I think I screwed up.

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vejadu

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Mar 28, 2007
90
Collierville, TN (near Memphis)
I should have come to y'all first. I didn't realize what I was getting myself into.

I had some staining in my pool probably due to organics, and I used absorbic acid to remove them. I didn't add algaecide to my pool, because I'm BBB and don't need it...or so I thought. That's just one of the many mistakes I made.

Now I'm not sure if my pool is green because:
1. No algaecide and now I have an algae outbreak.
2. PH jump caused by adding too much baking soda on day two, and the PH jump made my stain "re-plate" in the water. (<<---According to pool store.) I didn't use any sequestering agent because I thought those were just for metals.
3. An amazing amount of pollen dropping in the Memphis area. So much that I broke the handle on my sock-lined skimmer basket because of the pressure of all the pollen in the basket. I turned off the pump to get the basket out and yellow pollen started pouring back into the pool from the skimmer area. It was so thick I couldn't even see the skimmer basket. From my searches, I doubt this is what it is. Probably just a coincidence.

The water is clear and light green. Not cloudy. Not slimy. Doesn't smell weird.

The #s:

Before absorbic acid treatment:

FC: >7 (I turned the SWG too high and didn't check for a couple of days.)
Ph: 7.2
TA: 80
CYA 25
(No metals)

Next morning
FC: 0
Ph 6.8
Didn't test for anything else.

Turned on the SWG. I began my spring pump schedule of 8 hours on from 8 AM - 4 PM.
Added 5 lbs. baking soda.

Next morning:
FC: in the morning 1-2 (About had a heart attack! I've never had my FC that low before!)
PH 7.4. Lower that I usually keep it so I added more baking soda 3 lbs.

Afternoon:
FC 3 (I intended to leave the pump on all night, but DH turned it off.
Ph 7.8 I battle low ph so I didn't think this was bad at the time.

Next day:
FC: 1
ph: 7.8
(Told my husband if he turned off the pump again, he could be responsible for balancing the pool from now on. :) )

Next morn.
FC: 5
Ph. 7.8

Afternoon: Pool turned greenish! I tested the pool water, and then took it to the pool store for them to test. Our #s matched. They almost always do. My pool store has good testers and equipment. I figured it must be pollen.
FC: >5 (I said 5, they said 6)
CC: 0
ph. 7.6
CYA: 40 (I had been adding CYA)

Late-afternoon: pool greener. Panic sets in. Call pool store. They had told me to not to super-chlorinate or shock the pool because of the AA, so I called to make sure I couldn't. She said it is probably the stain "re-plating" and not algae, but she couldn't be sure. She said to add the algaecide, some sequesterant, and some non-chlorine shock. I'm going to the pool store today, but before I do, I wanted to check with y'all.

What do y'all think about this treatment, and what is non-chlorine shock? I'm such a BBBer that I don't even know other chemicals besides chlorine, baking soda, borates (never added), cyanuric acid, calcium, muriatic acid and salt.

(Also, the PS was shocked when I said I have NEVER shocked my pool. She was speechless. LOL! I let the chlorine get too high over the winter when I was lazy about shortening the # of hours the pump is on, and the SWG just kept plugging away putting chlorine in the water. That was as close as I ever have ever been to shocking.)

Pool is 26000 gallons, vinyl liner, Zodiac salt chlorinator, cartridge filter.

Thanks for your time!
Kristi
 
Hi Kristi,
A few things are not clear to me.
But first, do not add non chlorine shock.

Baking soda increases TA, Borax is used to increase PH.
What is your current TA?

Your CYA is still too low for an SWG. you want at least 60 ppm.

At what point did you do the AA treatment? First result showed FC of 7, then the next day it was 0 and PH was 6.8. Is this when you did the stain treatment? Did it work? Did you add the sequesterant at that time? Were you using Polyquat 60 as the instructions require?

Did you read the AA instructions for stain removal? It instructs you to leave the PH low at 7.2ish for a week or 2 and not to make drastic raises in PH. Also you want no more than a 2-3 ppm increase in chlorine on a daily basis.

Before you buy anything lets determine what you added so far and what you still need to do.

I assume you need acid to get the PH down to 7.0, sequesterant and Polyquat 60. I'd turn off the SWG for now to get the FC back down to 1-2 while we figure out what's happening.

To determine if the green water is from metals or pollen, you simply turn off the swg and do an overnight loss test. But with so much happening with the AA treatment, you will likely not be able to isolate one or the other as the culprit.
 
vejadu said:
I had some staining in my pool probably due to organics, and I used absorbic acid to remove them. I didn't add algaecide to my pool, because I'm BBB and don't need it...or so I thought.
Click to expand...

On a routine normal maintenance, BBB method doesn't require algaecide. But AA treatments do.

AA treatments are used for metal staining, not organic staining. If the stains are organic, AA wouldn't do much. chlorine removes organic staining.
 
Thanks for your response!

TA: I'll go test.
I didn't read the instructions on TFP first. That was my FIRST mistake.
Added AA when chlorine was 7.
I thought the PH was too low at 7.2 I personally like to keep it higher. I read the instructions, and honestly, I thought that the instructions on the bag were for metal stains only.

I am so mad at myself.
 
It's ok to be mad and frustrated but don't feel too bad. Sometimes making mistakes like this we learn better and won't repeat it! :wink: (at least that's how it went in my own situation when I found TFP.)

Ok, well that's good I expected the TA to be higher. :goodjob:

When a pool store tests for metals, and the stains are already on the pool surface, the metal won't show up on the water tests. Then when an AA treatment is done, the metals are put back 'in solution' via the treatment, and the sequesterant keeps the metals 'in suspension' so that they can't redeposit on the surface, and then the water would test positive.

So if that's what happened in your pool, the spike in PH and the addition of chlorine would turn the water transparent green, especially if you didn't add sequesterant.

Did you determine if the stains were metal, via a Vitamin C tablet, or organic, via a chlorine tablet, before you began the process? Not that it matters now... :wink: But I'm curious, how did you arrive at the decision to do the AA treatment?

In any event we have to help you deal with what you have going on. :)

1. Do you see any staining left behind?

If the answer to question 1 is "no", is the remaining issue now the green tinted water?

If the answer to question 2 is yes, then I suggest you reduce the FC, lower the PH down to 7.2 and add some sequesterant and see if that changes anything.

Are you testing the chlorine with an FAS-DPD test? I would keep the FC at about 2-3 for now, so turn off the swg and let it drift down and then keep the setting/run time lower for about a week. Keep an eye on the FC, it may drop rapidly. If it does, use bleach to bump it back up to 2-3 (use the pool calculator) - the SWG won't be able to produce it fast enough for your needs right now.

Ok, no worries. We'll get this straight and on the road to Trouble-free! :goodjob:
 
I decided to use the AA because I tried a sample on the pool stains and they instantly disappeared. PS store and the bag's description said AA can remove stains from leaves, dirt, etc., along with metal stains. I get a lot of cedar needles in my pool so I thought they may have caused it.
There is no staining left behind.
Yes the issue is the green-tinted water.

I don't use the FAS-DPD. I use the regular test kit with the drops. (I can't think of the name.) I do this only because my pool store uses the FAS DPD along with all the specialized equipment, so I decided to let them do it. I use my test kit and use the pool store's as a back-up. I test for salt myself, because the pool store uses the drops, and I like the test results from the salt test strips.

The pool store people suggested I start over. Specifically:
1.) Keep the chlorine high
2.) Don't mess with the ph
3.) Add absorbic acid again
4.) Add algaecide, Metal-X & clarifier
5.) keep ph low for 2 weeks.
6.) Add chlorine slowly over a few days.

PS thinks this will solve the problem. The BIG differences between what she said and what is written on TFP's pool school are:
1.) Adding the absorbic acid again
2.) keeping chlorine high rather than low at the start of the AA application.
3.) Adding clarifier

So, do I need to add the AA again?

What is Metal-X? I assume it's something similar to Purple Stuff. I looked on the bottle, but there was no ingredient list. I googled and couldn't find anything.

Do I need a clarifier?

Thanks,
Kristi
 
If the only problem at this point is that the water is a clear transparent green, then all you need to do is add some sequestrant. (Metal-X is a sequestrant.)

The water can turn a clear transparent green when there are metals in the water, you add chlorine, and you haven't used enough sequestrant. When the water turns green you are close to a point where the stains could start redepositing on the pool. You have a little time before that happens, but don't do anything that might raise the PH until you have added sequestrant and the water turns clear again.
 

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You need to keep the PH and FC levels low for several days to a week after adding sequestrant. Then for the next week you can slowly ramp up the PH and FC levels, watching closely for problems, until you reach your normal operating levels. Add more sequestrant at the first sign of problems.
 
Very interesting...
I woke up this morning to a clear pool. It did rain quite a bit last night

#s:
Chlorine: 3.0
PH: 7.4

I'm guessing the lowering of the ph and chlorine had something to do with the "great disappearing green tint." Or, is the stain beginning to redeposit on the pool.

Should I continue with my plan of adding the Metal-X to the pool?
 
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