool, & pulling it back very slowly as to not stir it up. You'll have to keep an eye on your filter pressure & backwash also. One of these mornings you'll wake up to a clear pool.
 
Thanks for the responses.
You may be right, Im trying to have patience but you would think after four days of clorine I would see some change.

I have some metal out, would it hurt to go ahead and put more in. One store told me it doesnt matter what the clorine level is before putting it in the pool, the other store told me to wait at least 48 hours for the level to come down.

test results were this morning
FC 10
TC 10
CC 0
TA 100
PH 7.4
CH 250
CYA 25
copper 0
Iron...went to the only two pool stores in town and neither had the iron test.....on order
TDS 500
Saturation Index .03
 
My hair is turning greyer :-D

I went ahead and added 1 quart of pro team metal magic and 1/2 quart of regal metal out on friday.
Maybe a little clearer hard to tell.

Read somewhere the FC should be 0 before using the metal out treatment.

Waited until Sunday night FC 0. added 2 quarts of wal-marts hth meatal control. It is now monday morning,
and It is exactly the same :hammer:

I quess I will wait 48 hours and slowly get my FC up to shock level(hopefully my kit will ship today).

Do you think this is the best thing I can do now?

Oh I almost forgot I do have rust stains around my skimmer.

Thanks for everyones help. I will let you know if I ever get it cleared up.
 
Received my fas-dpd today (fast shipping thanks duraleigh)

Did a quick test
FC 2
CC 0

I want to do a overnight test, will FC 2 be a good level or should it be a little higher? Its been 72 hours since I used the two quarts of metal control.

Pool changed color very little if any
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.