Hello, newbie here: Green tint to freshly filled pool

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WeatherNLU

0
Apr 6, 2012
36
New Orleans, LA
Hello everyone, so glad I found a pool forum like this. Really looking forward to getting some expert advice. Have owned this pool for 4 years but I never seem to get it right. Had a 4 foot above ground pool at my old house and it was so much easier to take care of.

The problem I have right now is that there is a green tint to the pool water, which is a fresh fill from the water supply....no well or anything like that. This is normal and I can usually shock it out very quickly.

I have begun adding my start up chemicals so here is where I was to start:

FC 2.0
TC 2.0
CC 0.0
pH 7.7
Hardness 120
Alkalinity 50
CYA 10
Copper 0.14
Iron 0.19
Salt 0

Since that test (I only have a kit for pH and FC) I have added my Alk, Calcium and one bag of shock as recommended by my pool place. I added 15 pounds of Alk, 32 pounds of Calcium Hardness and the one bag of shock as per the recommendations.

I do not know how the Alk and Hardness have responded because I do not have a kit to test for them.

Using my crappy TC and pH kit, I got 3.0 on TC and 7.5 pH.

I am thinking it could be the Iron because the pool place was a bit concerned that I had 0.19 reading on Iron from a fresh fill but she said that it should be OK. Their recommended range on Iron is 0-0.3.

Thanks so much for any help.
 
Welcome to TFP!

First thing you need to do is go to pool school - there's a link at the top right of every page here. Second you need to get a good test kit. Here are the ones we recommend: pool-school/pool_test_kit_comparison

We'll help you get that thing looking clear and sparkly and easy to maintain. But you will have to have your own (real) tet kit so you can know why your pool water is doing.

There's a lot to absorb in pool school so red it a few times. But it works!
 
Welcome to TFP!

If your water is a clear transparent green, then don't worry about it right now and deal with it if it doesn't go away in a couple of days (it will probably go away). If it is a cloudy or murky green then shock right away. A clear transparent green can be caused by metals in the water, and generally goes away as the CYA level comes up to normal and things settle down.
 
Thanks linen!

OK, here are my updated numbers.....

FC 0.5
TC 0.5
Salt 400
CH 210
CYA 0
TA 80
pH 7.6

The pool is slowly losing the green tint, but I am shocked at how low the chlorine is. I have used 2 bags of shock, including one more this morning thinking that would be enough to keep the chlorine up. SWG not running yet because they said I should get everything else in line first.

How high do I need to get the chlorine up before doing the stabilizer? At $73.99 for 15 pounds, I do not want to waste stabilizer this year! :)

Thanks!
 
WeatherNLU, look into Taylor 2006 or TFT test kits, best money you can spend is a good test kit! Also Walmart has stabilizer for $14 for 4 lb. bottles. Shock with bleach, much cheaper than bag shock! Pool store is a no no, there are going to kill you in cost! 400 on salt is low, is that right?
 
maxepr1 said:
WeatherNLU, look into Taylor 2006 or TFT test kits, best money you can spend is a good test kit! Also Walmart has stabilizer for $14 for 4 lb. bottles. Shock with bleach, much cheaper than bag shock! Pool store is a no no, there are going to kill you in cost! 400 on salt is low, is that right?
Click to expand...

Hey, thanks! Go Cubs!!! I am a Cubbies fan as well, stinks that they are going to stink again this year! :)

I am slowly learning. Just called my wife and told her to pick up bleach. Definitely need to get me a test kit, I am trying to find a good deal on EBay because this pool has me $600 in already this season! Wow, had no idea Wal-Mart had the stabilizer that cheap, I will definitely check that out.

Yeah, pool store just tried to get me to buy Metal Free because I mentioned the Iron. This store didn't even have the test strips for iron but still wanted me to buy something for it. Yikes! :) The salt is that low because I have not added any yet. Trying to get everything else in line before I do because they told me to do it that way. Can I add the salt now and let the generator start making chlorine?

According to the pool calculator I need to add 181 oz. of bleach, so that's the plan for this afternoon. Is that wrong?
 
First thing I would do is get a test kit. I would buy the TF 100, best $68 dollars you'll spend! Your going to need allot of bleach also! Costco will be your friend for the next process, my friend! After reading pool school on here SEVERAL times, shocking is what is going to get you started! Leave the SWG off and save the energy for now. Your going to have to bring the FC level up HIGH like in the mid 20's and run the filter 24/7 until you can pass an Overnight CL test. Yes it's going to be a LONG year for us Cub fans!
 

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maxepr1 said:
Pool calculator says 20 on the FC for your pool. So where your at now that's 8 gallons and 1 quart of bleach!
Click to expand...

20???? Holy.....

Which link does it say that? That seems incredibly high. I have been reading Pool School but I must have missed that one. My wife is adding 2 96 oz. bottles right now, because that's what it said I needed to get it to 4, which it has as the target for me.

Also adding 5 lbs. of baking soda to get to TA to at least 100. 80 is right on the lower edge....I want to be right in the middle! :)
 
Your pool is green, if you plug in your pool numbers in the calculator scroll down towards the bottom and see the box has normal range and shocking ranges. You have kill the algae, the only way to do is shock high enough to kill the algae.
 
maxepr1 said:
Your pool is green, if you plug in your pool numbers in the calculator scroll down towards the bottom and see the box has normal range and shocking ranges. You have kill the algae, the only way to do is shock high enough to kill the algae.
Click to expand...

See, that's the thing.....it's a very slight greenish blue hue. Definitely not the normal murky green algae color. The pool was just filled 4 days ago, so I doubt it's algae. It's crystal clear, I can see all the way to the bottom, in fact I can see the little imperfections in the plaster on the bottom! I believe that it is the slightly increased iron in the water than normal. How high should I get the FC in order to add the CYA? I have been told (possibly incorrectly) that the CYA will help with the iron problem.
 
WeatherNLU I think is experiencing something other than algae. I have gone through an identical situation the past two startups and it has not been algae.

Iron is the likely culprit, however, in my case, the Taylor iron test returned negative. I believe because it was filtered out rather than turned back into solution.

WeatherNLU, once your pool clears, (mine took about 5-6 days) would you ask the pool store for another iron test. Don't be surprised if it turn out to be zero.
 
Here is a picture just taken of the pool.

2.jpg
 
duraleigh said:
WeatherNLU I think is experiencing something other than algae. I have gone through an identical situation the past two startups and it has not been algae.

Iron is the likely culprit, however, in my case, the Taylor iron test returned negative. I believe because it was filtered out rather than turned back into solution.

WeatherNLU, once your pool clears, (mine took about 5-6 days) would you ask the pool store for another iron test. Don't be surprised if it turn out to be zero.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I think it is the iron. It was 0.19 when it was tested a few days ago right after I filled it. It is slowly working it's way out, my wife just sent me the picture above saying how it is getting bluer and bluer.
 

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