Pool Still Green After Opening

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Hey, check that binder, maybe it has something about that ion device.

I found my wifes records for everything about our pool even the original design drawings.

I wrote down model numbers and then searched online and actually found some original owners manuals in PDF and downloaded them. Yeah, I get kind of carried away sometimes but funny thing was this year, I needed a few replaceable parts for our skimmer and was able to find the PDF and call the poor store with part numbers I needed.. they were impressed. haha

Of course while I was there they tried to sell me algaecide.. ARGHHH!!!! lolol
 
So I was reading over on Pool School and it talks of looking and noticing the water clarity and color each day. Not sure I could tell what I was looking for. I mean, I was looking at pics of the pool from 2015, 2016, and 2017 and they all look good to me. And the first two years were fine. Had ZERO issues with the pool/water. But last year was nothing but problems all Summer long, algae blooms like every 2 days, hard to hold chlorine, etc. But to me looking at that water (see photo) I would never know there was an issue or that something was off. How the heck do you guys know what to look for when it comes to color and clarity? Is this something you just take notice to over time?

I just saw another post funandsun commented in talking about iron and stuff in his water. He showed a shot of his pool when it supposedly had iron in it and wasn't treated and I thought, looks good and normal to me. But then he showed a pic of it AFTER it was treated and wow, you could see a big difference. Would have ever known otherwise. So yeah, how will I know? I obviously will notice staining, algae.....the obvious. But not sure about color and clarity.

 
It's that sparkle. You have it in that 2016 and 2017 picture but going back to the OP:

quadruple shocked
Click to expand...

What was probably happening is massive additions of CYA along with some FC so that it temporarily looks good (those pictures) but immediately makes the CYA in the FC/CYA ration too high to stay good for very long (1 day). So what the bit in Pool School is talking about is something like the following scenario:

Day 1. Pool looks a little "off" (no sparkle). Test. FC is low for CYA. Raise FC. Pool looks better.
Day 2. Pool doesn't look quite as sparkly? Test. FC has dropped more than expected. We have a problem.

If it looks sparkly every day, and every time you do test the FC loss is about what you would expect, pH is changing as expected you are good to go.

TFP sparkly is crystal clear. Pool looks empty when still. Pool looks like diamonds in a breeze or a float ripple. Like this:

frjYbxs.jpg
 
Ok, gotcha. And yeah, I definitely noticed last year that it did NOT looks sparkly (most of the time) like it did the previous two years. And yup, in those previous two years it most definitely looked empty when calm. Again, last year not so much. I kept wondering what was really going on but every time we'd have our water tested nothing was really off at all, as per the pool store, and nothing was recommended to us to try/do. Which really baffled us cause clearly, in our opinion, SOMETHING was off. Closer to the end of the Summer I decided to start using bleach and whenever I would add it, the water would turn green just briefly. Even told the people at the pool store this and they were just like, that's weird. Not sure what it could be 'cause your levels look good. Grrrrrrrrrrr Was definitely the worst Summer with the pool yet.
 
SummerTimeGirl said:
... I decided to start using bleach and whenever I would add it, the water would turn green just briefly.
Click to expand...
That's metal, copper or iron. You did say you were on a well, right? It's either that or that ion thing. It doesn't matter for now, best to get your test kit, get those numbers straight and then tackle the metals.
 
Yes. But when the metals were tested they were low. But supposedly the stuff we added to the pool to clear it up was supposed to knock those out too. Supposedly. I've already been adding bleach while I wait for the kit to come and it has NOT done that this year so far at all. So fingers crossed that is not an issue anymore.

Mr Bruce said:
That's metal, copper or iron. You did say you were on a well, right? It's either that or that ion thing. It doesn't matter for now, best to get your test kit, get those numbers straight and then tackle the metals.
Click to expand...
 
So this is what the pool looks like today. Sooo much clearer. Yesterday I took the pucks out of the auto feeder and added a gallon of bleach for the day (until the kit comes) as per MrBruce's suggestion. Up until then for several days the chlorine and ph levels had been holding steady. However, I just went out and tested the water and the chlorine was so low that it didn't, or barely did, register on the tube. I then added the gallon of bleach for the day.

Any idea why it's barely there now when it was doing just fine when the pucks were in? I guess I should mention that it rained for several hours yesterday. Maybe that had an impact on it? Oh and, the ph was still good/the same.



 

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Good morning MissBright&Early

as you know the disclaimer goes: Without a proper test kit we can't know for sure LOLOLOL I knew you would LOVE that!

My guess is that your CYA to FC ratio needs to be dialed in and once we know your accurate level of CYA your FC "should" hold better. Typically for me, I lose 1.5-2ppm FC daily. I made it through last year adding 5ppm every other day and it sparkled and rocked all year with no problems at all.

And, yes as for "how will you know"... I think this whole process just gets us that much more in tune with our pools, the liners et all and then we start to very quickly recognize when something is not right.

My wife and I thought/assumed that our pool liner was faded and we had been planning on replacing the liner. We inaccurately thought that our poor treatment and radical spikes over the years of dumping 4 gallons of 12.5% Chlorine at a single time 2 times a day had just damaged our liner and we accepted that live and learn we won't do that again.

But then I read about iron and when I had to replace that motor last year I remembered that the thing looked like a victim out of Aliens movie and had erupted from the inside with rust and everything around the fittings. At some point it clicked, hey that may be iron. So then I went down the route as I posted and imagine our thrilled surprise when it came out as good as it did.

Now if you look at pics from this year, I can see already that over the winter that iron has fallen out of solution again and once I am clear, I will go right into another treatment (I already have another bottle ready to go for this year).

So, you will just know because it's yours and you are taking ownership.. kind of like your car or your home, you recognize imperfections however someone walking by may not even see it. Kind of like that.
 
LOL Yeah, although I don't work I still get up bright and early every morning with my husband before he leaves for work.

So anxious to test this CYA level. I'm hoping this test kit comes sooner than Monday but not holding my breath.

LOL @ the motor looking like something out of the Aliens movie. I swear I was shocked at the difference in your two photos. I totally thought the first one looked great! LOL Shows you how much I know.

I imagine soon enough we'll need to replace our liner as I KNOW it is faded big time. The pool was built in 2004 and I believe the liner is the original but not sure (how long do those things usually last anyway?). In our pool house/shed there is a box with a piece of the liner in it and it is REALLY dark blue compared to what the pool looks like. LOL
 
Well, can be hard to say.. you know.. it is possible that your pool has a blanket of copper or whatever coating it. Here is a progression of why it jumped out at me. Last year when I got the pool clear but before treatment I was just so happy to have accomplished that. Then I made the mistake of looking through old photos on my phone and found previous pics of the pool. I downloaded them to my pc and started comparing side by side. I noticed something right away. I am sure you will too.

Aug 2015 (took us that long from opening in May following pool store and guess strips to get it dailed in)
8_1_2015 pool.jpg

June 2016 Opened(mid April), it got better faster, was still using guess strips and pool testing/advice and it did not stay this clear all season

The thing to notice here is, the staining, there is like a clean path right down the middle. See it?
6_21_2016 pool.jpg

June 23 2017 (23 days after Opening and had been clear for 3 days already) Now that staining is mostly all over the shallow end or darkest in the shallow end and the steps were basically orange and it would not scrub off. It was very obvious something was not right when you were right on top of it.
6_23_2017 pool.jpg

It was comparing side by side that really drew my eye.. because I thought IF I got the water clear like this, then what else can I do to really improve it. More.. I want MOOOORE! lolol
 
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Hey fun (or anyone) I have a question, and I hope you don't mind that I used your pic but I actually have none showing my entire pool and since yours is similar, I figured I could just use it. Anyway, I was wondering if you could tell me the best way to aim our return jets.

In our pool, the skimmer is in middle of the pool (marked with the circle) and there are two returns at the deep end and two at the shallow end as marked with the squares in the pic. Right now the people who opened our pool have the two yellow ones aiming kinda towards the middle of the pool and breaking the surface. The back two, on the same side as the skimmer, are sorta facing towards the middle of the pool but downward and not breaking the surface. Hope that makes sense. LOL

Anyway, should I leave them as is or readjust? Does it matter much?

 
You know... you can certainly experiment with them. Let me ask this... do you have areas where dirt finds a place to just sit? Like on mine and I will use the same pic.

The yellow lines are where my jets are pointed, the red box is my skimmer and the green circle in that corner is where my dead spot is. easy enough, but it is where all my leaves and dirt end up.

Jets and skimmer.jpg
 
If anything accumulates it's usually in the deep end in the corners right below where those two deep end jets are. I was always told aim the ones at the deep end towards the bottom to circulate anything that was down there, up and out. But to be honest, I can't see our motor/return jets being powerful enough to do so. But who knows.
 
Yeah, you could turn them all in a direction to create a whirlpool, that would be fun! haha All you can do with that is really experiment and see what you prefer. I worry more about the top floaty junk leaves et all finding their way into the skimmer basket. When I replaced our motor, I petitioned the wife for a Variable Speed pump and she let me have it, so during normal maintenance, I have the speed pick up at 6am through 10am and with the jets the way they are, everything on the top of the water gets into the skimmer, so when she wakes up and looks out our bathroom window which overlooks the pool, her first impression is a good one because the top of the water is clear.

Yes, I am welllllll trained! lol

And now that I have a pool vacuum head that I can't talk enough about it and I can get the hose primed by myself, vacuuming the pool is fun and effective, so I do it pretty often.

But have fun with it... Beat the Pool! lol
 

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