What the?!?! Failed attempt at Ascorbic Acid Treatment...

[dolemite77]

I opened my pool successfully a couple of months ago. Water was blue and clear, however i had some stains on the wall that would not rub off with a brush but disappeared immediately with a vitamin C tablet. So i bought a 3lb container of ascorbic acid and went to work. I used probably a 1/2 lb of acid, then a 1/4 of a bottle of Jack's Magic Blue Stuff (that's all i had left). The pool has gone downhill real fast. It's toxic GREEN. I did the ascorbic acid treatment almost 2 weeks ago, and it's been green for almost a week now.

Yesterday numbers:
Chlorine level was 0, so i added a couple gallons of bleach and a puck to the skimmer basket.
pH = ~6.8 - 7.0
alk = ~50

Today the chlorine is off the charts (ph an alk are the same), but the pool is still as green as ever. Any ideas on getting my blue pool back?

 

[JasonLion]

Have you added any more sequestrant? I would try adding another bottle of sequestrant, particularly if the original half bottle is all you have used so far..

 

[dolemite77]

you think so? I'd hate to blow 25 bucks and that not be what fixes it. I thought that if you didn't have enough sequestrant, that the stains would just reattach themselves back to the walls.

 

[JasonLion]

There are two possibilities. Either it is algae or it is metals that have precipitated into tiny particles that are coloring the water. The correct sequence is really to do an overnight loss of FC check. If you lose FC overnight then it is algae. If FC holds steady overnight then it is metals in the water. For metals the answer is sequestrant. For algae the answer is chlorine and time for the filter to run.

 

[Guest]

From the picture your pool looks cloudy green and you have a white pool. Ascorbic acid destroys chlorine and it's very difficult to hold chlorine until all the ascorbic acid is oxidixes fo it is not uncommon for an algae outbreak. I am going to assume you stains were yellow to brown which would indicate iron (which responds readily to ascorbic acid) so if your water was being colored by iron the water would look yellow and not green. (IF your pool had a blue surface the yellow water would take on a greenish cast).
Therefore you have an algae outbreak. If it's been two weeks isnce the ascrobic acid I would add 1 bottle of sequesterant per 10000 gallons, drop the pH to 7.2 (yours is already low so let it ride unless it's below 6.8 ) and then shock the pool. If you could post a full set of test numbers including your CYA it would be most helpful.

 

[dolemite77]

Yea, i assumed it had to be algae too, but when i tested this morning the chlorine readings were sky high (A very bright yellow using the test kit seen attached. I know, i need a better kit )

So if the chlorine was that high, shouldn't the green be going away? It's been almost 24 hrs. since i added the bleach.

test kit

 

[Guest]

The OTO test (turns yellow) only measures total chlorine. It is possible (and often very probably) that with an algae outbreak there is a very high combined chlorine and little free chlorine. Total chlorine is the sum of both the FC and the CC. Without valid test results it's impossible to know whatis actually going on in your pool.
IF your chlorine ws actually at a level high enough to kill the aglgae the color would be orange to brown and not birght yellow. Also, we need to know where your CYA is. Please post a full set of test results it would be most helpful.
YOur current testkit does not provide the info we need to help you. If nothing else get your water tested at the pool store and post your results.