How to use 'Drop Down'

[ostarling]

I have been battling an algae problem for the past three weeks.
I do not know anything about pools except how to swim in them

Anyway, I have been going along with everything the pool store tells me to do. We have added alkalinity, stabilizer, muratic acid, some type of metal something another. Our pool turns green right after we shock it. The next day it is back to clear. They tested for all the metals and can't figure it out.

The state of affairs right now is that our pool is not green but is very cloudy. Last Friday I added 'Drop Down' to get the dead algae to the bottom of the pool. I could see some stuff at the bottom of the pool but the pool is so cloudy that I can't vaccum it all up (in the deep end). The pool store told me to try the 'Drop Down' again. Maybe I'm not adding it correctly. Here is what I did:

1. Turned the filter to recirculate
2. Poured the bottle (24 ounces (8 ozs. per 10,000 gallons))around the perimeter of the pool (should I have diluted it in a bucket of water first?)
3. Let the pump run for 1 1/2 hours
4. Turned the pool off overnight.
5. Next day began to vaccum to waste

As I said - I can vaccum the shallow end just find. I can see a brown spot in the deep end but I can't vaccum it completely b/c I can't see the bottom.

 

[JasonLion]

Could you post a complete set of water test results and tell us in more detail how the water looks (color or tint to the water? how deep can you see?) A green color that happens for a limited time right after adding chlorine is often copper in the water, but that wouldn't cause the cloudiness.

 

[ostarling]

Sunday morning I added 3 gallons of chlorine.
Sunday about 3 pm I had the pool water tested:

Free Chlorine: 4.0
pH: 7.4
Alkalinity: 125
Calcium: 225
Stablizer: 50

They tested for copper and did not find any. They did find some metal activity so we added something. Sorry I can't be more specific. When they tested the water Sunday whatever we added fixed the metal problem.

So, the pool was cloudy white. I caould see the bottom of the shallow end but not real clearly. I could not see the bottom of the deep end.
When I added the chlorine Sunday morning at 8 am when we got back around 11 am the pool was a light shade of green.

I took my digital camera to them and showed them before and after pictures. They said try the 'Drop Down' again. I was wondering maybe I added the 'Drop Down' incorrectly the first time.

The pool is no longer green today just really cloudy.
We did start this project with clumps of green algae and now that is all cleared up (I think). I just want to see the bottom of my pool.

Does that help? If not I will post pictures when I get home tonight.

 

[Guest]

) A green color that happens for a limited time right after adding chlorine is often copper in the water, but that wouldn't cause the cloudiness.

If the pool has a blue finish then iron, which colors the water yellow after shocking, could make the water look green in conjunctin with the blue pool surface.

If you put in a metal sequesterant to combat what I suspect is iron then it might make the water cloudy. Floc (drop down) won't really help in this case. If you could post a FULL set of test resutls including the results of the metal tests it would be helpful.

 

[duraleigh]

ostarling,

Yeah, don't worry if you applied the drop down incorrectly (which you really can't, btw) because it won't help in your case.

As Jasonlion and waterbear said, another full set of test results will be helpful and I bet waterbear's right....iron may be the culprit.

Before you can get your pool fixed correctly, you've got to identify the problem and it sure sounds like iron or copper is the culprit with copper being a very long shot since they tested for it..........that said, their test could be wrong.